Archive for July 24, 2012
Wall Street Journal on US "covert" policies in Syria
“The U.S. has been mounting a secret but limited effort to speed the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad without using force”. Let me count the lies in this one sentence: it is neither secret nor limited and it is certainly violent. (…
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
FSA and children
Mike sent me this: ”here is a worrying video of a kid holding a gun and praising the FSA inAleppo while standing in front of the Al-Qaida-affiliated black flag (which also says An-Nusra Front).”
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
"hilarious fabrications of the Syrian regime"
A reader sent me this: ”Qatar, Saudi, Morocco, Oman, and Iraq and Tunisia in a worldwide conspiracy and producing a $ 36 BILLION no less movie with Metro Goldwin Mayer to bring down Assad. the funny thing is that they also invent Chinese …
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
Iraq in 1990 and Syria in 2012
In 1990 and 1991, Israel was regularly threatening to attack Iraq. Once, Saddam said that if Israel were to attack Iraq, Iraq would respond with chemical weapons. The next day, and week, and months, all Western media carried the same headli…
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
Palestine in the new Tunisia constitution
Khelil sent me this: ”I just read the final preamble of the Tunisian constitution (still being drafted) and notice paragraph 6 and the reference to liberation struggle and how Palestine is at the front in the cause of liberation. Tell Tom Fried…
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
SNC
Akram sent me this: “”There was never any question of a national unity government led by a member of the regime,” Bassma Kodmani told AFP, hours after another SNC spokesman, George Sabra, said the council was ready to agree to a transfer of President…
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
Is it Ikhtyar or Bakthtar?
Aron in Sweden sent me this note: ”there’s always been some confusion about the exact name of Hesham Ikhtiar, or Bakhtiar, as it was also reported for many years. But I think it’s actually Ikhtiar, not Bakhtiar. The congress proceedings fr…
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
"Solide Information aus Syrien … und PsyOps. "Wir wissen überhaupt nicht, was in dem Land passiert"
“”Let us be clear on what is happening in Syria”, schreibt As’ad AbuKhalil, um dem gleich hinzuzufügen: “Wir wissen überhaupt nicht, was in Syrien passiert.” Es gebe, was Syrien angeht, eine in dieser Weise noch nie dagewesene Desinformationskampagne…
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
Was I wrong?
A supporter of the Syrian regime reminded me yesterday. In the first few weeks of the Syrian uprising, I and fellow Arab leftists produced a toughly-worded statement against the Syrian regime and in support of the then Syrian popular uprising. &n…
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
The future Syrian government
If the regime falls in Syria, and the US manufactures a new regime like in Yemen, I predict–just like in Yemen–the new regime would discover a nefariousness Iranian conspiracy within the first few days of rule. It happened in Yemen, damn it.
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
Al-Arabiyya’s deleted news story
I wrote to you a few days ago about how Al-Arabiyya quickly removed a story about a role by Munaf Tlas in a future government in Syria. The reason is that the story talked about discussion about the future of Syria’s government between Rif`at Al-…
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
The hair of Muhammad
The stupid and dumb and foolish Yemeni government claims that this is the hair of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. It just so happens that it was found in Ramadan (blow dryed and shampooed too).
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
Islamists and Israel
“Ibn Rushd” sent me this: ”Morocco’s Islamist ruling party invited an Israeli (ex-Rabin advisor) to its Congress”.
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
sectarianism in Damascus: a response
I received this response from Nour about Akram’s dispatch from Syria about sectarianism in Damascus. I must confess that Akram was rather reluctant to have me post it but I persuaded him that I should. I should note that Akram is very caref…
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
Homophobia in Israel is like Israeli WMDs: never talked about in the Western press
“Eitan Schechtman of the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance, said that during the screening a woman yelled from her balcony “Why are you showing gay movies here?” At some point, he said, a man, apparently the women’s husband, shouted “there…
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
A (foreign-made) coup in Damascus? Operation Ajax style?
A friend/comrade who does not want to be cited sent me his opinion on what happened in Damascus last week: ”It is very clear that last week’s big Cities offensive was a carefully coordinated event, timed to coincide with the assassination/decapi…
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
If this was the Torah? it would have been a front page story in the NYT
“Two teenage girls caught on security cameras tearing Koran books inside the Cave of Patriarchs, have yet to be questioned by police who have failed to track them down, four months after the incident.”
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
sectarianism: the last refuge of Hamas scoundrels
Hamas has been aligned with the Syrian regime for years. Read the last sentence of this article published in Hamas publication. English. (thanks Nicholas)
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
sectarian conflict in Damascus
From Akram, the Angry Arab correspondent in Syria:”I already mentioned this, in an earlier message. Al-Joura (the hole in Arabic) is a neighborhood located within the old town near Bab Touma. His residents are “original” Damascenes and Shiites. Thei…
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad
`Ali Ayyub and the Hamah massacre of 1982
There is no question that the recently assassinated Hisham Bakhtyar was a brutal torturer and war criminal for the Syrian regime (of Hafidh and Bashshar). Today, I was reading in the documentary classic book on the Hamah massacre (put out by the …
Posted on July 24, 2012 by As'ad