***NOVANEWS***NOVANEWS***NOVANEWS***

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.”

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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.”

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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)

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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.

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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

 

 

   “BERLIN – The head of Amnesty International’s Finnish branch, Frank Johansson, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that he stands by his statement that Israel is a “scum state.”

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Spying on Free Speech Nearly At Cold War Level

“The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released numerous reports of increased government spying on American citizens. Once upon an unhappy time, U.S. law enforcement agencies, from the FBI to local police, had a history of political spying during the Cold War. The ACLU said that the old political spying tendencies are running high again. Individuals and groups are being monitored and harassed for “little more than peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights.”” (thanks Olivia)

Posted by As’ad at 6:36 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

The ideal Republic of Salam Fayyad

“Crowds started to arrive at the Protestant church hall in downtown Ramallah in the West Bank shortly after midday Wednesday to attend an anti-negotiations conference. They were responding to a call by local Palestinian leaders opposed to plans by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to start direct negotiations with Israel before the latter halts all settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  To the surprise of the attendees, dozens of young Palestinians, believed to be members of Abbas’ Fatah movement and his security forces, moved in waving pictures of Abbas and chanting his name, disrupting the meeting even before it had started.  Their entrance and the disruption was clearly premeditated, according to the organizers of the conference, and their purpose was to make sure the conference will not be held. When the organizers, mainly leaders of left-wing Palestinian factions, realized that it would be impossible to proceed with their conference, they took to the streets of Ramallah in a protest march and to let the public know their views on the negotiations.  Palestinian police intervened to stop the march, charging that the protestors did not have a permit. Stunned by the developments, the organizers of the conference, some of them members of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, which on Friday voted to start direct negotiations with Israel on Sept. 2 in ceremonies to be held in Washington, then took their meeting to a local TV station, where they held a news conference.

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Prince Al-Walid bin Talal

“Stewart showed clips from his show last week, in which he mocked Fox News for playing a dangerous game of association based on speculation, and wherein Fox continued to mention a nameless man with ties to Imam Rauf through the “Kingdom Foundation.” It turns out the man they are referring to but never name is Saudi prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, one of the biggest shareholders of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.” (thanks Samer)

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CIA Red Cell Memorandum on United States “exporting terrorism”, 2 Feb 2010

“The report looks at a number cases of US exported terrorism, including attacks by US based or financed Jewish, Muslim and Irish-nationalism terrorists. It concludes that foreign perceptions of the US as an “Exporter of Terrorism” together with US double standards in international law, may lead to noncooperation in renditions (including the arrest of CIA officers) and the decision to not share terrorism related intelligence with the United States.” (thanks Ali)

Posted by As’ad at 6:28 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

US and the Taliban

“The US commander in Afghanistan on Wednesday said he supported efforts to broker a settlement with the Taliban and that the United States had helped promote dialogue with militants in some “isolated cases”.” (thanks Nabeel)

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Maid ‘tortured’ with nails

“A Sri Lankan housemaid with nails embedded in her body is to undergo surgery, her doctors said.
LP Ariyawathie, 49, said her employer in Saudi Arabia inflicted the injuries as a punishment, according to medics at Kamburupitiya Hospital, Sri Lanka.  “She was brought in complaining her Saudi employer drove nails into her body,” said hospital director Prabath Gajadeera.  “X-rays showed that there were 24 nails and a needle.”
The nails were up to two inches (5cm) long, said Mr Gajadeera.” (thanks Farah)

Posted by As’ad at 6:16 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

The destruction of Nahr Al-Barid camp

“The army has already proved its usefulness — to both Lebanon and the West — in other ways. In the summer of 2007, it fought Fatah al Islam, a militant group linked to Al Qaeda, in a Palestinianrefugee camp in northern Lebanon.”

Posted by As’ad at 6:13 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

This is so true

“What American politicians often fail to understand is that even pro-Western Lebanese tend to regard Israel — which has repeatedly invaded and bombed its northern neighbor — as a hostile force. “

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Lebanese Army command

“The army is still largely commanded by Christian generals who were trained in the United States.”  This is no more true, of course.  The command now has members from other sects, and he deputy director of Army intelligence (a Shi`ite) is probably more powerful than his boss (a Maronite).

