Egypt-Libya summit

I saw footage of Gen. Tantawi meeting with Mustafa Abdul-NATO.  So the handpicked military commander of Huni Mubarak was meeting with the hand picked Minister of Justice of Qadhdhafi to celebrate the victory of their so-called revolutions?  

Except in the pro-US Gulf countries, he meant

But on Sunday, the secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, urged Mr. Assad to halt the violence against the protesters and said the time of dynasties and one-man rule in the Arab world were coming to an end."


PS This article by Shadid gives a pretty accurate picture of what is happening in Syria, I think.  

The blatant racism of Israeli liberals

"Dan Ben-David, executive director of the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel, said fertility rates in the Haredi community made the issue especially acute; the very religious Jews are the only group in Israel having more children today than 30 years ago. “They make up more than 20 percent of all kids in primary schools,” he said. “In 20 years, there is a risk we will have a third-world population here which can’t sustain a first-world economy and army.”"

Exchange of lands

Don't you like the terminology of PA-Israeli negotiations, like when they invoke the principle of exchange of territory?  So basically the Israelis offer the Palestinians what Israel does not lawfully own, in return of what Palestinians lawfully own.

Wael Ghonim

"Much of your rhetoric about self-determination echoes what George Bush said about Iraq. The Iraq war was deeply unpopular in Egypt, but do you feel differently now that Iraq is free? 
Not at all. The war in Iraq killed so many innocent people, and it’s not something that any civilized nation should be proud of. People who live in a country are the ones to decide their destiny because they are the ones who eventually pay the price for whatever choices they make."

Tunisian president

Apparently, the Tunisian president, Munsif Al-Marzuqi, made his critical remarks about the Syrian uprising (about "militarization and sectarianism") after meeting with a delegation from the inside opposition (the coordinating committee).  

Riyadh Al-As`ad

My sources tell me that the background of Riyadh Al-Asad and his colleagues is in Hizb At-Tahrir.  

Syrian opposition

I met with a known Syrian opposition person in London today.  I have much to report but don't have time and internet is not good enough here.  We had an argument about Bashshar: he thinks that Bashshar is rather dumb, and I argued that Bashshar is not dumb but has been very dumb in his management and governance since the uprising--this is without commenting on the brutality of the regime which has been constant since 1970.  But we both agreed that there is--fortunately for the Syrian people--no return to the Asadi rule.  Even if he stays in power, it will be a different government altogether.  

Ironic for Bashshar

It is rather ironic that in the last pro-regime demonstration in Damascus, Syrian regime TV showed a close-up of the crowd without showing their end or edges, clearly to make the crowd bigger on screen.  It is ironic because Bashshar himself mocked the March 14 tactics in Lebanon back in 2005.  

Sectarian formula for Syria

My sources tell me that French foreign ministry is already pushing for a sectarian formula for power in Syria in the post-Asad era: they want a non-ruling `Alawite president, and a ruling Sunni prime minister, and a Christian speaker of parliament.  

My talk in London

For those who care, I am giving a public talk tomorrow (Tuesday) in London at the arts school,  Goldsmiths College, at 5:30 PM.  The title is: The Case Against Israel.

Patrick Cockburn on Aljazeera

Finally, some one said it:  "Sadly, al-Jazeera, which has done so much to shatter state control of information in the Middle East since it was set up in 1996, has become the uncritical propaganda arm of the Libyan and Syrian rebels."

Syrian people

I wish both sides in Lebanon (March 8 and March 14) would leave the Syrian people alone. They both don't care about the welfare of the Syrian people and just want to use them for their own sectarian battles.  How sickening really.  

Sistani

I receive the most insults whenever I write a critical or sarcastic comment about the Cleric of Occupation, `Ali Sistani on Twitter or Facebook.  It is hard for me to imagine anyone liking him or respecting him, although the AbuKhalil's of Tyre "imitate" Sistani religiously.  In Arab history, the man will receive a very dishonorable mention.  Also, I find it amusing how sectarian Shi`ites don't mind it when I mock Sunni or Christian clerics, but find it most objectionable when I mock Shi`ite cleric.  Spare me.

