Dialogue with an Arab liberal

My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "Dialogue (in a tent) with an Arab Liberal".

This is hilarious: he tells the Wall Street Journal that Nasrallah singled him out

"Mr. Slim said he has been one of those Shiite leaders singled out by Mr. Nasrallah."  Ha ha ha.  Where and when did Nasrallah mention him ever? You get a blender if you can prove it.

Al-Azhar introduces Shi`ism to Muslim audiences

The official Al-Azhar magazine republishes a book on Shi`ism and the preface is written by Muhammad `Imarah who wrote this: "Shi`ism is not a sect or schism but a religion, whose members have aligned with crusaders, Hulago, American imperialism, and Christian Zionism against Muslims".  Now I know why the US and European governments places its faith in Al-Azhar to bring Muslims together.

University business in the US

American-GCC war on Yemen: before and After

Flying First class

"A first-class ticket on Emirates Air from Los Angeles to Dubai entitles you to a private compartment—complete with a sliding door, a lie-flat seat and mattress, a vanity, a minibar, a flat-screen TV and luxury bathroom with shower—for a tidy $32,840."  My life's savings could not pay for this ticket, damn it.

Finally, a "Muslim" that the New York Times approves of:

"It was this sort of forward thinking that led Mr. Zayat to name his $4.6 million colt Maimonides, after Moses Maimonides, considered to be among the greatest Jewish philosophers. As a Muslim, he said at the time: “I wanted to say something with the tool I had, which was a horse. I wanted it to be pro-peace, and about loving your neighbor.”

It also highlighted another complicated facet of his life. Publicly, Mr. Zayat alternately identifies as Muslim and Jewish. In fact, Mr. Zayat, who graduated from Yeshiva University, has given amply to Jewish causes."

Israel is so desperate for Hollywood approval that it can settle on LA porn

"When one follower invited her to visit Israel, she wrote in Hebrew: "I'm coming to Israel soon," and told another "b'ezrat Hashem." "
#porn_for_Israel
how fitting

The imaginary "Syrian revolution" in the mind of Liz Sly

There is an imaginary "Syrian revolution" in the mind of Liz Sly, and no developments on the ground can disabuse her of fantasy.  Her "revolution" is secular, feminist, democratic, and moderate and all information about it is exclusively released to her through the propagandists of the Free Syrian Army.  If there is one Western correspondent who was more wrong on Syria than any other, it is this correspondent. Just go and track her writings on Jamal Ma`ruf or about Free Syrian Army role or about Salim Idriss or about the various gangs that sprung up in Syria. 

Al-Azhar's sectarianism

From Basim: "Abdel-Moneim Foud, professor of Islam at Al-Azhar University, believes Shiites have no right to practice their rituals freely. “The Shiite religion is not derived from Islam. Neither are their rituals that are [man-made],” Foud said. “That’s why Al-Azhar does not allow them to practice their rituals publicly or build mosques of their own.”


Al-Azhar magazine, published by Al-Azhar, recently republished a 60-year-old book titled “The Outline of the Shiite Religion,” declaring Shiism a separate religion rather than an Islamic sect."

the military space plane known as the X-37B returned to Earth in October 2014. But no one really knows what its purpose was

"After spending 674 days in space, the military space plane known as the X-37B returned to Earth in October 2014. But no one really knows what its purpose was, or what it had been doing all that time, leading to all kinds of guessing in the popular press." "Using publicly accessible documents, the author attempts to piece together the plane’s likely mission, and writes that the X-37B illustrates the United States’ continuing interest in militarizing space and, possibly, weaponizing it in the future."

U.S. police kills then vilifies him as ISIS without any evidence

"What we have here is a black Muslim man killed while walking to work, followed by dubious and evidence-free inflammatory claims from the FBI and its media that are designed to make you want to simply dismiss Rahim as an Evil ISIS Operative who deserved to die, all without asking any questions." (thanks Amir)

Pentagon reassures Israel that the six planes will not make Lebanon a superpower

"The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region."  Are you sure it won't? Because those planes are the bulk of the Mauritanian air force, and Mauritania as we all know is a super power.

