Archive for August 9, 2008

Mahmud Darwish, the greatest living Arab poet, has just died in the U.S. after a heart operation in Houston.P.S. Contrary to what AlJazeera said, a person staying with him in the hospital reports that: “he’s on life support but they are going to pull the plug any moment.”

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad

For investigative journalism, learn from Hassan Fattah: “Sheikh Ahmed in the hunt.”

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad

“The monkeys and lions were drugged, tossed into cloth sacks and dragged through smuggling tunnels under the border between Egypt and the besieged Gaza Strip before ending up in a dusty Gaza zoo. Stocked almost entirely with smuggled animals, the “Heaven of Birds and Animals Zoo” is a sign of Gaza’s ever-expanding tunnel industry.” (thanks [...]

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad

“He went to work for the RAND Corporation, which sent him to Vietnam to work on a study that involved interrogating Vietcong prisoners, whom he admired for the strength of their convictions. He broke out in tears in court when telling of a prisoner’s reciting poetry to him.”

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad

Russia should use the Israeli propaganda rhetoric to justify its military intervention in Georgia. Maybe then Rice would refer to the birth pangs of a new Georgia.

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad

Budget priorities. (thanks Toufic)

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad

“In the early 1990s, when the resistance against Saddam Hussein’s regime had grown bold, he’d been sent to punish the village of Hashezeni by destroying it. “These villagers, they welcomed the leaders of the resistance,” he said. “I was sent with 192 missiles in the chopper and one watcher from Tikrit. But I knew he [...]

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad

“On Thursday, he recounted anecdotes of McCain’s reverential tour of Israel and reminded the audience about McCain’s willingness to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, something that Presidents Clinton and Bush wouldn’t do because of the potential inflammatory response it might draw from the Muslim world.” (thanks Badis)

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad

“But no amount of persuasion could convince the soldiers to let the 28-year-old woman pass. “I was very afraid that the baby would die,” she remembers. “It was so cold. I kept trying to hold [the baby] back.” Benan had no option but to rest in the back seat, waiting for the gate to open [...]

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad

“Israel rarely acts when Palestinians complain of settler violence, said Vincent Pasquier, a research officer for the European mission, known as the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), which has monitored Hebron since 1994. “What is totally lacking is a determined will to act against the settlers in terms of arrest and prosecution,” Pasquier said. [...]

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad

“”The Zionist Enterprise,” said Berl Katznelson in 1929, when he summed up the first 10 years of the Ahdut Ha’Avoda movement, is a “conquest enterprise.” And in the same breath he added: “It is not by chance that I am using military terms to describe the settlement of the country.” And in fact, Zionism was [...]

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad

It is a surge. “The Shia, always the majority in Baghdad, seized most of the rest of the capital in a savage war waged by assassins and death squads two years ago. There is no sign of these demographic changes being reversed. When Sunni and Shia try to get their houses back in areas that [...]

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad

Bush Doctrine…in Georgia? “Although the United States has trained several crack Georgian units in the past few years, the fighting effectiveness of all other elements is uncertain.” (thanks Karim)

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad

There was a large demonstration/rally of Bin Ladenites Salafis in Tripoli, Lebanon. Those groups have been enjoying U.S./Saudi/Hariri financial or political or military support. But as of late–just as with Sadat–those groups have been turning against their former sponsors. They were demonstrating against the continued incarceration of their members. A Hariri MP (who was formerly [...]

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad

“Israeli attacks on journalists are not new; nor are they rare. In April, Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana was killed by fire from an Israeli tank. He was in a car, clearly marked as press. According to Amnesty International, “Fadel Shana appears to have been killed deliberately although he was a civilian taking no part in [...]

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad

This is the Dahlan Army (a picture of their graduation ceremony is above): “”He may look like an old man,” said Dayton, “but he’s a young man. He gave a speech to them, which was just amazing. He told these guys, ‘You’re not learning how to fight the Israelis, you’re not here to fight the [...]

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad

Riad sent me this: “While discussing the roles of the different agents based on his latest book, Suskind makes this matter of fact observation about the relationship of Rob Richer, the former head of the CIA Near east division, and the king of Jordan: “Our guy, Rob Richer of CIA, has a special relationship with [...]

Posted on August 9, 2008 by As'ad