In the service of Mubarak

"Even Israel, which spent months attacking Hosni's candidacy, has backed off in recent months. Foreign Ministry officials said they got orders to drop the opposition after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited Cairo in May seeking Mubarak's cooperation in preventing arms smuggling to the Gaza Strip and other issues important to the Jewish state."

Nominated for prizes

"Bouthaina Shaaban is Political and Media Advisor at the Syrian Presidency, and former Minister of Expatriates. She was the spokesperson for Syria. She was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize in 2005." There is no need for bragging here. I, for example, not accustomed to bragging, feel compelled to tell my readers that I was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2005 and the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2002 and in Medicine in 1999.

Polling Arabs

You have to read this poll about Palestinian and Arab attitudes to Israel and Arab-Israeli peace to realize the errors, fallacies, and mistakes in Western polling of Arabs. Notice that the interviews were conducted in face-to-face interviews: pollsters were most certainly escorted by security men in Jordan and Egypt, and probably by Dahlan goons in West Bank. Most suspicious among the findings is the notion that Arabs blame Arafat for not accepting Camp David. The pollsters also add--as an after thought this: "While the numbers indicate ongoing, deep hostility toward Israel in the Arab world..."

Rafsanjani: king of Pistachio and fan of Saudism

The wealthiest man in Iran meets with the Saudi ambassador in Iran. Rafsanjani had nice words of praise for the Saudi king. (As-Safir)

Refugee: over and over again

"Muhammad Ali Barhoum is a Palestinian who fled Iraq to the Gaza Strip in 2008; he has one daughter living in Jordan with her husband while the rest remain in Iraq." (thanks Marcy)

An American conspiracy in Iran? What American conspiracy in Iran?

"The United States could play multiple roles in facilitating a revolution. By funding and helping organize domestic rivals of the regime, the United States could create an alternative leadership to seize power. As Raymond Tanter of the Iran Policy Committee argues, students and other groups “need covert backing for their demonstrations. They need fax machines. They need Internet access, funds to duplicate materials, and funds to keep vigilantes from beating them up.”52 Beyond this, U.S.-backed media outlets could highlight regime shortcomings and make otherwise obscure critics more prominent. The United States already supports Persian language satellite television (Voice of America Persian) and radio (Radio Farda) that bring unfiltered news to Iranians (in recent years, these have taken the lion’s share of overt U.S. funding for promoting democracy in Iran).53 U.S. economic pressure (and perhaps military pressure as well) can discredit the regime, making the population hungry for a rival leadership." (p. 105) (thanks Nikki)

laws of persecution in Israel's District 9

"In the first, a policeman who shot and killed an Arab citizen in 2006 was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment. The unbearable leniency of the sentence is more evidence of the total disregard for Arab life inside Israel, where ethnicity of the victim is a de facto mitigating circumstance in the case of Israel's Palestinian citizens. Indeed, this was the only case in which any policeman or soldier was indicted since the mass protests of October 2000, in spite of the fact that about 40 citizens were killed during this period. The second case involved an indictment against Rawi Sultani, a 23-year-old law student, for "contact with a foreign agent" and "delivering information to the enemy"; two flawed articles in Israel's laws comparable in their application to use of "national security" laws by authoritarian regimes elsewhere in the world. The young student is a political activist of the National Democratic Assembly (NDA), a party that calls for the transformation of Israel from a Jewish state into a state for all its citizens. Rawi is also the son of a well-known leader of the party. He is accused of having contact with another youth, who allegedly turned out to be a Hezbollah member, during a national Arab youth conference in Morocco. Allegedly, Rawi disclosed information regarding the Israeli army's chief of staff, given their membership in the same gym. Yet the case is based on a tendentious account of one statement of a publicly known fact regarding the chief's membership in that gym made by the accused. The identity of the accused, the identity of his father, the party to which they both belong, the timing of the case and the kind of charges chosen cannot be easily overlooked and give grounds to questioning the political incentives behind the indictment and the message behind it. One would be hard put to explain the extensive surveillance against leaders and activists of the NDA as revealed by this case." (thanks Nimer)

sex tourism in Lebanon

"Kamal owns a club in a coastal city north of Beirut which has a reputation as a prostitution hub. In this seaside city, so-called super nightclubs employ exclusively foreign women, mainly from eastern Europe, who travel to Lebanon on "artists' visas." They start off as dancers and often turn to -- or are forced into -- prostitution in afterhours. But Kamal says he prefers employing Lebanese and Syrian women, who are "in great demand among Arabs.""

