Archive for May 6, 2007

At this hour, Saudi website, Elaph, had this headline on Sarkozy: “The new president is a humanitarian and carries the principles of Gaulism.”

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

“Why is Israel After Me?”

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

“Olmert expressed his confidence that Israel’s relations with France will strengthen during Sarkozy’s term in office.”

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

This is Zionism: “Palestinians detained by Israeli security forces are routinely tortured and ill-treated, according to a new report published by Israeli human rights groups yesterday. The ill-treatment, which includes beatings, sensory deprivation, back-bending, back-stretching and other forms of physical abuse, contravenes international law and Israeli law, the report says. The Centre for the Defence [...]

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

“Burly security men in lightweight suits were muttering into walkie-talkies and turning all non-residents away from the poshest five-star hotel in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Friday night to make way for the guests arriving for Egypt’s wedding of the decade.”

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

Thomas Friedman explains his real position on the US war in Iraq in an interview with Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat:Question: Let me being with you with your position supporting the Iraq war. How did that influence readers of your column, and consequently the readers of your newspaper, The New York Times, which is a liberal newspaper, and [...]

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

“The long story of Hasan Sa’id Karmi, BBC Arabic Service broadcaster, lexicographer and man of letters, who has died aged 101, is that of every Palestinian Arab: one of exile, dispossession, oppression and separation – and an enduring sense of loss. But there are few other Palestinians who were approaching adulthood at the time of [...]

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

“The Canadian embassy in Saudi Arabia yesterday protested a decision to shut down its booth at an education fair because it was staffed by women. “Such unprofessional incidents are very damaging to Saudi Arabia’s international reputation,” the embassy said in a statement following the closure at the 12th Middle East education fair in the Red [...]

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

How can you not be optimistic about the future of the Palestinian national movement? Look at this picture. Who is scared of whom?

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

Al-Arabiya TV has announced that it will be airing a series about the life of George Washington. In other news, the director of the station categorically denied that his station has become a propaganda outlet for the US administration.

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

Al=Quds Al-`Arabis has obtained information about the criminal gangs that are holding the BBC correspondent in Gaza. It said that the gangs have made three demands: and one of them is for a peace of land (illegally registered). They have also asked for the release of Sajidah Ar-Rishawi and $5 million.

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

Al-Quds Al-`Arabi is reporting that negotiations are under way between Muqtada As-Sadr’s parliamentary bloc and the bloc of Iyad `Allawi (former puppet prime minister/car bomber/Saddam’s henchmen/embezzler-in-Yemen) for a possible alliance. I wonder. Was that also envisioned by the neo-conservative visionaries?

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

The Iranian parliament has officially banned AlJazeera correspondents from entering its halls. It said that the criticisms of Grand (not at all) Ayatullah Sistani that aired by one guest this week on Aljazeera were unacceptable. Does that mean that I am banned from the Iranian parliament too?

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

“The deadly missile attack on the USS Stark was unleashed by a Mirage F-1 jet — flown by an Iraqi pilot who mistook the U.S. warship for an Iranian vessel. At that moment, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and Ayatollah Khomeini’s Iran were in the seventh year of a war that had begun in 1980 with a [...]

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

Dumb news of the day. I heard on Al-Jazeera that Hizbullah issued a statement in which it expressed its congratulations for the election of Sarkozy. Now, I tried to look at Hizbullah’s sites to verify that, but could not find the news. So if this is true, it certainly qualifies as the dumbest piece of [...]

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

“Of the 1085 Times news articles since December 1, 2004, 37% mentioned Palestinian “attack(s)”, 36% mentioned “terrorism”, 28% mentioned “terrorist(s)”, 21% mentioned Palestinian “violence”,[6] 18% mentioned “suicide bombing(s)”, 16% mentioned Palestinian “weapon(s)”, and 14% mentioned Palestinian “radicals”. In contrast to this strong Israeli narrative, only two words reflecting a Palestinian narrative appeared in a comparable [...]

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

Jamal Husni Mubarak was married this week. For his witness (to the marriage contract), he selected the head of Egyptian mukhabarat. That says something about Arab politics.

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

Sarkozy and the New Right. The election of Sarkozy points to a trend. In the 1980s and 1990s, there were all these articles in the Western press (and scholarship) about the New Right. The New Right referred to those organizations with neo-Nazi and fascist agendas that made xenophobia a central element in their electoral campaigns. [...]

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

“That academic is named Asad AbuKhalil, and he typifies much that is repulsive about the pan-Arabist poseur.” (thanks Amer)

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad

Michael Husayn Young, unplugged: A Liberal for Bush (and his wars). So I watched a DVRed show in which Michael Young was a guest. It was the first time I see him on Arabic TV. It was on a new show on Future TV (Hariri TV) hosted by the able Najat Sharaf Ad-Din. She hosts [...]

Posted on May 6, 2007 by As'ad