When Western media mention--merely mention--an Israeli war crime or massacre, you know that the word "anguish" will be inserted to evoke sympathy for the...killers

I swear, when I picked up the article, I knew that I will find the word "anguish" because I knew the book mentioned (and supremely and arrogantly justified) the massacre and national cleansing at Lydda:  "This book’s central chapter is probably the one about how the Palestinian citizenry was driven from the Arab city of Lydda in 1948. Many were killed; some were tortured during interrogations. There was looting. Tens of thousands of Palestinians, long columns, were driven from their homes into the desert. In expulsions like this one lie his country’s original sin, the author argues, beyond the settlements of its later expansion.

“Lydda is our black box,” he declares. “In it lies the dark secret of Zionism.” Mr. Shavit is a powerful writer about denial. The miracle that is Israel, he says, is “based on denial. The nation I am born into has erased Palestine from the face of the earth.” "  And then this:  "Mr. Shavit spies the seeds of the anguish that is to come..."  You are supposed to read this and think: those poor Israelis.  They must have suffered from nightmares from all the massacres they have perpetrated.  Wasn't a whole Israeli recent movie that won award based on nightmares "suffered" by an Israeli war criminal during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon?

Angry Arab's medical theories

I have a medical theory that people should be informed about: that sleep can cure any illness. Tired? Go to sleep. Depressed? Go to sleep. Headache? Go to sleep. Diabetes? Go to sleep. Cancer? Go to sleep. Sleepy? Go to sleep.

Traveling with an IPad

IPad has changed the way I travel: I used to board the plane with a bunch of New York Times from several days, and a bunch of Economist issues from several weeks and two massive books for my reading pleasure. Now I only board the plane with the IPad: do you know how many books I have on my IPad? Do you? I am asking you damn it, so answer me.

Kant on prejudice

I came across this passage in Kant's "What is Enlightenment" on the plane last night:  "For it is very harmful to propagate prejudices, because they finally avenge themselves on the very people who first encouraged them".  (From Kant: Political Writing, Cambridge UP, p. 55).

"The Harmful Habit"

Yesterday, I was reading old issues of Al-Hilal on the plane: I came across this one from the issue from 1989 about "the harmful habit"

From Boeing to UAE: thanks for the subsidy

Boeing took a full page ad in the Washington Post yesterday to thank UAE for placing the hitherto unprecedented order for 292 planes.  As one Arab commented on Facebook: I bet UAE even paid for the ad.  Somebody should write a PhD dissertation on how the Gulf regimes basically subside the arms and other industries in the West in return for protection for the thrones.   

The southern suburbs of Beirut

"And the slums of south Beirut have seen at least one earlier bombing that targeted Hizbullah". Those are no more slums, Juan. They now house middle class Shi‘ites as well. 

http://www.juancole.com/2013/11/spreads-lebanon-embassy.html

Hizbullah and Iranian media

Hizbullah and Iranian media have never been dumber.  Iranian media and government insists that Israel was behind it: while I would never ever absolve Israel from any crimes in the region, from the maghrib to the mashriq and the gulf--given its history and present--, the Iranian government was intent on not blaming Saudi Arabia.  And when you blame Israel you fail to mention that Israel and Saudi Arabia are close allies in all that is going on in the region.  The two regimes now have a unified terrorist command center, for potato's sake, for Syria, Lebanon and beyond.  Hizbullah media arrogantly declared that the goals of the terrorists were not fulfilled and that they failed.  This is as dumb as Hizbullah's insistence over the last few years that sectarian fitnah in the region has failed when it was only marching forwards with more momentum.  When Hizbullah expresses satisfaction with developments, one has to worry.  

How the New York Times measures Iranian public opinion: Ahmad speaks for the Iranian nation

This is how accurate is the New York Times' measure of Iranian public opinion:  "“They support the Syrians, but don’t care for us,” said Ahmad, a building maintenance worker in Tehran, the Iranian capital, who gave only a first name for fear of repercussions."  Don't be cynical.  Ahmad has been known for years to speak on behalf of all Iranians.  

