Archive for August 21, 2008

” Let’s put aside the fact that McCain’s top foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, has in fact been a lobbyist for Georgia. In his own feisty comments in recent months, McCain encouraged Georgians to believe America would back them up in a crisis. That expectation was naive, and it was wrong to encourage it. It [...]

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

My article in Al-Akhbar: “`Abduh Wazin* and Solzhenitsyn”

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

A friend in Cambridge, Massachusetts sent me this: “As’ad, this is a verbatim piece of a conversation I overheard in Cambridge today, between a Birthright Israel recruiter and a possible candidate.Recruiter: Think of this not as going to Israel, but as starting a relationship with Israel. This is your first date. If it doesn’t work [...]

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

“Ali reports that the names of the poets have been added to the occupation authorities’ “list of undesirables.”” (thanks Tanweer)

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

Sen. McCain: what did you call your wife?

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

Saudi prince in Turkey. (thanks Khaled)

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

“”We have to fix his mind, and change his emotions [in order] to directly change his behavior.”” (thanks ls)

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

“At the end of a long list of reasons to be suspicious of the Iranians, McCain declared: “And they sure don’t share our Judeo-Christian values.”” (thanks Ali)

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

Dozens. “Dozens of Israeli high school seniors who are looking to evade mandatory military service on moral grounds sent a letter Wednesday to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Education Minister Yuli Tamir and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi in protest of Israel’s policy of “segregation, killing and oppression in the [...]

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

“The report found that in the 13 southern states where corporal punishment is most prevalent, African-American students are punished at 1.4 times the rate that would be expected given their numbers in the student population, and African-American girls are 2.1 times more likely to be paddled than might be expected. There is no evidence that [...]

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

“A phenomenon is sweeping the Middle East as Arab women seek whiter skin and use lightening creams that promise beauty, love and success for those who “suffer” from olive skin.” (thanks Seham)

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

“Iraq is fast becoming one of the United States’ top customers for military sales. Since January 2007, Iraq has spent $3.1 billion on U.S. weapons. That number looks likely to grow exponentially as Iraq uses its vast unspent reserves of petrodollars to develop its army into a force capable of defending its borders against hostile [...]

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

“Each episode of the show takes a look at the historical and cultural heritage of one Palestinian village. At the end of every edition, a resident of the village demonstrates how to cook a local specialty.”

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

King PlayStation of Jordan is visiting Russia this week. He wants to see if the latest Russian military technology can be utilized in Wii gaming.

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

“A stone smashed through the windshield. Falastin Maali, 31, raised her arm to shield herself, but the rock glanced off her head and struck her 7-year-old daughter, Hadeel, in the back seat. Maali, who is pregnant, was released last week from a hospital in Tel Aviv, Israel, after doctors performed two operations to stop bleeding [...]

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

“”I admire Zionism and am nauseated by it,” Mr. Begley quotes from Kafka.”

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

Is that why they fought so well? “”In 2007, Israeli experts trained Georgian commandos in Georgia and there were plans to supply heavy weaponry, electronic weapons, tanks and other arms at a later date, but the deal didn’t work out,” Israeli media quoted Nogovitsyn as saying.”

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

“The South Ossetian family of a 12 year old American girl have renewed their attack on the U.S. TV network which stopped them from telling their story of Georgian aggression on air. The live interview, which has whipped up a storm over media bias, saw the girl and her aunt describe how Russian soldiers saved [...]

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad

Is Michael Young trying to sound profound or literary here? “Aoun is a cat of many political lives, so it may be unwise to write him off just yet. But even cats need branches to sit on…” Wow. What an insight. Do dogs and alligators also need branches to sit on, o expert of offshoots?

Posted on August 21, 2008 by As'ad