Robert Fisk misses the Israel of Labor Party

My latest blog post in Al-Akhbar English: "Robert Fisk and the Israel of "honor""

The new Aljazeera

You know how much Aljazeera has changed when it started the news with a report about Samir Ja`ja`(Ga`ga` in Egyptian accent) 's comments about Syria. Samir Ja`ja` (Ga`ga` in Egyptian accent) for potato's sake.  

Qadri Jamil

My suspicions that the new leftist Al-Yasariyyah news channel will be pro-Syrian regime have been confirmed.  It seems that Qadri Jamil (who broke off from Khalid Bakdash's party) will play a leading role. I also learned that the Russian government wants Qadri to serve as prime minister or as a key minister in a "national unity" government.  But the credentials of Jamil as opposition figure are highly (and rightly) questioned by most in the Syrian opposition.  He is seen as too close to the regime. I see him regularly on Syrian regime channels.  

Sharp on Aljazeera

A sign of how low Aljazeera has stooped, it has purchased that lousy documentary about Gene Sharp and the Arab uprisings.  Kid you not.

Last night in `Awamiyyah in Saudi Arabia

It is permitted in the West to endorse killing of scientists provided that they are Muslims/Arabs

" I shall not shed any tears whenever one of these scientists encounters the unforgiving men on motorbikes, men who live in the real world rather than a laboratory or philosophy seminar."  Can you imagine the uproar if those words were said about Israeli scientists who work on Israeli WMDs? (thanks Nu`man)

If he were Asian, his head would be rolling on the road in Riyadh by now

"An Australian man has been released from a Saudi prison after his jail term for blasphemy was commuted and his punishment reduced to 75 lashes, his family and the government said Thursday." (thanks Basim)

Bashshar Al-Asad and hospital visits

Several people wrote to me that Bashshar Al-Asad--contrary to what I claimed in Al-Akhbar English--did indeed visit hospital beds.  One reader--who only identified as "shabbih" said that Bashshar may have given a sponge bath or two to his victims.  

Terrorists recruit terrorists

"Buried deep in the archives of America's intelligence services are a series of memos, written during the last years of President George W. Bush's administration, that describe how Israeli Mossad officers recruited operatives belonging to the terrorist group Jundallah by passing themselves off as American agents. According to two U.S. intelligence officials, the Israelis, flush with American dollars and toting U.S. passports, posed as CIA officers in recruiting Jundallah operatives -- what is commonly referred to as a "false flag" operation.  The memos, as described by the sources, one of whom has read them and another who is intimately familiar with the case, investigated and debunked reports from 2007 and 2008 accusing the CIA, at the direction of the White House, of covertly supporting Jundallah -- a Pakistan-based Sunni extremist organization. Jundallah, according tothe U.S. government and published reports, is responsible for assassinating Iranian government officials and killing Iranian women and children." (thanks Fahd)

Mubarak was full of gas-for-Israel

"Ghorab said that Egypt, "has succeeded in reaching an agreement to raise gas prices to at least $5 per MMBTU with every country in the region except for one."  Ghorab declined to name which country has not yet signed an agreement with Egypt, but sources say that it is Israel. Ghorab also sent a veiled threat that shows his determination to reach his goal. "If I am not successful in altering the agreement with this country, I will resign my post.""

Dumbest Israeli propaganda I have read: the honor goes to Karim Sadjadpour

"For instance, Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said he believed that at least some of the murdered scientists might have been killed by the Iranian government. Some of them had shown sympathy for the Iranian opposition, he said, and not all appeared to have been high-ranking experts.  “I think there is reason to doubt the idea that all the hits have been carried out by Israel,” Mr. Sadjadpour said. “It’s very puzzling that Iranian nuclear scientists, whose movements are likely carefully monitored by the state, can be executed in broad daylight, sometimes in rush-hour traffic, and their culprits never found.”"  Gary Sick on Charlie Rose responded to this dumb Mossad propaganda line being circulated. David Ignatius parroted the same line and attributed it to an "Iranian student" leader, I presume.  So the Iranian government selected scientists who are sympathetic to the opposition and made them work on its most secret program?  Oh, and after it permitted them to work on the top secret program, it decided to kill them?  I mean, how dumb is this Israeli propaganda?  


PS  Mr. Karim Sadjadpour is an analyst for Carnegie Endowment for International War by day, and James Bond by night.  

