Rice: "Syria has gotten the message loud and clear that it is not welcome in Lebanon." (Angry Arab: US has NOT gotten the message loud and clear that it is NOT welcome in Iraq or in Lebanon, etc)

"Afghans left out of their own rebuilding"

Palestinian: stripped and humiliated at an Israeli occupation checkpoint. 

When "liberation" spills across the border: "witnesses said American rocket fire had killed five Pakistani tribesmen."

"At least 8,000 treasures looted from Iraq museum still untraced" (not to mention Iraqi lives lost)

I call on all of you Middle East Studies Association (MESA) members worldwide to sign this petition. Please indicate affiliation. (Thanks for Elaine for drafting it, and for Amir for uploading it into the site).

"Bush rules out Afghan command over US troops" (But as a gesture of goodwill, Afghan puppets will be allowed to remain puppets)

Which planet does he inhabit? What water does he drink? What air does he breathe? What newspapers does he read, if any? To whom does he talk? What does he think? No. Does he think, at all?

"PRESIDENT BUSH: No, I don't think so. I think they're being defeated. And that's why they continue to fight. The worst thing for them is to see democracy. The President can speak to that firsthand. The worst problem that an ideologue that uses terror to try to get their way is to see a free society emerge. And I'm confident we're making great progress in Iraq."

Paul Ricoeur: was a communist to the core, and later in life became a "Christian to the bones."

"Kites on Marina Green soar for peace in Mideast" Now Leila: I know that you are a very nice and kind person, but when I read this this morning, I could not help but wonder aloud: What on earth is this? What does it mean? What is the connection? Do we not belittle the issues and the suffering and the need for a REAL and just solution when we "fly kites" for peace in the Middle East? And when I slice potatoes, is that also for peace in the Middle East? Help me, Leila.

Why you can't trust the US media. Yesterday I watched an interview on AlArabiyya with Muqtada As-Sadr. I wrote a brief thing about it. I woke up today to read on the first page of the NYTimes an account of the interview that did not match the impression that I got from actually watching it. Not enough time for me to go into details. Either trust me or move on. Go. And why did John Burns, an enthusiastic advocate of the war who was invited by Bush Sr. to Texas to promote the war to a college audience, sign his name to the article when I know that he knows that he does not know Arabic. Did he watch it by guessing what was being said?

"On Sartre's God Problem"

Images from Bush's "liberation." This is a picture from Baghdad taken yesterday. And this was the model that Bush wanted to spread in the Middle East. Now you know why Arabs are not impressed. The secret is out: IT IS A BLOODY MESS.  

Avvenimento #247, 1956. Bacci.
 

I heard Muqtada As-Sadr speaking on AlArabiyya today. He is still a bad speaker, but appears to act like an elder statesperson. He is now mediating between the Sunni Islamic `Ulama Grouping and the Badr Militia (oh, ya: there are legal (US approved) militias in Iraq, not to be confused with unapproved illegal militias). When asked about the future Iraqi constitution, As-Sadr said that there is no need for a constitution: "there is the Qur'an." If this guy comes to power, his republic will look like a Shi`ite version of Saudi Arabia.

"Dozens Have Alleged Koran's Mishandling:
Complaints by inmates in Afghanistan, Iraq and Cuba emerged early. In 2003, the Pentagon set a sensitivity policy after trouble at Guantanamo."

"Laura Bush speaks out for women's rights in Mideast". I am waiting for her to speak out for women's rights in...THE US.

"Karzai seeks more control over US bases" and US seeks more control over Karzai.

"Azerbaijanis Demanding Vote Are Beaten". When asked about them, Bush said: "I love the Hummus demonstrations. They are so nice. They are so Western. And I love Hariri."

A Jordanian friend mentioned this irony to me the other day. King `Abdullah announced the ouster of the head of Jordanian mukhabarat. A few days later, the King uncovered his weekly diabolic plot by some militant Islamist terrorists who were planning on hijacking the Red Sea. The King needs these dramatic announcements to keep the US supply of money, arms, and love coming. The war on "terrorism" shall continue. You and I are paying for it, and we also are its victims. No wonder I am suffocating.

I mean: will the US government or the US media or anybody in the US, including KFC, finally notice the persecution, oppression, arbitrary arrests that are going on in Egypt in preparation for the 49th term of Husni Mubarak? Will Bush, the great fan of the Hummus demonstrations in Lebanon, notice the demonstrations by Egyptians?

