Archive for December, 2011
Artists for Israeli war crimes
RJ sent me this: ”I thought this story might be of interest: The NYC-based group Artists 4 Israel came to my college, Haverford College, last month under the name Defend The Future Tour. The DTF Tour (yep, they actually use that abbreviation to m…
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
Coverage of Syria
I was thinking about the propagandistic nature of Western media coverage of Syria. That the media disregard their own journalistic standards in the coverage: the extent to which they allow exaggerations and unfounded rumors to be printed and such…
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
Abu Mazen: I am no Antoine Lahd
So Abu Mazen is denying that he want to be another Antoine Lahd. I am no Antoine Lahd, he asserts. I agree. You are dumber than Lahd. (thanks “Ibn Rushd”)
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
Libya
We can easily say that the case of an Arab uprising where the West intervened heavily and militarily produced the worst results. There is not a single Arab who looks at Libya with admiration these days. What is the lesson? Too obvious…
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
I call on NATO to intervene in Turkey: wait, Turkey is a member. Never mind
“The Turkish military said Thursday that it had accidently killed at least 35 Turkish cigarette smugglers in airstrikes after mistaking them for separatist fighters in the Kurdish border region with Iraq, infuriating many of Turkey’s long-oppres…
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
Haytham Al-Manna`
This courageous fighter for human rights is a model opposition figure, by my standards. This courageous Syrian dissident is a model dissident, by my standards. He has been largely ignored by the New York Times because he is fiercely opposed…
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
Iyad Allawi
Iyad Allawi (the former puppet prime minister/car bomber/embezzler-in-Yemen/Saddam’s henchman) had an article in the New York Times. What he says in the US (about the US) is diametrically opposed to what he says in Arabic where he now (…
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
Prince Turki about Bin Laden
“To Prince Turki, OBL appeared as “a very shy person, very self-effacing, extremely sparsein his words and generally a do-gooder, someone who brought financial and medical and other support to the Afghan mujahidin.”” (thanks Nabeel)
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
It is about democracy, damn it
““The agreement reinforces the strong and enduring relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia,” Joshua R. Earnest, the White House’s deputy press secretary, said in a statement issued in Hawaii, where Mr. Obama is on vacation.”
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
What about Israel?
“At the time, there was a vigorous debate, with some lawmakers arguing that such a huge arms package would threaten the military position of Israel. Mr. Shapiro, speaking at a State Department briefing, said the administration was satisfied that the sa…
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
I must admit. I was wrong about US intentions: the US sends a strong message of support for democracy in the Middle East
““This sale will send a strong message to countries in the region that the United States is committed to stability in the gulf and the broader Middle East,” said Andrew J. Shapiro, the assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs.
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
American "democracy-building" groups in Egypt
Forget about the rest of the story, just read this: ”Security forces shut down three American-financed democracy-building groups”. How I like this “democracy-building” groups terminology. So they just build democracy? How sweet.  …
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
Have you read that Israel has been bombing and killing Palestinians??
I looked at the Times this morning to see if they covered the Israeli bombing of Palestinians. I did not find anything on the subject but I found this instead.PS There is one item that is slated in tomorrow’s edition. It identifies the Pale…
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
Al-Arabiyya TV
I swear this is true: there was this morning a Saudi reporter for the House of Saud speaking extensively on Al-Arabiyya (news station of King Fahd’s brother-in-law) on how the new Arab democracies should work on formulating new constitutions and how th…
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
(Some elements of) Syrian opposition: Ba`thist tactics
So an Israeli propaganda paper claimed that it interviewed two young opposition Syrians in the US. A Syrian opposition website, Al-Haqiqah, identified one of the two people. That person, Muhammad Al-`Abdallah, was furious and denied that he…
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
Tariq Mitri: the case of an Arab intellectual
Full disclosure: Former Lebanese Minister of Culture, Tariq Mitri, is suing me (under lousy Lebanese laws as his case would not have made it to court here in the US) in Beirut for my regular criticisms of him in Al-Akhbar. Now the post: jus…
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
Syrian regime propaganda
The ultra-Syrian nationalism filling Syrian regime TV is just nauseating. It only reminds me of ultra-Lebanese nationalism. You would not know that the ruling doctrine of the lousy Syrian regime is Arab natoinalism.
Posted on December 30, 2011 by As'ad
On Aljazeera English
For those who give a damn, I will appear on Aljazeera English this Saturday (early morning California time) to speak about Syria on “Inside Syria”.
Posted on December 29, 2011 by As'ad
Qaradawi mediates between US and Taliban
“Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a Doha-based Islamist scholar who once called on his followers to back jihadist groups in Jammu and Kashmir, has emerged as a key mediator in secret talks between the U.S. and the Taliban, government sources have told The Hindu.” (t…
Posted on December 29, 2011 by As'ad
Blair wants West to support and fund "Google types"
“One was “what I would call liberal democratic elements, what I would call the sort of Google types who were initially out in Tahrir Square, the up and coming, aspiring kind of middle class people who want the same types of things we want, the freedoms…
Posted on December 29, 2011 by As'ad