Michel Sulayman: a puppet of Prince Muqrin?

Sources are telling me that Michel Sulayman, the president of what is left of Lebanon, is now very closely coordinating his every move with Prince Muqrin, whose term as head of Saudi foreign intelligence has just been renewed for another four years.

Dignified president of the collaborationist regime

This is one of my favorite pictures of Abu Mazen. Is it me or Abu Mazen looks particularly dignified in this picture?

Hizbullah and Salah `Izz Ad-Din (II)

Al-Akhbar (unlike most Arab media) allow readers to write uncensored comments under the articles of the paper. Do not get me wrong: Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat and other Saudi propaganda outlets allow readers to post uncensored praise and wishes for the Saudi royal family. Oh, yeah. They do allow that. Anyway, Hasan Nasrallah yesterday responded to rumors and talk about Hizbullah and its links to Salah `Izz Ad-Din. He tried to explain the large amount of money that one "Hizbullah official" deposited with `Izz Ad-Din. A reader (who says he supports Nasrallah) expressed his polite skepticism.

Los Angeles Times' coverage of the Middle East

" Lebanon's online lesbian magazine Bekhsoos is back after a nearly one-year hiatus for almost one year. The publication, whose Arabic name loosely translates as "Concerning," was launched as a quarterly magazine in early 2008 by members of the Lebanese lesbian group Meem and was billed as the Arab world's first publication for lesbian and bisexual women. Back then, Bekhsoos published a mixture of news about sexual identity in the Arab world. Now it plans to feature more investigative reports with the objective of filling "the gap of lesbian- and transgender-produced writing in the Arab world." A breaking news service is reportedly also in the pipeline for the magazine, which is run by a group of volunteers." I must say that the Los Angeles Times often covers stories from the Middle East that are not covered elsewhere in the US press. (thanks Olivia)

It is too late, o New York Times: you did declare the Afghan election a success

"Afghans loyal to President Hamid Karzai set up hundreds of fictitious polling sites where no one voted but where hundreds of thousands of ballots were still recorded toward the president’s re-election, according to senior Western and Afghan officials here. The fake sites, as many as 800, existed only on paper, said a senior Western diplomat in Afghanistan, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the political delicacy of the vote. Local workers reported that hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of votes for Mr. Karzai in the election last month came from each of those places. That pattern was confirmed by another Western official based in Afghanistan. “We think that about 15 percent of the polling sites never opened on Election Day,” the senior Western diplomat said. “But they still managed to report thousands of ballots for Karzai.” Besides creating the fake sites, Mr. Karzai’s supporters also took over approximately 800 legitimate polling centers and used them to fraudulently report tens of thousands of additional ballots for Mr. Karzai, the officials said." I am sorry Carlotta Gall. I don't mean to bother you: but you were the one who wrote an article with a flashing headline that the Afghan election was a success. And the fact that the New York Times later doctored the original article and removed the headline does not change the fact. I am glad that I noted the original article at the time. So now Carlotta will write daily articles about the corruption and fraud in the Afghan election hoping that we forget her early stamp of approval.

When the puppet denies that he is a puppet

"Afghan President Hamid Karzai says in an interview published in France that the United States is attacking him because it wants to him to be more "docile."" Yes, Mr. Karzai. You are not docile enough. I mean, you admit that you are a puppet; you are only disputing that you are docile puppet. So you are fighting for the right to be a dignified puppet. (thanks Ibn Rushd)

Notice that this is not a famous case in US media

"An Afghan journalism student who was jailed for asking questions in class about women’s rights under Islam has been freed after nearly two years, a media rights group said Monday. The student, Parwiz Kambakhsh, was convicted of blasphemy and originally sentenced to death. Rights groups have said he was a victim of an Afghan justice system that panders to religious conservatives at the expense of individual freedoms."

