Archive for March 11, 2009
My Debate at Univ of San Francisco
My debate with the Israeli Counsel General is set on April 1st, at the University of San Francisco. I still predict that he will withdraw (especially if he asks the last Israeli Counsel General about his experience in debating me at UC, Berkeley).PS Wait. I just realized that this sounded like touting my own horn. [...]
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
They will not go
“Following the lead of Umm Kamel al-Kurd who put up a tent near her home in Sheikh Jarrah after she was forcibly removed from her home four months ago, other neighborhoods in Jerusalem facing a similar fate have set up such tents as spaces for organizing and encouraging others to stand in solidarity with each [...]
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
A New Dahlan Partner
My sources tell me that Mu`ammar Al-Qadhdhafi’s son, Sayf Al-Islam, has entered into business and political arrangement with Muhammad Dahlan. Note the recent statement by Sayf Al-Islam’s organization about a prisoners’ release.
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
Dahlan, o Dahlan
“Elements of Fatah, under the leadership of strongman Muhammad Dahlan, backed by the U.S. and Israel, had been planning to get Hamas out of the unity government. “
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
There is a Lard in my soup
“Consider the shoppers at the Save-A-Lot supermarket in Hamlin, West Virginia. At the beginning of the month, when the food stamps arrive, they snap up buckets of lard so big that the label says: “Warning—Children can fall into bucket and drown.†The manager, Key-Ray Adkins, shrugs: “People now say lard isn’t good for you. But [...]
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
Communist Sex
“That is, the evolution of the GDR’s more tolerant policies regarding (heterosexual) premarital sex (albeit within the preferred confines of a monogamous relationship) not only allowed for East Germans to feel more comfortable with their bodies and sex, but also permitted the GDR regime to differentiate itself from the Federal Republic by adding an official [...]
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
It is a game for them–but not for long. Not for long.
“The Be’er Sheva Magistrate’s Court has ordered an investigation into the death of Mohammed Ashkar, who was shot in the head during an operation that was intended to be a morale-booster for the elite Israel Prisons Service unit Masada. The operation on October 22, 2007, consisted of a surprise personal search and a search also [...]
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
Mystery photographer
Some people have sent me the name of the photographer of my picture on Wikipedia. The name is listed on the background of the page. Yet, the name doesn’t ring a bell. I still don’t know when and how this picture was taken. I do remember that some students at SOAS were pouring wine into [...]
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
Balance–my potato
“During the week, audiences were given statistics about the number of Palestinian deaths against those of Israelis, with the number of the former skyrocketing over the latter. As of a 2007 report by the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there have been more than 4,000 Palestinian deaths and more than 1,000 [...]
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
What it boils down to
Lee is enjoying this much more than I am. He sent me his second response to my response. I only have two points. 1) he makes my point for me. It is not about censorship or anything else. It is about our hostility to Zionism and Israel that bothers him. He says: “Personally, I don’t [...]
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
Exodus: and terrorist propaganda
“”We were indoctrinated to the song in that film Exodus, you know, ‘This land belongs to us, this land is our land,’ meaning the Israelis, the Jews, and for so long, we were told that nobody lived here, that it was a land without people, for a people without land,” she said. Walker said she [...]
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
What makes him feel like dancing
Saudi King feels like dancing yesterday in the Janadiriyyah Festival of Sexism and Machismo. (AFP and Ahmad Yusri)
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
Vapid–always vapid
“WieÂsel’s narrative turns out to be uncomfortably simplistic. Doriel may be a difficult patient, and in the course of treating him Dr. Goldschmidt may question her professional abilities, but enlightenment for both is just a few heart-rending sessions away. These stilted therapy scenes read as if Wiesel wrote them with a textbook at his side. [...]
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
For democracy and human rights
“Pentagon officials announced Friday that they would consider selling weapons systems to Libya.”
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
women and children
“The halt, which lasted about two weeks, came after a series of nighttime raids by Special Operations troops in recent months killed women and children, and after months of mounting outrage in Afghanistan about civilians killed in air and ground strikes.”
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
The mother of all atrocious defense videos
“Unfortunately for us, Israeli arms-maker Rafael chose C. Which means we may have just found the most atrocious defense video of all time…” (thanks Laleh)
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
Hariri-Saudi Money and Western Press Junkets
John sent me this: “The editor of Guardian America, Michael Tomasky, is in Lebanon on a junket paid for by New Opinion, a March 14 offshoot, in case you didn’t know. In his first blog post he promises to be modest in his declarations, but that’s tossed out the window by day two, evidenced in: [...]
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
Christopher Hitchens: the White Man Teaches and Preaches
Karim kindly translated my article on Hitchens from Al-Akhbar: “Christopher Hitchens: The White Man Teaches and Preaches The phenomenon of the “former leftist†is not purely Lebanese, or even an exclusively Arab phenomenon. It is a global trend that began in the West when leftists were routed by constant harassment of Capitalist governments and their [...]
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
Fareed Zakaria and Jamal Mubarak
I did manage to hear most of the interview while driving from the airport on Sunday. It was quite apologetic about the Egyptian regime and Zakaria praised Mubarak for his “reforms.” This Egyptian newspaper, Al-Masri Al-Yawm, also makes the point that Zakaria conveniently stuck to foreign policy questions with Jamal Mubarak.
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad
Didn’t I tell you?
Yesterday, Chas Freeman withdrew his name. I wrote this the first day. (thanks Laurie)
Posted on March 11, 2009 by As'ad