Posted by As’ad at 6:10 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

Pro-Western factions

“The alternative, Lebanon’s pro-Western factions say, is much worse.”  The pro-Western factions of March 14 movement include those Sunni fundamentalists (like Khalid Dahir and Mufti Al-Mays and others) who recruited Jihadist fighters for Al-Qa`idah in Iraq.  Pro-western my potato.  So when the conservative Sunni fundamentalists were pro-Saudi and anti-Nasser during the Cold War, they also were pro-Western.  

Posted by As’ad at 6:09 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

Robert Worth’s definitions

“Hezbollah, the Shiite movement that is committed to Israel’s destruction.”  I mean, if that is the case, why would not Worth identifies Israel as the “Jewish state that is committed to the destruction of Hizbullah, Hamas, PFLP, and various other Arab organizations and Iran as well?  Or the destructive urges of Israel can’t be reported because that would reflect negatively on the image of the terrorist Israeli state?

Posted by As’ad at 6:03 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Do u know that since the US commander in Afghanistan declared a policy of minimizing civilian casualties, the number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan has increased?

“Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it was aware of the charges by some Afghan officials that its soldiers had killed civilians during a raid against extremist rebels in the northern province of Baghlan.   “On Sunday we saw 11 helicopters coming,” Mohammad Ismail, the district chief for Tala Wa Barfak, where the incident took place, told AFP.  “Some of the helicopters landed deploying troops. They carried out attacks there. They killed eight people, all civilians,” he said.”

Posted by As’ad at 5:12 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

That “unknown source”: he keeps killing civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan

“U.S. troops fired warning shots to disperse a protest in eastern Afghanistan over the arrest of a religious leader suspected of a rocket attack, NATO said Tuesday.  The alliance said no civilian injuries were reported from the protest Monday, but Gen. Faqir Ahmad, the deputy police chief of Parwan province, said one civilian was killed by shots fired from an unknown source.” (thanks Olivia)

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Religious sensitivity

“Here’s a new twist in the U.S. military’s Islamic sensitivity effort in the prison camps for suspected terrorists at the Guantánamo Bay Navy base:   Military medical staff are force-feeding a secret number of prisoners on hunger strike between dusk and dawn during the Muslim fasting holiday of Ramadan.  The prison camps spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Bradley Fagan, says it is U.S. Southern Command policy to no longer reveal the exact number of detainees being shackled by guards into restraint chairs for twice daily feedings.

Posted by As’ad at 5:08 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

Muqtada As-Sadr

I read the Muqtada As-Sadr threatened to leave Iran and to relocate to Lebanon. Yes, that is what Lebanon needs.  Anther impetuous and fiery cleric.

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Lebanese police versus the Mossad

I must say that one of the biggest pleasures of my life has been watching the Mossad becoming the laughing stock of the Arab world.  Hahahahaha.  “Lebanese police probing an Israeli spy ring are quizzing an employee of the Telecommunications Ministry, more than two weeks after another employee was charged with spying for Mossad, a security source said Tuesday.”

Posted by As’ad at 5:04 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

Pro-US Democratic forces in Somalia

These are the pro-US (democratic–always, pro-US forces are labeled as “democratic”, like the House of Saud) forces dragging the dead boy of one of the Shabab militia members.   This should confirm the democratic credentials of US foreign policy.  (Al-Quds Al-`Arabi)

Posted by As’ad at 5:03 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

The clash between Hizbullah and Ahbash in Beirut yesterday

The armed clash between Hizbullah and Ahbash in Burj Abi Haydar in Beirut was most bizarre and criminal.  What Talleyrand once said applies here:  ““This is worse than a crime, it’s a blunder”.”  (The quote is often mistakenly attributed to others.  In fact, Talleyrand said about about the murder of the Duc d’Enghien by Napoleon I.)

Posted by As’ad at 4:59 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

Victims in Lebanon: foreign maids and Syrian workers

A foreign maid (of unidentified African nationality) was taken to the hospital after she consumed a poisonous material and a maid from the Philippines “fell” from a balcony and police said that she fell while she was cleaning. And various attacks on Syrian workers. (thanks Farah)

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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

My appearance on Aljazeera today

Here is a tape.  (thank “Crazy Bear“)

Posted by As’ad at 3:58 PM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

Islamic Center

I will appear on Aljazeera Arabic this evening (Beirut Time) on Min Washington program and I will say that the Islamic Center near Ground Zero is the dumbest idea there is.  The more I think about it the more angry I get at that Imam Abdul Rauf, who identifies himself as a “supporter of Israel.”

