Hizbullah against the poor

Some progressives in the West don't know about Hizbullah.  They think that Hizbullah--because it so effectively fights against Israeli occupation and aggression--must be a progressive party.  Far from that. Hizbullah is a right-wing party and in the government it has championed neo-liberal policies and its MPs in the parliamentary session yesterday were enthusiastic for liberalization of the market.  The former Hizbullah minister of Electric Energy, Muhammad Fnaysh, proposed a privatization plan for the sector that won approval from Hariri.  And when Marxist Minister, Sharbil Nahhas, fought for the right of workers and the poor, Hizbullah was on the side of the capitalists in Lebanon.  

Israel among the "Friends" of Syria

It is hilarious: that gathering of "friends of Syria".  Russian commentators are right: it is friends of the US conference.  Israel is a present at the conference: represented by US, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.  It apologized for not being there. So the US, France, and UK are now friends of the Syrian people? This is like holding a conference in Tehran and billing it as "Friends of the Jewish people conference" and hosted by Ahmadinajad.

The lousy Syrian National Council

In its founding program, the Syrian National Council is still committed to peaceful "revolution" in Syria and against any foreign intervention.  Today, the Council said that it would really like anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank missiles.  It said that such weapons would be great to preserve the peaceful nature of their protests.  But because it is opposed to foreign intervention, it asked that foreign countries just drop the weapons somewhere on the Lebanese-Syrian borders without revealing their identity.  

"Arab Spring" at Portland State University

I am leaving for Oregon to speak at Portland State University on Saturday.

NATO rebels in Libya: mistreating blacks in cages

(thanks Shawky)

Ministry of Culture and Information in Saudi Arabia

Ministry of Culture and Information orders--in this internal memo--that no news of beggars in Saudi Arabia be published except within "the specified constraints".  It warns against "distorting the reputation of the Saudi Society." (thanks Farah)

"left at least seven dead" in Afghanistan

Look how the New York Times report the shooting by NATO and Afghan puppet soldiers of Afghan protesters:  " Armed with rocks, bricks, pistols and wooden sticks, protesters angry over the burning of Korans at the largest American base in Afghanistan this week took to the streets in demonstrations in a half-dozen provinces on Wednesday that left at least seven dead and many more injured."  Notice that there is no killer in the phrasing.  In fact, the way it was phrased, it basically said that "demonstration left at least seven dead."  

The US and the Syrian uprising

My latest blog post for Al-Akhbar English: "The US and the Syrian Uprising".

Scud missiles on Baba Amru

So the other day, "activists" (read Ikhwan media who supply Western media with all their "information" on Syria) reported that chemical weapons were used on Baba Amru in Homs. Today, activists reported that scud missiles were fired on Baba Amru.  And beware: if you dispute any of those claims, including the impending claim that nuclear weapons were used in Homs, you will be accused of being a stooge of the Syrian regime.  

It is official: Saudi government rules that demonstrations are against Islamic law

Look at this. Saudi government rules that demonstrations are against Islamic law (shari`ah).

Saudi media promote the Taliban

Look at this propaganda interview with Taliban leader in the mouthpiece of Prince Salman and his sons, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat.  The headline is that Taliban won't harm girls' schools in Afghanistan. Kid you not.  I mean, the misogynists of Taliban and the misogynists of House of Saud get along just fine, obviously. 

Press sources and methods on Syria

This is what you read in the Western press:  "Communication between Syrian Army officers intercepted by Lebanese intelligence staff has revealed that direct orders were issued to target the makeshift press centre in which Colvin had been broadcasting.  If journalists were successfully killed, then the Syrians were told to make out that they had died accidentally in fire fights with terrorist groups, the radio traffic revealed."  First of all, which "Lebanese intelligence staff"?  This story did not even appear in the most biased Hariri media.  I mean, if the source is Lebanese it would have been in the Lebanese press opposed to the Syrian regime. Secondly, which Lebanese intelligence branch? There are tons of them: some are loyal to Syria and some are opposed.  And those who are opposed, will produce to you "interception" that can prove that Ahmadinajad personally shelled Homs and killed the journalists.  Thirdly, are there any serious and professional standards left in Western coverage of Syria?  Fourthly, let us say that the criminal Syrian regime deliberately killed those journalists (although it never knew that they were there), they would make sure to issue orders by radio KNOWING THAT THE ENTIRE WORLDS IS LISTENING ON?  I mean, how dumb can Western media be?  (thanks Badis)

Stabbing and defaming an activist in Jordan

I reported yesterday about the attack on a female activist in Jordan, after she commented on Facebook in criticisms of the former Crown Prince Hasan of Jordan, who publicly threatened protesters in Jordan.  The Public Security department in Jordan issued a statement on the case: it is vulgar, crude, sleazy, and full of innuendos and defamation.  Such are the methods of the Jordanian monarchy. 

