The Angry Arab News Service/وكالة أنباء العربي الغاضب

Thursday, February 21, 2013

An American expert fluent in English: how impressive

Rana sent me this:
"Hello Estaz,

I'm doing some research on the people writing about Syria and came across Kenneth M. Pollack, a member of the Washington establishment from the think tank and executive branches. He is currently a senior fellow in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, and previously directed the center for a few years. The Saban Center's website is happy to report that he is fluent in English. Thank goodness for that.

اللا يحمينا

The one solved assassination in Lebanon

I was watching the talented reporter/editor (of the Lebanon section) of Al-Akhbar, Hassan `Illeik on New TV. He made a very good point: that since 2005, there has been only one solved assassination mystery in Lebanon: the assassination of the Majzub brothers (Lebanese leaders in Islamic Jihad organization). The scheme was uncovered and linked to Mahmud Rafi` and other Israeli agents in Lebanon. We know all the details and the names of the culprits and some fled to Israel after being exposed. Yet, this case has not received any coverage: not in the Western press or the Arabic press. Yet, they want us to believe that they have provided this extensive coverage of Rafiq Hariri's assassination out of pure care and compassion. Go play in the garden, as we say in Lebanon.

The New York Times and its fair standards

It is--as I have been arguing--becoming increasingly funny how Western Zionist media don't even bother anymore to try to pretend that they are objective. Here is a passage about a "neutral" assessment of Hizbullah's culpability: "“The evidence seems quite compelling that what he was doing was conducting surveillance for a bombing that would parallel almost exactly what happened in Bulgaria,” said Matthew Levitt, director of the program on counterterrorism and intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the author of a forthcoming book on Hezbollah’s global footprint."

Zionist discussions about "arming the Syrian rebels"

It is not amusing for me at all (or بنوب as they say in Syria) to read the Zionists in the US (American and Lebanese) arguing about how to best arm the Syrian rebels. What is particularly not amusing is that they are rather clear that their recommendation (for arming) has nothing to do whatsoever with the Syrian people and their suffering but with the best way to manipulate and control Syria after the fall of the Asad regime. You would think that they would camouflage their nefarious schemes with humanitarian jargon, a la Bush.

warning against Tribalism in Dubai

(thanks Sultan)

Beit Safafa

"BEIT SAFAFA, Arabic for “summertime home”, was the only one of some 40 Arab villages in the district of West Jerusalem to survive the war of 1948 that created Israel; the others were more or less emptied of their inhabitants, who mostly fled the killing and found their return barred by the victorious Israelis. As a result, the people of Beit Safafa have generally been loyal to the state of Israel. Many of its townsfolk welcomed the 1967 war, when Israel captured what was left of Palestine, because it reunited the town which for 20 years had been divided by the armistice line running down the middle of it. When other Palestinians rose up in protest against Israel’s occupation of the entire city, Beit Safafa remained a picture of harmony.
No longer. To speed up their travel from dwellings in the West Bank south of Jerusalem, Israel’s settlers have persuaded the government to plough a six-lane motorway (in some places it has ten lanes) through the Arab-populated town. Once the road is complete, the settlers will be able to drive from the West Bank to central Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial capital on the coast, without having to go through a traffic light. To make way for the motorway, which will slice through a community 9,000-strong, bulldozers demolish olive groves, terraces and caves hugging Bethlehem’s foothills.
For the Palestinian townsfolk who once championed integration with their Jewish fellow citizens, the motorway is a bitter blow. Israel has already built one highway through the town, naming it after Dov Yosef, the first Israeli military governor of Jerusalem, and has also built a large Jewish settlement called Gilo and an industrial zone on the slopes above. As part of his recent election campaign, Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, promised to build thousands more housing units and a string of hotels on what Arabs call Tabaliya and Jews Givat Matos, the last unsettled hilltop overlooking Beit Safafa.
“They just want us out,” says an architect, who has spent his career working with Jerusalem’s municipal authorities. The town’s muezzin calls for strikes and protests as well as prayers. Worshippers leaving the main mosque tell glum tales of confiscated land.
Before the municipality approves such big building projects in the Jewish-inhabited districts of Jerusalem, it has to submit a detailed plan, routinely holding public consultations to hear objections. But the residents of Beit Safafa awoke in November to find bulldozers digging outside their homes. Belatedly they headed to court, but the judge allowed work to continue while she pondered her ruling and then rejected the petition. Police have broken up demonstrations and handcuffed protesters for what the municipality calls vandalism.
Walls as high as first-floor windows are to be built to shield residents. The municipality says it will cover 180 metres of the road, but has rejected pleas for a tunnel. “They could never dissect a Jewish neighbourhood the same way,” says Meir Margalit, one of the few Jewish councillors to have rallied to the residents’ cause."

