Archive for January 15, 2006
The question is not whether clashes will occur in Lebanon; the question is what will the nature of the clashes be? Sunni versus Shi`ite? Druze versus Shi`ite? Maronite versus Shi`ite?
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
Do you know that when Bremer’s government started removing statues from Baghdad they also removed the statue of the greatest Arab poet Abu At-Tayyib Al-Mutanabbi? Today, I saw an interview I taped on AlJazeera with Ghassan Salamah about his experience in Iraq with the UN–too bad he is part of Hariri Inc in Paris. He [...]
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
Has Jacques Chirac ever met an Arab oil prince/king/president that he did not feel that he has to prostrate himself before? These are his words about the dead Emir of Kuwait: “Homme de vision, de générosité et de clairvoyance, Cheikh Jaber avait fait de la stabilité et de la paix dans la région une priorité [...]
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
“Translator’s Conviction Raises Legal Concerns: Trial Transcripts Show Lack of Evidence”
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
“IAEA’s ElBaradei: Iran’s peaceful nuclear claims in doubt” (Angry Arab: Israel’s non-peaceful nuclear weapons are not in doubt)
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
How many things are wrong with this headline: “Palestinians allowed to vote in East Jerusalem, but Israel bars Hamas from election”
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
“Pakistanis vent fury over US attack”
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
As-Safir newspaper refused to run this piece that I wrote (basically a translation from Ariel Sharon’s memoir about the Lebanese member of parliament Solange Gemayyel): تعرّÙوا على نواب لبنان: سولانج الجميل ÙÙŠ مذكرات أرييل شارون (أو أصول الضياÙØ© اللبنانية) (Ùيما يلي ترجمة ØرÙية لما جاء ÙÙŠ مذكرات أرييل شارون, بعنوان Ù…Øارب, , الطبعة الاميركية الصادرة [...]
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
15% of Kuwaiti public expenditure goes to military purposes. Why? I mean, 1/3rd of the country is a US military zone. A Kuwaiti student told me that he went with his friends to this region, and US military personnel kicked them out.
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
Hariri Inc is desperately looking for Shi`ite alternatives to Amal-Hizbullah to control. As you remember, Hariri Inc first formed a “Shi`ite” organization headed by Nasir Al-As`ad (a Hariri journalist) and Shaykh Muhammad Hasan Al-Amin (who lost his temper in a famous appearance on Hariri TV, and that ended his ambitions). Now, Hariri Inc is hoping [...]
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
When the Syrian regime does not even release some of the well-known and not so well-known political prisoners, it only shows how insecure it is. All Arab oppressive regimes are insecure. They have to be; they are so disliked by their people, and their neighbors.
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
I wanted an illustration of Israeli “democracy” and found this picture from yesterday.
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
Don’t believe the Arab media when they give the dead Kuwaiti Emir credit for the idea of the Fund for Future Generations, which puts a portion of Kuwaiti oil revenues in a savings’ account inended for future Kuwaiti generations. (Of course, that fund was depleted when it was spent to fund the US war in [...]
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
Every time there is a transition of power in the autocratic Arab states, the press and governments talk about “taghyir salis li-s-sultah” (smooth transition of power). I mean, what the alternative? It is smooth within the unelected ruling group/family. Give me a…potato.
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
The press is reporting that Ariel Sharon is still in a coma. The Arab victims of Qibya, Israeli invasion of 1982, and of Sabra and Shatila massacres are not in a coma. They are all dead.
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
Nausea: Pronunciation: ‘no-zE-&, -sE-&; ‘no-zh&, -sh&Function: nounEtymology: Latin, seasickness, nausea, from Greek nautia, nausia, from nautEs sailor.1: The sensation you experience when you read the Lebanese press when any Arab oil prince or king dies.
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
The political dilemma of Kuwait is this: the Crown Prince is in worse shape than the Emir who just died.
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
I will share this with you. When Jumblat a week or more ago gave an interview to David Ignatius of the Washington Post in which he called on the US to invade Syria, As-Safir put the news on the first page. Jumblat lieutenants attacked As-Safir, and accused it of distorting the interview. Jumblat’s chief advisor, [...]
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
The foolish Hamas organization still insists on running for the elections despite the arrest of its candidates and the closing of their offices. I mean, the idea of elections-under-occupation is not only stupid but is nothing less than a diversionary tool of occupation. I mean, you really think that you can have a democracy-under-occupation? Just [...]
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad
Yesterday, after a silence of several weeks, Hizbullah and the Amal Movement responded to Walid Jumblat’s attacks. But the responses were tepid. The best response to Jumblat was from Anwar Raja, the top PFLP-GC official in Lebanon. But how foolish the PFLP-GC looks when Raja admits (correctly) that his group (and the Fath-Uprising) lost 800 [...]
Posted on January 15, 2006 by As'ad