Archive for April 13, 2010
Comrade Joseph
The untainted pregnancy* of Salam Fayyad.PS On little sleep, I provided a less accurate translation than should be. Roger reminds me it should have been “immaculate conception”.
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
The award for the dumbest comment on the Middle East: it comes from the Saban Center
“”Outside the US, there is a sense of “Bush nostalgia,†including in a rather unlikely place – the Middle East.”" (thanks “Ibn Rushd”)
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
Cancer children as props in Lebanon
Look at this picture: mini-Hariri in photo ops with cancer-stricken children. And now, I was watching NBN News, and to my horror, I see a TV ad for Al-Akhbar newspaper in which a cancer-stricken child is used as a prop in the ad. What the f?
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
Just invade
“British spy chiefs warned after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war that they believed the United States might invade Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi to seize their oil fields, according to records released Thursday. A British intelligence committee repor…
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
“These are communities that remain confined to camps, more than 60 years after they were dispossessed.”
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
Take your Mahatma Gandhi and….
“Those of us who have watched Israel trying to control the West Bank have always wondered why the Palestinians have not tried passive resistance. This is what Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King did — and Israel is weak in the way Britain and Ame…
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
balance
“”Those e-mails, obtained by The Globe and Mail, discuss how the university might avoid “a disaster,†by paying for the event to be moved off campus, putting forward speakers to balance the program and planting participants in the audience to mo…
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
“fucking terrorist”
“‘The footage aired by Media Watch shows Fuller outside court filming Omar Amr, accused of being involved in the recent Oakleigh riot in Melbourne, and his father Gad Amr. While channels Seven and Ten aired footage of the father attacking camera c…
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
For a fistful of dollars
“An ad hoc system of payments by the United States military primarily to victims of its Helmand operations has enraged Afghans who feel a price has been put on their lives. The existence of payment guidelines for commanders in the field regarding c…
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
Women in Lebanon
“Amnesty International has urged the Lebanese authorities not to take any step to overturn a landmark court ruling allowing a woman to pass on her nationality to her children. On Tuesday, a court of appeal in Jdeidit al-Metn in Mount Lebanon heard …
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
Stephen Colbert
I never find Stephen Colbert funny. I never liked him. And his patriotic (real and not the acting ones) are jarring. Yesterday, he had the editor of wikileaks on. He asked him about the video and started to interrogate him. He asked: but the Iraqi…
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
Only the US has the right to meddle
“Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, battling for another term in office, lashed out at Iraq’s neighbors Monday for meddling in its affairs as political leaders negotiate the composition of a new government.” (thanks Dina)
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
Colonial settlers
“A group of Israeli settlers stormed a Tulkarem village on Tuesday, blocking residents and school children from entering, locals said.”
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
Take your piano and go away from me
See his picture of Barenboim with Peres.
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
appalling conditions of Iranian prisons
“Reporters Without Borders is extremely worried about the appalling conditions in which Iranian prisoners of conscience, including many journalists, are being held. The authorities continue to detain them arbitrarily even when they are ailing and in…
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
Lebanese politicians
They faced off today in a game of football (or soccer as it is called in the US). How silly they are. They are silly when they are serious and silly when they are playful.
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
Muqtada As-Sadr
I saw the interview with Muqtada As-Sadr on Aljazeera on Saturday. I must say that he has worked on himself quite a bit and has become a much better speaker, and is much better at handling the press. His politics aside, of course.
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad
lying in the Middle East
“Lying in the Middle East is not the same as lying other places. In the Mideast, lying is a way of life, which is to say, it is a cultural imperative. It is at once armor and entryway.” (thanks Sameer)
Posted on April 13, 2010 by As'ad