Abed is back: and he is sound and safe. "It is not that simple. The Shias are the downtrodden, the poor, the dispossessed, those who have always been ignored by the dons and patriarchs of the Lebanese government ­ for in one sense this is also a social revolution ­ and on the other were the Sunni population so beloved of Hariri and the Druze and the Christians still loyal to the Lebanese forces who were Israel's allies in 1982 and who massacred the Palestinians in the camps of Sabra and Chatila, as well as a majority of Lebanese innocents who voted Siniora's government into power." And then Fisk says:
"My driver, Abed, and I tried to reach the airport."

"Hillary Clinton has a soft spot for Israel."

Ultra Lebanese nationalist, crackpot poet Sa`id `Aqi, offers his praise for the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. (thanks Hicham--I am not sure that I should thank you for this). What did they do with people like him, people in Europe who cheered the Nazi invasion of Europe?

The US congress during the State of the Union speech, with all the cheering and hollering, remind Arabs of parliaments in the Arab world. I mean, it could be a scene from Damascus or Cairo.

...off to Boston. Speaking at this conference at Tufts University. Returning on Saturday.

A radio interview I taped in Canada. (thanks Laith)

Bush has a new plan for energy conservation. He suggested that you fill your cars with olive oil instead of gasoline. I tried it, and it works. Wait, I am slipping. Help.

""This is not democracy," said Roger Hayek, a government supporter and member of the Phalange Party, a Christian group. He pointed across lines of soldiers separating the sides, standing in a smoky haze. "This is an image of Iraq." A friend jumped in: "They're animals.""

Bush in his speech spoke about "battery research." That is great news for the King of Jordan. He has been looking for a portable PlayStation with longer battery life. Help is on the way, o King of Jordan.

Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya now have the annoying habit of carrying Bush's State of the Union speech live, with Arabic translation. Do they now think that the Arab world is part of that Union?

If you enjoy the "liberal" Saudi-funded, Wahhabi Arabic press, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat is your newspaper. Here, Tariq Al-Humayyid (is that how he pronounces his name?) asks King `Abdullah of Jordan (as the latter was handling his PlayStation III): "Your Majesty, what distinguishes the experience of your country is that the royal palace remained the security barrier for Jordan in the face of the fundamentalist resurgence, and the [Arab] nationalist prior to that, and other currents that invaded the Arab world, so how did the palace do that?" His Answer: "We are an umbrella for all..." The King also said that the Jordanian constitution is considered "one of the best and most modern".

Don't you like the civilized? Hariri TV aired an interview with this dude who started talking by saying: "We are very civilized. I am very civilized," and went on to support Sanyurah and Fatfat.

The lessons of yesterday's developments in Lebanon are not only that Lebanon is far from addressing the underlying causes of its last protracted civil war, but that its next civil war--whenever it comes--will be even more savage and more bloody than the last one.

In Tripoli, yesterday (according to As-Safir) a coffee vendor was injured. He was too scared to give his name, but said that pro-government loyalists shot at him.

A militia man of the right-wing Lebanese Forces in Lebanon yesterday.

Fu'ad Sanyurah reacting to developments in Lebanon.

Racism of Al-Qa`idah. Al-Qa`idah's number 2 who has the charisma of a potato, came out with yet another speech that is read more by Americans than by Arabs. Let us face it: I prefer to watch Larry King read from the phone book than Ayman Dhawahiri deliver a speech--and Larry King is as boring as they come. Well, in his new speech, he referred to the Ethiopian invading army in Somalia as "`abid Bush." (slaves of Bush). The word has clear racist connotations in Arabic as racist Arabs refer to dark skinned people as "`abid." But are you surprised?

In other news, Israeli occupation troops destroyed a Palestinian house in Jerusalem.

The pathetic Minister of Finance of Lebanon, a Hariri tool, spoke: he said that the protests of Lebanon "distort the image of Lebanon." What a lovely image of Lebanon you have, o minister. But then again he is right. The savage civil war years of Lebanon really planted a lovely image of Lebanon on the mind of the world.