He is not a police state, he says

""We're not a police state, with all due respect," he said. "I understand the substance [of the criticism]—that the pendulum has swung too far. But it had to happen. This country was going to go down the tubes unless something decisive happened.""

Uri Avnery: he killed for Israel

You would notice that I never ever linked to articles by this man. Many Arabs and supporters of Palestine would often circulate articles by this man but I never lauded him or respected him or liked him. Here he defines himself: "I am an Israeli. I am an Israeli patriot." And let us not forget: this is a man who KILLED FOR ISRAEL.

Fayyad is your man, o Dahlan

"He is not, after all, a democratically elected prime minister." Who cares as long as he is doing the job and implementing orders.

Proof of democratic effectiveness according to Newsweek

"Crime and lawlessness have been cut significantly in hot zones like Nablus and Jenin, and Hamas has become nearly invisible in the West Bank." So according to Newsweek, any ruler who succeeds in making the opposition "invisible" deserves support and praise. OK. I understand the criteria now.

Salam Fayyad( the other face of Dahlan) and Hanan Ashrawi

It is of course coincidental that American media are now paying tributes to Salam Fayyad (the Israeli/American puppet in Ramallah and who was assigned as the successor to Abu Mazen when the latter is still alive which explains the tensions between the two puppets these days). One article after another. The Israeli press is more coy because they know that they would hurt their puppet with praise. But I want to finally say a word about Hanan Ashrawi: I never met her although we appeared once in a TV interview. Edward Said was right in his suspicions about her especially after Oslo. She clearly wants to play it safe and both ways: she claims that she speaks for human rights when (as the article in Newsweek clearly shows) she is very close behind-the-scenes to Salam Fayyad. Let us not forget that she and Fayyad ran on the same list in the last Palestinian legislative election-under-occupation and they both received a whopping 2.4% of the vote. Ashrawi praises her partner (I almost said collaborator) by saying that he does not "aim to please." She must have meant that he does not aim to please the Palestinian people because he is busy aiming to please the American-Israeli masters. Ashrawi was silent about the corruption of the PLO and the secret deals and collaboration between the Ramallah gang and the Israeli occupying master. Ashrawi lost her ability to have it both ways a long time ago: she should be considered exactly where she squarely is: fixed in the Dahlan camp.

Fayyadism: the highest stage of Dahlanism

"The prime minister has imposed the order he so values by helping to engineer a series of brutal crackdowns. In the past two years, PA troops have arrested some 8,000 Palestinians in the West Bank; nearly 700 are still in prison. Former inmates tell of beatings and torture. If prisoners see the inside of a courtroom, it is often presided over by a military judge. Critics contend that the arrests are largely political, aimed at West Bank Islamists. "The pendulum has swung from a state of lawlessness to a police state," said one Palestinian-rights advocate, who didn't want to be identified in order to stay on Fayyad's good side. The security sweeps also threaten to undermine any potential reconciliation between the West Bank and Hamas-controlled Gaza, which many observers believe is a prerequisite to any peace deal. Even some of the prime minister's closest friends have begun warning him in private that his heavy hand risks damaging his legitimacy. Looking like an American proxy is also a liability—one the Islamists do their best to exploit."

The Palestinians in Lebanon

Nahla Shahhal on the Palestinians in Lebanon.

