Archive for December 12, 2008
Gift for the Study of Polygamy and Corruption in the Gulf
“The State of Kuwait, through the generosity of the Amir His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, has presented The George Washington University with a $1,050,000 gift in support of the Institute for Middle East Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs.”
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
"Shi`ites of [and for] Occupation"
My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: “Shi`ites of [and for] Occupation: The Roots of Fitnah [sectarian sedition]“
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
Tears of Bush (and Laughter of Angry Arab)
George W. Bush gave a tearful and emotional tribute to his father today. It affected me deeply–it really did. When I heard it, I burst out laughing.
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
Yasir `Abd-Rabbu
A friend of DFLP’s Nayif Hawatimah today told me that Yasir `Abd-Rabbu tried to take the coffers of the organization with him when he split but nobody can beat Hawatimah in money matters alas.
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
Irony
Fadi today was noting that (Hariri) critics of Al-Akhbar in Lebanon accuse it of support for Hizbullah when the website features a top ad for whiskey. PS Comrade Rami rebukes me for praising the whiskey ad on Al-Akhbar’s site because he is concerned about ill health consequences of alcohol. I told him to take a [...]
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
sexism update
” A new study in Psychology of Women Quarterly finds that women who present themselves as confident and ambitious in job interviews are viewed as highly competent but also lacking social skills. Women who present themselves as modest and cooperative, while well liked, are perceived as low on competence. By contrast, confident and ambitious male [...]
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
A pogrom is declared
“A pogrom is declared”
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
Israeli hand in…Greece
“Police sources say they are running out of teargas after using more than 4,600 capsules in the last week and have urgently contacted Israel and Germany for more stocks.” (thanks Mohammed)
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
GO AWAY NOW
“”Once a Palestinian state is established, I can come to the Palestinian citizens, whom we call Israeli Arabs, and say to them ‘you are citizens with equal rights, but the national solution for you is elsewhere,’” Livni was quoted by Army Radio as saying to students at a Tel Aviv high school.” And when Palestine [...]
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
Dancing "girls" of Lahore
“The dancing girls of Lahore, the cultural capital of Pakistan, are on strike in protest against the tide of Talibanisation that is threatening to destroy an art form that has flourished since the Mughal empire.” (thanks Marcy)
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
Your Tax Money and the Taliban
“The West is indirectly funding the insurgency in Afghanistan thanks to a system of payoffs to Taleban commanders who charge protection money to allow convoys of military supplies to reach Nato bases in the south of the country.”
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
Carter in Lebanon
My sources tell me that Jimmy Carter tried very hard to meet with Hizbullah MPs in the Lebanese parliament but that he was rebuffed.
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
The Agents of US Foreign Policy
“Dostum’s men hauled the bodies into the nearby desert and buried them in mass graves, according to Afghan human rights officials. By some estimates, 2,000 men were buried there.”
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
I told you so
Look where Obama gets his ideas on the Middle East
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
Difference? What difference?
The difference between Obama and Bush on the Middle East, is a difference between Elliott Abrams and Martin Indyk: or between Dennis Ross and John Bolton.
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
Bush Doctrine
“The Taliban now holds a permanent presence in 72% of Afghanistan, up from 54% a year ago. Taliban forces have advanced from their southern heartlands, where they are now the de facto governing power in a number of towns and villages, to Afghanistan’s western and north-western provinces, as well as provinces north of Kabul. Within [...]
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
Che
““Che,†in other words, is epic hagiography.” If the New York Times said this, it can only mean that the movie is not sympathetic enough to Che.
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
Did you know?
“The older the democracy, the less there seems to be now of freedom of expression and right to information, according to a new study by the London-based group Article 19.”
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
Long Live the Tunnels: the more (and the deeper) the better
“Just look at the tunnels at the south end of the Gaza Strip. First developed when Israel began restricting supplies into Gaza almost three years ago, these remarkable passageways are burrowed down in the ground 10, 15 or even 20 metres. They then proceed some 500 metres or more under the border with Egypt, before [...]
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad
But there is no pretty foreign occupation
“He illustrates how US miscalculations turned an unknown cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, into a popular leader and symbol of anti-occupation resistance among Shi’ites. Nightly home searches and the routinely abominable treatment of men in front of their families by coalition soldiers further stirred the wrath of Iraqis.”
Posted on December 12, 2008 by As'ad