Archive for February 3, 2008

“In Ain Roummaneh, they aren’t waiting to be blamed. By nightfall Sunday night, just yards from the Shiite demonstrators, the Christian neighborhood’s own version of the scooter kids had taken to the darkened street corners armed with sticks, rocks, and a few guns. From time to time, black SUVs filled with bulky men with shaved [...]

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

Hariri (and Syrian intelligence) legacy: “On 31 August 1995 one of these groups assassinated Sheikh Nizar al-Halabi, the head of the AICP, and caused a stir. It was the first time that a Salafist group had eliminated an opponent. Members of the organisation confessed to committing the murder and persisted in taking exclusive responsibility to [...]

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

“The U.S. military said Monday that it accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians during an operation targeting al-Qaida in Iraq south of Baghdad.”

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

The Amman correspondent of Al-Arabiya TV (I was watching) said that “less than 1000″ people attended George Habash’s funeral in Amman. Here, Al-Hurra TV put the figure at “around 2000.”

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

Repairing the Arab Mind. In an interview on Saudi news channel, Al-Arabiya, Ahmad `Ali Az-Zayn asked Egyptian “culture” Minister, Faruq Husni, this question: “Is it possible to repair the Arab mind”? I kid you not. The Minister in question basically accused his critics of being “ignorant” and “backward.” Oh, and the Minister is as boring [...]

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

Here, a Hamas gang member prevents a Palestinian from leaving Gaza through Rafah. (Reuters)

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

Israeli occupation soldiers shot at Lebanese in South Lebanon, killing one and injuring two. You will not read about that in the US press. If the shooting was in reverse, it would be on the front page of the New York Times tomorrow. (AFP)

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

US occupation soldiers came and “liberated” their house in Sadr City, and left. (AFP)

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

When leaders in Lebanon face questions about the definitions of democracy, they rush to ask their mentor.

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

“Internet services in Qatar have been seriously disrupted because of damage to an undersea telecoms cable linking the Gulf state to the UAE, the fourth such incident in less than a week.”

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

On the sectarian “dance of death” in Lebanon.

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

Conspiracy? What conspiracy? “In His opening comments Dr Walid Phares director of the Future of Terrorism Project opened the discussion to the audience by introducing Mr. El Assaad and the mission behind his group LOG (Lebanese Option Group).” (Here, his father denounced the son–and the father is as right-wing and as reactionary as you can [...]

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

“In the midst of the mass executions, the British ambassador, Sir Andrew Gilchrist, sent a chilling telegram to London, saying: “I have never concealed from you my belief that a little shooting in Indonesia would be an essential preliminary to effective change.”” (thanks Laleh)

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

“IDF soldiers who arrived at the Maon Farm settlement outpost near the West Bank city of Hebron exposed their rear ends to Palestinians in an attempt to make them evacuate nearby grazing fields, Palestinian sources and foreign peace activists claimed Sunday.” (thanks Mazen)

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

I notice that former leftists in the West often come from Trotskiest organizations; in Lebanon, most of them come from the Communist Action Organization of Muhsin Ibrahim. “In his review of Jacob Heilbrunn’s “They Knew They Were Right” (Jan. 13), Timothy Noah, following Heilbrunn, quotes me as a Trotskyist in 1944 publicly dismissing the “near [...]

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

The French foreign minister is also a former leftist: “Half a century ago, as a cadre in the Communist student league, he threw pots of red ink at the United States Embassy in Paris to protest American imperialism. But he was too fond of girls and cafes to submit to revolutionary discipline.” And look at [...]

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

New TV just broke with the news that Israeli occupation troops just shot at two Lebanese citizens in South Lebanon. Do you think that this will be reported in the New York Times tomorrow?

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

I forgot to praise a Turkish restaurant in Berlin called Hasir: it has may branches but I ate at the one on Oranienburger Str. 4. I recommend many of their dishes and the bread is great. Imam Bayaldi was bad: it was too oniony. I also strongly recommend a Turkish restaurant in Washingotn, DC called [...]

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad

A Saudi scandal…in London. One of the divorcees of King `Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Princess Al-`Unud Al-Fayiz, fled Saudi Arabia to London. She was willing to speak about her bitter experience, and an Arab journalist taped hours of interviews with her, to publish as her memoirs. The princess feared for her life, and the Saudi [...]

Posted on February 3, 2008 by As'ad