US arms sales for liberty

"Despite a recession that knocked down global arms sales last year, the United States expanded its role as the world’s leading weapons supplier, increasing its share to more than two-thirds of all foreign armaments deals, according to a new Congressional study. The United States signed weapons agreements valued at $37.8 billion in 2008, or 68.4 percent of all business in the global arms bazaar, up significantly from American sales of $25.4 billion the year before. Italy was a distant second, with $3.7 billion in worldwide weapons sales in 2008, while Russia was third with $3.5 billion in arms sales last year — down considerably from the $10.8 billion in weapons deals signed by Moscow in 2007... Weapons sales to developing nations reached $42.2 billion in 2008, only a nominal increase from the $41.1 billion in 2007. The United States was the leader not only in arms sales worldwide, but also in sales to nations in the developing world, signing $29.6 billion in weapons agreements with these nations, or 70.1 percent of all such deals. The study found that the larger arms deals concluded by the United States with developing nations last year included a $6.5 billion air defense system for the United Arab Emirates, a $2.1 billion jet fighter deal with Morocco and a $2 billion attack helicopter agreement with Taiwan. Other large weapons agreements were reached between the United States and India, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Korea and Brazil." (thanks Matt)

Lebanese and racism

The publisher of Al-Akhbar, Hasan Khalil, writes that Lebanese in Africa are "alert" against racial discrimination. In fact, the Lebanese have a reputation for deep and blatant racism in Africa. A relative AbuKhalil who is an immigrant in Africa, married an African woman. The community nicknamed him: "zawj Al-`abdah". (Husband of the slave). (thanks Hicham)

Prayer before sex

Now the Muslim rule. (thanks Sarah)

Nahr Al-Barid: dont forgive, don't forget

"Palestinian factions staged protests in refugee camps all across the country on Friday to condemn the ongoing delay in reconstructing the battered northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared. Demonstrations were held in Ain al-Hilweh, near the southern coastal city of Sidon, al-Buss, near the port city of Tyre, and Chatila on the outskirts of the capital, to express solidarity with the refugees of Nahr al-Bared, who have yet to return home two years after the end of the battles between the Lebanese Army and the Al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam militant group. " Who care about the ruins, and people should protest the Hariri government AND the `Awnist movement which are delaying the reconstruction. (thanks Tamara)

The Dahlan Ambassador in UAE

The Dahlan PA ambassador in the UAE denies news of expulsion of Palestinians from the UAE, and claims that he knows of no such cases. A reliable and known reporter in the UAE sent me this comment: "This is a blatant lie. A reliable source said he called the ambassador and told him personally about these expulsions, yet he is acting dumb. The ambassador here is known to be a self-serving...Dahlanist type. No names please."

Buying fake degrees

Many are from the Middle East. (thanks Kamal)

No one can stop the Palestinians

And nothing can stop the Palestinians. (thanks Lucia)

This needs to be publicied: notice that no mention in US media

"A number of Palestinians and Lebanese Shi'ites have been forced to leave the United Arab Emirates in recent months, Palestinian and Lebanese officials said on Friday." (thanks Andrew)

Missing Israel terrorists

I don't care about what happened to some Israeli terrorists who were caught bombing Lebanon, or killing Palestinians. I don't want updates about their status and I don't want to even mention their names to humanize the killers to the world. I care more about the plight of a rotten potato in a garden than I care about the plight of some Israeli terrorist bomber who was shot down over Lebanon.

American Zionist liberals

"Madonna is reportedly spending the Sabbath eve at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home." Forget about the celebrity culture and forget about a person whose knowledge of world affairs is distracted by her constant search for poor African children to buy. But it made me think: that American Zionist liberals are not even like Israeli Zionist liberals. Israeli Zionist liberals are aware of the right-left dichotomy (as bad and criminal and terrorist the Israeli Zionist liberals and conservatives are), while American liberal Zionists identify with Israel so much that they disregard the right-left dichotomy. This is a woman who would never be seen with a right-wing American politician, but would be honored to dine with a fascist Israeli leader. Such are the standards of American Zionist liberals: Madonna mocks George W. Bush, and honors Netanyahu, who is to the right of Bush.

