Archive for June 12, 2007

Ma`n Bashshur has been a sad man this year: first, he lost Saddam Husayn, and now he lost `Abdul-`Aziz At-Tuwayjiri. You have to read the “telegram” that Walid Jumblat sent to House of Saud about Tuwayjiri.

Posted by As'ad at 11:56 PM 06/12/07

“The leader of Britain’s Conservative party, David Cameron, called himself a “Zionist” Tuesday as he slammed a British initiative for an academic boycott against Israel.”

Posted by As'ad at 11:35 PM 06/12/07

Prince Bandar Bin Bribe scandal: “Des Browne, the defence secretary, yesterday refused point-blank to say whether his department’s £1bn backdoor payments to Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia for arms deals were still continuing. Visibly uneasy and irritated at a lunch with defence journalists, he claimed “national security” was the reason for his silence.”

Posted by As'ad at 11:33 PM 06/12/07

“The highest ranking UN official in Israel has warned that American pressure has “pummelled into submission” the UN’s role as an impartial Middle East negotiator in a damning confidential report. The 53-page “End of Mission Report” by Alvaro de Soto, the UN’s Middle East envoy, obtained by the Guardian, presents a devastating account [...]

Posted by As'ad at 11:30 PM 06/12/07

Somebody (a Cedar Revolutionary no doubt) set the tents where poor Syrian workers live in Zahlah on fire. In Minyah near Tripoli, tents where Syrian works live were also set on fire.

Posted by As'ad at 11:12 PM 06/12/07

Today, the Lebanese Security Forces issued an official statement, no less, in which it stated that “all rumors” about the security situation in Lebanon are false and fabricated.

Posted by As'ad at 11:05 PM 06/12/07

This Palestinian family was displaced from Nahr Al-Barid camp. (Ghassan Rifi, As-Safir).

Posted by As'ad at 11:00 PM 06/12/07

“Larry Register quietly stepped down from the top editorial post at U.S.-funded Arabic-language TV network Al Hurra on Friday, amid intense criticism the network had started to embrace anti-American and anti-Israeli viewpoints.”

Posted by As'ad at 10:49 PM 06/12/07

Judith Miller, having found WMDs in Iraq, is now looking for WMDs among Arab prisoners in Israel. But look how this sentence reads: ” On the other hand, many Israeli, Arab, and American scholars and security officials doubt that America is likely to endure [...]

Posted by As'ad at 10:32 PM 06/12/07

“The Lebanese army and internal security forces have arbitrarily detained and physically abused some Palestinian men fleeing the fighting in Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, Human Rights Watch said today.” (thanks Nadim)

Posted by As'ad at 10:29 PM 06/12/07

You can verify this yourself. Whenever clashes occur in Gaza, one Palestinian is always nowhere to be seen in Palestine. He is either lounging around a swimming pool in `Aqaba or in Cairo (this time he is in Cairo).

Posted by As'ad at 1:40 PM 06/12/07

Majid `Abdul-Hadi of Aljazeera delivered a sharp report on the clashes in “Gazastan.” He castigated both sides for fighting “over a state that has not been formed yet.”

Posted by As'ad at 1:39 PM 06/12/07

The puppet speaker of the Iraqi parliament was furious. He just could not understand why he should be unseated because he on occasions has hit members of the parliament.

Posted by As'ad at 11:20 AM 06/12/07

Technically, we should refer to the semi-civil wars in Iraq, Somalia, Palestine, and Lebanon as proxy wars. Because in all those cases, the US and its allies are arming and financing one side, and urging it to take on the enemies of the US.

Posted by As'ad at 11:10 AM 06/12/07

This is all what you need to know about Fatwawawawas (but you need to delete the word “technically”): “Technically, the fatwa is nonbinding and recipients are free to look elsewhere for a better ruling. In a faith with no central doctrinal authority, there has been an explosion of places offering fatwas, from Web sites that [...]

Posted by As'ad at 10:44 AM 06/12/07

Big Sister. Sources in Sidon told me that Bahiyyah Al-Hariri summoned managers of the all the banks in the Sidon region and told them to “keep their eyes open” and to report any suspicious activities. One bank manager should have reported to her about one Bahiyyah Al-Hariri who has been funding fanatic Salafi [...]

