Archive for January 28, 2007

He is back; he is back. “The Muslims “seem to be about to take over Europe,” Lewis said at a special briefing with the editorial staff of The Jerusalem Post.” But I don’t understand why he was not about what he knows best: his Orientalist numerology. And can you imagine the reaction and outcry if [...]

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

“In eighteenth-century England and Revolutionary France, the masks, indecent parodies, musical cacophonies and outlandish costumes of street festivals often provided a convenient cover for insurrectionary activities. In rural England, the maypole became a political sign as well as a festive one. In France, where the tight-lipped Jacobins denounced popular festivities as barbarous, pigs were dressed [...]

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

Dershowitz made this argument in favor of Israeli nuclear weapons–I am not making this up: “Israel needs the bomb,” he said. As simple as that. When I was growing up in Lebanon, learning about the Palestinian problem at an early age, I never thought that I would later in life be watching Alan Dershowitz on [...]

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

I don’t have to prove this: I was watching Dershowitz on C-Span during his Brandeis University. He actually castigated Mahmoud Abbas for refusing to “disarm Hizbullah.” And why does not Abbas disarm the Mahdi Army while you are at it, o esteemed law professor? People like him are taken as experts on the Middle East [...]

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

Alan Dershowitz claimed (in his speech at Brandeis University) that he “helped draft” the UNSC 242. I never have heard that before–and never read it anywhere, does anybody know whether there is any shred of evidence for that? You need to ask that question given the very low credibility of the man. (And who would [...]

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

“Father and Son,” a 2005 painting by Zhang Xiaogang.

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

If you read the text of Jimmy Carter’s speech at Brandeis–or if you have watched it on C-Span–you should be convinced that Carter should not be considered a friend of the Palestinians. He never was; never is; and never will be. Did you notice his narrative of the Arab-Israeli wars as “wars on Israel”? That [...]

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

Martin Peretz on Arabs: “I actually believe that Arabs are feigning outrage when they protest what they call American (or Israeli) “atrocities.” They are not shocked at all by what in truth must seem to them not atrocious at all. It is routine in their cultures. That comparison shouldn’t comfort us as Americans. We have [...]

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

“Settlers use their bodies to prevent Palestinians from harvesting olives” (thanks Amer)

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

A light unto what? “Petah Tikva’s municipal council is expected to approve today a proposal that would block any more immigrants from Ethiopia from settling there.” (thanks Amina)

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

I don’t mean to bother you but why would not the Lebanese Army send some 20,000 additional troops to downtown Beirut? I mean, if the surge worked splendidly in Iraq, it surely would work in Lebanon. Thanks. Back to sleep.

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

Even astronauts: “A delegation of American astronauts began a visit to Israel on Sunday.”

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

The Egyptian kifaya movement moves away from secularism.

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

“Sorry to repeat myself…” Sorry to repeat yourself? You think that you owe me one apology? If you really want to apologize for repeating yourself you need to do that on daily basis for 2 years, at least. Your entire collection of columns can be easily summarized in one column, or one doodle. No more, [...]

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

This is hilarious: a case of manufacturing convenient news. Newsweek has this headline–but you have to read who they are: “Two Mideast leaders, Sunni and Shiite, agree America cannot abandon Iraq now.”

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

Don’t you like it when Arab neo-conservatives praise one another? Here is Ajami on Rashid: “7. We know that the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful, honorable people. But what do you say to people who ask why almost every terrorist is a Muslim? I say there is a painful truth here, and that one [...]

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

Saudi government is behind the sectarian conflict in the Middle East, and behind the civil war in Palestine and Lebanon, and Hamas and Hizbullah are busying praising the efforts of the Saudi King. This is worse than dumb. (And Hizbullah officials in Lebanon are insisting that Ja`ja` (Ga`ga` in Egyptian accent) and Jumblat–and not Hariri–are [...]

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

Hariri media are constantly outraged at sectarian agitation in Lebanon while doing the most toward its escalation. Here, Hariri cleric (former favorite cleric of Syrian mukhabarat in Lebanon), Muhammad `Ali Al-Juzu, says that “Sunnis are the salt of Lebanon now, and they defend Lebanon better than the Maronites.” In fact, Hariri TV, Future TV, has [...]

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

Al-Akhbar praises Saudi King’s initiative…on Palestine–also on the front page. I can’t breathe. Please, open the windows NOW.

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad

I am not making this up, Al-Akhbar reports on its front page that the Saudi ambassador in Lebanon is “very happy.”

Posted on January 28, 2007 by As'ad