Archive for August 5, 2012
poor FSA fighters
Western coverage of FSA gangs is so emotional and pathetic that reporters feel obligated in every article to complain that the fighters are running out of ammunition and that they are short on cash. Hilarious really.
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
Reading on Syria
My colleague Fred Lawson sent me this: “For your English reading audience, As’ad, by far the best study of Faisal’s Syria is Jim Gelvin’s Divided Loyalties: Nationalism and Mass Politics in Syria (1998), which explores the rival popular organiz…
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
Books
I was asked about the books I am reading on Abbasid empire and on Faysal government in Syria.1) on the first the one by Ahmad Amin. 2) on the second: books by As`ad Daghir, Yusuf Al-Hakim, Khayriyyah Qasmiyyah, and Shakib Arsalan (the last on the …
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
The New York Times confuses `Alawites with Alevis
“”Many Turkish Alawites, estimated at 15 million to 20 million strong and one of the biggest minorities in this country, seem to be solidly behind Syria’s embattled strongman, Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey’s government, and many Sunnis, supports…
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
SNC and armament
From Akram: “For Abdelbaset Sieda, the president of the Syrian National Council (SNC), the armed presence (of the PYD party) in the Kurdish areas is questionable because problems can be solved through dialog and understanding away from the arm …
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
ugly habit
The ugly habit of kissing the hand or the shoulder of the ruler–as in Saudi Arabia and Morocco–started in the Abbasid era.
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
Gore Vidal
“Buckley and Mr. Vidal both subscribed, though in very different ways, to the ideal of American exceptionalism — with its suggestion that even as the nation stood apart from or above other nations, it was susceptible to foreign infection.” T…
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
UAE in the Syrian crisis
UAE, unlike Qatar and Saudi Arabia, plays a big role in implementing US/Israeli orders in the Middle East. But sons of Zayid are quiet and secretive: they don’t own pan-Arab media and they don’t want to attract attention to themselves. But they a…
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
victim of torture in Saudi Arabia
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
sectarianism in Turkish foreign policy
“Another example of this ideological foreign policy was when Erdogan said a few days ago, “They ask me why I care about Syria so much. My answer is simple. It is that we are the remnants of the Ottoman states, the descendants of the Seljuks, and the …
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
Iranian hostages in Syria
Notice that secular slogans in the picture. Secularism my…potato.
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
Sufis, liberals, leftists, and feminists in Syria
“Websites identified with organizations like al-Qaida have recently been releasing the names of activists from all Arab countries that have been killed in the fighting in Syria. Among them are al-Qaida supporters from Iraq, Yemen, Jordan and Saudi A…
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
psst: this is supposed to be a Western secret. Repression in the UAE
“The arrest and detention of 54 political and human rights activists in the United Arab Emirates has thrown the spotlight on one of the most autocratic and least institutionalised Persian Gulf monarchies. Championed by their western security partners a…
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
Arab former leftists
I am sick and tired of this: I am sick and tired of Arab former leftists (especially when they speak to Western audiences) claim–in a way to apologize for their past leftist sins–that they joined this communist group or that nationalist group to “fig…
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
Do you want to understand Syria?
Read (as I have been reading) about the era after the WWI and the formation of the Faysal government in Damascus. You will understand a lot about the nature of Western promises and how ruling elites (or opposition) are easily deceived by foreign …
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
`Awwamiyyah in Saudi Arabia
Salutations to all the protesters in `Awwamiyyah in Saudi Arabia, who I addressed via a taped message.
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
American patriotism and Israel
“”Republicans are fond of excoriating President Barack Obama for not being sufficiently pro-America. But where are their cries of outrage at the online video in which Adelson says it was unfortunate that he wore an American and not Israeli uniform d…
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
Billionaire are allowed to write in the New York Times, even if they are Palestinians
“”But peace is not made by ignoring one party while lionizing the other. In Palestine, we stubbornly continue to hope that the occupant of the White House will one day recognize this.” Oh, no. Palestinian hopes don’t hinge on whether this…
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
Media of Saudi princes
Akram sent me this: “I tried, in vain, to find something honest in this piece. In brief, even punctuations and prepositions are just mere cheap fabrications”.
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad
Here, the New York Times admits that gangs of the FSA sneak into the Yarmuk refugee camp
Wait. So you casually again and in passing admit that the gangs of the Free Syrian Army are hiding in the Yarmuk refugee camp, thus jeopardizing the safety the Palestinian residents? “He said many of his fighters had sneaked into Yarmouk.”
Posted on August 5, 2012 by As'ad