Anne Barnards: pearls of daily cliches

Typically, Ms. Anne Barnard merely repeats what her March14 contacts in Lebanon tell her, and they in turn merely repeat the cliches of Saudi propaganda:  "The morning attack occurred at a complex time for Iran. While the country’s support for Mr. Assad drains its popularity in much of the Arab world".  She talks as if the Syrian conflict is arousing much passions in the Arab world.  I have argued for two years against skeptics here that the Arab public is largely turned off by both sides in Syria and that the Syrian "revolution" failed to attract support among Arabs except in the quarters of the Muslim Brotherhood and a handful of Trotskyists--don't ask me why about the latter.  In fact, the new Egyptian Sisi coup "revolution" brought to the fore more sympathy to the Syrian regime, just as the rest of the Arab world express no sympathy whatsoever for the Syrian "revolution" outside of the propaganda apparatuses of the House of Saud and House of Thani.  

paper hero of the Syrian "revolution"

Astonishingly, US newspapers (especially the Post and the Times) published tributes and hagiographic eulogies for the Syrian Islamist militant commander, `Abdul-Qadir As-Salih.  Loveday Morris of the Washington Post went even further than Anne Barnard of the Times and spoke about:  "tributes to his heroism and humility", never mind that he was aligned with Nusrah Front and Al-Qa`idah and that his troops engaged in the typical thuggery and war crimes characteristic of the Syrian "revolution".  But this article about him in As-Safir adds another dimension to his personality: apparently, he was obsessed with his image in the media and was keen on propaganda promotion and hired his own Goebbels.  It worked, just as the fanatic mujahidin of Afghanistan were presented as heroes to the American public.  I also like that the media in the West presented him as some former secular progressive who suddenly shifted ideology due to the repression of the regime when his background all along was with Islamist radical organizations.

American models of liberation

My latest blog post for Al-Akhbar English: "Amerivan models of liberation". 

Your revolutionaries and their sponsors

""The battalion that the three men were part of was once the darling of the rebels' foreign backers: Qatari royalty, Saudi preachers and Kuwaiti MPs all donated money and funnelled weapons to them. The businessman regularly met Turkish military intelligence officers on the border who safeguarded his arms shipments from Mediterranean ports.""

children of the world unite

"Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, kids as young as 12 can work as hired hands in agriculture." "Also legal: a 12-year-old working 70-hour weeks in a tobacco field." (thanks Amir)

Sunni France

"France has longstanding business ties with the Sunni Arab countries in the gulf, including Saudi Arabia, ties that have shaped its stand. The Sunni countries of the gulf want to keep a nuclear weapon out of the hands of Iran, which follows the Shiite branch of Islam. On this issue, Israel’s position is close to that of its Sunni Arab neighbors’: all say Iran’s acquisition of a nuclear bomb would be unacceptable."

Anne Barnard writes a moving tribute to a sectarian Islamist rebel commander

It is almost touching:  "Mr. Saleh used to stress that he fought for all Syrians and would not harm minorities. But days before his death, he told his men they were fighting “for the Sunnis."  This eulogy must have been writing between tears.  

guess who is now an expert on Iran?

why is this man, who heads an organization that ostensibly fights some forms of defamation, cited in the news on foreign policy issues?  "But at the more basic level, this is an argument about more than just what the Iranians give up, and what they get in return. “In order to get into sync on the strategy, you need trust, and the trust has been eroded,” said Abraham H. Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, who has just returned from Israel and is lobbying vigorously against the preliminary deal."  

Does Anne Barnard think that Al-Manar TV is a person?

I am not kidding but does Anne Barnard think that Al-Manar TV, the official news station of Hizbullah, is a person?  "Al Manar, a broadcaster aligned with Hezbollah".

When Prince Al-Walid speaks on behalf of the Arab people

"BIN TALAL: Yeah, as Mr. Netanyahu said that you really find the majority of the Arab World in complete sync and alliance with the concepts of Israel. " (thanks Basim)

war of embassies

one of the dangers of war of embassies in Beirut (and we went through it before (Iraq versus Syria and Israel versus many others) is that it provides Lebanese parties with the illusions of the ability to control events and shape conflict.  That is a recipe of escalation.  