NATO and urination

Syrian National Council pledged that NATO troops would not urinate on dead Syrians if NATO were to intervene in Syria.  Syrians cheered the news in the streets.

Al-Yasariyyah

I have been reading about the new leftist news station, Al-Yasariyyah, which will be launched in Beirut.  Based on what I have been told, I have serious concerns that it may serve as a tool for Syrian regime propaganda. What a shame.  Lebanese Communist Party's secretary-general, Khalid Hdadah, has the biggest share and he should not allow that.  

Tell Aljazeera

Aljazeera now reports in special bulletins the status of the internet in various Syrian cities and towns--whenever it is stopped by the lousy regime or whenever it slows down.  Please tell Aljazeera that my internet is very slow in my hotel in UK.  

Another defeat for frantic Zionists at Columbia

First Mubarak fell and now this?   "The US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has dismissed a complaint against Barnard College – which is a partner of Columbia University – that a student was “steered” away from taking a class by Professor Joseph Massad because the student is Jewish.  The decision strikes a blow at a key strategy being utilized by Zionist organizations to use US civil rights legislation to smear and harass faculty who teach about Palestine or are critical of Israeli policies, and to censor Palestine solidarity activism on campuses."

Liars of MEMRI

So MEMRI has a dispatch about what they say was an article by Bayan Nuwayhid Al-Hut in Al-Akhbar. You have to read through to know that she did not write this article for Al-Akhbar but was in fact responding to my criticisms of her for citing the Protocols in one of her books, and then they said:  "In his criticism, Abu Khalil accused Al-Hout of basing her thesis on the Protocols, whose authenticity is in doubt".  I know that translators of MEMRI have lousy Arabic command but: 1) I said that she cited the Protocols.  2) I did not--o liars of MEMRI--say that the authenticity of the Protocols "is in doubt."  I never ever said that in any language as I have written repeatedly in Arabic that the Protocols are trashy and a forgery. I even said that in my article cited by the Zionist translators of MEMRI.  It was Al-Hut--NOT ME--who said that the authenticity of the Protocols is in doubt.  There is no doubt in my head on the matter.  Of course, your knowledge of Arabic is very much in doubt. (thanks Samah)


PS: Just because I am in a UK university tour does not mean that I will let you get away with your lies, MEMRI. 

Faucets in UK

I know that UK is big on tradition, but it is high time that the cold water faucet and the hot water faucet be united in one damn faucet.  I mean, I do what I am supposed to do: I freeze my hands and then I burn them--back and forth--to clean my hands, but still.

Urination by US troops

I never watch US TV news ever in the US but I watched NBC News here in the UK the other day. Brian Williams started the program by referring to the act of urination by soldiers on dead Afghan bodies--very bad dead Afghan bodies we are told.  Williams had to introduce the story with a long speech about the "context" of the act, and went on about the pressures of war and about the bravery of those soldiers and about the brutality of the enemies. He almost said that all those pressures make some troops urinate on dead bodies in Afghanistan. Thank you, Brian William. Without you, I would not have understood why they did what they did.  

Syrian National Council charade

Let me get this straight: Syrian National Council advocated a program that called for peaceful change in Syria but has just announced that it "elevated" its coordination with the Salafite Free Syrian Army which takes responsibility for shootings and bombings in Syria? You can't have it both way, and you started lying to your audience way too early. 

Saudi opposition

Some asked me on twitter whether I am critical of the Saudi opposition as I am of the Syrian opposition.  My answer: you bet.  I have cut off ties to a Saudi opposition organization because it served as a tool for Bush in 2004 and I told its head what I think of their role at the time.  I had also cut off ties with a sectarian (Shi`ite) group that agreed to sell itself for King Fahd in 1994, and I told him what I thought of them too.  

Why??

When protesters happen to be Shi`ites--or assumed to be Shi`ites as in the case in Bahrain--Arab (Saudi and Qatari media) insist on identifying their sect, but not when the protesters are Sunnis.  The message: those Shi`ites deserve be killed because they all are spies for Iran.  

Saudi Arabia in the British press

The news of the visit by British prime minister to Saudi Arabia is widely covered in the UK press. But unlike the US press, every newspaper and every TV report I saw, carried a critical perspective on the relationship between the two countries.   The relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia is rarely subjected to criticisms by any of the members of the two ruling parties in the US. 