Israel's District 9: "Checks and Imbalances"

"A Palestinian girl cries as she waits to cross the West Bank Israeli checkpoint of Qalandia into Jerusalem to attend the second Ramadan Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa mosque in the old city on September 4, 2009." (thanks Julie)

Dictators that you heart

"The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Moroccan authorities to end an investigation of two journalists who have already been interrogated for 40 hours over an article about the health of the king. Authorities have repeatedly pressed them to reveal their sources, according to their lawyer. Editor Ali Anouzla and journalist Bochra Daou of the independent daily Al-Jarida al-Oula ‎were detained on Tuesday and released Thursday night, the journalists' lawyer, Hassan Semlali‎, told CPJ. Semlali said the Rabat Prosecution Office accused them of publishing false news about King Mohamed VI's health in an August 27 article that reported he was ill with a virus." (thanks Mariwan)

Stop the presses: the US is winning hearts, minds, and stomachs of Muslims

"DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ
JOINT TASK FORCE 134
Detainee Operations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release 20090906
Sept. 6, 2009

Camp Cropper distributes dates to detainees for Ramadan

CAMP CROPPER, Iraq – Dining facility personnel received seven tons of dates from the Government of Iraq here recently to give to detainees observing Ramadan. The dates play an important role in religious practices during Ramadan". (thanks anonymous in Baghdad).

Flash: Saudi Fatwawawa about Women

A Saudi TV preacher ruled that women's voices are not pudenda and that Muslim women can greet men provided that their voices are not flirtatious. (thanks Olivia)

Shadha `Amr (or `Umar) of LBC: her praise for the Saudi King

Shadha `Amr (or `Umar) was one of the few broadcasters on LBC-TV who was a Muslim in a sectarian Christian environment. She even mentioned that only a few people were nice to her, including producer Marwan Matni (her second husband) who is a Lebanese Forces supporter although his father and uncle were brave socialists who supported Kamal Jumblat. Shadha `Amr bothers me: she is quite annoying and quite partisan and biased and thinks that she can prove her objectivity by asserting that she is objective, assuming that the Lebanese viewers can't see her blatant political biases (this is a common trait among Lebanese journalists: they always think that if they repeat that they are objective that they would be perceived as objective--how dumb is that?). `Amr and her Lebanese Forces supporter husband almost joined Future Hariri TV in 2007 to reward them for political stances. And people in Lebanon know that no one is offered a job at Hariri TV or Saudi TV without him or her being of the "correct" political stance. `Amr is--I have to admit--intelligent, capable, sharp, and competent at what she does although she has no charm and no sense of humor, and that was obvious in the interview with her on Nishan's program. She is disturbingly quite sectarian (anti-Shi`ite) in her interviews and was most sectarian when LBC-TV interrupted her show one day to show the scene of the arrest of Ziyad Humsi (an accused Israeli spy who was active in the Hariri movement in the Biqa` region where she is from). She asked the Lebanese Forces-Phalanges Minister of Justice whether this arrest would not aggravate sectarian tensions in the country. This Lebanese Forces-Phalanges Minister of Justice (somebody I detest) was disturbed to his credit by her question and told her: not so, because the accused spies of Israel come from different sectarian backgrounds. Ever since that day, I have decided that she is one of the worst TV broadcasters. To make it worse: she spoke fawningly about Saudi government, Saudi clerics, and praised the Saudi King as "commander of the Reform Revolution" in Saudi Arabia. I kid you not. Just imagine the quality of Lebanese journalists when they prostrate themselves before Saudi rulers. She praised the Saudi reforms and even criticized her own colleague at LBC-TV, Malik Maktabi, because he (according to what she said) offended Saudi royal sensibilities. Oh, and she watches CNN: that is considered a high honor in the lousy Batata homeland.

PS And can she stop the annoying habit of saying "بمكان ما"
in every sentence???

Hizbullah and Salah `Izz Ad-Din

A Hizbullah members of parliament, Husayn Hajj Hsan, lost $400,000 with `Izz Ad-Din. That is a lot of money especially that I was told a few years ago by senior party leaders that Hizbullah ministers and members of parliament are required to donate most of their salaries and keep a small portions of it. Something has changed in the culture of Hizbullah, it seems.

