"fraudulent appeal of Marxism" (oh, how I miss the fraudulent appeal of Marxism in the Middle East)

"‘There is a tide of self-confidence and self-awareness in the Muslim world which preceded the Iranian revolution, and will outlast its present excesses. The West should recognise this with respect, not hostility. The Middle East is an area where we all have much at stake. It is in own interests, as well as in the interests of the people of that region, that they build on their own deep religious traditions. We do not wish to see them succumb to the fraudulent appeal of imported Marxism...’” " (thanks Nu`man)

Margaret Thatcher in December 1979 in a speech to the US think-tank Foreign Policy Association. Quote comes from Mark Curtis, Secret Affairs, pg., 136.

They are supporting the Lebanese Army to shoot at other Lebanese (and Palestinians) but not at Israeli invaders

"Some members of Congress are threatening to reassess US aid to the Lebanese military following its border clash with Israel on Tuesday. “To start shooting as they did – one person killed, one seriously injured – is a very serious move by the Lebanese army,” said Florida Rep. Ron Klein, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in response to a question from The Jerusalem Post."

The book burners of AlAzhar are at it again

""Publishing such novel is an act of infidelity against prophet Muhammad," said an official statement by the council of Muslim scholars at Azhar, adding that the newspaper "couldn’t have found a worse way of welcoming the holy month of Ramadan than by hurling insults at the prophet.""

airstrikes and artillery are not forbidden: just to be sure

"However, the directive is also meant to address what those officials described as a "misperception" among some junior field commanders that airstrikes and artillery — two of the international forces' main battlefield advantages against the insurgents — were all but forbidden."

The mood in Lebanon

There is a mood of anxiety in Lebanon. People are really concerned about the prospects of an Arab-Israeli war. A friend called me from South Lebanon yesterday because his wife was freaking out being there and wanted assurances from me that there is no war. I tell people who ask me daily that there is no war coming here, but that it is hard to prove. I had a long argument/discussion with Norman Finkelstein last week about this issue: he thinks that war is coming and I don't. Don't get me wrong: all sides are preparing but Israel does not have any more tricks up its dirty sleeves against Hizbullah. They tried all that they had and got humiliated back in 2006. Why would killing more Lebanese civilians and destroying many more buildings advance the Israeli cause, you would as. Israel ran out of options against Hizbullah a few years ago. The uncovering of wide network of Israeli spies in Lebanon is the biggest espionage story in the history of the Middle East conflict. Israel "uncovers" one Arab spy in Israel and it becomes a sensational international headline. Lebanon and its police--Lebanon for potato's sake--are producing Israeli spies at the rate of one a week--and the international press is barely taking notice. This is big. This will set back all Israeli criminal espionage decades backwards. That is what Hasan Nasrallah meant about the "blind elephant." Gulf tourists did not show up in large numbers this summer: partly due to anxieties about war and partly because the Gulf tourists now prefer Syria and Egypt because the people there don't cheat them like the Lebanese do. A Lebanese can't see a Saudi without seeing dollar signs over his/her head. It is pathetic. One should say more about Saudi Arabia: the ruling elite is fragmented more than ever. Every prince is practically running his own media and his own foreign policy.

How Efraim Karsh documents his propaganda

"But the "survey" was actually a website readers' poll, the kind one might find on many news websites--and the kind of thing no one would take as a serious expression of public sentiment on any issue." (thanks Peter)

Repression in the UAE

"The Emirati authorities have been harassing and arresting users of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) who allegedly tried to organise a protest against an increase in the price of gasoline (one of the highest in the Arab world). The protest was eventually called off. BBM user Badr Ali Saiwad Al Dhohori, an 18-year-old resident of Ras Al Khaimah, has reportedly been held in Abu Dhabi since 15 July." (thanks Hani)

Army the Lebanese Army

""Countries are providing the Lebanese army with advanced weaponry for it to fight Hezbollah" Now the Israeli war criminal army is desperate to explain the humiliating shooting of an Israeli war criminal commander. They don't even know that Shi`ites constitute the single largest sect in the Army and that most in the Army, regardless of sect, are fiercely anti-Israeli. (thanks Mick)

Chutzpah

"Israel will launch a diplomatic campaign calling on the United States and France to stop their military assistance to Lebanon following Tuesday's exchange of fire on the northern border." (thanks anonymous)

House of Saud

In this front page headline, the mouthpiece of Prince Salman and his sons (Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat) mocks Hizbullah for not shooting at Israeli yesterday. The same newspaper mocks and attacks Hizbullah whenever it shoots at Israeli. Inconsistency? Not really. It just adjusts its yellow journalistic propaganda to the interests of Israel, whatever they are.

