Archive for December 24, 2005
Another evidence of the genius of the Lebanonese “civilization”. I am translating this item verbatim from the new issue of the Lebanese weekly, Al-Afkar: “On the morning of Wednesday, the Member of Parliament from Diniyyah, Qasim `Abdul-`Aziz, visited the Saudi Ambassador in Lebanon, Mr. `Abdul-`Aziz Al-Khujah, accompanied by a farmer/artist from Bakh`un, named Jalal Jbarah, [...]
Posted on December 24, 2005 by As'ad
AIPAC is dying for another war, having not noticed the plight of the last war.
Posted on December 24, 2005 by As'ad
Here, US Congress expresses its opinion of the curriculum in Saudi Arabia. (I like the phrase “encourages functionality in the global economy.” Who wrote this? Lord Balfour?)
Posted on December 24, 2005 by As'ad
LBC-TV runs short segments about “great” Lebanese before the evening news (they have included such famous Lebanese as Frank Zappa, James Zoghby, and Jack in the Box). Today, they had a segment about a Lebanese Maronite “saint” by the name of Hardini–he is huge among some in Lebanon. They said that his “miracles” are “widely [...]
Posted on December 24, 2005 by As'ad
I have been reading a book that will come out early next year, titled A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation From the Cold War to the War on Terror by Univ of Wisconsin historian, Alfred McCoy. (The book will be published by Henry Hold). This passage is from the book: “…the CIA would spend several [...]
Posted on December 24, 2005 by As'ad
“Sources in the Israeli military establishment say that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is at an all-time political low since taking over from Yasser Arafat in November 2004. Some Israeli intelligence officials believe he is considering resigning. Senior Israel Defense Forces officials and Shin Bet security service officials have said recently during internal discussions that [...]
Posted on December 24, 2005 by As'ad
An Arabic proverb says: Sleep is sultan. How true.
Posted on December 24, 2005 by As'ad
“Gideon Levy tells the story of Mahmoud Shawara, a 43-year-old father of nine, who left for work on his donkey one day from his house in the village of Nuaman, near Bethlehem, was arrested by border policemen, and, after he refused to accompany the soldiers without his donkey, was tied to the donkey. The frightened [...]
Posted on December 24, 2005 by As'ad
I watched Nihad Awad of Council on American-Islamic Relations talk on the new scandal of US spaying on Muslims in the US. How he can turn any American scandal to a fundraising opportunity. He said that he needed the help of Muslim governments to tell the US that Islam is not terrorism. Those Muslim American [...]
Posted on December 24, 2005 by As'ad
“The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United States as part of the eavesdropping program that President Bush approved after the Sept. 11, 2001.”
Posted on December 24, 2005 by As'ad
Laura Bush, Condoleeza Rice, Karen Hughes, among other US officials, all praise Mubarak for allowing, HOW NICE, other Egyptians to run for president. Now, Mubarak decided to jail his main rival. That is also nice. Bush’s Middle East reforms continue.
Posted on December 24, 2005 by As'ad
News from the sovereign and “liberated” country of Iraq: “The commander of American-run prisons in Iraq says the military will not turn over any detainees or detention centers to Iraqi jailers until American officials are satisfied that the Iraqis are meeting United States standards for the care and custody of detainees.” (Especially how humane US [...]
Posted on December 24, 2005 by As'ad
Niqula Ziyadah in a moving tribute to Khalil Tawtah.
Posted on December 24, 2005 by As'ad
The Lebanese civil war, the Ayatollah, and the holocaust. Now, him. Ayatollah Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah has added his voice to the silly notion that the Lebanese civil war was a war of “the others” on the Lebanese land. That was never the tenor of his discourse when I interviewed him more than 3 times in [...]
Posted on December 24, 2005 by As'ad
Tapis “vase” (Fin du XVIIe – début du XVIIIe siècle; Iran, Kirman ?)
Posted on December 24, 2005 by As'ad