Archive for August 23, 2012
Syrian exile opposition claims
So if you read the daily tallies of the dead in Syria, which are produced by the Qatari-funded Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and are re-produced by all Western media without question–as they used to say in Islamic theological language centuries …
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
The University of Chicago Press published a book by the person who vomited those words
“The women of the royal family in particular have sought to provide women in Jordan with public role models that project confidence and assertiveness. Princess Basma, sister of the late King Hussein, has been at the forefront of attempts to change l…
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
transliteration of Arabic
The best system of transliteration of Arabic, in my opinion, is the old system of the Library of Congress (used in Hanna Batatu’s The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq). The worst system by far is the Lebanese passport au…
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
In Western coverage of Syria, the activists are reporters and the Western reporters are activists
Look at this sentence in the report by Rolling Stone graduate, Damien Cave: “activists reported finding 40 bodies in one suburb”. So the activists now report? And what were the activists doing on the scene? Are those activists active in FSA…
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
WINEP, properly identified for once
“”So, why have Israel’s leaders escalated their rhetoric in recent weeks to a fever pitch? Because they, and their allies – including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its spinoff, the Washington Institution for Near East Policy…
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
Prince Hamad bin Jasim arrives
“”But the Post reported that the sheikh’s deal was called off by al-Thani himself because he felt the building’s two elevators were not enough for his two wives, 15 kids and entourage of handlers and armed guards.”"
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
Sami Makarem and the history of the Druzes
Sami Makarem, a professor of Arabic at AUB, died. I was not a fan of his. He has a book on the Druze faith but it is not useful. The story is that a courage Druze, Abdullah Najjar, wrote a book (self-publisehd) in English in the 1960s…
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
Those poor FSA gangs: they have no support except "wealthy Syrian businessmen in exile"
“”A member of the BND [Bundesnachrichtendienst, German foreign intelligence agency] told the newspaper that the intelligence service was “proud of the important contribution [it] is making to the overthrow of the Assad regime.”"”
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
not confused
“Abukhalil was first alerted to Fallaci’s Habash fabrication by me some years back. Unfortunately, however, in recalling the matter, he’s confused her 1970 Life magazine profile of Habash, which appears to be an honest piece of reportage, with her l…
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
The Rohingya is not one of them
“Ever since a 1982 law stripped them of citizenship rights, Rohingyas have been effectively stateless. Despite spotty media coverage from within Burma, rights groups and Rohingyas themselves have painted a dire portrait. Rohingyas must request permi…
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
“Support for the opposition party that won the greatest number of votes in Zimbabwe’s last presidential election, turning it into an international symbol of the Zimbabwean people’s desire to end President Robert Mugabe’s decades of rule, has fal…
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
Karzai is angry
“President Hamid Karzai held an urgent meeting Wednesday with his national security team and, in a statement issued afterward, blamed “foreign spy agencies” for infiltrating the Afghan security apparatus.” Karzai added that the foreign spy ag…
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
British ambassador in Lebanon
“The British Ambassador to Lebanon called for calm following a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri Thursday in which he discussed recent national developments. The statement concluded with Fletcher stressing the maintenance of order in…
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
“Elite Competition, Religiosity, and Anti-Americanism in the Islamic World”: A Response
My latest blog post in Al-Akhbar English is a critical response to the article “Elite Competition, Religiosity, and Anti-Americanism in the Islamic World” which was published in the last issue of American Political Science Review (Vol. 106, No. 2, …
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
Bashshar not Iran
Don’t know if you heard but Bashshar won’t make it to the non-alignment summit in Tehran. He is too busy clinging desperately to power. An Iranian official said that Bashshar won’t be make it because of the “leadership crisis” in Syria. Kid…
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
Saudi-Qatari conflict
There is a silent and cold but intense war going on in the Arab world now: it is the Saudi-Qatari conflict. When I asked the Emir of Qatar in 2010 sarcastically: so your conflict with the House of Saud is now resolved? He laughed and said: …
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
Saudi financing of Salafites in Tunisia
Even An-Nahda is now warning about Saudi funding of Salafites in Tunisia.
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
"BBC more dishonest than the NYT: an example from Syria"
Comrade Asa, a brave British journalist, sent me this:”The BBC did a segment reporting on the NYT report and video that showed FSA fighters forcing an alleged “shabiha” prisoner into acting as a suicide bomber.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/world/…
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
Zionism is always racism
“Immigrant children should be separated from others in the school system, the Education Ministry believes, according to the State Prosecution’s appeal to the Supreme Court submitted earlier this week. The state appealed against the Be’er Sheva Dist…
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad
"Syria’s Freedom Fighters"
I see on the cover of World Policy Journal (summer 2012 issue) a story titled: “Syria’s Freedom Fighters”. You read it and it is a story about Syrian refugees in Turkey by somebody I never heard of (it says a writer, presumably American, ba…
Posted on August 23, 2012 by As'ad