Saudi Arabia on Aljazeera

You know how much Aljazeera has changed when you see how it covered--or not covered--the shooting in `Awamiyyah in Saudi Arabia. The news ticker only reported the "news" that a police vehicle was set on fire. Not a single word about the shootings. Today, it only reported the official statement of the Saudi Ministry of Interior.  This is not the Aljazeera I know.  

Aljazeera

I shall appear on Min Washington program (from London) on Aljazeera Arabic to speak about US policies.  It is recorded on Tuesday. Check your local listings.

Deaths in Saudi Arabia

Gaza tunnels

You know my theory about Gaza tunnels: if you can smuggle in goats and sheep, you can easily smuggle other things.  (AP)

Palestine

I don't like flags and I don't like nationalisms, but for Palestine and the Palestinians, anything and everything.  (Reuters)

by 45%

Israeli exports to Egypt declined by 45% last year. In other news, Thomas Friedman said that Arab uprisings have no foreign policy goals.

The Asad's speech

My take on the Asad's speech for Al-Akhbar English.

Rashid Ghannushi explains (to Saudi media)

Islamist demagogue, Rashid Ghannushi, speaks to the mouthpiece of Prince Salman, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat, his views on reforms in Arab monarchies. He says that he prefers reform to be undertaken by rulers themselves:
"ونحن قد ذكرنا أن كل البلاد العربية بصدد الإصلاح، ونتمنى أن يتخذ ذلك أيسر السبل وأقل التكاليف بعيدا عن الهزات الاجتماعية التي لا تؤمن عواقبها وذلك من خلال ما نتمناه من مبادرات إصلاحية يتولاها الحكام بأنفسهم استجابة لمطالب شعوبهم، وضربنا المملكة المغربية مثلا، والتي تمنينا أن يحذو حذوها الجميع من خلال ما قدمه ملك المغرب من إصلاحات إذا تواصلت ستجنب المغرب هزات هو في غنى عنها."


PS Also, read his convoluted answer about stance toward Israel.  At least it was quite different from his talk in DC. 

The crown brat of Morocco

Watch this disgusting royal show. (thanks Ahmet)

racist chants in a racist country

"The Israeli soccer team Beitar Jerusalem has been docked two points for racist chanting by fans. The penalty by the Israel Football Association comes after Hapoel Tel Aviv striker Toto Tamuz was subjected to racist epithets during a game. Tamuz was raised in Israel and is of Nigerian dissent. He spent several seasons playing for Beitar." (thanks John)

BBC for Israel

""The small, professionally made device was designed to kill its victim but cause only limited damage to the surroundings.""  How did BBC know that?  (thanks David)

Saudi hacker versus Israel

"At the start of his latest announcement OxOmar wrote, "Russian intelligence shut down my e-mail address at mail.ru.” He added that he is now using the gaza.net email service. “I saw that a few stupid people said they found me: one in Mexico, one in Riyadh, one in Dubai. Let me tell you: Nobody can find me. Mossad, do not waste your time.”"

Zionism is racism, always

"Israel's Supreme Court upheld late Wednesday a controversial law that bans most Palestinians who marry Israelis from living inside the Jewish state. In a 6-5 ruling, the court agreed that Palestinians who gain Israeli citizenship through marriage pose a security threat. The law is believed to have prevented thousands of Palestinians from living with their spouses." (thanks Layali)

Update from Saudi Arabia

A source in Saudi Arabia sent me this: "Last week the government tried to take over one Shia mosque in Tarout Island which triggered demonstrations (the misque's shaikh Abdul Karim Hubail was frank in supporting peoples demands for human rights and they were trying to shut him up by taking over that mosque). On last Friday people went on the streets angry condemning that (). Sh. Nimr kept his strong Friday speeches condemning the recent list of 23 young men wanted by the government (). Last night there was some demonstrations, but tonight the police response is much much stronger."

Visiting his grandmothers

"Mr Hekmati's father denied his son was a spy and said he had previously worked as an Arabic translator for the Marines before entering Iran four months ago to visit his grandmothers."