Posted by As’ad at 5:02 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

Monday, August 23, 2010

Hizbullah and the Iraq situation: ambiguity

“وهكذا يظل قول د. أبو خليل إن “حزب الله يتعامل مع الموضوع العراقي بكثير من الالتباس والإبهام والتكتم والتقية” مدخلا لرموز وقوى إسلامية وعربية، رسمية وغير رسمية، لكي تناهض الحزب، ليس بسبب انتمائه الطائفي، بل بسبب السقف الطائفي الذي يحكم موقف الحزب عمليا من احتلال العراق”

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Complaint of torture and sexual maltreatment of a minor detained in Etzion Station

“On behalf of our juvenile client, Mr. A. (I.D. *********) from Beit Ummar (hereinafter the complainant) we hereby approach you with a request to open a criminal investigation of the complaint according to which he was subjected to mental and physical torture and sexual maltreatment while in lawful detention at Etzion Police Station, as arises from his statement given on 27/05/2010 to Advc. Iyad Misk on behalf of Defence for Children International DCI. Attached herewith a power of attorney.” (thanks Olivia)

Posted by As’ad at 6:22 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

cancer patients at Ben-Gurion Airport (to be renamed Ghassan Kanafani airport after liberation)

“The humiliating treatment experienced by cancer patients at Ben-Gurion International Airport darkened a trip that was supposed to help them forget their suffering for a while.” (thanks Farah)

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King PlayStation as pious

Look at him.  If this does not turn you away from religion, nothing will. (AFP)

Posted by As’ad at 6:19 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

Four maids died

In three days, four foreign maids died in Lebanon.  As usual, the Lebanese police reports that they “fell” from balconies.

Posted by As’ad at 6:16 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

Testing

Testing

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Combat brigades in Iraq under different name

“As the final convoy of the Army’s 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Lewis, Wash., entered Kuwait early Thursday, a different Stryker brigade remained in Iraq.  Soldiers from the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division are deployed in Iraq as members of an Advise and Assist Brigade, the Army’s designation for brigades selected to conduct security force assistance.  So while the “last full U.S. combat brigade” have left Iraq, just under 50,000 soldiers from specially trained heavy, infantry and Stryker brigades will stay, as well as two combat aviation brigades.”

Posted by As’ad at 6:07 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

Balfour Declaration

“According to Schneer, the Arabs were as invisible to the early Zionists as Africans had been to Boers in South Africa, or Indians to the French and English colonists in North America. But in fact, some of the first Zionists were well aware of the Arabs’ vehement objection to their national aspirations. As early as 1899, Theodore Herzl himself, the father of political Zionism, corresponded with the Arab mayor of Jerusalem, Yusuf Dia al-Khalidi, who urged him to find a national home for the Jews somewhere else in the world. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems to have had its origins at the very beginning of Zionism.”

Posted by As’ad at 6:04 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

Thomas Friedman’s aphorisms

“I love that line: “We have to surprise them.” I was watching the movie on an airplane and scribbled that line down on my napkin because it summarizes what is missing today in so many places…”  I bet you love that line.  You like everything that is superficial, shallow, and vapid.  I bet that you scribbled that silly line from a silly movie.  That is your level of analysis and observations.  You are somebody whose mind is only formed by silly anecdotes and popular cultures, and not by books or big ideas.  And you not only scribbled that silly line: you also scribbled other silly line on that plane ride of your because you cite other silly lines from that silly movie.  I mean, you have been writing for years and I can’t for the life of me remember one original idea that you came up with on any subject.  

You think that silly catch phrases take the place of ideas, and some silly readers agree with you because they like to not use their brains.   Lastly, tell me your position on the Iraq war: that is your only achievement.  How you went from wholeheartedly endorsing the American invasion of Iraq, to pretending that you were a critic of the way, only when it became clear that your original idea was so dumb.  At least stick to a position: aside from consistently serving Zionist interests.

Posted by As’ad at 6:03 AM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

Sanyurah-Hariri

This is a succinct critique of the operational mode of Hariri Inc by comrade Khaled.

See: www.theangryarab.blogspot.com

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