The pro-Hariri propaganda of Robert Fisk

I have offered to buy a golden watch to officiate over a retirement ceremony for Robert Fisk. Look at this lousy piece of his. 1) he claims that the border is murky between Lebanon and Palestine when the picture in the article shows the fence. 2) look how many times he uses "Iranian funded" in reference to Hizbullah but he does not say US-funded about the usurping entity; 3) he talks about the efforts of Sa`d Hariri and his phone calls but he does not tell readers that the man is on his yacht in Sardinia. 4) Notice how he spells the name of the latest Israeli spy as Milad Ein Forgetting that "Ein" is the reference to hte first letter of his last name when his full name was identified on TV here. 5) Is Abed, his driver, sleeping because Fisk is really out of it these days. I mean, between watching Rima Maktabi on CNN and reading Fisk in the Independent on Lebanon, I would rather consume large amounts of crack cocaine provided it is legal on some remote island, of course.

Israeli provocation

Israel was deliberately trying to provoke Hizbullah yesterday in order to put attention on Hizbullah's presence in South Lebanon. It is funny that Israel uses the same rhetoric against Hizbullah that it had used against the PLO, i.e. it wants Hizbullah removed from South Lebanon forgetting that Hizbullah is comprised of the villagers themselves in South Lebanon, and is not an alien force. Yesterday, NBN TV reported that the Lebanese Army and "some villagers" shot back at Israel. I bet that the villagers' aim was excellent in shooting an Israeli occupation war criminal commander.

On the fiont page of An-Nahar

On the front page of An-Nahar (the lousy racist anti-Syrian (people), anti-Palestinian (people), right-wing, sectarian Christian Beirut newspaper), is the news of a Saudi donation of dates to Lebanon. (thanks Mahmood)

Israeli war criminals on camera

Here, Israeli war criminals arrest a Palestinian man for "stealing" his own water. His son runs after him.

Why Lebanon should invade Israel

Look at this picture (AP). It shows that the Israeli occupation war criminal to the left has crossed the so-called Blue Line. Back in 2006, Zionists in the US gave Israel the right to invade Lebanon in response to the so-called violation of the Blue Line. So Lebanon is now, by their own logic, justified in launching a massive attack on Israel.

CNN

I will never ever mock CNN anymore. I will only say this: what do you expect of a network that has Rima Maktabi as its Middle East analyst. But Thomas Friedman will soon reassure you that she is not scary because she is Christian (as he did in the case of Octavia Nasr). I will add this: that she is a right-wing fanatic and her father died with the Phalanges Party during the war.

Flash

Al-Akhbar correspondent, `Assaf Bu Rahhal, died from wounds caused by indiscriminate Israeli shelling over South Lebanon.

Foreign maids flee abuse in Kuwait

"With nowhere else to go, dozens of Nepalese maids who fled from their employers now sleep on the floor in the lobby of their embassy here, next to the visitors’ chairs. In the Philippines Embassy, more than 200 women are packed in a sweltering room, where they sleep on their luggage and pass the time singing along to Filipino crooners on television. So many runaways are sheltering in the Indonesian Embassy that some have left a packed basement and taken over a prayer room.And in the coming weeks, when Ramadan starts, the number of maids seeking protection is expected to grow, perhaps by the hundreds, straining the capacity of the improvised shelters, embassy officials say. With Kuwaiti families staying up into the early hours of the morning, some maids say they cook more, work longer hours and sleep less." (thanks Olivia)

Prince Salman and his sons really heart Netanyahu

Just take a look at the headline of Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat (the mouthpiece of Prince Salman and his sons).

August 2006

Comrade Khaled writes about August 2006.