From Wikileaks: wondering about the Angry Arab

This from Wikileaks: Stratfor analysts wonder about background of Angry Arab. 

Explosion in Beirut

The war advances but it has a shortcoming: one side, Saudi Arabia and its agents in Syria and Lebanon eagerly wants it, with the other side it is more complicated: the Syrian regime wants the war to expand into Lebanon but Iran and Hizbullah don't want it althogh within the base of Hizbullah there is strong appetite for it.  The fact that Iran officially accused Israel of responsibility tells you that they still don't want to escalate against Saudi Arabia and avoid direct confrontation with them. Sure Israel may be involved but on the same side with Saudi Arabia and its agents.  What is the difference these days.  It is not clear what dumb policies Iran and Hizbullah are pursuing: they are willing to go all out against Saudi Arabia's agents in Syria but not agianst Saudi Arabia directly or against its agents in Lebanon.  The bombing should be read as invitation by Saudi intelligence to Iran and Hizbullah for a direct confrontation in Lebanon, that would sapp Hizbullah's muscle and energy and comfort Israel.  

Sign of friendship

In its security agreement with occupied Afghanistan, the US is insisting that its forces reserve the right to break into Afghan homes.  

The King that is Made in Israel

"A joint industrial park is to be established along the Israel-Jordanian border, giving Israeli companies the ability to tap into Arab markets, as their products will bear the misleading label "Made in Jordan."  In addition, the factories will be “close to home,” helping Israeli companies save on logistical costs and have more effective control over the production process. But more importantly, the products manufactured in this zone will be stamped with the label “Made in Jordan,” allowing Israeli companies to market their products in Arab countries." (thanks Basim)

the frown of the Jordanian King

Notice this about the Jordanian King in pictures: given how aware he is of his incompetence, stupidity, levity, and ineptitude, he tries to compensate for that in meeting with American dignitaries by wearing an unusually intense frown to project seriousness and statesmanship.  It never fails to crack me up. 

an award for Isarel

""Deputy Defence Minister Danny Danon's suggestion that the presence of Africans in Israel constitutes the establishment of "an enemy state of infiltrators" fails to account for the fact that the award for setting up adversarial countries on other people's land goes to Israel itself.""

I am willing to bet: Michael O'Hanlon is incapable of opening his mouth on Middle East matters without vomiting nonesense

""In an email to the Harvard Political Review, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution Michael O'Hanlon noted that in Syria the new "'ethnic cleansing' may in its own tragic way ultimately make a solution more workable by separating populations from each other," suggesting that Balkanization may be a way to seek peace in Syria.""

Saudi diplomacy

""A Saudi diplomat and his wife allegedly forced two trafficked women to work in slave-like conditions at their London home."" (thanks Amir)

Have you seen Robert Fisk's marbles

From comrade Asa:  "Look at this absolute trash from Fisk:

Where to start really? So many mistakes, so many problems. It seems to me that for whatever reason (probably his status) his articles no longer see anything resembling a fact check. I mean really. Has he even seen Clayton Swisher's documentaries? Has he read the Swiss toxicologists' report? Considered ANY of the evidence? I doubt it. he claims: "French medical authorities made extensive tests to see if Arafat had been poisoned, before and after his death. They found no trace of poison" -- in fact it is now well established that they never tested for Polonium (why would they when the Litvinyenko assassination did not occur till 2006?) But Fisk just ignores that, and the mountain of expert evidence
 Arafat was poisoned by polonium.

And what is with his gossipy personal references about Arafat's bear and about "how the lavatories smelled" (everyone who even vaguely followed the news at the time will recall that the Israelis cut the mains water supply during the Muqata siege).Obviously, there are valid criticisms of Arafat to be made, but there is no sight of them in this crappy, gossipy piece, based on unnamed and second-hand sources:

"I happened to hear second-hand from a French military nurse ..." "One Scandinavian diplomat..." "Edward Said told me [something totally irrelevant to the evidence of
poisoning]"

This is part of the phenomenon that I am calling the "Conspiracy theory conspiracy theory" -- deny and ignore all evidence and insist it is just an "Arab conspiracy theory"."

