Archive for February 2, 2008
“Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani almost a week and a half ago in Switzerland, at the Davos Economic Forum. The existence of the surreptitious talks has so far been kept under-wraps by Israel.”
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
“A: I’m afraid to say Pakistan is the paradigm example of a failed state and has been for a long time. It has had military rule, violence and oppression, Since the 1980′s, it has undergone an extremely dangerous form of radical Islamisation, which has undermined a good part of the society, under the Zia-ul-Haq tyranny.” [...]
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
“The burly Dostum rose to command ethnic Uzbek fighters allied to the Soviet Union during the 1979-89 occupation, then switched sides to the mujahideen at the end of the war, then formed and broke alliances several times during the civil war, meanwhile running much of northern Afghanistan as his personal fiefdom.” This account of his [...]
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
“Gigi and five of his soldiers hijacked a Palestinian taxi last July in the West Bank village of Dahariya, near Hebron. They then shot an innocent passerby and left him there, even though he was severely wounded in the neck. The soldiers also lied in the initial investigation of the incident, as Israel Defense Forces [...]
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
“Just seven years after the ratification of the First Amendment in 1791, Congress enacted the Sedition Act making it a crime to bring “into contempt or disrepute†the government, either House of Congress or the president, “or to excite against them…the hatred of the good people of the United States.†Passed to defend America against [...]
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
“Modesto makes Top 10 … for misery”
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
Obama in my local newspaper. This letter was published in my local newspaper today:“Sen. Barack Obama has collected large donations for his run for president. However, given his Muslim background, has anyone checked to see if one of his main contributors is Osama bin Laden? When pictures showed Obama with his hands at his side [...]
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
Unpublished letter in the New York Times: “To the Editor,Your obituary of George Habash (January 27, 2008) ignored the most formative experience of the man’s life: the 1948 Lydd Death March, as survivors call it. Although the mostly Christian village was within the boundaries of the “Arab state” called for in the November 1947 UN [...]
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
This made me laugh out loud–I have not stopped laughing, and I needed that after a sad week. I wrote this post here, and an anonymous person wrote this comment:“OK, I put the statement through the Google translator, and here’s what comes out:“The statement signed by Gamal Al-Ghitani, Samah Idriss, Nader Fergani, Nahla incomparable, the [...]
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
What is funny is that despite Israel’s exaggerated sense of pride and self-confidence, the quality of its propaganda is not in any way superior to Ba`thist propaganda. “What began six months ago as a brazen attempt to counter a perceived anti-Israel slant in the Dutch media has evolved into a network monitoring the media in [...]
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
““Our lands can be confiscated, our sons can be murdered, but our dignity cannot be taken away. We shall not keep quiet and we shall show the world what a racist establishment this is, so that everyone knows what is taking place in the State of Israel.”
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
“Angry Arabs protest in Israel”
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
Typical Israeli propaganda chicanery: notice how they don’t provide a breakdown of civilian and military casualties for Arabs–only for Israeli victims. “According to official figures from both sides, between 1,035 and 1,191 Lebanese civilians and combatants died in the conflict, in addition to 119IDF soldiers and 40 civilians.” So when you mix civilian and combatant [...]
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
“Just one week ago, President Abdellahi was quoted as saying that he had promised to consider a demand made by several parties in his country to cut Mauritania’s diplomatic ties with Israel in protest of the situation in the Gaza Strip. Along with the freedom of speech, the newly elected parliament brought elements with reservations [...]
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
On this spot in Al-Lidd was a house in which George Habash was born.
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
George Habash’s wife would not grant access to her husband to any reporter or academic, but she, for some reason, allowed the Le Figaro reporter (and former hostage), George Malbrunot to interview Habash for one whole year. The book has just been published by Fayard as Les révolutionnaires ne meurent jamais : Conversations avec Georges [...]
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
Azmi Bisharah in a discussion show on Al-Jazeera on George Habash.
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
It is a merit system, you see. “Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum has appointed his son Sheikh Hamdan as crown prince of the booming Gulf city state, the official WAM news agency reported on Friday. Sheikh Mohammad, who is also the vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, issued a [...]
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
“Samir Amin : “Le nouveau défi de l’internationalisme des peuples “” (thanks Ziyad)
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad
I was complaining to `Imad yesterday about the lack of coverage of Habash’s death in Arab media. He made a valid observation; he said that the Arab world is now split into two camps: the Arab regimes and the Islamists. Habash does not fit.
Posted on February 2, 2008 by As'ad