NOVANEWS
August 26, 2010
Turkey (the government) still hearts Israel
“Senior Turkish officials in Washington reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining friendly relations with Israel, Turkish media reported Thursday.”
Posted by As’ad at 11:55 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz
A lousy writer for a lousy newspaper
Of course, An-Nahar does not complain about the religious police of the Maronite church in Lebanon. ““The shock of the [surreptitious] suggestion was stronger than the initial rejection. [It was] commercial malice [under the pretense of] coexistence and respect for Muslims’ feelings. We simply refused the “forbidden bribery” and [said that] we would either have the wine in its [regular] glasses or we would leave the restaurant. Surprisingly, his response to our desire to leave was a strange one: “You don’t understand while all the foreign clients do?” He was right. We do not understand…” (thanks Nicholas)
Posted by As’ad at 11:54 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz
Attack on women’s rights in Tunisia
“Today, though, Tunisian women are not spared from the long and ruthless war on freedom of expression and association, of a kind unseen even under the French protectorate and which can no longer be camouflaged by the personal status code or Ben Ali’s “achievements” or by western public relations firms.
The launch of this dirty war in the early 1990s coincided with new amendments to the personal status code and more rhetoric about Ben Ali’s trumpeted commitment to women’s rights, widely seen as an “attempt to project an image of modernity and democracy” while hiding another part of Tunisia’s picture. The raging war at that time in neighbouring Algeria (between the military-backed government and armed groups infuriated by the cancellation in 1992 of the results of legislative elections the Islamists were poised to win) led many to overlook the merciless repression in Tunisia. The first victims among women were scores of alleged supporters of two banned political opposition parties. They were jailed or held for interrogation, intimidated and threatened with prosecution and rape at police stations and the interior ministry, according to local and international groups. Most of them were close to or related to the jailed or exiled activists of the Islamist an-Nahda movement. A few others have been accused of supporting the Tunisian Workers’ Communist party. None of the thousands of prisoners used violence or advocated the use of force to achieve their political goals.”
Posted by As’ad at 9:12 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz
Saudi fatwawawas
“A Saudi scholar has broken the official rule restricting the issuing of fatwas to senior clerics and called for a boycott of a supermarket chain that has hired female cashiers, local media reports on Wednesday.”
Posted by As’ad at 9:03 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz
Racism/classism in a Lebanese news site
This is from the `Awni site: “يضيف الحاج: “طوني بطرس بقي يصادر المنزل وكان يرتداد الى البيت حبشيات بأغلبيتهم من “فلاشا”. هذا الأمر كان واضحاً للجميع، لأنّ نوعية الحبشيات لم تكن كاللواتي يعملن في المنازل، ما يجعلك ان ترتاب منه أو تشك به”.
(thanks Rana)
Posted by As’ad at 8:05 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz
MEMRI, again
Right after I posted the item below this on MEMRI, I received a MEMRI TV clip (with subtitles) from my Tuesday appearance on Aljazeera on Tuesday. Typically, the clip is out of context and without what I said before and after this segment.
Posted by As’ad at 7:31 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz
When MEMRI brags
When Ghazi Qusaybi died, MEMRI sent out a special bulletin saying that it had played a role in his recall from UK as ambassador of Saudi Arabia. But MEMRI should have added that it suspiciously did not campaign against Prince Turki (Usamah Bin Ladin’s best friend and sponsor) when he was appointed ambassador of Saudi Arabia to UK and US.
Posted by As’ad at 7:27 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz
“Scum state”: too kind a description for Israel