Muslim teen found hanging from tree: FBI investigates possible lynching

"The country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization has called for an FBI investigation into the death of a black Muslim teen who was found hanging from a tree near his home in Lake Stevens, Washington, in January. Ben Keita, who was 18, was reported missing in November, having left home without his car, wallet or phone. His body was found more than a month later." "Hate crimes against Muslims have increased significantly in the past two years. In 2015, the last year for which data is available, the FBI recorded a 67 percent rise in hate crimes targeting Muslims." (thanks Amir)

Bassel Al-`Araj: he was murdered today by Israeli terrorists (with accomplices in the PA)

This is his testimony to the supporters of Palestinian cause worldwide.

A well-known Saudi regime writer argues: Trump victim of McCarthyist campaign

This writer in Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat (a mouthpiece of Saudi King and his sons) argues that Trump is merely a victim of US liberal McCarthyism.

This video should teach American and Arab reporters how to interview a Saudi prince

I have never seen an American reporter interview a Saudi prince in this manner.  

I used to think that the late Hanna Batatu is the most through when it comes to documentation, until I read this guy

Kenneth Roth‏Verified account @KenRoth  24m24 minutes ago

What's the evidence the Washington Post found for Trump's claim that Obama tapped his phones? None. Four Pinocchios. http://bit.ly/2lPmP9a 

John Waterbury's book reviews in Foreign Affairs

I was stunned really to read the negative book review of Shadow Wars by Christopher Davidson in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs.  I was surprised because Waterbury frustratingly never writes negative reviews like that, even for the most lousy books (politically and academically).  Yet, he reserved a particularly nasty review of Shadow Wars.  He even claimed that there is no original materials in the books when there is plenty:  (Clinton's emails on p.284, 290,297, 298, 299, 301, 305, 308. E.g DIA docs released to courts: 305, 420, 421, etc.) In fact, Waterbury was alerted to this by the publisher and the on-line version of the review was amended. But why did this book bother Waterbury so much? Or does the question reside in his book Egypt of Nasser and Sadat: the Political Economy of Two regimes?

Governor of New York

"Citing ‘Wave of Anti-Semitism,’ Pays Impromptu Visit to Israel".  This is like saying: Citing Islamophobia, I paid an impromptu visit to Saudi Arabia or Iran. How insane is this?

Some of the most "prestigious" universities are product of slavery

" "Harvard was directly complicit in slavery from the college's earliest days in the 17th century until the system of bondage ended in Massachusetts in 1783," Faust, a historian, said in her opening speech." "Other colleges, including the University of Virginia, used slaves to build and operate their campuses, and some were founded by wealthy merchants involved in the slave trade." "Last month, Yale University agreed to change the name of a residential college that honored a 19th century alumnus who was a fierce supporter of slavery. Columbia University issued a report in January examining its link to slavery. Georgetown University announced last year it will give admission preference to the descendants of 272 slaves who were sold in 1838 to save the school's finances." (thanks Amir)

Azhar is nothing with and without Saudi money

“Egypt is nothing without al-Azhar,” Muhanna cited Dr.Abd saying." (thanks Basim)

Charles Murray and free speech

In this article, Zionist, like Bill Kristol, express support for Charles Murray speaking in the name of free speech.  But would Zionists support the right of anti-Semites to speak on college campuses in the name of speech just as they support the right of this white supremacist?  

This man is as desperate to become president as Hillary. And like her, he will never become president

Jacob Kornbluh‏ I asked Cuomo if he supports moving embassy to Jerusalem. "Jerusalem is the capital of Israel," he said. Will support what Israel wants.

I feel I sound like a grumpy old man when I write something like this

Late night US comedy shows are now entirely based on gags, pranks, and schticks, while TV news is entirely comprised of chit-chat and banter.

From the Left to the Right:

Why is there more a phenomenon of people migrating from the Left to the Right and not from the Right to the Left: in the West and in the Arab world?  Simply, because there is more of a financial reward of the first kind of migration but not the second.  The only example of Right to Left that I can think of is David Brock, the Clinton's Hit Man, who was horrible as a rightist and is horrible as a leftist.

An American film proving the link between ISIS and...Iran

All Saudi media are talking about a new American "film" (documentary) which "proves" the relationship between ISIS and Iran.  But the film was funded and produced by the Saudi lobby in DC. I am not making this up.

Liberal resurrection of George W. Bush

George W. Bush is not a great painter, but neither was Hitler. However, as far as painting goes, Hitler was the better artist of the two. If that is your political criterion for resurrection.  