American injustice

Fiction or not fiction: what matters is that it fits into the propaganda agenda

From a reader: "I am a regular reader of your blog and enjoy it very much. I came across these (unexpected) paragraphs yesterday in an article in the N.Y. Times Magazine from February 3, 2013:
Happy to remain an anonymous tipster (in case you had not seen it and wish to post about it)."

"I had no idea what kind of “substance” until a friend urged me to look at “La Liste Hariri,” one of de Villiers’s many books set in and around Lebanon. The book, published in early 2010, concerns the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister. I spent years looking into and writing about Hariri’s death, and I was curious to know what de Villiers made of it. I found the descriptions of Beirut and Damascus to be impressively accurate, as were the names of restaurants, the atmosphere of the neighborhoods and the descriptions of some of the security chiefs that I knew from my tenure as The Times’ Beirut bureau chief. But the real surprise came later. “La Liste Hariri” provides detailed information about the elaborate plot, ordered by Syria and carried out by Hezbollah, to kill Hariri. This plot is one of the great mysteries of the Middle East, and I found specific information that no journalists, to my knowledge, knew at the time of the book’s publication, including a complete list of the members of the assassination team and a description of the systematic elimination of potential witnesses by Hezbollah and its Syrian allies. I was even more impressed when I spoke to a former member of the U.N.-backed international tribunal, based in the Netherlands, that investigated Hariri’s death. “When ‘La Liste Hariri’ came out, everyone on the commission was amazed,” the former staff member said. “They were all literally wondering who on the team could have sold de Villiers this information — because it was very clear that someone had showed him the commission’s reports or the original Lebanese intelligence reports.”

When I put the question to de Villiers, a smile of discreet triumph flashed on his face. It turns out that he has been friends for years with one of Lebanon’s top intelligence officers, an austere-looking man who probably knows more about Lebanon’s unsolved murders than anyone else. It was he who handed de Villiers the list of Hariri’s killers. “He worked hard to get it, and he wanted people to know,” de Villiers said. “But he couldn’t trust journalists.” I was one of those he didn’t trust. I have interviewed the same intelligence chief multiple times on the subject of the Hariri killing, but he never told me about the list. De Villiers had also spoken with high-ranking Hezbollah officials, in meetings that he said were brokered by French intelligence. One assumes these men had not read his fiction." (Let me guess: Johny `Abduh is the "top intelligence" officer, who now works for the Hariri family?)

House of Saud media

From Ali, the chief Turkey correspondent:
"Al Arabiya still claims that the ex-spokesperson of Syrian Foreign Ministiry Jihad Makdissi defected.

They strongly need an update for the "guide" looking like the most wanted Baath members list of Us during the invasion of Iraq. "

"Zionists and their Arab travelers "

From Khelil: "

Some Arabs are just desperate to play nice with perfidious Zionists. Rummaging through news on Tunisia I came across this article at The National Interest written by a Ahmed Charai and Joseph Braude. the article 1) argues against US support for democracy in the Arab world (as if that was ever an issue) 2) praises the Moroccan king and other monarchies as gradualist democrats and in any case better off without the uprisings and 3) has this odd, throw-away line in defense of Morocco's regime: "Morocco also has a deep historical bond with the Jewish people: the king's grandfather Mohammed V protected 200,000 Moroccan Jews from the Nazis during World War II, and nearly one million Israelis have Moroccan roots. The inauguration this week, after restoration of Fez Alfassiyine Synagogue, is a "lesson from Morocco to the 21st century" according to the Islamist head of government of Morocco."

