Archive for June, 2006
“a documentary called _Death Squadron: The French School_ (2003) “shows in great detail, members of the OAS [the French Secret Army Organisation; a sort of right wing, almost neo-fascist paramilitary in Algeria] and other members of France’s elite torturers became special consultants in the exportation of systematic torture around the world – including to the [...]
Posted on June 16, 2006 by As'ad
Missing complexities in Arab politics and societies. You have to visit the Arab bookshops in London to see the complexities of Arab politics and society that often elude Western journalist and sometimes academic coverage of the region. There, you shall see books on Islam side by side with books of Arab erotica; propaganda books by [...]
Posted on June 16, 2006 by As'ad
Gizelle Khuri, again. Some of you know by now that Khuri, the TV presenter of AlArabiyya TV is my least favorite media person, assuming that what she does enters into the realm of media. She, this former writer in the magazine of the Lebanese Forces militia, epitomizes in her personality and style everything that I [...]
Posted on June 15, 2006 by As'ad
The committee of the families of Syrian “disappeared” people in Lebanon released a statement with some figures yesterday. It said that 377 Syrians in Lebanon (names given for all) were subject to a variety of attacks that included murder, beating, arrests, or robbery. Some 1079 Syrians are still missing in Lebanon. Enjoy your “Cedar Revolution,” [...]
Posted on June 15, 2006 by As'ad
House of Saud yesterday arrested 8,000 beggars in the city of Riyadh alone.
Posted on June 15, 2006 by As'ad
You better read this most critical analysis of the Palestinian situation by my dear friend, Joseph. It is titled The (Anti-)Palestinian Authority. For purposes of full disclosure: Joseph wrote this under duress, i.e. under tremendous pressures from me. After he shared with me his insights on the situation in a phone conversation, I kept nagging [...]
Posted on June 15, 2006 by As'ad
I read, among other things, Time magazine and the Economist on the plane, in that order. It was odd. I felt as if I switched from a conversation with Tony Danza to a conversation with Arnold Toynbee. They both covered the Zarqawi story, and how different the coverage was. But that is not surprising at [...]
Posted on June 15, 2006 by As'ad
“As the war in Iraq continues for a fourth year, the global image of America has slipped further, even among people in some countries closely allied with the United States, a new opinion poll has found.”
Posted on June 14, 2006 by As'ad
A stooge or a puppet? This is the question. “Mr. Maliki, at 56 a newcomer to government office, appeared uneasy at times during the visit, smiling when he greeted Mr. Bush on his arrival in the palace rotunda, but otherwise looking mostly somber. One Iraqi official said the visit was a double-edged sword for Mr. [...]
Posted on June 14, 2006 by As'ad
The highest Shi`ite and Sunni religious leaders in Lebanon met before the cameras today. They denied that there is a sectarian problem in Lebanon. That only proves one thing: that there is indeed a deep sectarian problem in Lebanon.
Posted on June 14, 2006 by As'ad
Yesterday, I turned to AlArabiyya TV to watch Palestinian developments and the station was leading the news with footage of the Saudi king dancing the `Ardah dance. I kid you not. And my hotel in London gets Alarabiyya but no aljazeera. I am suffocating.
Posted on June 14, 2006 by As'ad
Urban growth. (thanks Laleh)
Posted on June 14, 2006 by As'ad
Follow-up to previous post: “Al Arabiya signs-up Abdullah Schleifer for top US role”
Posted on June 13, 2006 by As'ad
…off to Lebanon. I will return on July 10th. I will blog from there but without poetry or art. I will take pictures—as I did last year—and then post them upon my return. I will post my speaking engagements there on my site. I am speaking on June 29th (along with my colleagues/friends, Rania Masri [...]
Posted on June 13, 2006 by As'ad
Goya, Francisco, The Swing, 1787.
Posted on June 13, 2006 by As'ad
Lebanese political cartoonist Stavro Jabra (who headed the judges’ team for a contest in political cartoons which I entered at the age of 13–I won a consolation prize) suggests in this cartoon that Bush visited Iraq to offer his condolences over the death of Zarqawi.
Posted on June 13, 2006 by As'ad
Heroin Addicts for Bush hold their first convention.
Posted on June 13, 2006 by As'ad
Al-Quds Al-`Arabi published the transcript of a meeting of Palestinian organizations in Damascus. You read it and think: blah, blah, blah, and more blah.
Posted on June 13, 2006 by As'ad
“Mourners carry a Palestinian boy who was killed in an Israeli airstrike Tuesday in Gaza City. Also among the dead were four Palestinian medics who had rushed to the scene from a nearby hospital after hearing the first of two blasts.”
Posted on June 13, 2006 by As'ad
“‘I saw my brother. I tried to wake him. He never woke’”
Posted on June 13, 2006 by As'ad