New York Times does not mention reports of murder of women and children in yesterday's raid

"In all of 2016, the United States conducted a total of 38 strikes in Yemen, according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Long War Journal. Yet in the last two days, armed Reaper drones and attack planes conducted more than 30 strikes against Qaeda militants"

Jordanian regime executions don't cause consternation in the West

"Jordan has executed 15 prisoners, including 10 convicted of terrorism charges, officials say."

The Russian ambassador

I for one have never ever met with the Russian ambassador and don't have plan to meet with him. Does that make me a better human being?

This is an important book that you should read about the Middle East: Shadow Wars by Christopher Davidson

I like that from his early books to this one, Davidson is becoming radicalized, based on his scholarship.  This book Shadow Wars: The Secret Struggle for the Middle East is an important book which came out last year.  It has not received the attention it deserves: in my book, it is the People's History of US-British policies and conspiracies in the Middle East region.  There is original materials and there is some known materials about Western conspiracies and machinations in the region, and especially the use and misuse of reactionary Islam: from Egypt under Nasser to Syria today.  But Davidson knows how to tell a story, and he tells it very well.  He is quite knowledgeable that he is capable of putting together the various parts of the puzzle.  His narrative is logically linked from the Western plots after WWI to the current Western policies in the wake of Arab uprisings.  There is so much in the book that my weekly article in Al-Akhbar only dealt with the section dealing with the Cold War but up to the war of Afghanistan.  This would be (in it paperback edition) an excellent text both in an introductory course on IR in the Middle East and also in an introductory course on Middle East politics.  It is time that we treat Western intervention in the Middle East as an integral part of domestic Middle East politics (only Israel is allowed to be entitled to have its own domestic politics).  Warning: the account about the Arab uprisings clashes with the propaganda account contained in all Western media.  

It says in Arabic: "Draw A Sun".

Shadow Wars by Christopher Davidson

My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "Shadow Wars: A Contemporary History of Western Counter-Revolutions".

Trump and accepting the results of the elections

It seems that it was Democrats and not Trump who were unwilling to accept the results of the presidential election. 

Where is the feminist outrage at this disgustingly sexist Democratic congressman?

Where is the outrage at his disgustingly sexist statement?

The UN rationalizes the Saudi killing of children in Yemen

This is an incredible account.  The UN commission on human rights is controlled by US and Israel, which appointed a Jordanian official as its commissioner.  It made allegation about child soldiers without providing any evidence or detail except by referring to "reports" and to trickery.  It said that children are being tricked into fighting.  "An estimated 1500 boys have been verified as child soldiers in Yemen, but the actual number of children who have been drawn into the war is probably far higher, a United Nations spokeswoman said yesterday.  Most of the boys were recruited by Houthi rebels over the past three years, spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said at a press briefing in Geneva.  Recruiters often entice the boys by promising them financial rewards or social status. "Many are then quickly sent to the front lines of the conflict or tasked with manning checkpoints," Shamdasani said."  The UN also added that toddlers have been seen driving tanks and operating cannons.  Of course, Saudi regime media loved this report and have been blasting to justify its regular killing of children in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia's cultural diplomacy

"It’s ironic, then, that some of Indonesia’s leading jihadists have passed through Saudi institutions. Although Salafism is largely “quietist,” or discouraging of political activity, there is a growing faction of Salafi jihadists in Indonesia, according to Din Wahid. In 1972, Saudi money helped to found the “ivy league” of jihadist pesantren, the Al-Mukmin school in Ngruki, Central Java. The Indonesian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah received funding from Saudi charities in the early 2000s." "Indonesia may be the largest stage for Saudi Arabia’s cultural diplomacy, but it’s hardly the only one. Saudi Arabia built satellite campuses for Egypt’s Al-Azhar university in the 1980s, funded Bosnian rebels and later built them schools in the 1990s, bankrolled numerous madrassas in pre-Taliban Pakistan and Afghanistan, and sent 25,000 clerics to India between 2011 and 2013. Al-Hattem, of LIPIA Jakarta, was previously stationed at Saudi outfits in Bosnia and Djibouti." (thanks Amir)

Sleazy Qatari regime Arabic Huffington Post has an article on Ivanka Trump's bra

I am not making this up: a whole article n the bra of Ivanka Trump.  Media of sleazy Gulf rulers have an obsession with Ivanka Trump.  

It is not Shakespeare

It has always cracked me up that in contemporary Arab culture people cite a saying (Dogs bark while the caravans roll on) and falsely attribute it to Shakespeare. It should be obvious that it is not Shakespeare.  In fact, in Western culture the saying appears (rarely) and is identified as "an old Arabic saying".  Hilarious.

