Archive for January, 2009
Just think about it
If the standards that some leftists now want to impose on the Palestinian resistance were imposed on French resistance to Nazi occupation, there would have been no resistance whatsoever in France and all the fighters of the resistance would have joined Jean Cocteau in the cafes of Paris and would have chanted with him: “Love [...]
Posted on January 29, 2009 by As'ad
Abba Eban on blockades
“What Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban said about blockades during the 1967 war:“To blockade, after all, is to attempt strangulation–and sovereign states are entitled not to have their State strangled. The blockade is by definition an act of war, imposed and enforced through violence. Never in history have a blockade and peace existed side by [...]
Posted on January 29, 2009 by As'ad
Friends of the Gemayyels
“A Spanish judge agreed Thursday to pursue a complaint of crimes against humanity against seven senior Israel army figures over a 2002 bombing raid on Gaza in which a Hamas leader and 14 civilians were killed, a judicial source said. The complaint, which includes former defence minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer as one of its targets, was [...]
Posted on January 29, 2009 by As'ad
The Obama Era
Saja kindly translated my lastest article on Obama which appeared on AlJazeera.net last week: “The Obama Era: Arab hopes or Illusions? Grandiose hopes about Obama’s era have infiltrated Arab public opinion and predominant political education circles. Many of these illusions do not rely on Obama’s own speeches, programs and promises, but on emotional factors and [...]
Posted on January 29, 2009 by As'ad
The Obama Era
Saja kindly translated my lastest article on Obama which appeared on AlJazeera.net last week: “The Obama Era: Arab hopes or Illusions? Grandiose hopes about Obama’s era have infiltrated Arab public opinion and predominant political education circles. Many of these illusions do not rely on Obama’s own speeches, programs and promises, but on emotional factors and [...]
Posted on January 29, 2009 by As'ad
Hamas bashing
I now can resume my Hamas bashing: “Senior Islamist group official Ghazi Hamad says Hamas wants to be part of international community, will agree renounce resistance in return for state in ’67 borders.” Can this organziation decide on what it really wants and tell us? It is cearly following the deceptive and lousy path of [...]
Posted on January 29, 2009 by As'ad
The Tricks of MEMRI
This is quite amazing–or not given the source. But MEMRI put out a special bulletin that a Lebanese author (Farid Salman) made anti-Semitic statements on Lebanese Orange TV (belonging to the Gen. `Awn forces). First, I am known to follow Lebanese developments (and especially book production) extremely closely and I never EVER heard of a [...]
Posted on January 29, 2009 by As'ad
Attack on gays in Lebanon?
I have received from Lebanon links to an article in L’Orient-Le Jour about an attack on two men who “appeared” to have been having sex. Of course, organizations of what my friend Joseph Massad calls “Gay International” would jump on the news to draw Western governments (and armies?) into a war of “liberation” or two, [...]
Posted on January 29, 2009 by As'ad
The other side of Dubai
“There he discovered that dozens of sewage lorries carrying human waste from Dubai’s 1.3 million inhabitants emptied their tanks into storm drains such as the one leading to the sailing club. The drains, all connected, were built to carry excess water that falls during Dubai’s short rainy season. According to some truckers — mostly poor [...]
Posted on January 29, 2009 by As'ad
Blogging followers of Zionist propaganda of terrorism
“Some 1,000 new immigrants and foreign-language-speaking Jews volunteer to army of bloggers set up by Absorption Ministry and Foreign Ministry with the stated objective of flooding blogs with pro-Israel opinions.” If they are as boring and tedious and ill-informed as Michael Totten is, Palestine has nothing to worry about. (thanks Ali)
Posted on January 29, 2009 by As'ad
Walid Malouf: running for parliament in Lebanon
Likudnik neo-conservative servant, Lebanese-American Walid Malouf, is returning to Lebanon to run for a parliamentary seat. An-Nahar mentions that without mentioning his history of (revisionist) Zionist activism here in the US.
Posted on January 29, 2009 by As'ad
Every millemeter of Palestine
“In the wake of Operation Cast Lead, a group of American university professors has for the first time launched a national campaign calling for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel.” Of course, I fully support this effort but I did not sign the petition because it did not go far enough for me. I [...]
Posted on January 29, 2009 by As'ad
Beyond Gaza
I have signed this petition about Gaza.
Posted on January 29, 2009 by As'ad
Flowers and Chains
Molly sent me this: “The Marx reference is from “Toward a Contribution of the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right” which reads: “Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers from the chain, not in order that man shall bear the chain without caprice or consolation but so that he shall cast off the chain and pluck [...]
Posted on January 29, 2009 by As'ad
Speaking at UC, Irvine
I am speaking on Saturday at UC, Irvine: “1:15-3:00 pm — Panel 1: Regional Forces: Lebanon/Israel/Palestine with Nubar Hovsepian, As’ad AbuKhalil and Norman Finkelstein, moderated by Lina Kreidie. Norman Finkelstein will speak on Israeli policies that exacerbate the context of regional war; As’ad Abukhalil will look at the future of Lebanon as an independent state; [...]
Posted on January 29, 2009 by As'ad
Voice of Wahhabiyyah
“As’ad AbuKhalil, professor of politics at California State University, Stanislaus, goes deeper into it: “Al-Arabiyya is run by the Saudi King Fahd’s brother-in-law … The administration selected al-Arabiyya because it is ‘friendly’ to US interests and because on al-Arabiyya, US officials get softball questions … Obama chose this station because he wanted to appease the [...]
Posted on January 29, 2009 by As'ad
Jimmy Carter and sterlization of Palestinian women
I saw the boring Jimmy Carter on CNN. He said that he fears increasing percentage of Palestinians in the holy land and that the transformation of the population in the area into a Palestinian-majority would be a “disaster.” I am not sure I get it. Is he calling for the sterlization of Palestinian women? Is [...]
Posted on January 28, 2009 by As'ad
Time magazine and Arab media
“The channel is seen as a prominent voice of moderation in the Middle East, preferring calm analysis to what many see as rival al-Jazeera’s more sensational coverage.” First, it really amuses me that American correspondents who don’t know Arabic–like this dude here–don’t feel any hesitation in rendering judgments and making observations about Arab media–media that [...]
Posted on January 28, 2009 by As'ad
Winning hearts and minds
“Officials say the 41-year old CIA officer, a convert to Islam, was ordered home by the U.S. Ambassador, David Pearce, in October after the women came forward with their rape allegations in September.” (thanks AZ)
Posted on January 28, 2009 by As'ad
Streicher at the Times
“The justification put forth by Friedman in the pages of the Times for targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure amounted to apologetics for state terrorism. It might be recalled that although Hitler had stripped Nazi propagandist Julius Streicher of all his political power by 1940, and his newspaper Der St?rmer had a circulation of only some [...]
Posted on January 28, 2009 by As'ad