Archive for August 5, 2007

I recommend the new book by Dhafi Al-Jam`ani titled Mina Al-Hizb Ila As-Sijn, 1948-1994 (From the Party to the Prison, 1948-1994). I hear that the Jordanian government is also dispeased with this book, and it could be withdrawn (as happened in the case of the memoirs of Nadhir Rashid). Jam`ani was a Ba`thist [...]

Posted by As'ad at 11:26 PM 08/5/07

Phalangist hostility toward the Armenians in Lebanon is not new. In the late 1970s, when the Lebanese Forces imposed conscription on the Armenians, the Armenians resisted. They did not want to be dragged into the civil war. The Phalangist militias then imposed a siege of Armenian areas, and persecuted them until they [...]

Posted by As'ad at 11:24 PM 08/5/07

The Palestinian people should be worried. Prince Sultan discussed the Palestinian question with Shhaykh Muhammad Bin Zayid.

Posted by As'ad at 11:13 PM 08/5/07

I may be wrong, but I did not find a single Western story on the Lebanese election that made references to the March 14th leaders’ (and Amin Gemayyel’s) racist outburst against the Armenians of Lebanon.

Posted by As'ad at 11:10 PM 08/5/07

” Gemayel and his wife, Joyce, began the day by visiting their son’s grave before heading to the polling station. “We visited Pierre to … promise him that his blood will not be in vain,” Gemayel said.”

Posted by As'ad at 10:59 PM 08/5/07

“Lebanon’s most senior Shia Muslim cleric has issued a fatwa banning “honour” killings, calling the custom of murdering a female relative for sexual misconduct “a repulsive act”.”

Posted by As'ad at 10:57 PM 08/5/07

This is Zionism: “Several thousand people marched through the centre of Jerusalem yesterday to protest at what they said was a lack of government support in the Jewish state for survivors of the Holocaust.”

Posted by As'ad at 10:53 PM 08/5/07

Mullahs priorities: “Iranian morals police arrest 230 in raid on ’satanist’ rave”

Posted by As'ad at 10:51 PM 08/5/07

Look at this statement against Israel’s boycott. It is engineered by Elie Wiesel. Let me explain to you why some of them signed (I don’t know most of them). Gorbachev would sign anything for a fee; Dhalai Lama would sign anything for a picture with a Hollywood celebrity; and De Clerk signed [...]

Posted by As'ad at 10:48 PM 08/5/07

Robert Fisk’s pieces on Lebanon have become worthless, unless you want a translation of Walid Jumblat’s Arabic accusations and claims. The Washington Post is much more reliable on Lebanon, and I miss the dispatches of Megan Stack of the LA Times from Lebanon (she is now in Moscow).

Posted by As'ad at 10:42 PM 08/5/07

I remember back in 1975, as soon as the civil war broke out, Amin Gemayyel gave my father (his friend) a laissez passez signed by him for me and my brothers if we find ourselves in East Beirut. I never used it. I don’t know what happened to it.

Posted by As'ad at 10:34 PM 08/5/07

For those who have radios (or blenders), you can hear me on CBS News radio commenting on this story.

Posted by As'ad at 10:30 PM 08/5/07

This is the Muslim Brotherhood. They don’t object to the royal autocratic government, or to the role of the muhabarat, or to the oppression and discrimination against the Palestinians, or to the Jordanian-Israeli alliance, or to the sinister Jordanian role in the region. But this really angers them. “Jordan’s Islamists Sunday [...]

Posted by As'ad at 8:12 PM 08/5/07

This is a most pernicious, most callous government: “Sudan has freed over 1,000 women and children from the south who had been jailed in Khartoum for brewing and selling alcohol, a crime under north Sudan’s Islamic sharia law, an official said on Sunday.”

Posted by As'ad at 8:10 PM 08/5/07

“Surge of Suicide Bombers: The Iraq war has turned into a veritable ‘martyr’ factory, unlike any seen in previous conflicts”

Posted by As'ad at 7:27 PM 08/5/07

The racist Hariri rag, Al-Mustaqbal, headlines that “the Armenian flag” was raised in (the predominantly Armenian) Burj Hammud. The rag did not notice that Lebanese Forces convoys raised the US flag all day yesterday.

Posted by As'ad at 5:42 PM 08/5/07

Don’t you like the objective tone of Hariri media? Here, Hariri propagandist (and official Hariri weaper), Faris Khashshan, says that Prince Bandar Bin Bribe’s visit to Moscow achieved “exceptional successes.”

Posted by As'ad at 5:35 PM 08/5/07

“At U.S. base, Iraqis must use separate latrine” (thanks Ted)

Posted by As'ad at 5:28 PM 08/5/07

Hanady Salman writes about Zahrah Sh`aytu

Posted by As'ad at 5:25 PM 08/5/07

Talal Salman on the racist outbursts of March 14 leaders.

Posted by As'ad at 5:23 PM 08/5/07

This writer in Saudi daily Al-Riyadh attacks me for writing a book critical of the House of Saud and says that I am thus part of the “neo-conservatives.”

Posted by As'ad at 3:27 PM 08/5/07

“The scale of the battle” in Matn by Khalid Saghiyyah.

Posted by As'ad at 3:06 PM 08/5/07

Why I am worried about the safety of Armenians in Lebanon. I don’t need another distraction but this by-election in Lebanon was although I don’t vote, and I am not supporting any candidate–not that I have people waiting for my electoral preferences or recommendations. I barely slept, and was trying to find [...]

Posted by As'ad at 1:57 PM 08/5/07

Shatir, Shatir. (thanks Aroub)

Posted by As'ad at 10:04 AM 08/5/07

“At the same time, Bush’s order pointedly did not disavow the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” that would likely be found illegal if used by officials inside the United States. The executive order means that the agency can once again hold foreign terror suspects indefinitely, and without charges, in black sites, [...]

Posted by As'ad at 9:35 AM 08/5/07

“The group – which is called Shiite Muslims Against Violence Extremism and International Terrorism – was founded by Muslims wanting to show opposition to violence. Mr Taki said Saudi police had accused the Britons and the American of being “infidels” who were outside Islam.” This is not surprising: Saudi government is on [...]

Posted by As'ad at 9:29 AM 08/5/07

Another Betrayal by Hizbullah. For several weeks, sources close to the leftist candidate (in the Beirut by-election), Ibrahim Halabi, have been saying that Hizbullah will support them secretively and quietly. I have been telling everybody that Hizbullah will not lift a finger and will abandon that candidate. Today, my sister spoke [...]

Posted by As'ad at 9:24 AM 08/5/07