Efraim Karsh

I wrote about this guy before especially his really lousy book, Islamic Imperialism. But this piece is funny: for more than 50 years, Zionists have been saying that Arabs don't care about the Palestinians. But if that is the case, why is the Palestinian question still so central in Arab political culture and Arab public opinion? And if it is not important, why the need to reassert that regularly? It is only the wishful thinking of Zionist hoodlums in the West. (thanks Joelle)

Ban on Blackberry in UAE and Saudi Arabia

"The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the United Arab Emirates’ decision to suspend BlackBerry services for e-mail, instant messaging, and browsing the Web. The communications authority in the UAE announced on Sunday that it would suspend the data applications as of October 11. CPJ calls on the authorities to recall the ban, which is an attempt to control the flow of information and monitor communication in the country." Of course, CPJ should also be concerned and alarmed about the ban in Saudi Arabia announced just yesterday and the sad part is that Saudi media are voicing support for the ban. Did I call them "Saudi media"? Do they deserve that label? (thanks Rima)

Violent religious fanaticism that is ignored by the New York Times

"A rabbi from one of the most violent settlements in the West Bank was questioned on suspicion of incitement last week as Israeli police stepped up their investigation into a book in which he sanctions the killing of non-Jews, including children and babies. Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira is one of the leading ideologues of the extreme wing of the religious settler movement. He is known to be a champion of the "price-tag" policy of reprisal attacks on Palestinians, including punishing them for attempts by officials to enforce Israeli law against the settlements. So far the policy has chiefly involved violent harassment of Palestinians, with settlers inflicting beatings, attacking homes, throwing stones, burning fields, killing livestock and poisoning wells. It is feared, however, that Shapira's book The King's Torah, published last year, is intended to offer ideological justifications for widening the scope of such attacks to include killing Palestinians, even children."

You can't say that Obama is not making progress

"As many as 270 civilians were killed in July in different incidents across Afghanistan, an official said Sunday. 'Two hundred and seventy civilians were killed in different security incidents in July across the country which shows a 29 percent increase in comparison with the previous month,' Xinhua quoted a spokesman for the interior ministry as saying."

Those Gaza tunnels

"So the Chevvy and the dozens of other new cars seen around town are still coming in via the smuggling tunnels under the Gaza/Egypt border. A video obtained by Sky News shows a bulldozer pulling a large car through a tunnel.Another published on the web, shows two cars driving through en-route to the showrooms of Gaza City." But those who are smuggling luxury cars, should they not be smuggling...tomatoes?

Fadlallah

"Lebanese author and academic Dr. As'ad Abu-Khalil has also argued that commentators have not properly placed Fadlallah in context, and pointed to the schools and orphanages he founded in Beirut and southern Lebanon. Amira Al Hussaini of Global Voices quotes Abu-Khalil's post, saying "His [Fadlallah's] relationship with Hizbullah is always misunderstood...he broke from Wilayat Al-Faqih...and developed a new liberal thinking especially on issues of personal status laws." He also "urged for a closer relationship between science and religion", which drew the ire of both Iran and Hizbullah."

the body of a Nepalese maid is dangling from a rope outside Beirut

The body of a Nepalese maid was found dangling from a rope. The police will rule that an accident from hanging clothes.

Israeli injustice

"Israeli security forces on Sunday arrested a second man suspected of assisting alleged Jewish terrorist Chaim Pearlman in stabbing several Arabs in East Jerusalem over an extended period of time. The suspect was released several hours after being taken into custody." (thanks Sarah)

Israel: Disgrace unto the nations

"Israel moved Sunday to deport the offspring of hundreds of migrant workers, mostly small children who were born in Israel, speak Hebrew and have never seen their parents' native countries."

book signing

My book signing is this Friday at 7:00PM at T-marbouta cafe, and not on Saturday as I had mistakenly stated before.

