Archive for August 29, 2009
Bombing-for-Feminism: American wars to liberate the women of Iraq (and Afghanistan)
“The Defense Department reserves about 4 percent of all contracts for businesses owned by Iraqi women.” Oh, how nice and how feminist. How could feminists oppose US wars and invasions and bombing campaigns after reading this? Really. (thanks Sinan)
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
A native tells you about the Pakistani mind
“The term “probably†is an unusual qualifier in the second sentence of the passage above, showing rare hedging and modesty. But for the most part there is little subtlety in Pakistan. Look at the country’s ostentatiously decorated buses (see b…
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
NowHariri
Almost every Western student I know who passes through Lebanon is offered a job at Now Hariri. NowHariri hearts White Westerners.
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
The Biggest Kibbih Dish: the smallest Lebanese mind
I have written before about Lebanese obsession with ranking. Part of that, is the Lebanese obsession with Guinness World Records. When I came to the US, I had assumed that this was a big deal in the US only to discover that no one talks about it. In…
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
Wahhabi medicine
“Women do not need to wear medical face masks to guard against swine flu if they instead wear a suitable veil, doctors say. “Women who wear the veil or cover their faces don’t need to wear protective masks as long as the veil is sterilized,†…
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
An Afghan civilian and a cow go for the same price, according to the US military
“A slain civilian translates to $2,500 in compensation to a family. A dead cow goes for nearly the same amount, because they are so hard to raise in southern Afghanistan’s barren countryside and are crucial to a family’s well-being. A broken window: ab…
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
The many benefits of American torture
According to the Washington Post, the water boarding of Khalid Shaykh Muhammad was so effective that he joined the neo-conservative movement and volunteered to lead seminars at AEI.
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
Massive Human Rights Violations…that the West does not notice
“The Interior Ministry responded with a crackdown that is estimated to have resulted in thousands of arrests. Amnesty International reported last month that “massive human rights violations†and acts of torture had been committed by the Saudi secur…
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
Sen. Kennedy and ethnic cleansing
“Deval Patrick, the governor of Massachusetts, told a little-known story about Mr. Kennedy’s attendance at the funeral of Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli prime minister who was assassinated in 1995. With the service concluded and camera crews gone, Mr. Pa…
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
Let me make a prediction
This guy (after his release from jail for the crime of throwing a shoe at Bush–and you know the insult of shoes in Arab culture) will be so famous this year, and he will be touring several Arab countries and hailed.
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
The conspiracy thickens
“The Dutch national museum said Thursday that one of its prized possessions, a rock supposedly brought back from the moon by U.S. astronauts, is just a piece of petrified wood.” (thanks Dina)
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
The Petty Lebanonese Mind
The widow of Sen. Kennedy (who–truth be told–spent a lifetime endorsing every Israeli war, aggression, torture, invasion, occupation, and assassinations) os of Lebanese extraction. But like most Lebanese in the US, she never ever mention her ethnic …
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
Eric Hobsbawm’s On Empire: when Hobsbawm writes, Angry Arab reads carefully
There are books that should be read repeatedly. I must have read Plato’s Republic 10 times and I discover new things about it in every reading. Eric Hobsbawm’s On Empire is one such book. How can anybody but Hobsbawm combine such wisdom and thoughtf…
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
Eric Alterman is considered a leftist in the US
I friend of mine from Sweden once told me that she was a conservative. But she hastened to add: but a conservative in Sweden is to the left of an American leftist. Eric Alterman is considered a leftist in the US, and his love affair with Israel is a …
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
Israeli restrictions
The usurping Zionist entity restricts worship by Muslims in Jerusalem. (Reuters)
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
Indiana Shath and the Missing Treasure: the very dumb Lebanese government
This should be a regular feature: about the very dumb Lebanese government. Kudos to Al-Akhbar for making a big deal of this story. This should be a big scandal. I am not making this up. A Jordanian man-kook comes to Lebanon with an old map claiming…
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
“Dirty way”: Conflicting accounts of the Saudi assassination attempt
There are so many conflicting accounts of the assassination attempt on Prince Muhammad Bin Layif (seen above with his daddy, the Minister of Interior–is that not cute?). Some say that he was injured in the eyes, and some say that he was injured in th…
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
Saudi role in Yemeni war?
The opposition Hawthi rebels in Yemen claimed that Saudi fighter jets were involved in bombing in Sa`dah. The Yemeni government denied the claim. But let me translate. Do you know what the Yemeni denial mean? Two things really: 1) that Saudi jets w…
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad
A brave Saudi leftist lawyer talks about repression (and beatings) by the Saudi Ministry of Interior
The assassination attempt on the life of Prince Muhammad bin Nayif (and the son and father team run the horrific temple of torture and repression in Saudi Arabia) produced an avalanche of praise for the Saudi Ministry of Interior and the royal family. …
Posted on August 29, 2009 by As'ad