GCC Ministers openly and explicitly order GCC media to launch a propaganda campaign

"GCC information ministers renewed their call for the media to counter all those who seek to question the right of the State of Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, stressing GCC states full solidarity with the State of Qatar and encouraged media in the GCC to continue countering these campaigns at home and abroad.
In recommendations they issued a their 23rd meeting, held in Doha, the GCC information ministers, among the simplest duties of the media in member states, is the support and the highlighting of the cultural and economic gains of this unprecedented achievement and positive impact on the youth in GCC states.
The Ministers agreed that the State of Qatar, in coordination with the General Secretariat, is to develop a strategic vision for the joint media moves to counter such campaigns to reflect the international dimension of media discourse to show the right of GCC state, represented by the State of Qatar, to organize this important event.
The Ministers decided to approve the General Secretariat's vision on the implementation of a number of recommendations contained in the evaluation study of the media strategy and decided to refer it to the ministerial council to endorse it while taking into account a number of points that include assigning the General Secretariat, in coordination with media committees working within the GCC framework (Radio, TV, news agencies, electronic media) in addition to the GCC Joint Programme Production Institution, the Gulf TV and Radio and GCC Journalism Union, to get briefed on the role they can play in this area.
The approval of the abovementioned vision included the stress that countering the takfirist ideology and the extremist trends requires a sustained effort by all GCC media in accordance with the mechanisms followed in each state." (thanks J.)

One poll of Palestinians and two headlines

From Joe: "Two articles on the same poll:

AP: "Palestinian poll shows discontent with Hamas, Gaza war"

Reuters: "Hamas gains in popularity in Gaza, West Bank since war with Israel: poll"

Conflict of interst? What conflict of interest?

"During Tuesday’s hearing, the judge, Thomas M. Durkin of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, acknowledged what some people have viewed as potential conflicts: He donated $1,500 to Mr. Hastert’s campaigns in the early 2000s; had worked alongside Mr. Hastert’s son Ethan; and is the brother of Jim Durkin, the Republican leader of the Illinois House."

The one Western official who is not afraid to mildly criticize the Saudi regime

"Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom Tuesday accused Saudi Arabia of handing a "medieval" punishment to a blogger sentenced to 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam.

"My opinion is that it's a medieval sentence. It's a medieval method that does not have its place in a society that allows a free media and allows people to express their point of view," Wallstrom told Swedish Radio in Brussels."

"The number of U.S. personnel in the Bahrain has increased from 6,500 to 8,300 in just two years

"More sailors might soon be able to bring their families on assignment to Bahrain, where the Navy installation hosting 5th Fleet has grown significantly in recent years." "The number of U.S. personnel in the country has increased from 6,500 to 8,300 in just two years," "Massive protests in 2011 threatened to topple Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy. But these were quickly crushed following an armed intervention by troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies."

Did any US technology firms protest the Israeli production of viruses? Israeli spy virus Targeted Hotels Used for Iran Nuclear Talks

"Senior U.S. officials learned Israel was spying on the nuclear talks in 2014, a finding first reported by The Wall Street Journal in March. Officials at the time offered few details about Israel’s tactics.  Kaspersky’s findings, disclosed publicly in a report on Wednesday, shed new light on the use of a stealthy virus in the spying efforts. The revelations also could provide what may be the first concrete evidence that the nuclear negotiations were targeted and by whom. "

World Bank’s Business-Lending Arm Backed Palm Oil Producer Amid Deadly Land War

"The conflict has drawn international scrutiny in part because Dinant, one of its central protagonists, has been financed by the World Bank Group.

Dinant was backed by the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank conglomerate that lends to private companies. The IFC supported Dinant, one of Central America’s biggest palm oil and food producers, throughout the recent land conflicts. It provided $15 million directly to Dinant in 2009 and later channelled $70 million in 2011 to a Honduran bank that was one of Dinant’s largest financiers.

In doing so, the IFC aligned itself with one of the key players in a deadly civil conflict, staking its money and reputation on a powerful corporation with a questionable history. The IFC ignored easily obtainable evidence that should have warned it away from doing business with Dinant, the lender’s internal ombudsman later found. "

David Blatt, the Israeli soldier

"Blatt's proud Zionism means that he has been a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces (the IDF), an experience described in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz as "his most significant bonding experiences with the country." He is also on a first-name basis with the nation's leader, Benjamin Netanyahu. This friendship, which ABC broadcaster Jeff Van Gundy described at high decibels as "impressive" during Tuesday night's primetime Finals broadcast, is so intimate, that Blatt boasts of being able to call Netanyahu "Bibi" when they speak. Blatt told The Plain Dealer that the prime minister "said all of Israel is behind the Cavaliers. That was great."