It seems that the New York Times does use the word "martyr" after all

The New York Times releases its standards for the use of the word "martyr." (thanks Christopher)

Donkey race in Lebanon

You can't say that Lebanon does not earn its place in international news: a donkey race. (thanks Shadi)

Obama rules

"US House appropriators have pushed funding for Israeli missile defense programs to its highest level ever, with $422.7 million now slated for 2011. Last week, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense added $95.7m. to the original White House funding request for the long-range Arrow programs and medium-range David’s Sling, according to sources close to the panel. The lion’s share – $108.8m. – will go to the Arrow 3 system, which the US signed off on after some initial hesitation." (thanks Olivia)

UAE-Saudi conflict

The printing of this in the Daily Star is further indication of the deterioration of relations between Saudi Arabia and UAE: "More than three years after he was arrested on vague allegations, Saudi political detainee Suliman al-Reshoudi who has yet to be tried or even charged with a crime is now taking on the system.Although his situation is not unusual for political prisoners in Saudi Arabia, the former judge is suing the security police and Interior Ministry to either charge him or release him."

Zionism is also discrimination against other Jews

"After being told she needed to prove the Jewishness of her maternal lineage for four generations, Hillary Rubin is questioning her decision to move to Israel". (thanks Lidia)

Mistakes happen, every day

"The Afghan capital is on high alert after rioting sparked by the death of four civilians when a US embassy vehicle crashed into their car. There are fears of a repeat of the city-wide riots that struck Kabul in 2006.Police fired shots into the air in a bid to disperse an angry mob that torched two embassy vehicles and threw stones at police and Nato soldiers who rushed to the scene near the centre of Kabul's diplomatic quarter."

Lebanon knows fo its priorities

No country knows its priorities like Lebanon. Facing daily Israeli threats, the country responds with making the biggest Fattush salad dish--as if other countries are competing for this dubious honor. (thanks Bob)

More than bad taste

Dar Al-Aytam Al-Islamiyyah (Islamic Orphanage House) in Beirut put their orphans in buses and open carriages and toured Beirut with them asking people to donate money to them. I kid you not. I saw that horrible convoy.

James Zogby

I would rather read the phone book than the analysis of James Zogby of any matter under the sun.

This is true

There is no American student who passes through Lebanon who does not get offered a job at NowHariri. I kid you not.

Robert Fisk is useless on Lebanon, but can still be read on Palestine affairs

"The death of five Israeli servicemen in a helicopter crash in Romania this week raised scarcely a headline.There was a Nato-Israeli exercise in progress. Well, that's OK then. Now imagine the death of five Hamas fighters in a helicopter crash in Romania this week. We'd still be investigating this extraordinary phenomenon. Now mark you, I'm not comparing Israel and Hamas. Israel is the country that justifiably slaughtered more than 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza 19 months ago – more than 300 of them children – while the vicious, blood-sucking and terrorist Hamas killed 13 Israelis (three of them soldiers who actually shot each other by mistake)."

Zionism is racism

"Israel maintains that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights does not apply to the occupied West Bank and Gaza, although it says that the treaty does apply to Jewish settlers there, committee member Christine Chanet said." (thanks Arestotelis)

defense of cluster bombs

"According to the Pentagon’s 2008 policy, cluster munitions are actually humane weapons. “Because future adversaries will likely use civilian shields for military targets – for example by locating a military target on the roof of an occupied building – use of unitary weapons could result in more civilian casualties and damage than cluster munitions,” the policy claims. “Blanket elimination of cluster munitions is therefore unacceptable due not only to negative military consequences but also due to potential negative consequences for civilians.” In other words, it’s better to use a cluster bomb on enemies using a building than to blow up the entire building."

They will probe not will keep the results secret

"Investigators in the United States probing the assassination of a senior Hamas official have drawn links between U.S. companies and suspects in the case, bringing them closer to identifying them, according to an American press report Saturday.The findings show U.S. authorities playing a great role in the probe than previously revealed, the Wall Street Journal reported."

tracking Muslim funding of "causes"

It is funny that some Washington, DC bureaucrats think that they can really manage and monitor Muslim funds around thew world. I went into a pharmacy here in Beirut, and I see a big collection jar filled with money and on it is only written "Muslim causes." I asked the pharmacist: but what are the Muslim causes? He said: there are many. I said: I know, that is why I am asking. He said: well, there are several good Muslim causes to contribute to. I said: I know, that is why I am asking but which one are those money going to? He said: oh, only the good ones. Only the good ones. I kid you not. I saw similar collection jars with such dubious names in several places around the city. It is funny that the US government thinks that it can know all about the Arab world merely by talking to the sons of Zayid and those ilk.