Archive for February 27, 2011
Chilean miners in Israel
There is turmoil throughout the Middle East, history is unfolding before our eyes, and there is not enough pages in the newspapers to cover the developments in the region, and yet the New York Times has a long article about a propaganda visit by a grou…
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
…and Israel continues to kill, murder, and massacre
“Israeli warplanes bombed a half-dozen targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, wounding a 7-month-old girl and a Palestinian man, medics in the coastal territory said.”
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
Saint Marun statue in the Vatican
Comrade Badr Al-Hajj sent me this (I cite with his permission): ”Michel Suleiman and his family accompanied by few of his Maronite followers were in Rome last week to celebrate the uncovering the statue of Mar Maroun in the Vatican. The Arabist…
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
Religious kooks of Al-Azhar
So the leader of Al-Azhar center for bookburning and obscurantism is trying rehabilitate that awful institution. He called on Libyans to disobey Qadhdhafi. The man who was put in place by Mubarak, and who was an active member of Mubarak’s r…
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
Qadhdhafi was never EVER a leftist
He hated communists all his life. How is he ideologically? A kook really.
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
Domestic violence–not in the Middle East
“With nerves frayed by months of tremors that peaked in a horrifying earthquake this week, Christchurch residents are lashing out against those they need the most. Police said domestic violence surged by 50 percent after a major tremor rocked …
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
Alcoholism or culture?
“”Young immigrants like Behrang Miri, 26, whose family came from Iran, say Islamophobia is a growing issue. “If a Swedish guy hits a woman, it’s alcoholism,” he said. “If someone hits a lady in my neighborhood, it’s due to culture.”” (th…
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
He is not even a leftist
“To a generation of politically active if not morally consistent campaigners, the Middle East has meant Israel and only Israel.” (thanks Ben)
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
Here you go: the cliches
“But he also referred several times to martyrdom, an especially powerful notion in Shiite Islam.”
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
The name Qadhdhafi or Qadhdhaf Ad-Dam
What are the origins of the name of Qadhdhafi or Qadhdhaf Ad-Dam (his special envoy, Ahmad Qadhdhaf Ad-Dam who resigned from his post two days ago and defected). Apparently, the legend of the family is that they were pious Sufis who kept invoking…
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
From Oman
A source who does not want to be identified sent me this: ”Oman is on fire and al-Jazeera is quiet, and so is al-Arabiyya who only reported on points lost in Oman stock market. And of course Omani channels are not saying a word. Reuters …
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
And now Oman
“A police station and a government building were on fire on Sunday in the Omani town of Sohar after police clashed with more than 2,000 protesters demanding reforms in the Gulf Arab state, a Reuters witness said.” (thanks Matthew)
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
Qadhdhafi’s palace library
It seems that Qadhdhafi’s library is a collection of anti-Semitic books, sorcery, witchcraft, quackery.
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
Ajami in the New York Times
When I was in Michigan, I saw a colleague of mine who expressed her astonishment at the latest pronouncements of Fouad Ajami. She said that he does not sound his real self. She asked me if I have been seeing him on CNN, and I explained that…
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
The New York Times explains Bahrain
“Unlike those in Tunisia and Egypt, the protests in Bahrain are largely built around the competition for power between the Sunni minority and the Shiite majority”.
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
The fifth fleet, ya Mariam
“Mariam Omran, an X-ray technician who marched in the protest Saturday, criticized the United States’ longstanding support for Bahrain’s government and royal family, which controls nearly all of the levers of power here. “People in America …
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
Qadhdhafi’s palace: one of them
The tyrant who claims to not hold any official title, and who claims that the “masses” run Libya, has collected a number of palaces in Libya. Aljazeera entered the palace of the tyrant in Al-Bayda’ city and it shows a typical tyrant obsessed with…
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
My advice to Gregory Johnsen: stop studying the Yemeni tribes
““Saleh has had a real problem creating alliances with the sons of tribal leaders in the same way he created alliances with their fathers,” said Gregory Johnsen, a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University who has been studying Yemen’s tr…
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
The New York Times echoes the propaganda of Qadhdhafi
“The greatest fear — and one on which experts differ — is that Al Qaeda or Libya’s own Islamist groups, which withstood fierce repression and may have the best organizational skills among the opposition, could gain power.” Who in his/her ri…
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad
A simple formula for Zionists to bear in mind
We don’t know how the foreign policies of new Arab democracies will shape up. But here is a simply formula:FPAD (Foreign Policy of Arab Democracies) will at least be: at least the current foreign policy of Turkey PLUS the Arab factor. That can on…
Posted on February 27, 2011 by As'ad