Why does this even matter here? The article is about political uprisings. But notice, on this point, that 1) apologists are always keen to use the Jewish people as pawns, arguably a form of anti-Semitism, akin to the Bahraini regime and its allies making a big fuss about a Bahraini-Jew ambassador to Washington 2) Arab regimes and societies must always prove their tolerance and respect for Jews, but never and no where are Israel and Zionists expected to prove that they, who fired the first rhetorical and physical blow against an indigenous Arab people, expected to prove their 'humanity', I mean you won't read praise about Israel restoring a mosque or church, for that matter 3) most importantly: as if Morocco rebuilding a synagogue for a non-extant Jewish community (Tunisia has more Jews), which is a PR ploy, overrides the rights and treatment of Muslim Moroccan when Jewish rights in Morocco should be seen as a whole with Muslim rights, and not a separate scheme. But the fact that such a silly, irrelevant note merits a paragraph in a short article is no surprise, after all such tribalism and opportunism is expected among Zionists.

So after some digging: Charai is a buffoonish Arab puppet who sits on the broad of Foreign Policy Research Institute, a right-wing, Zionist 'think tank' once run by Daniel Pipes; and runs pro-regime media in Morocco. As for Braude, an American of Iraqi-Jewish heritage, he possess as a Mideast "specialist" and a well-intentioned bridge to the region. Of course, he's a Zionist fanatic whose Twitter page is filled with MEMRI videos, he was covered by the NY Times for alleged theft of Iraqi antiquities (after lying to customs and saying he wasn't even in Iraq [he went unsuccessfully to work for the colonial regime], he pled guilty); but received a light sentence of house detention possibly due to the fact that he provided counter-terrorism aid to the government and got former CIA director and neo-con fanatic James Woolsey to vouch on his behalf; and here he intimates support for Western-backing of the Saudi scheme to promote an insurgence among Iranian Arabs in order to undercut the regime. My favorite line: "Elaph, a Saudi-backed online magazine, started educating its readers on the history of the “Ahwazi struggle” and covering news from the “front.”"

Saudi media are all about education, of course, especially on the 'Safavid' state. It's important we expose these hacks who claim to speak in the interest of Arabs. enjoy."

Bahrain Update II

From the chief correspondent, again:
"This is an interesting post about AlKhalifa and Camels which as I have frequently explained to people were brought in by the AlKhalifa tribe and are not part of Bahrain's indigenous culture:

The issue he brings up in the end concerning land reclamation and Bahrain's declining fishing stock deserves a post of its own. Omar AlShehabi writes about it here focusing on the effect land reclamation has Bahrain's traditional lifestyles. Its in arabic and I wish Jadaliyya would translate it:

Two good articles I want to point out. This one discusses political naturalization in Bahrain and this one (in arabic) concerning the rich history of Bahrain's labor movement:

Also, here's a picture of a cat braving the tear gassed streets of Bahrain

And here's another example of the lying Bahraini press".