Sharbil Nahhas, the hero

Marxist economist, Sharbil Nahhas, resigned as Minister of Labor.  There is much to talk about here. I may write something in Arabic or English.  He is by far the best minister Lebanon has ever had.  The Lebanese political class (all of them), could not stand him. He is too principled for the corrupt Lebanese political system.  Many young leftists in Lebanon are mobilizing in his support.  In his remarks to them, he talked about intolerance of injustice and illegality: he gave the example of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.  One of his last act, was to eliminate work discrimination against Palestinians in Lebanon.  

Jordanian King takes action

"La Jordanie s'apprête à déployer au nord du royaume hachémite quatre batteries antimissiles Patriot pour protéger son territoire, mais aussi Israël, contre des attaques aériennes à partir de la Syrie, révèle un expert militaire européen au Moyen-Orient." (thanks Alain)

A poet arrested in Saudi Arabia

Saudi government arrested Saudi poet and photographer, Habib Al-Ma`atiq.  No reason was given.  I received the information from Saudi opposition sources inside the kingdom.  Please spread the news. Here is a clip of the poet.

"Egyptian judoka who snubbed Israeli rival 'national hero'"

"Egyptian judoka Ramadan Darwish refused to shake Arik Zeevi's hand after he defeated the Israeli in their quarterfinal bout on Sunday at the Judo Grand Prix in Dusseldorf, Germany, Ynet reported.  Egyptian news websites published a number of reports on the incident with a link to a video of the bout. "Darwish is a national hero," one website declared, adding "Israel is a terrorist nation.""

no talk above money talk

Just to show you the quality of Hariri media in Lebanon. This is an editorial in the Hariri family mouthpiece, Al-Mustaqbal:  "There shall be no talk above the talk of the "King of Talk", the servitor of the two holy sites..."

American studies and misogyny

Look at this pathetically misogynistic article about the "nature" women and the effects of menstruation on "moods" of women in the lousy mouthpiece of Prince Salman and his sons, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat.   And he cites "American studies" for his kooky views.   (thanks Mohammad)  

Mary Colvin and war

A eulogy from her friend, Judith Miller:  "She annoyed her anti-war friends by continuing to defend America’s war in Iraq. “We’ve gotten rid of him!” she would say repeatedly, unwilling to utter Saddam Hussein’s name. “The people of Iraq now have a chance to live decent lives.” She trusted Iraqis. With some luck, she would say, they might live in a free, prosperous country." (thanks Carlos)

Arabs as animals in Israeli media

""On his show, Sheftel, a noted criminal lawyer who represented, among others, Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk and several key Israeli crime figures, discusses current affairs with listeners, with the host often resorting to personal attacks against institutions and personalities.  On several occasions, those being targeted on the show, which airs on Tel Aviv's 103FM, are left-wing NGOs and leaders, referring to them as being "anti-Semitic," and calling them "Judo- Quislings."  The show also includes verbal attacks against Arabs, often comparing them to Nazis and animals."" (thanks "Ibn Rushd")

Nasser's military industrialization project

One of the elements of Nasser's regime that is rarely discussed was his serious and ambitious military industrialization project.  In the paid Saudi media, this is often mocked but the truth is that they were able to manufacture rockets and missiles back in the 1960s.

`Abdullah An-Nafisi

I wrote about Kuwaiti thinker, `Abdullah An-Nafisi.  This man transform his ideology (socialist to Nasserist to Islamist to Saudist etc) once a year.  Here, he meets with Bahraini Defense Minister to presumably congratulate him on a job well done. (thanks Andrew)

Lousy Hizbullah media

The coverage of Syria in Hizbullah media is as propagandistic and as lousy as the Western coverage of Syria--but in reverse politically.  Look at this headline talking about "advances" by the Syrian army.  Advances? This is not war against Israel, Mr. Hizbullah.  This is war on a city--very much in keeping with Israeli style of advances against women and children.  

