Archive for October 27, 2009
Right Wing bad ass
“She was even odder to live with. Ms Burns points out that she obliged her long-suffering husband to wear a bell attached to his shoe so that she could hear him come and go. She all but obliged her leading acolyte, Nathaniel Branden, to meet her for se…
Posted by As'ad at 11:29 AM 10/27/09
Jeffrey Feltman
The new French ambassador in Lebanon (who I am told is rather right-wing), spoke in Arabic to the press in Beirut today in comprehensible full sentences. I just watched him on New TV. In his entire service in Lebanon, Jeffrey Feltman only spoke one A…
Posted by As'ad at 11:29 AM 10/27/09
Ethan Bronner in Gaza
So Ethan Bronner went to Gaza. Oh. Is that not sweet. You don’t need to read the article as I will summarize: 1) he wants you to know that the misery in Gaza is related to this outrage: “A new sign on the Gaza side of the Israeli border bars even f…
Posted by As'ad at 11:20 AM 10/27/09
More Saudi-Israeli collaboration
“The investment has come from Israeli property developer Levi Kushnir and his Hong Kong-based business partner Balram Chainrai. The money is believed to be in the shape of a short-term loan to new Pompey owner Ali Al-Faraj rather than an acquisition…
Posted by As'ad at 10:35 AM 10/27/09
The collaborationist puppets are falling: don’t give them a hand
“A senior political source who was privy to the State Department report noted that in it Clinton had stressed the significant setback to Abbas in Palestinian public opinion because of the initial decision not to press ahead with bringing the Goldsto…
Posted by As'ad at 10:20 AM 10/27/09
Muwaffaq Ar-Rubay`i: Shi`ite sectarianism in Lebanon
When Shi`ite Iraqi puppets go to Lebanon, they are welcomed by Hariri Inc and by Shi`ite sectarian forces, like Amal and sometimes Hizbullah. Today, one of the worst Iraqis, Muwaffaq Ar-Rubay`i, visited Nabih Birri and showered praise on him. And Shi…
Posted by As'ad at 10:14 AM 10/27/09
Amin Gemayyel
Amin Gemayyel has the oratorical skills of Harry Reid.
Posted by As'ad at 10:11 AM 10/27/09
Michel Onfray
Comrade Raed sent me this: “in this interview, french writer Michel Onfray that was interviewed today for al-akhbar by dima charif says that he is a zionist. although in the same time he says that he is pro-palestinian. (read passage in red) Now h…
Posted by As'ad at 9:28 AM 10/27/09
Blame the silly Lebanese for this
“Palestinians in the West Bank town of Hebron have sewn what they believe is the world’s largest embroidered dress.” (thanks Sousan)
Posted by As'ad at 9:26 AM 10/27/09
Change will come: but not from the US
“Key findings on Israel and the Palestinians — 67%, the highest figure in recent years, see Israel as a country to be counted on as a strong, loyal U.S. ally.– By a 3-1 ratio, the American people express more sympathy with Israel than with the …
Posted by As'ad at 9:17 AM 10/27/09
This is Zionism
“Israeli authorities demolished two Palestinian homes near Arab East Jerusalem on Tuesday, ignoring international concern about the practice.”
Posted by As'ad at 9:16 AM 10/27/09
Double standards
Notice that no report on Goldstone fails to cite Israeli responses. Notice that no US media EVER cite what Hamas says about its own response to Goldstone, like this from Mish`al, even if they are propaganda words–not different from US talk of “collat…
Posted by As'ad at 9:14 AM 10/27/09
All that you have done to our people is registerd in notebooks
“Human rights lawyers and pro-Palestinian activists in a number of European countries hold lists with names of Israel Defense Forces soldiers allegedly linked to war crimes committed during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. Existing legislation…
Posted by As'ad at 9:12 AM 10/27/09
Arab media and I
I can’t be hosted in Arab (or Iranian) media. The Aljazeera fellow who called me yesterday to invite me to offer a few opinions by phone (on US foreign policy, as always), he said that my voice has not been heard on AlJazeera in four months. I said: …
Posted by As'ad at 9:08 AM 10/27/09
Israeli Taliban: or fanatics that you find cute
“An activist in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Eda Haredit community was conditionally released from prison Monday, a day after his arrest for allegedly spraying an ultra-Orthodox woman with tear gas in the capital’s Mea She’arim neighborhood. Yoel Kra…
Posted by As'ad at 9:02 AM 10/27/09
Ernst (Putzi) Hanfstaungl
I don’t want to comment on this trashy piece in general (it is too trashy and too dumb for a site that is habitually trashy and often reads like an English (and anti-Arab/anti-Islam) version of Der Angriff. But I am commenting on this section: “Harva…
Posted by As'ad at 7:37 AM 10/27/09
Between Enver Hoxa and G.W. Bush: who would you pick?
“”I don’t see how you can be president without relying on the Almighty.” If your presidency is a validation of the virtue of relying on what you call “Almighty”, then Enver Hoxa’s presidency has been vindicated.
Posted by As'ad at 7:32 AM 10/27/09
American involvement in Afghanistan
Amer is too lazy to write, so I will share what he told me yesterday in Afghanistan. He is right: he said that the situation in Afghanistan is quite an embarrassment to US intervention anywhere, if you think about it. Here was the Taliban: a most med…
Posted by As'ad at 7:25 AM 10/27/09
Common sense
“But many Afghans, he wrote in his resignation letter, are fighting the United States largely because its troops are there — a growing military presence in villages and valleys where outsiders, including other Afghans, are not welcome and where the co…
Posted by As'ad at 7:22 AM 10/27/09
The New York Times on Yemen
“Yemen is mostly Sunni.” Mostly Sunni? If by Mostly you mean 50-53 %, as opposed to more than 45 % who are Zaydis.
Posted by As'ad at 7:20 AM 10/27/09
Inflammatory
Look at this picture. It was published on the front page of Al-Quds Al-`Arabi. Let me state clearly: the presence of any foreign occupation soldier in Afghanistan or Iraq is offensive and provocative in itself. If there is an anti-war movement in th…
Posted by As'ad at 7:14 AM 10/27/09
Reagan Middle East White House
Read this document. Nothing intelligent or original. Also, I am no constitutional scholar but this plan for propaganda activities in the US is really not legal. The US government can only engage in propaganda outside of the US. But then again: who …
Posted by As'ad at 7:10 AM 10/27/09
Middle East Expertise at the US government
I would argue (at least from reading through the archives in the US) that the quality of Middle East expertise at the US government (politics aside) has so deteriorated over the years. I mark it with the Clinton administration: it was a gradual proces…
Posted by As'ad at 6:59 AM 10/27/09
Communist Literature in Saudi Arabia (1950s)
Those were the days.
Posted by As'ad at 6:58 AM 10/27/09
US assisting anti-Communist plan of the Iraq government
From the 1950s. (This same Fadil Jamali became a Saudi propagandist who wrote for the propaganda mouthpiece of Prince Salman (Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat).
Posted by As'ad at 6:56 AM 10/27/09
Read this document: US plans for the Middle East from the 1950s
Read it now.
Posted by As'ad at 6:55 AM 10/27/09