Bahrain Update

From Angry Arab's chief Bahrain correspondent: "This Wallstreet journal article is about the Khawalid, a dangerous fanction of the royal family. They are extremely sectarian and known for their hatred of shia. I have written to you a lot about Khalid Bin Ahmad, the minister of the royal court, and Khalifa Bin Ahmad (commander in chief of the BDF). They are responsible for a lot of what happened in Bahrain during the crackdown and what is happening today. I have no doubt that the Khawalid wield a lot of power. However this article makes the King look like some innocent weakling that is being controlled by the Khawalid. There is no proof of this (there is a lot of evidence on the other hand that the crown prince has no power and is not liked by the Khawalid - does not mean he's good or believes in democracy - just means that they disagree) . King Hamad does not have a weak personality like his father (who was clearly controlled by the Prime Minister) and he was strong enough to take on his uncle the Prime Minister from the beginning. He also never made any reconciliatory gestures towards the opposition. I am told that Crown Prince's talks with the opposition at the beginning and his appearance on Bahrain TV were on his own initiative and he had to convince his father to allow him to negotiate (though he clearly had no power to implement anything) - the article implies that the King strong backed the Crown Prince). If the King was so agains the Khawalid, why didn't he fire the minister of the royal court a long time ago? In fact, one could argue that before the uprising, the King was using the Khawalid to consolidate his power and weaken his uncle the Prime Minister (who never liked the Khawalid - of course they banded together after the uprising because of the threat from the people). I unfortunately cannot analyze the dynamics of the royal family. I do not have enough knowledge of what is going on and I find the King to be very difficult to read. However I have yet to come across a Bahraini whether they want a constitutional monarchy or a republic, that thinks that the King is just a weak figurehead. There are many people (though less than before) that believe that the Crown Prince is a good alternative. But even the most moderate of the opposition will not say this about the King. Other than that, I do agree with a lot of what the article says and I do think there is a push to shift the succession from the Crown Prince to Nasser Bin Hamad (the Kings 25 year old son from his third or fourth wife). I just have a problem with portraying the King as weak."

How to impress an American journalist

David sent me this: "I don't know if you saw this, but I came across this article on the dissatisfaction of Algerian youth in Time magazine (which, and I wasn't aware of this, is an authority on the social and political aspirations of Algerians); the very first line of the article was quite revealing of this perception of American exceptionalism: "“You’re an American journalist?” says Yassin Benabdullah, a lanky 21-year-old in a baseball cap, when I introduce myself to him on a downtown street. “Take me with you! I’ll go now, this minute.” I think one should infer from that line, that Algeria is a hellhole with nothing and that America the beautiful is a land flowing with milk and honey. My apologies; my rage after seeing this has prevented me from better articulating my sentiments."

billionaires don't see the poor

""When asked Tuesday about allegations that the New York City shelter system is turning families away despite dangerously cold temperatures, Mayor Michael Bloomberg replied, defiantly: "Nobody's sleeping on the streets." The mayor's flippant comment has outraged homeless advocates. (And everyone with commonsense.)""

executions in Japan

""Opinion polls put support for capital punishment among the Japanese at about 80%." "Japan, which along with the US is the only major industrialised country to retain the death penalty, has come under mounting pressure to abandon it.""

US Marines learn from Lebanese Army

""A U.S. Marine kills a chicken with his teeth during a jungle survival exercise with the Thai Navy as part of the "Cobra Gold 2013" joint military exercise, at a military base in Chon Buri province, Thailand, February 20, 2013."" (thanks Amir)

Brilliant minds

Some minds are just brilliant and they impress me. Like Hegel or Marx or Arendt or Adorno. Here, in the US, I am very impressed with the mind of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (despite my detestation for his politics). I also like Michael Kinsley as a writer/columnist (I hate his politics too). And as of late, I am very impressed with the mind of Dr. Ben Carson, the neurosurgeon of Johns Hopkins University, despite his right-wing views. Really enjoyed reading his "Gifted Hands" book. He has a way of arguing and speaking that is mesmerizing.

Zionists really heart Muslim Brotherhood these days

From a reader: "Asad, after this bear hug, now this getting in the Fayyad-Siniora territory of Zionists and their beloved "Arab statesmen", enough for every Tunisians to reject those religion merchants..John Mccain tweets: "Tunisian PM Jebali is a good man and leader whose resignation is a loss for his country - I hope he will continue to serve #Tunisia""

The secret "special correspondent" in Beirut who met Dani of Hizbullah--he is not to be confused with the special correspondent who met the four Hariri assassination suspect for Time magazine