Today, I read that the Iranian council that screens candidates (mullacracy at work, you know) approved the candidacy of 6 candidates out of...1000. Of the 6 approved, two will be validated. Of the two, the council is expected to select the best.

The Heritage Foundation has been bragging for weeks that its own (reliable of course) poll showed that favorable opinion of the US has risen in Indonesia. In other news, "[a]bout 7,000 people [in Indonesia] staged a protest Sunday condemning the alleged desecration of Islam's holy book by American troops at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp."

"I think Lebanon should be for the Lebanese," said Hijazi King of Jordan `Abdullah. By that logic ("Jordan for the Jordanians"), get out of Jordan, NOW, king `Abdullah. Go back to Hijaz. (Also notice how the US media treat King `Abdullah as a great Middle East expert, and they ask him for wisdom and insights).

Surprisingly, not a bad article on the Lebanese election in the Washington Post, of all places.

"Yale Fires An Acclaimed Anarchist Scholar"

"Paul Ricoeur, philosophe de tous les dialogues" His best work? Undoubtedly, when French student radicals placed a trash can over his head in the late 1960s.

AP ran this photo with this caption: "U.S. first lady Laura Bush rushes back to her car after visiting the Western Wall and the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City Sunday May 22, 2005. Anti-U.S. protesters heckled Laura Bush at a major Islamic holy shrine on Sunday, during a Mideast tour meant to defuse growing anti-American sentiment in the region." Laura was confused. Before embarking on this trip, she was assured by US government experts on the Middle East that Palestinians would greet her with this and this. 

Sharon: "I won't compromise on Jerusalem." (Angry Arab: I won't compromise on Palestine.)

Today, the New York Times ran this picture (influenced by Renoir's The Mosque) with this caption: "When feeling threatened, Sunni Iraqis tend to retreat to old mind-sets, skewing their view of the future." Can you imagine the uproar if this statement was said about another religious group of millions of people? For how long will those ill-informed and prejudiced writers, whose [lack of] knowledge derives from The Arab Mind and "discussions" with cabdrivers from the airport to the hotel route be considered authorities on the Middle East, or on any other region of the world? 

A national best-seller list can tell a lot about a country. You be the judge.

King `Abdullah was supposed to make a speech before the World Economic Forum. Instead, he sang opera. The audience pelted him with eggs and tomatoes. He was confused, not amused. 

Le Baiser, 1927. Max Ernst. 

A history lesson. (thanks Maryam)

"U.S. Senator Tells Arabs to Focus on Home." Angry Arab tells U.S. Senator to Focus on HIS Home.

A timetable for US troops in Iraq: Eternity. "Commanders Plan Eventual Consolidation of U.S. Bases in Iraq."

Bush (and his submissive US media) have not noticed those demonstrators: "Police in Azerbaijan Beat Back Protesters Demanding Free Vote." They are not part of a Hummus Revolution, because the government is a pro-US dictatorship (with resources).

The Washington Post said: "First lady Laura Bush on Saturday challenged a region dominated by men and traditional values to allow women into the political process and workplace..." I do not want to argue, but does that not imply that the US, unlike the Middle East, is dominated by women and progressive values? No?

"On Jan. 24, 2003, four days before President Bush delivered his State of the Union address presenting the case for war against Iraq, the National Security Council staff put out a call for new intelligence to bolster claims that Saddam Hussein possessed nuclear, chemical and biological weapons or programs."

I know. I know. You have been told that the Iraqi people are just thrilled to have the US (and Macedonian) forces occupy their country. I know. I know. You have been told that the Iraqi people greeted the American "liberators" with "sweets and flowers"--to quote Kanan Makiya. Christopher Hitchens is the only one who still claims that Iraqis had indeed greeted US forces with sweets (he claims to have seen tiramissu, strawberry shortcake, Baklava, Bavaroise, Mars candy bars tossed at American "liberators"). In mosques around Iraq yesterday, Israeli and American flags were painted on the ground for worshippers to step on them. Christopher Hitchens dismissed the news as sinister "rumors" by "Islamofascists." 

Kofi Annan sent a sepcial US Security Council team to investigate the assassination of Hariri, his billionaire friend, but not the hundreds shot down in Uzbekistan.

"Revealed: health fears over secret study into GM food"

The favorite annual festival for Republicans and Democrats in Congress.

An area of rainforest cleared by soya bean farmers in Novo Progreso, Brazil. 

Destruction of Brazil's rainforest.