Propaganda festival on Syria

Here is the deal. Western media (with few exceptions from outside the US media--of course, Anthony Shadid was such an exception) automatically and pavlovianly vomits whatever they receive from the Qatari-funded Syrian opposition media.  No questions are asked and no verification is required.  Now after months of denial, the media finally acknowledges that the opposition (or many elements of it) is armed: hell, there are two rebel armies, not one.  Yet, in the daily tally of the dead that Syrian Observatory of Qatari-style Human Rights and other Ikhwan-run media outlets, the victims are always civilians.  Of course, the Syrian regime habitually and callously and carelessly kills civilians but are there ever victims who are combatant on the Syrian rebel side? So if Salafite fighters or Free Syrian Army fighters are killed, they are simply listed as civilians, and probably listed as "women and children".  And if you protest the propaganda nature of the coverage of Syria you are immediately accused of covering up the crimes of the regime, and in Arabic you are labeled as Shabbih.  

Syrian regime justifies the killing of Western journalists

Elias Murad (an old time Ba`thist who now is dean of the press syndicate in Syria) appeared on Dunya (regime) TV and spoke about the murder of Western journalists.  He questioned whether they were really journalists and clearly implied that they were part of a Western military expedition.  He was so flippant in his remarks.  He expressed not the slightest remorse or regret.  Not the slightest.  Such are the personalities of the lousy Syrian regime.

Good news from Libya

Yes, militias are running the country.  Bin Ladenites rule the day there.  The head of the puppet NATO council wants to restore polygamy.  Taliban-like fanatics to establish a religious order there. But all that is not important because oil production is healthy and will soon reach the pre-war level.  Celebrate in the streets.  

Sarkozy and the Syrian regime

Commenting on the murder of two Western journalists, French president Sarkozy said that now it is necessary for the regime to fall.  So all those Syrians who were killed by the regime were not enough for you to issue that call?

Killers of Western journalists

So basically: we now know that the Free Syrian Army killed a French journalist and the Syrian regime killed two journalists today.  So both are killers of journalists but why did the killing of the French journalist produce no outrage in Western circles? 

Plunder in Iraq

"Now, many years and many wars later, there is hunger aplenty. Were he alive today, al-Sayyab would have expressed nothing short of horror at the massive hunger in the “new” Iraq, especially when considering the obscene wealth that has been and is still being plundered and squandered by its rulers.  One in six Iraqis live in poverty. This is in a nation with the second highest oil reserves in the world and a budget surplus of more than fifty billion US dollars in 2011. According to Transparency International, Iraq has one of the most corrupt governments in the world. Some of the wealth stays inside the country and is spread among the beneficiaries and clients of the new political elite. Much of it, however, is transferred outside and translated into real estate or other assets, or is often hard to trace. Not a year has passed without plunder in Iraq.  The villains are not only or always Iraqis and the stolen money is not US taxpayer money. At least eighteen billion US dollars from Iraq’s frozen assets in the United States and from the surplus of the United Nations (UN) Oil-for-Food Program was sent from the Federal Reserve Currency Repository in New Jersey to Iraq right after the war. It was slated for the so-called Iraq Development Fund (IDF) during L. Paul Bremmer’s reign. All of that is now missing and there is not a single piece of paper to account for it or explain its whereabouts. Aside from the monstrous US embassy in Baghdad, the Iraq Reconstruction has nothing to show." (thanks Aseel)

Supreme Guide

So the Iranian Supreme Guide, Khamenei, said that Iran does not seek to obtain nuclear weapons.  The headline for the story on Al-Arabiyya (the news station of King Fahd's brother-in-law): Supreme leader says that no one can stop Iranian nuclear program.  Kid you not.

Cherif Bassiouni does PR work for Bahrain royal family

"In his letter, Bassiouni says: "The grand prix is a significant national event, which is of great interest to a substantial percentage of the population and all of its communities. It is, therefore, an event of deserved national pride, which you have used in this year's launching as a way of promoting national healing and reconciliation.  "Aside from the economic, publicity and public relations advantages that the grand prix brings to Bahrain it is, on the one year anniversary of the February/March events of last year, an important point of departure for the people of Bahrain to forge ahead in their national efforts towards reconciliation."" (thanks Ahmet)

Doomed

"About 40% of Israel's population lacks gas masks, and 25% doesn't have access to adequate bomb shelters. Israel's minister of home front defense is leaving to become ambassador to China and no replacement has been named.  Israel's short-range rocket-defense shield, known as Iron Dome, barely protects the sparsely populated south. Planned deployments to cover Tel Aviv and key military facilities are in limbo because of budget shortages.  Meanwhile, the government is debating whether to trim its defense budget, leading military officials to warn that their ability to train reserves and defend the country is at risk.
"The scope of the failure to protect the home front … is almost incomprehensible," Haaretz columnist Sefi Rachlevsky wrote Tuesday."

stabbed in Jordan for criticizing former Crown Prince Hasan

A young female activist in Jordan has been stabbed, obviously by goons of the regime, after criticizing on Facebook the threatening remarks by former Crown Prince Boring Hasan of Jordan.  And later last night, another blogger was stabbed.