"Jonathan S. Landay in Washington and a special correspondent in Beirut who isn’t being named for security reasons contributed to this article." Does his name begin with "p" as in potato? (thanks Fadi)

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/02/19/183574/pro-assad-militia-now-key-to-syrian.html#storylink=cpy"

Hagel and his nominations

From Ulf: "Nothing is stupid enough for the friends of Israel though:

"Hagel was in hot water for alleged hostility to Israel. So, I asked my source, had Hagel given a speech to, say, the “Junior League of Hezbollah, in France”? And: What about “Friends of Hamas”? The names were so over-the-top, so linked to terrorism in the Middle East, that it was clear I was talking hypothetically and hyperbolically. No one could take seriously the idea that organizations with those names existed — let alone that a former senator would speak to them.""

Meet a Hizbullah member named Yaccou--not to be confused with Hizbullah fighter named "Dani"

"Correction: February 20, 2013

An earlier version of a Web summary on this article misspelled the surname of the defendant. He is Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, not Yaccou."

Royal accountability in Saudi Arabia

From Ahmet in Tunisia: "Asad, one can sniff a western apologetic of the gulf dictatorships when a so called researcher takes seriously the dog and pony show of tribal majal-Less and sees a democratic element in it that, according to him, "direct petition" of the Saudi king is a democratic practice that possibly dwarfs as an accountability measure what has transpired after Arab uprisings. This doha-based British researcher manages quite well to not pronounce it in his realpolitik lingo but he lets his guard down when commenting on the Kingdom of Horrors and he says that public beheadings,institutionalized misogyny and other iniquities only "leave much to be desired". Enjoy your ally, the Shah and Mubarak once looked as immovable:

"In some ways, the kingdom is far more politically accountable than Arab countries that underwent revolutions in 2011: Traditional governance structures in many parts of the kingdom still prevail, and the role of the provincial governor in attending the daily majlis to address the problems and needs of his constituents is still highly important in maintaining ties between the people and the ruling elite.

It would have been unthinkable, for instance, for a normal citizen to be given the right to petition directly to former President Hosni Mubarak, or even current President Mohamed Morsy -- such is the enforced bureaucratic distance between the citizens and the ruling class in Egypt. Not so in Saudi Arabia, where one can observe tribal elders lambasting rather forlorn-looking princes for not addressing the country's problems.""

Fraudelence and fabrication by some western reporters on Hizbullah

It has become a phenomenon really. Western reporters in the Middle East, or Western reporters who briefly visit the Middle East, write long stories about their encounters with Hizbullah "sources" or with Hizbullah "fighters" or commanders. The phenomenon has become infectious. Everyone has a story to tell--and they are always damning about Hizbullah--from the mouth of those Hizbullah "insiders" or "fighters" or "commanders". It just occurred to me why those stories are all fabricated, either by the reporters or by the Lebanese imposters or by both parties for whatever gain. This is indubitable in my mind. But last night it hit me: Ibrahim Al-Amin, the communist editor-in-chief of Al-Akhbar has more sources in Hizbullah, even within its security-military branch, than any other reporter in Lebanon or beyond. Yet, there is never ever any story in Al-Akhbar or As-Safir (which also has sources in Hizbullah) which cites "Hizbullah sources" or Hizbullah "commanders", ever. To be sure, Saudi and Hariri media often have damning stories about Hizbullah which also are attributed to "Hizbullah sources" or "Hizbullah fighters" (and the stories are always in the variety of "we are all bunch terrorists", or "we are disgusting sectarians", and those stories generate endless comments of humor on FB or Twitter). So what I am saying is this: why are those "Hizbullah sources" or "commanders" exclusively talking to the most anti-Hizbullah media there is? Why don't they talk to media that are at least less hostile than Christian Science Monitor or Time magazine or The Weekly Standard? There should be an article about articles on Hizbullah in Western media and the scoop imagination and Hariri propaganda office in Beirut.

Anne Barnard's video evidence

"Although rebels and the government accused each other of responsibility for the attack, video of the immediate aftermath suggested that it had involved a missile or missiles fired by the Syrian military."