How Western media report advances and retreats by ISIS in Syria

When ISIS forces advance in Syria, it is a huge story, occupying front pages in the US and Europe.  Yet, when ISIS is pushed back and is forced to retreat, it is ignored in the media which wishes to stick to its narrative (derived from Syrian rebel narrative) that Syrian regime and its allies never fight ISIS.  

Arkansas plan to ban Howard Zinn from public schools

Bill Introduced to Ban Howard Zinn's books from Arkansas Public schools.

That lousy speech by Bernie Sanders at J Street conference

It is a lousy speech by all means.  Here are excerpts:
"and removed the prospect of an Iranian nuclear weapon from the list of global threats." Notice he does not care say a word about the threat of Israel's WMDs.
The criteria for Sandars are always (like every member of US congress) is the security of the occupation state: "In contrast, the Iran nuclear deal helped the security of the U.S. and its partners – yes, it helped the security of Israel, as many Israeli security experts have acknowledged". 
He then brazenly says: "I saw and experienced for myself many of the progressive values upon which the State of Israel was founded." Yes, Israel was founded on such progressive values: ethnic cleansing, occupation, settler colonialism, mass explosion, apartheid, sectarianism, massacres and war crimes. But this Vermont Senator was very impressed.
"to acknowledge the enormous achievement of establishing a democratic homeland for the Jewish people".  Would you support a homeland for Muslim people? How could a secular support a religious identity based state? And democratic? You mean democratic for the European Jewish segment of the population but not for the rest, right?
Whenever someone uses the word "painful" about Israeli war crimes, I know that the person is about to justify war crimes.  Also, the analogy with the US is intended to convince listeners that it is OK and that the victims have to move on: "But as you all know, there was another side to the story of Israel’s creation, a more painful side. Like our own country, the founding of Israel involved the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people already living there, the Palestinian people. Over 700,000 people were made refugees."
And here he provides the typical ignorant narrative: "Nobody gains when children are trained to be suicide bombers." Nobody is training anyone on anything. Some people are driven to commit extreme acts of violence by virtue of the mass violence of the occupiers. Read Richard Pepe's Dying to Win and you will understand what you are ignorant of: regarding the impact of foreign occupation on the occupied.
He concludes the speech by asserting that in his view George W. Bush has the best solution to the conflict.  

Iraqi musician Nasser Shamma explains that he did not know the man who asked to take a picture with him was Israel's ambassador

Iraqi musician, Nasseer Shamma explains that the man who insisted on shaking his hand and have his picture taken with him was the Israeli ambassador. Here, Shamma explains his stance on Palestine.
Naseer Shamma

2 hrs · 

نصير شمه

(توضيح لما جاء في الصحافة الأسرائيلية) 

حدثني أبي عن مدن فلسطينية، أخبرني عن القدس وحيفا ويافا وغزة ورام الله وجنين وبيت لحم وغيرها مدن فلسطين العزيزة حيث كان الفلسطيني المسلم واليهودي والمسيحي يتشاركون الأفراح والأتراح.

وفي العراق حيث كبرت وترعرعت التقيت بالكثير من اليهود العراقيين الذين لم يختلف حب بعضهم للعراق عن حبي لهذه الأرض، وفي تونس كنت أنتظر دعوة صديقي التونسي اليهودي موريس للعشاء لأن ما كان يقوم بطهيه من طعام كان من ألذ ما أكلت، ولم يكن ينسى أبدا أن يحملني بالشاي المخلوط بالهال والزيتون قبل أن أغادر منزله.

لم تختلف نظرتي أبدا للإنسان بخلفيته الدينية أو الاجتماعية، كنت دائما أقرأ الإنسانية ، وما كان يقف دائما بيني وبين غيري سوى التعامل من خلال هذا المنظار .

آمنت دائما بالديمقراطية، وآمنت بأن العدالة هي أول الطرق لتكتسب الإنسانية معناها الأصيل، فكيف من الممكن أن يتحقق سلامٌ من دون عدالة؟ وهذا ماأكدت عليه في كلمتي أثناء أحتفال تنصيبي فنان اليونسكو للسلام وسط حضور عالمي لاأعرف أغلبه بشكل شخصي.

