Archive for October 24, 2011
Condoleeza Rice and Emile Lahoud
“After shaking hands with President Émile Lahoud of Lebanon, she writes, she felt as if she needed a shower. ” Let me guess: she did not feel the need the take a shower after shaking hands with the most brutal dictators in the region from, say, …
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
David Ignatius on Prince Sultan
I have never seen a reporter who consumes uncritically whatever Arab diplomats (provided they represent the reactionary Arab monarchies aligned with the US and Israel) more than David Ignatius. I read on the plane his latest column on Prince Sultan: he…
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
House of Saud can’t be prouder
The main headline in the newspaper, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat, the lousy crude and vulgar propaganda mouthpiece of Prince Salman and his sons, has this headline: ”Obama offers condolences over the Crown Prince…and sends Biden to Saudi Arabia.” H…
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
Unwanted occupation
“The only major Iraqi political bloc that was willing to speak publicly about a troop extension was the Kurdish alliance which governs the country’s north and has long had a testy relationship with Maliki and the country’s Sunni and Shia populations. B…
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
Leila Fadel does not like Arab communists
So she decided to exclude them from her catalogue of political parties in Tunisia.
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
The Washington Post said that Hillary "chided" countries in Central Asia on human rights
Here is the exact words. Is this chiding?? ”“Countries that make reforms to give their people the opportunities for political and economic participation that they demand and deserve will thrive,” Clinton told a town hall meeting in Dush…
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
This is a new dangerous form of terrorism: eggs and tomato
This is unacceptable. After being subjected to another round of terrorist tomatoes and eggs last week in Maydan quarter in Damascus, the US has recalled its ambassador after he received more tomatoes and eggs threats to his life. Eggs and tomatoe…
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
Mel Gibson: stay out of our Palestinian cause
So Al-Quds Al-Arabia did an interview with Mel Gibson. The Palestinian reporter introduced himself to Gibson as Palestinian. Gibson responded: you have suffered so much. Let me say this: our precious Palestinian cause does not need, n…
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
From Washington
I will appear on Aljazeera’s Min Washington program tomorrow at 7:00AM California time. I will talk about Libya, I think.
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
Pragmatic Prince Nayif
Read this headline in the New York Times about Prince Nayif. Read the description of him as “pragmatic.” You read the article and you realize that the description did not come from some detached analysis of the Prince, but from a US diploma…
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
protesters against Ghannushi
This is not in the Western press, it seems. Protesters yesterday yelled “terrorist” against Ghannushi and urged him to leave the country. (thanks Mohammad)
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
US in Kenya
Look at the headline of this article: ”Kenya Says Western Nations Join Fight in Somalia, as U.S. Denies Role”. But the text does not contain such a denial of a role, it merely denies air strikes: ”but emphasized that there had been
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
Polygamy is back in NATO Libya
In the hard copy of the New York Times, they did NOT even mention the reference by NATO rebels to their insistence on restoring polygamy: ”“We are an Islamic country,” he said as the sun descended. “We take the Islamic religion as the core …
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
The Lebanese in the Saudi press
Read this translated article by Ghassan Sharbil, editor-in-chief of Al-Hayat (the mouthpiece of Prince Khalid bin Bribe bin Sultan). (thanks Rudy)
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
Walid Jumblat on Prince Sultan
Nobody I know bows down lower than Walid Jumblat before oil potentates. We remember his days with Qadhdafi. Here he writes about King Abdullah and Prince Sultan, although the Saudi king officially cut off ties with him when he joined the Mi…
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
Qadhdafi sodomized?
This is a video footage of Qadhdafi being sodomized by NATO democratic rebels. (thanks Farah)
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
US is outraged that Syria may be using US technology in censoring and monitoring: but look at the biggest customers of the company
I really hate it when US government feigns moral outrage: it never fails to (not) disguise hypocrisy and deception. So the company, Blue Coat, categorically denied that it had ever sold technology materials to Syria but bragged about its cus…
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
This is a world record: meet the new NATO republic of Libya
Look how many prisoners they have managed to amass: ”Nearly 7,000 prisoners of war are packed into dingy, makeshift jails around Libya, where they have languished for weeks without charges and have faced abuse and even torture, according to human…
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
US is outraged
Egypt insists on not allowing the US fund unregistered organizations in Egypt. US, of course, believes no democracy can be established without its money funding whomever it likes. It is a matter of democratic principle for the US. Can…
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad
Burhan Ghalyun and Yusuf Al-Qaradawi
This is sad. I have liked and respected secular Burhan Ghalyun. What is a man like him doing with the religious demagogue (and tool of Gulf money), the reactionary tele-Islamist, Yusuf Al-Qaradawi. (thanks anonymous)
Posted on October 24, 2011 by As'ad