Archive for May 18, 2012
Hit with a shoe
Egyptian presidential candidate (and Mubarak official), Ahmad Shafiq, is hit with shoes. (For the significance of shoes in Arab culture, please consult any US newspaper).
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
Hit with a shoe
Egyptian presidential candidate (and Mubarak official), Ahmad Shafiq, is hit with shoes. (For the significance of shoes in Arab culture, please consult any US newspaper).
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
Egypt presidential debate
My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: ”The Musa-Abu Al-Furtuh Debate”
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
Egypt presidential debate
My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: ”The Musa-Abu Al-Furtuh Debate”
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
Comrade Bassam on Syria
“The Syrian situation is complex like any other uprising, but the situation has added complexity because it is at the juncture of several conflicts in the region. Those struggles involve local, regional and international power plays that make the situa…
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
re-election of Ghalyun
“On Thursday, the head of the council, Burhan Ghalioun, announced that he would resign, two days after his disputed re-election.” OK, Ghalyun by his own account was not “re-elected”. He was appointed twice before to this position and this t…
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
New York Times methods of sourcing
“Syrian political analysts have said that Mr. Assad’s intolerance for opposition demonstrations in Aleppo reflects his intention ultimately to subvert the peace plan brokered by the United Nations and the Arab League. Under that plan, 300 truce monit…
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
Not in the US press: what is happening in Jordan
“When he took office, Mr Khasawneh raised hopes for reform. He vowed to end election-rigging, engage Jordan’s Islamists and deal with popular demands roused by the Arab awakening. To his chagrin, he soon felt he was mere window-dressing for a shadow …
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
House of Saud’s reforms
“Saudi Arabia has banned all government and private agencies from using the Gregorian calendar in official dealings. The use of the English language to answer calls or communicate, mainly in companies and hotels, has also been banned, a local dai…
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
Saudi religious persecution
You may not be aware of this, or you may most likely not care but Arab (and Muslim) governments that receive Saudi financial aid are under pressure always to show firm resolve against any manifestation of Shi`ite religious worship. Morocco famous…
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
Executive Order on Yemen
Rob sent me this: ”I just wanted to comment thusly on this Obama executive order about Yemen. According to the Washington Post, “The order provides criteria to take action against people who the Treasury secretary, in consultation with the sec…
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
Ba`thist communists in Syria
A Syrian reader sent me this: “In Syria, there is a communist party similar to that in Morocco, the Syrian Communist Party (it’s more convenience to call it the Syrian Bakdashist Party or better the Ass-Kissing Syrian Party). However, another …
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
The sectarian question in Iraq
“Instead of providing a historically informed, nuanced analysis of the current situation in Iraq, where everyone bears the brunt of sectarianism, the authors resort to the simplistic and oft cited ahistorical binary of Sunnis vs. Shias. They mention th…
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
Daily Star’s propaganda
Basim sent me this: “If the Daily Star is propagandizing for the Lebanese Army, they’re doing a pretty lousy job at it. Look at this headline: “More casualties in north Lebanon, army enacts ‘exceptional’ measures’ Although the word exceptional measu…
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
Worst abusers of the planet–and the least
Rob sent me this: ”You quoted from the WWF report that listed Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE as the world’s three greediest resource users (US is number 5), but missed an important corollary: the lowest resource user per capita is… “Occupied Pa…
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
"Israeli paranoia and ignorance"
Khelil (who wrote me under the heading above) wrote me this: ”Look at how paranoid and stupid Haaretz is in writing about the Arabic translation of the Talmud from centuries past: “The work joins several other translations into Arabic in recent…
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
Salamah Kilah and Syrian regime torture
Akram sent me this: ”On Alarabyia TV station, Salamah Keilah told what happened to him during his detention (Arabic). Here are the headlines:1- He hasn’t been “suspected” of writing articles to Al-Akhbar (greetings… Al-Akhbar is NOT GUI…
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
What you can read in Syria: Ba`thist Big Brother/Sister
A Syrian reader sent me this: ”Dear Mr. Abou KhalilIf you live in Syria you can’t read this and this. But you can’t also read this … Why? Because well known Israeli newspapers and any web link containing the word ‘israel’ or one of it’s de…
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
If Muslims did that
Read this and notice the details: if this was being organized and attended by Orthodox Muslims (there is no such thing as Orthodox Muslims of course), they would have been uniformly mocked, ridiculed, vilified, and castigated in Western media. Th…
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad
Lies and Iran in the New York Times
Look at this headline: “Rapper Faces Death Threats in Iran Over Song”. The headline clearly implicates Iran (or the Iranian government) over the death threat. In reality, the death threat came from a website that is NOT even based in Iran. …
Posted on May 18, 2012 by As'ad