يوميا أصافح العشرات بشفافية وبيد بيضاء كيد موسى، لكنني لا أستطيع أن أصافح يدا‘ بقفازات، من يتحدث عن الديمقراطية عليه أن يعيشها ممارسة، ومن يأتي لحفل السلام عليه أن يترجم السلام، كان حريا بالسفير الأسرائيلي أن يترك لي الحرية لممارسة خياراتي وأنا المؤمن بالسلام والعدالة لا أرفض إنسانا على هذه الأرض، لكن أن يأتيني بوجهه المعلن لا كما تصرف السفير الإسرائيلي بنشره صورة أو خبرا أنا منه براء لجهلي بمن كان، براءة الذئب من دم يوسف. 

لفلسطين في قلبي مكانة لست مضطراً لتأكيدها.
ومنظمة اليونسكو التي منحتني شرف تمثيل العلاقة بين الفن والسلام لا تعترف بالاحتلال، بدليل قرارها الأخير حول القدس. الفن عدالة أولاً، والسلام عدالة، ولا مسرة للناس تحت نير
المظالم.

ملاحظة لم أكن أعرف أن الرجل الذي جاءني مرتين وفي الثالثة طلب صورة معي هو السفير الأسرائيلي ،
كون الأمر مازال غير واضحاً للبعض.

The Joke of the Day

"The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is pleased to welcome former U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry as its inaugural visiting distinguished statesman." This is the guy who was for the Iraq war before he was against it.  A true statesman indeed.  

Adam Shatz assures you that Orientalist depictions of Arabs are rather accurate and true: he found a group of natives who told him that over dinner, damn it

"I had dinner with a group of Algerian intellectuals who grew up in socialist Algeria, under the rule of Colonel Houari Boumédiène, and who told me that Sattouf might as well have been writing about their childhood."  That is what I can Orientalist documentation as its best.  Where is Thomas Friedman's tax driver or Robert Fisk's Abed when you need them?

See: Muslims can be good

All Western media and governments can agree: Muslims are really good if they obediently serve in armies which fight wars against Arabs/Muslims. 

Censorship on campuses

"Activists for Palestinian rights have long known that our universities are overwhelmingly-hostile environments where freedom of speech about, and critical inquiry into, Israel’s oppressive policies are heavily censored." "Indeed, as activists today are tying in various intersecting struggles, we must not forget the larger context of the wars being waged by campus administrators against their very own students and faculty. The struggle against censorship on campuses must be incorporated with the larger national struggle.  Because, ultimately, we are fighting the same oppressive forces that seek to quash resistance to unbridled power by distorting the facts, censoring free speech, and thwarting critical inquiry."

Gerald Kaufman

" “My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza,” Kaufman said." “Israel was born out of Jewish terrorism,” Kaufman reminded fellow lawmakers, referring specifically to the notorious 1948 massacre by Zionist militias of Palestinians in the village of Deir Yassin." (thanks Amir)

How many chemical weapons attack by Syrian regime?

I am confused: the UN talks about "at least three times" of use by the regime, but the Syrian Network of Human Rights have "documented" hundreds of times. Why this huge discrepancy? 

Where was the liberal sense of outrage during the Obama and Bush years?

Rachel Maddow is going on at length about a Russian conspiracy and yet she has been silent about Israeli war crimes, carefully avoiding any criticisms of Israel.  She also has been very mild in criticizing Obama/Bush wars in the Middle East.

How many umbrellas does a man need?

The Russians have been doing this for centuries, you know

"WILLIAM BRANGHAM: John Sipher, you spent a quarter-century in the CIA. Do all of those allegations against the Russians and their involvement, does this all ring true to you?

JOHN SIPHER, Former CIA Officer: Oh, absolutely.Russians have been doing this for decades, if not hundreds of years." (thanks Basim)

This mainstream media focus on Trump

It basically absolved the administrations of Bush and Obama from any crimes or responsibilities for the current global mess.  It leaves the reader with the impression that "if only we can go back to the sane policies of Bush and Obama".  

The Mad Man Theory

I am increasingly convinced that Trump's purposefully promoted the Mad Man theory of his leadership.  In reality, no one can become a president without having enough imperial discipline.  The speech confirms yet again that it does not matter who the president is and that the Empire has foreign policies that are beyond the ability of one president to change or steer.   Bipartisan ship will quickly set in.

Western media have such low standards

They often judge the presidency on the basis of a speech (or paintings, in the case of George W. Bush who has been transformed into a liberal in the age of Trump).

Trump's speech

He mentioned one ally of the US in the whole speech.  Name that ally.

Western media complain about Russian-originated "fake news" but they vomit their own fake news

"Unexpected deaths of six Russian diplomats in four months triggers conspiracy theories | The Independent".  This is the Independent, mind you.