Archive for December 14, 2011
Who better speak for Arab public opinion than a Bush supporter (Michael Young)
“”The whole debate over intervention was reformulated this year in the sense that in Libya, even in Egypt to a certain extent, (and) in Syria, the idea of foreign intervention was legitimized by a lot of the populations who were facing these dictatorsh…
Posted on December 14, 2011 by As'ad
Munsif Marzuqi
The new president of Tunisia saluted the Palestinian struggle against occupation. I salute him for that and expect more than just salutations to the Palestinians.
Posted on December 14, 2011 by As'ad
Which is more violent? Bible or Qur’an?
“”Much to my surprise, the Islamic scriptures in the Quran were actually far less bloody and less violent than those in the Bible,” Jenkins says.Jenkins is a professor at Penn State University and author of two books dealing with the issue: the recentl…
Posted on December 14, 2011 by As'ad
Can you imagine the uproar if the mayor was Muslim?
“The mayor of Nazareth Illit, an Israeli town with an Arab Christian minority, has declared a ban on the public display of Christmas trees. “Nazareth Illit is a Jewish city and it will not happen–not this year and not next year, so long as I am a ma…
Posted on December 14, 2011 by As'ad
If they were Arabs
“Throwing rocks, burning tires and carrying out other assaults on the Israeli military are not unheard of in the West Bank. But the incident Monday night registered loudly with Israeli authorities: The attackers were Jewish extremists.” The impli…
Posted on December 14, 2011 by As'ad
Qatar and Saudi Arabia: Wahhabi allies
“Qatar has named its largest mosque after Imam Mohammad Ibn Abdul Wahab, the influential Muslim scholar who lived in the 18th century in today’s Saudi Arabia.”The mosque naming directive by the Emir Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani is in honour of the…
Posted on December 14, 2011 by As'ad
Israel as a zero
“What do Israel, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan have in common? All of them scored a big fat zero on the annual freedom of religion index published by CIRI, the Cingranelli-Richards Human Rights Dataset.The index, which measures governmental…
Posted on December 14, 2011 by As'ad
Finland
“Critics say that Finland is an irrelevant laboratory for the United States. It has a tiny economy, a low poverty rate, a homogenous population — 5 percent are foreign-born — and socialist underpinnings (speeding tickets are calculated according to…
Posted on December 14, 2011 by As'ad
So who inspired the Arabs?
“”It really began when people throughout the Arab world watching particularly Al-Jazeera in 2003 saw the Iraqi people pulling down an enormous statue of Saddam Hussein…because it said to them, these tyrants that are governing us are not forever.”" &n…
Posted on December 14, 2011 by As'ad
Fahmi Huwaydi
This is a good critique of widely read Egyptian columnist, Fahim Huwaydi, who compares Arab secular and leftist opposition to Islamism to Zionism. (thanks Salam)
Posted on December 14, 2011 by As'ad
How sad: another US drone crashes
“One of the Air Force’s premier drones crashed Tuesday morning in the Seychelles”.
Posted on December 14, 2011 by As'ad
face and vagina
A Salafite cleric from Egypt says that the face of the woman is like its vagina. (thanks Laure)
Posted on December 14, 2011 by As'ad
Civil war versus non-violence uprising
I was looking at the front page picture from Yemen in the New York Times and noticed that they refer to the killing by Yemeni government as “civil unrest” or civil war. They always do that when a pro-US government kills its people. If the g…
Posted on December 14, 2011 by As'ad
Hizbullah in the New York Times: drugs and car salesman
Regarding the front page article in the New York Times. I will say this right at the outset: I don’t know anything about the finances or intelligence work of secret organizations. They people who know, don’t know, and the people who talk ar…
Posted on December 14, 2011 by As'ad
Kuwait ends work permit for all Lebanese
I received confirmation that Kuwait has officially banned all work permits for Lebanese. I am told that other GCC countries will follow suit. Above is an image of one such document. (thanks anonymous)
Posted on December 14, 2011 by As'ad