Anne Barnard's methods of documentation and verification

"and it was impossible to independently corroborate the details provided by the anti-Assad activists. But the attack appeared to be one of the deadliest in the city..."

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Ha ha. Meet "Dani", the Hizbullah fighter

Let me tell you this. Any man in Hizbullah who uses the pseudonym "dani" is certainly not in Hizbullah. I can categorically state that. ""The interview with the fighter, who used the pseudonym Dany because the group's media department hadn't authorized him to discuss such matters, offered a chilling window into the intractability of the Syrian war." "Dany's reasons for fighting in Syria sounded quite similar to one of the U.S. government's rationales for invading Iraq 10 years ago: the need to stop Sunni extremists."" (thanks Amir)

Mufti-for-hire award

He is declared "scholar of the year". The award is given to a cleric who shows utmost loyalty to oil or gas. (thanks Basim)

When an Arab arrives in the US

"West Bank filmmaker Emad Burnat is hoping to make history Sunday by becoming the first Palestinian to win an Oscar, but he almost missed the chance to attend the ceremony when immigration officials at Los Angeles International Airport initially balked at letting him in the country."

Walid Jumblat as he prostrates at the feet of Saudi princes

You have to read this pathetic interview with Walid Jumblat in Al-Watan newspaper (the mouthpiece of Prince Khalid Al-Faysal).

Bahrain Update

From Angry Arab's chief correspondent on Bahrain:
"You of course heard of the Bahraini teenager, Hussain AlJazairi that was killed during protests commemorating the anniversary of the February 14 uprising. Protests have grown in size the past month or so and Bahrain has been back in the news again (well comparatively speaking). Whenever that happens you can be sure that the government will uncover a new "terrorist plot." This one is apparently backed by none other than the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (which seem to be everywhere these days). Now I don't know much about the Iranian Revolutionary Guard but I'm guessing they are much more sophisticated than whatever the Bahraini regime has managed to cook up this time. It would be funny except that 8 people have been arrested as a result. The terrorist network also has a facebook page apparently, called Sayara AlQuds or something like that. In case you were confused over how the revolutionary guard is in control of this terrorist operation, the AlWatan newspaper, which is close to the Minister of the Royal Court Khalid Bin Ahmad AlKhalifa has created this handy diagram for us to enjoy

Meanwhile the dialogue between opposition groups and pro-regime groups (moderated by the government) is still taking place although two pro-regime groups (the Muslim Brotherhood and some other pro-regime Islamist group) backed out because of the protests on the streets (which of course the opposition has no control over). Also Shaikh AlMahmood of the National Unity Gathering (pro-regime umbrella group) has said that an elected government is a red line that they cannot accept - I'm not sure why since they claim to be a majority. Apparently on February 21st (I believe?) there will be a pro-regime rally organized by the National Unity Gathering in AlFateh mosque (political rallies in mosques seem to only be illegal if they are anti-regime)."

an odd moment

In the Q and A after the panel last night at the University of Chicago, the moderator said: that we have received a question through Twitter to As`ad AbuKhalil. The person asked for my opinion about the latest statement by pro-Syrian regime politician, Nasir Qandil. I thought it was an odd moment and it was not easy for me to contain my amusement.

John Mearsheimer about the Israeli lobby

I had a chance to ask John Mearsheimer yesterday at the University of Chicago about his experience since the publication of his article (with Stephen Walt) and later book about the Israeli lobby. He permitted me to cite on the blog: he told me that he had published 11 op-ed pieces in the New York Times before the appearance of the article on the Israeli lobby. Two of those were solicited by the Times. He said that after the appearance of the article, he has not published one op-ed piece and the ones he sent were rejected. He said that his speaking engagements went through a steep decline as a result. But it was refreshing to see him not intimidated by the Israeli lobby that he wrote about. I suggested that some academic should write a book similar to the book that Paul Findley wrote about the US Congress.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