Posted by As'ad at 10:31 AM 06/12/07

Correction. Yesterday, I reported that the gallant Lebanese Army was able to capture “important documents” in “the house of Shakir Absi” in Nahr Al-Barid camp. The gallant Army today clarified and said that it found “important AND dangerous documents and CDs.” I kid you not. Once the CD’s were found, the [...]

Posted by As'ad at 10:29 AM 06/12/07

Rome Reborn.

Posted by As'ad at 10:25 AM 06/12/07

“A Palestinian mayor called Monday for the end of pilgrimages by Jewish groups to a holy site in his West Bank village after Muslim graves were desecrated there last week. Ahmed Bouzia, mayor of Kifl Hares in the northern West Bank, said villagers discovered the desecration Friday morning after 1,300 Jewish [...]

Posted by As'ad at 10:01 AM 06/12/07

“The view in Jerusalem is that Sarkozy wants to bring about a gradual thaw in the ties, in order to play the “honest broker” and stabilize Lebanon. The conference in Paris, according to this assessment, is part of this effort.” (thanks Wissam)

Posted by As'ad at 9:54 AM 06/12/07

Their houses have been destroyed by Israeli occupation forces. As Mahmud Darwish had written: “All What you have done to our people isregistered in notebooks.”

Posted by As'ad at 9:40 AM 06/12/07

Their houses have been destroyed by Israeli occupation forces. As Mahmud Darwish had written: “All What you have done to our people isregistered in notebooks.”

Posted by As'ad at 9:40 AM 06/12/07

I have received a lot of emails about this, and some from insider sources in Al-Jazeera. But I don’t have any confirmation for anything as of yet. But this is a reliable source: “Qatari Government Taking Over AlJazeera?”

Posted by As'ad at 9:35 AM 06/12/07

“The parents of a New York teen named Osama have sued the school system claiming their son was constantly harassed by teachers while school officials did nothing. Osama al-Najjar, a Jordanian-born Muslim, eventually plunged into a deep depression and tried to commit suicide over the incessant references to the infamous [...]

Posted by As'ad at 9:32 AM 06/12/07

“Anarchists add red paint to water in two central fountains [in Tel Aviv], say paint represents blood of Palestinians killed and injured by IDF in territories.” (thanks Amina)

Posted by As'ad at 9:28 AM 06/12/07

On Prince Bandar Bin Bribe: “Abrams worked closely with Prince Bandar bin-Sultan, the Saudi National Security Adviser, to push this plan forward. We hear that this has now been shelved at the insistence, we are told, of Saudi King Abdullah. The latter has distanced himself from Bandar who is spending much of [...]

Posted by As'ad at 9:26 AM 06/12/07

Amer sent me this: “Al-Hayat’s Randa Taqyyi al-Din appared on French TV (LCI) she was asked: “so why are palestinians in Lebanon living in camps?”, she answered “because of the Cairo Accord.”

Posted by As'ad at 8:33 AM 06/12/07

So now we know why he was “warmly” received in Albania: “President Bush ‘has watch stolen off wrist’ during Albanian walkabout”

Posted by As'ad at 8:27 AM 06/12/07

Al-Hayat censored the account in the 2nd part of the interview with Jalal Talabani in which he talks about undertaking missions on behalf of Wadi` Haddad in Europe.

Posted by As'ad at 12:48 AM 06/12/07

Read Page 118 (thanks Laleh)

Posted by As'ad at 12:47 AM 06/12/07

“Despite the recent U.S. military buildup in Baghdad, insurgent and militia attacks persist and “civilian casualties continue to mount” in Iraq as a whole, according to a report released Monday by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.”

Posted by As'ad at 12:41 AM 06/12/07

“US forces mistakenly killed seven Afghan police and wounded four others in a friendly fire incident early today in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said.”

Posted by As'ad at 12:38 AM 06/12/07

“”Prince Bandar received approximately $3 million per quarter in his Riggs account from an account at Lloyd’s of London, according to internal Riggs documents and interviews with investigators. It isn’t clear who is the holder of the Lloyd’s account.”” (thanks Regan)

Posted by As'ad at 12:37 AM 06/12/07

“It is a destitute, oppressive place, where 70,000 Palestinian refugees are squeezed into one square kilometre and violence is the norm.”

Posted by As'ad at 12:33 AM 06/12/07