The wise Joseph Samahah offers his analysis of the longest day of Lebanon.

It is settled. I mean that. The matter is now officially settled. The White Man has rendered a decisive judgment. In an interview with Hariri and Saudi-owned Lebanese TV stations, Chirac declared that the Lebanese government of Sanyurah is "legitimate." But my favorite part of the interview was when he prefaced his hour-long discussion of internal Lebanese developments by saying that he "does not interfere in Lebanese politics."

Flash. The US Department of State is outraged. At the highest level of the US government, there is concern. "Lebanese factions allied with Syria are blocking roads." Help. They are blocking roads, they said. But I am not worried. I really truly think that the 20,000 additional troops in Iraq will also solve the problems of Lebanon and Palestine (although I am not sure that they will solve the problems of Somalia. But 20,000 additional Ethiopian troops in Somalia can do the job).

Today, Sunni supporters of Sanyurah (Hariri goons) raised pictures of Saddam, while Christian supporters of Sanyurah (Lebanese Forces goons), raised the American flag. Very ironic, no? Here is the New York Times (yes, Hassan Fattah is there now. I am thrilled, are you not?): "The other side, lined up across the street, raised photographs of Mr. Hariri and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, and even of Saddam Hussein, while shouting epithets back." Notice the word back at the end of the sentence. Fattah, who got the job at the New York Times and I can't wait to read him covering Metro desk, by inserting that one word at the end of the sentence clearly and casually identified "who started it." Not very sneaky, o graduate of the New Republic school of Fair Middle East Studies.

I wonder. Will Bush be praising the "Cedar Revolution" today? I wonder. Also, I wonder. Will the US government today declare burning tires as terrorism? I wonder.

"AbuKhalil took questions from The Varsity about the causes and consequences of Israel's campaign against Lebanon last summer."
PS I spoke of the vulnerability of Israel (not of "Israelis" as I was incorrectly quoted).

""Dr. Saeb Erekat relates that when Bill Clinton visited Israel in 2004 in honor of Shimon Peres' 80th birthday, he had a chance to ask the former U.S. president why he blamed Yasser Arafat for the failure of the Camp David talks. Clinton, Erekat says, said Ehud Barak told him that if he blamed the Palestinians, it would help him (Barak) win the elections. "" (thanks O Alawna)

Al-Arabiya TV anchors today all but hit their guests who were siding with the opposition. One of them, (Kan`an guy), almost cursed and yelled at a supporter of `Awn. But remember the motto of Al-Arabiya (quoted by non-Arabic speaking WP's David Ignatius): "professional, professional, professional." Professional, my potato. Professional, my potato. Professional, my potato.

Fatfatonmics: is a particular brand of economic science associated with the peculiar mind of Ahmad Fatfat (of Fatfatism fame). Ahmad Fatfat was today on all TV stations: as Minister of Sports, he is most qualified to analyze the sports activities in Lebanon today. So he was trying (on LBC TV) to explain the large debt of Lebanon: he said that basically Rafiq Hariri's government (some 13 years from 1992, with Fu'ad Sanyurah as Minister of Finance) was not responsible at all for the debt. He said that the `Umar Karami's government in 1992 and the Salim Huss government (1998-2000) were the governments that accumulated the debt. The other governments merely paid interest on the Karami-Huss debt, he added. I kid you not.

I heard the US ambassador in Lebanon condemn the tactics used by the opposition in Lebanon. Have those tactics not been used by the civil rights movement in the US? But then again. I would not be surprised if the US ambassador in Lebanon is a dedicated white supremacist.

Today, in an interview with Hariri and LBC TV, Chirac called Rafiq Hariri "historique." It is true. I mean, the installation of a prime minister of Lebanon by Syrian intelligence was quite "historique."

I had two weird nightmares last night. In one of them, I was appointed by King `Abdullah of Saudi Arabia as head of Saudi intelligence. And I was asked to brief the king daily. I knew that this could not be reality when the King in the dream was quite articulate. In the second nightmare, I was a producer of Bill O'Reilly. I kid you not.

