American events as described using the tropes and tone normally employed by the American media to describe events in other countries

"This is the first installment of “If It Happened There,” a regular feature in which American events are described using the tropes and tone normally employed by the American media to describe events in other countries. "

[....] Six years into his rule, Obama’s position can appear confusing, even contradictory. Though the executive retains control of the country’s powerful intelligence service, capable of the extrajudicial execution of the regime’s opponents half a world away, the president’s efforts to govern domestically have been stymied in the legislature by an extremist rump faction of the main opposition party.

While the country’s most recent elections were generally considered to be free and fair (despite threats against international observers), the current crisis has raised questions in the international community about the regime’s ability to govern this complex nation of 300 million people, not to mention its vast stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.

Americans themselves are starting to ask difficult questions as well. As this correspondent’s cab driver put it, while driving down the poorly maintained roads that lead from the airport, “Do these guys have any idea what they’re doing to the country?”" (thanks Redouane) 

Samir Khalaf on Edward Said's legacy? Are you kidding me?

Why not invite Daniel Pipes to speak about Said's legacy while you are at it?  Samir Khalaf represents the worst traits of classical Orientalism but without the language skills, erudition, rigor, knowledge, and meticulousness.

On Chemical Warfare in the Moroccan Rif

From Mohamed:  "I read with interest your post on the use of chemical weapons by Spain in the Moroccan Rif (northern Moroccan Berber area on the Mediterranean) during the Rif war 1921-1926. This is an important case because the Moroccan Rif witnessed the first aerial bombardment of a civilian population with chemical weapons in history. As you know, poison gas was previously used in Ypres, Belgium during WWI and in Iraq (1919) when Churchill infamously declared “I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas … I am strongly in favour of using poison gas against uncivilised tribes.” But in these earlier uses, it was artillery shells, not bombs from the air. Spain has yet to acknowledge this historical fact that has become established in research by British historian Sebastian Balfour in his book ‘Deadly Embrace: Morocco and the Road to the Spanish Civil War’ (chapter 5) and Spanish Historian Maria Rosa de Madariaga in various books dealing with the history of Spanish colonialism in northern Morocco (See for example her long article here). In fact, a petition by the Catalan “Republican Left” party to raise the issue in parliament was denied by the constitutional commission of parliament in 2007. The first types of gas used in the Rif were phosgene, diphosgene and choloropicrin, which were provided to the Spaniards by the French. But afterwards, the chemical warfare escalated (particularly because of the continuing defeats and losses against the resistance movement) with the use of mustard gas provided by Germany indirectly through the chemist Hugo Stoltzenberg. The Germans both supplied the Spanish with mustard gas and aided them in setting up the factories for the manufacture of the gas. The only study to date of this particular episode continues to be Rudibert Kunz and Rolf-Dieter Muller’s book (1990) ‘Giftgas gegen Abd el Krim: Deutschland, Spanien und der Gaskrieg in Spanisch-Marokko, 1922-1927’. In diplomatic cables, both the French and the British knew of, and supported, the use of mustard gas by the Spanish during the war. As to the position of the Moroccan regime, the motives are not as simple as your reader from Berlin stated. The main reason why the subject is taboo in morocco is that the whole resistance episode in northern Moroccan history is taboo. Particularly sensitive is the term “Republic of the Rif” which was the name for the political entity that came out of the war of liberation of the Rif, one which expressed the movement’s leader’s idea of a modern state inspired mainly by an Islamic reform ideology (Abduh, Kawakibi) and Turkish style “Ataturkian” state (Abdelkrim was fascinated by the experiment of Ataturk). Not to mention that under the protectorate, the French and Spanish are supposed to be acting to protect the king. Moreover, there are allegations that the regime shuns from bringing up the issue because it itself used napalm in its brutal suppression of the Rif rebellion (civil disobedience really) in the winter of 1958/59. These allegations however remain to this day hard to prove or substantiate. The campaign was led by then Crown Prince Hassan (later Hassan II) and his henchman General Oufkir (the same Oufkir who later led the failed coup attempt in 1972). More sadly, the recent political and journalistic transvestisation of the subject are clearly trivializing it rather than reflecting a serious intention to face an important chapter in Moroccan history. The subject of the Spanish gasing of the Riffian civilian population is brought up only for political ends, particularly in moments of diplomatic tensions between the two countries. In this, the regime is aided by various actors in the political, press and “NGO” fields. Even the NGO whose conference was cancelled in 2001 (a bunch of former pseudo-leftist poseurs) has its members now representing the position of the regime. Most of them have become members of the PAM party (Authenticity and Modernity Party), a party started several years ago by a high official in the interior ministry friends with the king. It is actually called here “the friend of the king’s party.” Finally, many here are convinced that the ridiculously high cancer rate in the Rif (the highest in Morocco) is due to the use of mustard gas in the twenties. Obviously the gas does cause cancer in direct victims exposed to the gas with sufficient doses, but no scientific study has established yet the link between mustard gas and cancer in descendents of victims."

Robin Wright: what have you done?

I don't think that Robin Wright knew what firestorm she was going to cause with her article on Sunday in the Times.  The whole Arab world is now abuzz with that article.  It is not even talked about as an article: it is being widely circulated as the specific US plans for the Arab world. You see people on TV waving it in the air as a proof of the evil US-Israeli plan for the region.  I called my mom in Beirut yesterday, and the first thing she asked me about was that plan of the division of the Arab world.

Lebanese passport amongst the 10 worst to carry

"According the 2013 Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index – a global ranking of countries based on the freedom of travel for their citizens. Lebanon ranks 10 among the Top 10 worst passports to have for travel due to the all the visa restrictions issues.

Top 10 countries are:

Afghanistan
Iraq
Somalia
Pakistan
Palestinian Territories
Eritria
Nepal
Sudan
Sri Lanka" (thanks Omar)

64% of members of parliament in Rwanda are women: and Western correspondents still act like the West has so much to teach the world about gender equality

"Early reports from the parliamentary elections last Monday indicate that women now hold nearly 64% of the seats. Prior to the genocidal conflict in 1994, the figure was just 18%.

....

But the main reason Rwandan women MPs find themselves in the majority is the country's organised women's movement. Women such as the late feminist champion, Judith Kanakuze, and the organisation she spearheaded, Twese Hamne (Pro-Femmes), ensured through active mobilisation that equality became a top priority in the post-conflict constitution. Female activists made a conscious effort to include women in the rebuilding of the country after the genocide. In other words, what we see is not simply a consequence of the conflict or big-hearted male leaders handing out seats to women. It is a conscious and co-ordinated effort, by women for women." (thanks Nikolai)