`Ali Salem: Israeli desperate quest for Arab normalizers

It is hilarious. The Hebrew section of Haaretz (but not the English section) published a long story about Egyptian clownish playwright, `Ali Salem (he was only famous for the clownish play, Madrasat Al-Mushagibin, which he had plagiarized and rendered into Egyptian dialect). Haaretz, typical of Israeli media, is keen on exaggeration the influence and significance of this guy, most Arabs don't even know who he is especially that his TV appearances are rather comical in incompetence and lack of eloquence (and he never dares calls for normalization with Israel in Arabic--he leaves that for appearances in the US and for interviews with Western journalists). So Haaretz talked about his many "works" and said that he writes for "important" newspapers, and named Al-Hayat (the mouthpiece of Prince Khalid bin Sultan bin Bribes) and Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat (the mouthpiece of Prince Salman).

Look how the New York Times regularly provides justifications for war crimes against `Alawite civilians in Syria

"Investigators also cited “credible admissions against their own interest” by witnesses of the mass killing of five members of one family whose execution was filmed and posted on the Internet. They said a member of the rebel Free Syrian Army had acknowledged that his brigade captured and executed five Alawites, members of the Shiite Muslim minority that provides the bedrock of support for President Bashar al-Assad." Would the New York Times ever refer to Jewish victims of violence as "the religious community that provides the bedrock of support for the Israeli government"?

You have to say this about UN work in Syria: their sources are always reliable, unlike Western news reports

"Drawing on the accounts of defectors and “insiders,”". Those insiders and defectors are not to be confused with the defectors and insiders from Iraq who informed the world about Saddam's WMDs.

International award for prostration before Saudi princes goes to a Lebanese diplomat

So the chargé d'affaires of the Lebanese embassy in Saudi Arabia said:
(And `Anuti said that as in Lebanon as in the Gulf there is freedom of expression). He made those remarks in an interview with the mouthpiece of Prince Salman, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat.

"وقال العانوتي إن في لبنان كما في الخليج حرية تعبير'"

Afghan civilians

" By contrast, only 8 percent of civilian deaths and injuries were caused by pro-government forces, including NATO.... Eleven percent of civilian casualties could not be attributed to either side.". Let me guess.

New York Times forgot to identify the countries that arm groups in Syria

"Though the White House has focused on the risks of providing weapons, other nations have had no such reservations. Russia has continued to provide arms and financial support to the Assad government. Iran has supplied the government with weapons and paramilitary Quds Force advisers. Hezbollah has sent militants to Syria to help Mr. Assad’s forces. On the other side, antigovernment Qaeda-affiliated fighters have been receiving financial aid and other support from their backers in the Middle East."

News from Bulgaria

From Ali in Turkey: "This is the most satisfactory news on how the "evidences" of Bulgarian government "underpining" its accusations against Hezbollah about Burgas bombing are groundless.

"The chief prosecutor in charge of the Bulgarian investigation revealed in an interview published in early January that the evidence available was too scarce to name any party as responsible, and that investigators had found a key piece of evidence that appeared to contradict it."

The Bulgarian government said they had well-grounded reasons to suspect that the three attackers were Lebanese with foreign passports and forged drivers licenses from Canada and Australia. Australia? As far as I know, thanks to the scandal of "Prisoner X", Israel is blamed to use Australian Jews for its false-flag operations."

Turkey and Israel

From David: "I came across this story when I was rummaging through the news of the day; Turkey, while 'strongly' condemning the settlement building plans in the West Bank, bought more military equipment from Israel. This is extremely important for those who still naively believe that the Turkish government has finally severed all ties with Israel. No one should ever believe that a country has completely or even partially severed with another, especially when military arrangements and contracts are still binding. We salute you, O Erdogan, for believing you duped Palestinians into believing for a brief moment that you were on their side; you have joined the ranks of several governments which still profess support for the Palestinians but secretly heart the Israeli regime i.e. India, Lebanon, Egypt, etc.

Please feel free to post this on your blog."