Archive for May 7, 2008

Here, Ajami writes an ode to Zionism. But what do you expect: he even is ignorant of basic facts. He says: “Although outgunned and outnumbered, the Jews prevailed.” Of course, it was the other way round: Arab forces were both outgunned and outnumbered. Students who have taken one course on the Middle East know better. [...]

Posted on May 7, 2008 by As'ad

“The world is witnessing a terrible human rights crime in Gaza, where a million and a half human beings are being imprisoned with almost no access to the outside world. An entire population is being brutally punished. This gross mistreatment of the Palestinians in Gaza was escalated dramatically by Israel, with United States backing, after [...]

Posted on May 7, 2008 by As'ad

The Legacy of Rafiq Hariri: Dahlan Plan for Lebanon. Several of the emails I received from Beirut today informed me that “civil war” has erupted or started in Lebanon. Which makes you wonder: when does social science decide when a civil war officially starts? It does not start with a parade or a press conference, [...]

Posted on May 7, 2008 by As'ad

A Western reporter in Lebanon sent me this (he does not want his name mentioned) (he is relatively new to Lebanon and it shows at a point or two–like Amal militia has a long history in thuggishness and yet it used to complain about PLO thuggishness): “spent the entire day running around all the flashpoints [...]

Posted on May 7, 2008 by As'ad

“Deputy Chief of Mission Patricia A. Butenis told him that she was sorry for what had happened, Abdul-Razzaq recalled. She gave him a sealed envelope. It had his name written on it. Abdul-Razzaq pushed it away. “I told her I refuse to receive any amount,” the auto parts dealer said. “My father is a tribal [...]

Posted on May 7, 2008 by As'ad

“It’s this: that America, the Mideast, and the world would have been better off if “the single most popular and widely read book on the Arabs in the US military,” Raphael Patai’s racist tract The Arab Mind, had been taken off Pentagon reading lists, and been replaced with Edward Said’s Orientalism* instead. As Seymour Hersh [...]

Posted on May 7, 2008 by As'ad

Israeli embassies should print NYT articles on Israel, and give them out for free as state-sponsored propaganda. “Across Israel, especially in the north, are the remains of dozens of partly unused Palestinian villages, scars on the landscape from the conflict that gave birth to the country in 1948.” Dozens? Are you talking about the hundreds [...]

Posted on May 7, 2008 by As'ad

Here, the New York Times’ columnist on foreign affairs offers a very sophisticated and critical analysis of world affairs: “I would say there is no more disgusting leader in the world today than Mugabe. The only one who rivals him is his neighbor and chief enabler and protector, South Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki.”

Posted on May 7, 2008 by As'ad