I wrote this about it, in which I did a strange thing ans actually
considered evidence, rather than gossip and unsupported conspiracy
theories:
http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/inquiry/8338-enough-conspiracy-theories-about-yasser-arafats-assassination

Install the puppet in the country that you occupy and then claim that the country invited you: classic colonialism

"“Karzai mentioned that this would mark the first time the Afghan people invited a foreign power into their country,” said Kinzinger, an Air Force Reserve pilot who supports a robust U.S. military presence.
Kinzinger said Karzai was opposed to a U.S. presence that would be concentrated only in Kabul — a contingency the Pentagon has considered if Obama’s decision on the number of troops falls on the low end. “He said we want you to stay, but don’t just hunker down in Kabul,” Kinzinger said in paraphrasing Karzai’s remarks. “The political cost of having American troops on our soil would not be worth the benefit it provides.”"

Saudi government support for the Palestinians

This chart is from the book "Jihad in Saudi Arabia: Violence and Pan-Islamism since 1979" by Thomas Hegghammer.  I was reading this book and came across this important chart: notice that contrary to public perceptions, the decline of Saudi support for Palestinians (and most of that are taxes levied on Palestinians working in Saudi Arabia, by the way), started long before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and coincided with the launch of the American-Saudi project of Islamist terrorism in Afghanistan against the communist government and its Soviet backers.  

Anne Barnard finds "tactical" justification for the indiscriminate shelling of Damascus by rebels

"and rebels shelled civilian areas to chip away at the comfort zone inside central Damascus."

Anne Barnard yet again justifies the indiscriminate bombardment of Shi'tte villages in Lebanon

"and rockets were fired at areas believed to be Hezbollah strongholds;"

A typical liberal Israeli: he is like those grotesque men who tell women to just enjoy rape, swallow their pride, and move on, for the betterment of the rapist

"But this miracle also produced a nightmare. There was another people there when the Jews returned, who had their own aspirations: the Palestinian Arabs. In a brutally honest chapter entitled “Lydda, 1948,” Shavit reconstructs the story of how the population of this Palestinian Arab town, in the center of what was to become Israel, was expelled on July 13th in the 1948 war.

“By noon, a mass evacuation is under way,” writes Shavit. “By evening, tens of thousands of Palestinian Arabs leave Lydda in a long column, marching south past the Ben Shemen youth village and disappearing into the East. Zionism obliterates the city of Lydda. Lydda is our black box. In it lies the dark secret of Zionism. ... If Zionism was to be, Lydda could not be.”

Shavit wrestles with this contradiction, arguing that it is vital for every Israeli and Zionist to acknowledge Lydda, to empathize with the Palestinians’ fate. “But Lydda does not make Zionism criminal,” he insisted in an interview. History has produced many flights of refugees — the Jewish refugees of Europe were one such wave. Israel absorbed those refugees. European countries absorbed theirs. For too long, the Arab world kept the Palestinians frozen in victimhood. “It is my moral duty as an Israeli to recognize Lydda and help the Palestinians to overcome it,” said Shavit, by helping them establish a Palestinian state that is ready to live in peace with Israel. But, ultimately, “it is the Palestinians’ responsibility to overcome the painful past, lean forward and not become addicted to victimhood.”"

Anne Barnard's methods

I was thinking yesterday: the political biases of Anne Barnard on Syria are such that she never finds one Syrian who supports Bashshar, not one.  She does manage to interview people who she says are supportive of Bashshar, but she manages to always extract from them sayings against Bashshar.  This is a woman who had been steadily predicting the demise of the regime week after week, and only last week managed to produce a corrective. Yet, when all media in the world are reporting advances by the regime forces and retreat by rebel forces, she alone stood yesterday to write that well, the regime is not really advancing, and of course she has unnamed experts, observers, activists to back her up.  How I miss you, Tony Shadid.

founding fathers and Islam

This is revelatory stuff. But you would hardly know it: As if reluctant to render her subjects too sympathetic, Spellberg counters instances of their rousing liberality with deflating evidence to the contrary. We are told again and again, for example, that Jefferson and company championed Muslim rights, but only hypothetically, as an extreme test case. "

a new US-created Libyan militia will guarantee that more terror will be

"The United States military is considering a mission to train Libyan security personnel with the goal of creating a force of 5,000 to 7,000 conventional soldiers and a separate, smaller unit for specialized counterterrorism missions, according to the top officer at the United States Special Operations Command."