Situation in Damascus

Zaid sent me this (I cite with his permission):  "My uncle travels to Damascus from Baghdad every six months to see a doctor for his heart.  Last time he was there, he had the same view as everyone else, that things were very calm in Syria, that the media has exaggerated the impact of the revolution and that Damascus was completely normal.  He returned from Damascus just now and he says that Damascus has become militarized, chaotic.  He says that he heard gunfire regularly, that there are checkpoints everywhere, that the city feels like it is under siege.  He says that he felt very unsafe (this coming from a Baghdadi) and that he won’t return until the revolution is over. "

Sexism in Israel

You would never read such an article in the US press:  "Meanwhile, the women within these communities are afraid to speak out, says Hannah Kehat, founder of Kolech, an ultraorthodox women's group. "It's social control. If they [the women] go against somebody, the [extremists] exclude them, tell people they are not religious enough, attack them, say bad things about their families," says Ms Kehat, who grew up in Mea Shearim. "It's terror," she adds."  In the US press, the article would be about how those women live in fear of Hamas firecrackers landing on them.

Iranian dissidents are not all spies, you know

"The fact the killers knew the movements of their victims so precisely suggests the involvement of foreign intelligence services using Iranians belonging to dissident movements. "  This is unfair on the part of the fine reporter, Cockburn.  The agents of foreign intelligence services could have also been recruited from members of the Iranian government.

Flash: from Qatif

Three Saudis were shot by police in Qatif. An image of one of the victims (not for the faint hearted).

PS My sources in Saudi Arabia tell me there is still shooting tonight in Qatif.  In other news, Obama the other day stressed the strong bonds between US and House of Saud.

PPS The shooting was specifically in `Awamiyyah.  

EU's recommendations

Read this:  "The Palestinian presence in the largest part of the occupied West Bank – has been, "continuously undermined" by Israel in ways that are "closing the window" on a two-state solution, according to an internal EU report seen by The Independent.  The report, approved by top Brussels officials, argues that EU support, including for a wide range of building projects, is now needed to protect the rights of "ever more isolated" Palestinians in "Area C", a sector that includes all 124 Jewish settlements – illegal in international law – and which is under direct Israeli control. It comprises 62 per cent of the West Bank, including the "most fertile and resource rich land"...The report points out how dramatically the settler population – now at 310,000 – of Area C has increased at the expense of Palestinian numbers – estimated at around 150,000. In 1967, there were between 200,000 and 320,000 Palestinians in just the agriculture-rich Jordan Valley part of the zone."  

Then read this:  "It says the EU needs "at a political" level to persuade Israel to redesignate Area C".  If this is not courage in the face of injustice, nothing is.

Reforms in Jordan: you will rarely read this in the Western press

"A military prosecutor says a young Jordanian activist has been charged with harming the king's dignity for burning a street portrait of the monarch."

Carter on Egypt

Jimmy Carter is in Egypt and he dares speak about Egyptian democracy and even about surrender of power to civilians.  Jimmy Carter? The architect of the Camp David accords which basically installed the Sadat-Mubarak security regime and which--calculatingly--traded the Egyptian-Israeli treaty for the freedom of the Egyptian population.  This is a man who has no credibility in speaking a word about Egypt.  Carter of all people??

Moroccan prediction on Palestine

The new Moroccan Minister of Industry, Trade, and Modern Technology is a life long activist on Palestine and is a senior figure in the Justice and Development Party.  He said that Arab uprisings will help liberate Palestine in a matter of years because the fortresses that protected Israel are falling.  Someone should sent that to Thomas Friedman as a reward for his theory that Arab uprisings have no foreign policy goals.  

That Lebanese genius who speaks 58 languages

Here he is, being exposed as a fraud on national TV.  

no alarm: an investigation is under way

"The Pentagon said it was investigating a video made public Wednesday that appears to show four U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of three dead men in Afghan clothing.  In the video, which was posted on YouTube and the celebrity gossip site TMZ, the four men wearing helmets and Marine uniforms unzip their pants and urinate on the bloody bodies.  When and where the video was taken could not be determined. Most Marines in Afghanistan are at bases in Helmand province in the south. “While we have not yet verified the origin or authenticity of this video, the actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps,” a statement from the Marine Corps’ public affairs office said. “This matter will be fully investigated.”"

Sharansky satisfied

"Sharansky opined that Lew would not remain indifferent to Israel. "For him, it's not just another country. His faith and bond with Israel and the Jewish people is an important part of his life," he said."  (thanks Laleh)