LBC-TV station is very funny. I mean that. I mean the station of the Lebanese Forces militia (who were responsible for the heroic Sabra and Shatila massacres among other war crimes) are capable of so blatantly distorting reality--even making the director Elia Kazan a Lebanese (search this site). Today, when all Lebanese and international media are reporting that the country was shut down, LBC-TV would show one--ONE--open store and say: the area of Ashrafiyyah remained fully open today. They also showed one guy--ONE--sitting (ostensibly in a cafe although the place looked like a living room) and said: Ra's An-Nab` was fully open.

"The IDF unveiled an Urban Warfare Training Center (UTC) on Monday in a mock city that simulates an Arab town, four months after the second Lebanon war ended." (thanks Sara)

"“People are a little bit afraid of them,” Mr. O’Reilly said, attributing it partly to traditional Christian education that he said had long taught that “their philosophy of religion was ‘convert to Islam or die.’ ” The fact that Arab-Americans in Dearborn are prone to demonstrations, including protests against last summer’s war in Lebanon and the recent hanging of Saddam Hussein, only adds to the unease, he said." I have to admit that this is true. I mean, I can't deny that. Due to a particular genetic makeup, we Arabs are really prone to demonstrations. In fact, sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night (my two ex wives can attest to that) in sweats: I would feel a very strong and very uncontrollable urge to...demonstrate. It is not uncommon for me to wake up at 2:00AM or 3:00AM and just get out of my house and...demonstrate. I even find myself spontaneously chanting: With Spirit, With Blood. I sacrifice Myself for you, O Bush. Oh, I have meant to ask you: are you also a "little bit afraid" of me?

The Master Terrorist. At last, US occupation troops were able to capture the head terrorist in Iraq. It is believed that this little boy is single-handedly responsible for all acts of violence in Iraq. The NYT posted this caption under the picture: "A young Iraqi detained by the Americans after a firefight was photographed and tested for explosives." So a baby, according to New York Times editors, is a very very young man/woman. On the front page of the hard copy of the New York Times there was a picture of an American soldier tenderly holding an Iraqi baby. I could not find the picture on the website (would somebody find it for me NOW). Basically it is true. Iraqis are uniformly of the view that yes we are killed and maimed by US bombs, but we don't care as long as US occupation soldiers hold our babies for photo opportunities staged by John Burns.

Look at this graffiti from a picture in today's New York Times. Look how obvious that this statement was written not by Iraqis but by the Americans themselves. Arabs don't abbreviate (not to mention the expression "Hey Americans.").

It appears from today's events in Lebanon that Lebanese Forces' goons were the most eager for civil strife in Lebanon.

You know that tactics used by the opposition in Lebanon today are mere imitations of what paid Rafiq Hariri goons (supported by Syrian intelligence) used back in 1992, when the Syrian regime orchestrated the downfall of `Umar Karami to bring in Rafiq Hariri. There were accusations that the plan at the time was also coordinated by former head of Lebanese Army intelligence, Johny `Abduh. Read the details of that day in Nabil Haytham's I Inhabit this Book (a biographical account of Nabih Birri).

Liz Cheney explains some Middle East realities: "We are fighting the war on terrorism with allies across the globe, leaders such as Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan and Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan. Brave activists are also standing with us, fighting for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the empowerment of women." Do you disagree? I mean, do you disagree that House of Saud is standing with the US in order to guarantee freedom of religion and empowerment of women?

"Israeli separation barrier is cutting off Palestinians from their livelihood"

"General Staff document: Large rise in number of rapes in IDF"

But don't you think that global opinion would be different in the wake of the dispatch of the additional 20,000 troops who will do wonders in Iraq.

"The view of the US's role in the world has deteriorated both internationally and domestically, a BBC poll suggests."

An Arabiya correspondent in Beirut was interviewing a man on the street. She assumed that he was with the Sanyurah government. He knew what she was up to: he told her that he was for the protests. She did not ask him another question, and the anchor (the same one from below): asked her to find another opinion. She was in a panic. The correspondent walked but could not find one for Sanyurah but promised that "the other opinion will be heard later."