For Western correspondents looking for fancy meals, this corrupt feudal landlords, whose opinions vary by the bribe, is an indication of Arab public opinion

"As Druze warlord Walid Jumblatt served a sumptuous dinner to a gathering of Lebanese notables here, the talk around the table was about who would fill the power vacuum in the region if America reaches a nuclear deal with Iran — and accelerates what’s seen as a U.S. withdrawal from the Middle East."

Syrian refugees: marketed for TV

An NGO comrade wrote me this about new TV series on Syrian refugees:  "I watched some episodes. They are a series of 5-minute short clips and as I expected the focus is on how hard it is to manage the camp, read how hard the life of Kilian is, rather than on the hardships of the refugees. The refugees are depicted as savages and uncivilized and the white man is trying hard but in vain to teach them some civilization. UNHCR tweeted one of the episodes on kids in Zaatari with this comment: "where on earth have you seen children steeling a police station". I have now heard this story a hundred times from Kilian already and he keeps repeating it right and left. Who are they talking to? See the camp is not badly managed but those living in the camp are not "normal", even kids. Then you see the sympathy of the white man crying for the stories they hear, again the focus is on the UNHCR staff and how emotional and kind hearted they are. It doesn't address the real issues and the real problems, yes there is a lot of frustration and anger, there is also a small group of mafias and mafia leaders and FSA fighters among the refugees taking advantage of the situation extorting aid workers and exploiting other refugees, and there is a lot of corruption from the side of the Jordanian police in charge and bad management, staff spend most days in the camp receiving VIPs and donor visits, from John Kerry to the crown princess of Denmark, even prince Charles and Camilla visited one of the camps in jordan, like it is some sort of site seeing or a circus. These new UNHCR series promote exactly that but does not tell you that there are people there, especially kids suffering as a result. Here watch this one:

Hollande in Israel

"François Hollande en Israël et Palestine, « équilibre » entre l’occupant et l’occupé". (thanks Alain)

Missing Tony Shadid

Early in the Arab uprisings, comrade Talal commented to me how lucky we were that we had Tony Shadid to chronicle the era.  And then we lost him.  I was thinking about that today as I read various reports about Syria: Tony even tried to avoid citing the same usual experts becasue he knew that there is a unananimity of opinions being imposed.  

The US attitude toward Palestinian free elections

Amaney A. Jamal in her book Of Empires and Citizens: Pro-American Democracy or No Democracy at All?: “Here we have the case of the United States overturning a true democratic experiment.  By all accounts, the Palestinian elections were the most democratic the Arab world had ever seen.  In fact, the elections marks the first democratic regime change  in the Arab world since World War II.  After urging the Palestinians to be more democratic, a prerequisite to continue peace negotiations, the United States and the international community negated the elections’ outcome, declared Hamas an enemy, and then proceeded to penalize the entire Palestinian population for its democratic experiment”. (p. 191)

Thus Spoke Yusuf Al-Qaradawi

"“The believers will achieve victory even though their enemies, among them Shias, are sending strong and experienced fighters from Iraq, Lebanon and groups like Hezbollah. Shias are gathering from different countries to fight the Sunnis in Syria because it is their last trench.” Al Qaradawi said that the believers should not give up hope and that the Persian state was still supporting groups in Sryia by providing them funds and weapons. He called upon the Syrian opposition to unite against the ‘Shia bloc’. " (thanks Basim)

Notice that militias loyal to the NATO government in Libya are not referred to as "militia"

"Meanwhile, Tripoli fighters allied with the central government set up checkpoints across the capital and at key entrances to the city."

Now who will protect Gulf potentates?

"...Netanyahu is bidding to replace the United States as military protector of the status quo, including the security of the Gulf Arabs." (thanks Michael)