PS Don't bother looking for coverage in the Western press. Western media don't cover repression in Jordan due to long decades of service by Hashemites to Israel.

Robert Fisk rules: the Lebanese are smart because they know Cat Stevens

"The Lebanese are a very smart people." (thanks David)

Western governments praise Saudi reform

""It is the state's right to confront those that confront it first... and the Saudi Arabian security forces will confront such situations... with determination and force and with an iron first," the interior ministry said in a statement." (thanks Mick)

House of Saud at your service

I am told that the news station of King Fahd's brother-in-law, Al-Arabiyya, has avoided covering the burning of the Qur'ans in Afghanistan.

Asad draft constitution

It got my attention. In the draft Syrian constitution, I noticed the expression: "regional sovereignty" of Syria. What does that mean?

Syrian draft constitution

This is a good critique of the Syrian draft constitution by comrade Fawwaz.

When NATO apologizes

"I offer my sincere apologies for any offense this may have caused, to the President of Afghanistan, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and most importantly, to the noble people of Afghanistan."  Notice the sequence: the puppet president, followed by the puppet government, and then the "noble people" of Afghanistan.  Don't you like the phrase "for any offense this may have caused"?  What offense? You mean the fact that you decided to set on fire hundreds, and probably thousands, of Qur'ans in a garbage dump? And you thought that this would offend Muslims? Are you kidding me, why? (thanks Basim)

NATO error

Look at this headline.  The burning of perhaps thousands of Qur`an in a US military base is referred to as NATO error.

Western media are amusing (if there is no tragedy here)

So Western media sneak correspondents into Syria illegally, and then expect the Syrian regime to protect them.  If Israel were to see one Western correspondent sneaking into Israel, he/she would be incinerated on the spot.  More importantly, during the various chapters of Isareli assaults and invasions and massacres, Western media carefully observed all Israeli military rules and laws and regulations.  

Mustafa Barghouthi again

"we are also being joined by a new and younger Israeli peace movement that categorically rejects Israeli occupation."  Excuse me, but where is the younger Israeli peace movement? What is the evidence for its existence?

Saudi media now relies on Israeli attacks

"Should Iranian warships revisit Syrian ports it is likely that they would be targeted by Israel, two retired Saudi military attaches have said.  “An Israeli attack would come to show the Iranians that the Mediterranean is not an Iranian lake, a position shared by the European powers and the US,” the retired officials told the Saudi Gazette during a reception at a diplomatic mission here Monday evening.  “It (the Israeli attack) would not be an overt military operation; the docked ships could be mined, or they might go up in flames through a secret operation using Israeli frogmen,” they said." (thanks Jamal)

Mustafa Barghouthi wants to be another Salam Fayyad

There is a pathetic op-ed piece by Mustafa Barghouthi in the New York Times this morning.  He basically begs for approval from the White Man.  If he wants to preach non-violence struggle for Palestinians, why is he writing that in the New York Times? Western audiences insist that Palestinians stick to non-violent struggle so there is no need to convince them.  Obviously, Barghouthi is presenting his credentials as a candidate for occupation puppet for American Zionists.   And then, Mr. Barghouthi opportunistically invokes Arab uprisings:  "What is needed is a Palestinian version of the Arab revolutions that have swept the region..." Wait. You write to preach non-violent struggle and yet you want another version of the Arab uprisings? Well, in Syria there is an opposition army, called the Free Syrian Army (and there is another rival army in addition to various armed groups).  So the struggle there is not peaceful, Mr.  Libya? Well, if you want another version of Libya, then you need to form militias.  If you want a version of Egypt, there were some 12 bombings of the gas pipe line to Israel, and there were numerous clashes between protesters and security forces.  Where else do you want? Yemen? Were there were armies on both sides clashing?  Either preach non-violence or don't call for versions of Arab uprisings.  And then he reassures Israel: "Our movement is not intended to delegitimize Israel".  Yes, exactly. That was the sole message of this lousy piece of yours.  I can't believe that I once had respect for you.  You know that Salam Fayyad may not be returning to PA collaborationist government and you seem to throw candidacy in the ring.