Archive for October 19, 2008
Paul Krugman has been so bland and uncritical during this financial crisis. And he does not stop from praising Henry Paulson and his former colleague at Princton, Ben Bernanke.
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
Bush Doctrine in Jordan. “When Islam Samhan recited his poetry about love, loneliness and life in front of a crowd at a culture club four months ago, he was given a standing ovation. But now, Samhan, 27, who is also a journalist, has been accused of apostasy, a crime that can carry the death sentence [...]
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
“The U.S. government is spending millions of dollars to train Iraqi officials to spend their oil wealth.” How nice of them.
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
“The sectarian violence that raged in Baghdad during the past three years has left the city polarized, with mixed neighborhoods undergoing what amounts to sectarian cleansing. The few Sunni families in Shiite neighborhoods were forced to move to areas where Sunnis predominate, while Shiites in largely Sunni neighborhoods took the opposite path.”
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
“Armed Israeli settlers rampaged on Sunday Palestinian-owned farm lands in the occupied West Bank, as the olive harvest season is high.”
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
The most racist voices during this presidential campaign has been: Joe Biden (just the other day, he said that Obama was raised by “his mother and grandparents–to reassure the white supremacist vote, I presume), Sarah Palin, the two Clintons (from the time in the primaries), and Drudge Report who has become quite blatant in his [...]
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
“”During a recession, laxatives go up, because people are under tremendous stress, and holding themselves back,” said Shapiro, now chief executive of SAGE, a Chicago-based consulting firm. “During a boom, deodorant sales go up, because people are out dancing around. When people have less money, they buy more of the things that have less water [...]
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
“This push coincides with recent preliminary talks in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government hosted a secret high-level meeting in September with former Taliban officials and members of the Afghan government. The event was intended to ultimately open the door to direct talks with the Taliban.“
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
“The Iraqi parliament’s biggest political bloc is calling for all American troops to leave this country by the end of 2011 as a condition for approving a new agreement extending the U.S. military presence in Iraq, a senior official said Sunday.”” This really bothers me. It may be hurtful. Now the American occupiers may feel [...]
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
Another Lebanese genius. A Lebanese invents a vehicle with four wheels. This is considered the most original invention since the introduction of the blender. (thanks Dina)
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
“Ultra-Orthodox residents of Jerusalem cast stones early Sunday morning at an Arab garbage truck driver who works at the city’s Municipality on Bar Ilan Street.” (thanks Seham)
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
“According to former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Chas Freeman, “one of the major things the Saudis have historically done, in part out of friendship with the United States, is to insist that oil continues to be priced in dollars.” Therefore, he went on, “the US Treasury can print money and buy oil, which is [...]
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
I wish that the Hashemite royals can learn to speak one sentence without resorting to cliches, like “the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
“President George W. Bush announced a decision over the weekend to exempt the citizens of seven more countries from the need to apply for U.S. visas; Israel was not among the seven.” (thanks Marcy)
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
“Before the expiry of the deadline mentioned in clause 1 and on the basis of Iraq’s assessment of conditions on the ground, the Iraqi government can ask the U.S. government to keep forces for the purposes of training and supporting Iraqi security forces. In that case, a special agreement will be implemented and be negotiated [...]
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
“For all your lofty talk about democracy, last November you shut down the opposition television station in Tbilisi. The interference with Imedi TV was an exception, not a rule. This action was taken during mass riots when Imedi TV started to incite overthrow of the democratically elected government.”
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
“Do you think Putin wants to kill you? Well, killing me makes no sense because Georgia already has a Western-educated political class.”
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
Robert Worth should seriously consider joining the Hariri movement in Lebanon. Is he learning how to be a foreign correspondent in Lebanon from Nichlas Blanford? He may also like Blanford write a hagiographic biography of Rafiq Hariri. Look at this article of his? The Lebanese and some Arab media have covered news of ties between [...]
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
“The number of people executed in Saudi Arabia quadrupled last year, according to a report released Tuesday by Amnesty International. At least 158 people were executed in the kingdom in 2007, compared with 39 in 2006, Amnesty reported. The report also said that about half of the 1,695 people known to have been executed in [...]
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad
“To test the contention that liberal professors try to indoctrinate students, the Woessners also tried to determine whether students’ own political views changed over the course of a semester in a political-science course. While they found a very slight shift toward the Democratic side, they say the movement could not be attributed to the politics [...]
Posted on October 19, 2008 by As'ad