From Israel's District 9

"Eyewitnesses reported Israeli forces beating a citizen at the District Coordination Office checkpoint east of Qalqiliya Saturday evening. The witnesses said Israeli forces attacked a man they identified as 43-year-old Ayman Abdul Maksoud Tebbieh, pulled him from his car and beat him. "

The Lebanese Shi`ite Madoff

My mother is closely following the case of Salah `Izz Ad-Din (the Lebanese Shi`ite Madoff with ties to Amal and Hizbullah). She is convinced that Israel had a role in the matter. I find that to be very likely. Yet, those (especially in Hizbullah's leadership or among its members, as Ibrahim Amin pointed out last week) who sought quick riches (with little regard to their own religious rules on profit) are responsible for the phenomenon. I feel the man is still being treated like a celebrity and his ties to Hizbullah and his charitable work may have protected him from public wrath. I read that his minimum share for an investment was $100,000.00 but that it was later raised to $500,000.00.

Fadi Nahas: to blog or not to blog

So I posted this a week or more ago. Yesterday, Fadi Nahas called me from Turkey. He of course was displeased with the post and asked me questions regarding the rules and ethics of what I blog. He did not raise legal questions and he made me feel guilty. I started thinking about what I should or should not post: regarding items from people that I know or do not know. I believe that this is the second item of this kind and the first time I also received a complaint from the targeted individual. I told both of them that I would post whatever response they may have. But Fadi Nahas disputed facts in the post and I was convinced that I wronged him. So I will no more post information or allegation from people about other people who have no political positions or public posts. Of course, I will post about Arab rulers or princes or militia leaders, etc. But when it comes to private individuals even if they are known business people or others, I should be more restrained especially--as Fadi pointed out to me--that people may have agendas or personal interests or whatever, although it is not the case in this particular item. This is not a newspaper so the rules are not the same, and I tell people that a blog has to develop its own rules. And this case allowed me to reflect and to develop a new rule regarding what I post from other sources, as reliable as they may be. Of course, this post was more about the bad standards and corruption of Lebanese media but it also targeted an individual. Of course, wealthy individuals with political power or with ambitions of political power (like the Hariri family or the lousy Al-Hakim family in Iraq) will be treated like rulers by me: i.e. very shabbily.

PS So basically it is a policy against gossip or rumors and I have even avoided posting about the personal lives of rulers.

Investigating: we shall get back to you

"A Swedish charity accused American troops Monday of storming through a hospital in central Afghanistan, breaking down doors and tying up staff in a search for militants. The U.S. military said it was investigating."

Zionism-IS-Racism

"Every day security guards check people entering Ben-Gurion International Airport on whether their accent sounds Arab, and no one complains. That is not racism. It's how we have organized for ourselves an ethical code of double and triple moral standards. We fight against a few manifestations and close our eyes to other, far worse, examples. The case of the Petah Tikva pupils is the tip of the racism iceberg. Children engender special feelings; shameful revelations about the school system will always yield a scandal. But the very week the country was in a huff over the Ethiopians, Nir Hasson reported in Haaretz that Jerusalem invests NIS 577 a year in a pupil from East Jerusalem and NIS 2,372 in a pupil from West Jerusalem. Four times less, only because of the child's ethnicity. That does not count here as racism. Neither does the fact that East Jerusalem lacks about 1,000 classrooms, only because its residents are Palestinian. No one howls against these revelations, no one is infuriated by them, including the president, who fights against racism." (thanks Olivia)

Zionist rules

"A Negev farmer acquitted of manslaughter charges for the death of a Bedouin who broke into his farm two years ago has been handed a plea bargain by which he will serve six months of community service for illegally carrying a weapon."

Saudi justice

"Two Saudi men who allegedly photographed 30 convicts being lashed recently at Az-Zahra Square on Al-Arbaeen Street will soon go on trial. The two were referred by the Commission for Investigation and Prosecution (CIP) to the Summary Court."