What went unmentioned by Van Gundy, not to mention The Plain Dealer, are the ethical implications of an NBA coach beaming about his friendship with Netanyahu. "Bibi's" last campaign was so riven with virulent anti-Arab racism, it was condemned across the globe. The aforementioned Israeli newspaper Haaretz printed an editorial about feeling "shame" that their "prime minister was a racist" after Netanyahu's March election victory. The New York Times editorial page credited his triumph to a "desperate and craven" campaign that relied on a "racist rant" against Arab citizens of Israel to pull out a victory. Time's Joel Klein wrote that Netanyahu's victory represented an "appalling irony" that "brought joy to American neoconservatives and European anti-Semites alike." I use these examples because they represent how even staunch supporters of Israel were nauseated by Netanyahu's toxic political platform."

US military spending is higher than that of all countries in the world taken together

"US military spending is higher than that of all countries in the world taken together. The aggregate military spending of NATO countries is 10 times, note – 10 times higher than that of the Russian Federation. Russia has virtually no bases abroad." "I invite you to publish the world map in your newspaper and to mark all the US military bases on it. You will see the difference."

Yemen drone strike lawsuit forces U.S. to face non-western 'war on terror' victims

"Pradhan added that Obama’s apology in April over the deaths of American development expert Warren Weinstein and Italian aid worker Giovanni Lo Porto, two hostages being held by al-Qaida at a compound in Pakistan, showed a double standard for how western lives are treated as opposed to civilians in countries ravaged by the broader “war on terror”."

UN peacekeeprs: keep them away of hot spots, please. Keep them away from humanity

""Members of a U.N. peacekeeping mission engaged in "transactional sex" with more than 225 Haitian women who said they needed to do so to obtain things like food and medication, a sign that sexual exploitation remains significantly underreported in such missions, according to a new report obtained by The Associated Press."" (thanks Amir)

Gene Sharp: whatever happened to the New York Times theory that he inspired the Arab uprisings?

Do you remember all those articles in the Western press back in 2011 and even 2012 about how this pacifist American inspired the Arab youth? No one is peddling that theory anymore.  Unless it was Gene Sharp who inspired Al-Julani and Baghdadi.

Regarding the citation by Netanyahu of my characterization of the aims of BDS

Regarding this statement by Netanyahu: "Netanyahu cited what he called "one of the leaders" of BDS as stating that its real aim was "to bring down the State of Israel"."  A reader remembered that I first said it in response to a question at the University of Edinburgh and that I was making it clear it was about how BDS should define its goals. But I found this this passage that I had written for Al-Akhbar (more recent): "4) Finkelstein rightly asks whether the real aim of BDS is to bring down the state of Israel. Here, I agree with him that it is. That should be stated as an unambiguous goal. There should not be any equivocation on the subject. Justice and freedom for the Palestinians are incompatible with the existence of the state of Israel." But even here I am making it clear that it is about how BDS should be and not about how it is now. I meant that FOR ME, BDS is about ending the Zionist occupation of Palestine completely.   This means that Netanyahu reads Al-Akhbar. 

U.S. fueled the rise of ISIS in Syria & Iraq

"Reports were cited that MI6 had cooperated with the CIA on a “rat line” of arms transfers from Libyan stockpiles to the Syrian rebels in 2012 after the fall of the Gaddafi regime." "In stark contrast to western claims at the time, the Defense Intelligence Agency document identifies al-Qaida in Iraq (which became Isis) and fellow Salafists as the “major forces driving the insurgency in Syria” – and states that “western countries, the Gulf states and Turkey” were supporting the opposition’s efforts to take control of eastern Syria." "A year into the Syrian rebellion, the US and its allies weren’t only supporting and arming an opposition they knew to be dominated by extreme sectarian groups; they were prepared to countenance the creation of some sort of “Islamic state” – despite the “grave danger” to Iraq’s unity – as a Sunni buffer to weaken Syria."

Ban Ki-moon made it official: Israel can kill children and get away with it, he says

"UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has caved in to pressure from Israel and the United States and taken the Israeli military off an official list of serious violators of children’s rights, in this year’s report on children in armed conflict."

British intelligence were supporting terrorists

"The prosecution of a Swedish national accused of terrorist activities in Syria has collapsed at the Old Bailey after it became clear Britain’s security and intelligence agencies would have been deeply embarrassed had a trial gone ahead, the Guardian can reveal. His lawyers argued that British intelligence agencies were supporting the same Syrian opposition groups as he was, and were party to a secret operation providing weapons and non-lethal help to the groups, including the Free Syrian Army." (thanks Amir)

Rand Corporation and the two-state non-solution

Regarding the Rand Corporation study about the $173 billion flowing to the two-states. Who are you fooling? This is an old classic Zionist ploy to push Palestinians to surrender to Zionism. This is very much like the section in Theordor Herzl's Altneuland in which the Arab character explains in the novel why he is supporting Zionism and the Jewish state and invokes the profit motive.  This is like the American promise to the Egyptian people that once they have peace with Israel they will become affluent and their standards of living will rise sharply.  Of course, Egypt did much better overall when it was in a state of war with Israel in the 1960s.  As if in an apartheid state like Israel, benefits are spread equally regardless of ethnicity and religion. 

Saudi and Qatari regimes

I look at Saudi regime media and I find that Erdogan was humiliatingly defeated in the parliamentary elections. I look at Qatari regime media and I find that Erdogan won big in the elections. Where do I go?

This is a series: how dumb is Saeb Erekat?

"Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, praised the decision and said it “sends a clear message to Israel that its policies of colonization are null and void.”"

An intimate meeting between Iraqi prime minister and Obama

Netanyahu lies in citing something I said about BDS

"Netanyahu cited what he called "one of the leaders" of BDS as stating that its real aim was "to bring down the State of Israel"."  This has become a standard lie by Israeli and Zionist propaganda. They allege that I have said that the real aim of BDS is to "bring down the state of Israel".  I never said such a thing.  I said (either at Oxford University or at the University of Edinburgh--I am not sure but the Zionist spies can check their notes) in an answer to a question about the criticisms of BDS by Norman Finkelstein that BDS does not have a position on the one-state or the two-states and I added that: "the real aim of BDS SHOULD BE (I never said "is") to bring down the state of Israel".  That statement was distorted to make me say that the real aim of BDS is to bring down the state of Israel, which isn't true, and I wish if it were true. 

Muhammad bin Salman

This article represents serious US government and some Saudi princes' concern over the carelessness and rashness of the young prince.

Palestinian female cab driver in Syria

Notice shift in US policy: US media does not consider Al-Qa`idah in Syria to be hard-line

From Basim: "Nusrah are no longer hardline extremists themselves?:

Nusra Front are rivals of the ultra hardline Sunni militants of Islamic State who also expanded their presence after taking control of the central city of Palmyra last month. "

CIA Director admits U.S. foreign policy causes retaliation against the U.S.

"So Brennan well understands that our foreign policy causes attacks against Americans. And our legal code specifies that attempting to retaliate against U.S. actions is what makes you a terrorist. Nonetheless, this obvious reality is almost never said out loud by government officials."

US has 11 non-secret military bases in Africa

"In all, AFRICOM now has access to 11 cooperative security locations across Africa,"

When Saudi king participated in the ritual of washing the Ka`bah

HRW

It is amazing if you judge at least by the tweets of the director of Human Rights Watch the extent to which this organization does not care about civilian victims of bombing by Syrian rebel groups (other than ISIS--although even their statements about ISIS bombings are mild).

Not in the US press: US is officially supporting Al-Qa`idah branch in Syria

None of the Western correspondents wrote or will write about this: the so-called Western-GCC coalition is now officially and strongly supporting Nusrah Front in its war with ISIS and rival factions.  So the US supports the official Al-Qa`idah and not its offshoots. If only the US public knows.

How the UN defines human rights

"Saudi Arabia has hosted an international conference on human rights, attended by the president of the UN Human Rights Council, and resolved to combat intolerance and violence based on religious belief."

The FBI and the hatching of terror plots

"There's an organization responsible for more terrorism plots in the United States than al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab and ISIS combined: The FBI."

Barrel bombs

It is grotesque that those who feign outrage over barrel bombs by the Syrian regime either cheered the use of barrel bombs by the Lebanese Army during the massacre of Nahr Al-Barid, or were silent.  One has to condemn all barrel bombs, fighter jet bombs, "artillery of hell" bombs, indiscriminate shelling, and the whole festival of blood in Syria. All those deserve condemnation.