25 Sunday Nov 2012
Posted in Arab World, Foreign Policy, Media Monitoring, Other Arab issues, Press, USA, World
The photo of the Palestinian BBC journalist Jihad Masharawi holding his 11-month-old son’s body has gained big exposure at the start of the Israeli war on Gaza ten days ago. It featured on the front page of the Washington Post among other press and media outlets on 14th and 15th November 2012.
But some Jewish and American groups, of course, saw it differently when they protested by writing to the ombudsman and to Post editors that the photo was “biased”.
01 Thursday Nov 2012
Posted in Arab World, Foreign Policy, LB Culture, Lebanon, Other Arab issues, USA, World
Barack Obama can stand for the presidency of Israel if he wishes. He can also compete to be their loyal gatekeeper, but he can’t…steal our food for that purpose. Never.
Yes, our food! It’s even more outrageous he came near our beloved Hummus, ignoring our regional Hummous war.
20 Saturday Oct 2012
Posted in Arab World, LB Politics, Lebanon, Media Monitoring, Other Arab issues, Press
Tags
Assassination, Bashar Al-Assad, Information Branch, Internal Security Forces, Lebanese Assassinations, lebanon, March 14, syria, Terrorism, Wissam Al-Hassan, Wissam AlHassan, Wissam-El-Hassan
Here we go again. Another Lebanese national figure and innocent people are wasted. Together with reportedly eight others, the head of the Information Branch in the Internal Security Forces (police) in Lebanon Wissam Al-Hassan have been assassinated yesterday in a street bomb in Achrafieh in Beirut.
Early on, I warned and speculated that Saad Hariri could pay a high price for his leading involvement in Syria, and it may now be the payback time. And I feel we are just at the start of something bigger.
Sadly we got used to this terrorist method of political elimination since 2004. This is the 26th political explosion since then, with most ending as assassinations. Ten of these 26 explosions targeted anti-Syrian regime figures, two targeted Information Branch figures (anti-Syrian regime), other ten targeted areas largely known to be Christian, three targeted the Lebanese Army including a military chief, and one explosion targeted a non-leading but senior official in a pro-Syrian party.
06 Saturday Oct 2012
Posted in Arab World, Foreign Policy, Other Arab issues, Politics, Syria, USA, World
Tags
1973 October War, anwar al sadat, Anwar Sadat, Egypt, Golan Heights, Hafez Al-Assad, Henry Kissinger, Israel, Ramadan War, syria, Yom Kippur War
The Syrian regime and its media always make sure they supply us with the most bizarre scenes, and they are surely doing it today on 6th October.
Today is the 39th anniversary of the ‘Tishreen liberation war’ or the 1973 October war between Syria and Egypt on one side, and Israel on the other. Syrian state today is celebrating the victory of this liberation war.
16 Sunday Sep 2012
Posted in Arab World, LB Culture, Lebanon, Other Arab issues, The rest of the world, World
Tags
Anti-Islam Movie, Innocence of Muslims, Islam, Islamophobia, Lebanon. Muslim World, Religion, sabra and shatila, Salman Rushdie, Satanic Verses, Sectarian violence, sectarianism
I didn’t intend to comment on that anti-Islam and anti-Prophet movie originated somewhere in California, but seeing the reaction it caused makes it difficult for me not to be involved. The movie caused some strong reactions across most Arab and Muslim countries including some violent ones in the newly established Arab Spring countries like Egypt and Libya.
21 Thursday Jun 2012
Posted in Arab World, Other Arab issues
Tags
Sadegh Kharrazi, Iran’s former ambassador to France, has made some startling comments on the regional foreign policy of Iran. It seems he represents some Iranian circles that have some ‘hope’ with the current regime changes in Egypt, believing they can strategically align Iran with Egypt against Saudi Arabia. Kharrazi believes Turkey would too be included in this alliance.
This actually sounds counter-intuitive when Egypt, past and present, looks closer to Saudi Arabia than Iran. But the interesting bit is the reasoning given by Kharrazi, which gives little importance of Egypt’s position on Israel (or United States.) Continue reading »
11 Friday May 2012
Posted in Arab World, Other Arab issues
Tags
Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, Amr Moussa, Egypt, Egyptian Eletions, Google Maps, Iran, Muslim Brotherhood, Presidential Debate, Yosri Fouda, YouTube
You might have followed yesterday, like most people I follow on social media, the first live presidential debate in Egypt between the former Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh Abdel Hady and former Secretary General of Arab League and Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa.
22 Thursday Mar 2012
Posted in Arab World, Other Arab issues, Politics, Syria
Tags
There was a lot of talk recently on Hamas’ position on Syria. The position is almost available in the public domain now which is summed up as Hamas sympathizes with the internal legitimate demands of the Syrian people, and doesn’t tar the whole Syrian crisis with the ‘foreign conspiracy’ denial line as Hezbollah does.
Qassem Qassem in Al-Akhbar summed up both parties’ positions well, and he confirmed that: Continue reading »
12 Monday Mar 2012
Posted in Arab World, MB Culture, MicroBlogs, Other Arab issues
And you thought there was nothing to blog about President Michel Sleiman’s visit to Qatar last week?
02 Wednesday Nov 2011
Posted in Arab World, MB Politics, MicroBlogs, Other Arab issues, USA, World
Tags
Foreign Policy, Israel, Palestine, UNESCO, United States, YouTube
So in UNESCO now, Palestine is IN, United States is OUT. That’s the situation after the U.S. stopped the funding for the organisation, as a protest reaction to the vote on the admittance of Palestine as a new member. It’s not only unconvincing, but could be one of the most shameful decisions Uncle Sam has ever made.
You can check how countries voted on the decision here, but you MUST watch the below video when a brave journalist interrogated the State Department Spokeswoman; I really felt-ish for Victoria Nuland at some point. This decision shows how the American pro-Israel policies are based on a weak alibi.
Continue reading »
19 Wednesday Oct 2011
Posted in Arab Spring, Arab World, Media Monitoring, Other Arab issues, Politics, Social Media
You can call it the carrot and stick policy; Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah recently unveiled a public benefits package worth $37bn, and his authorities arrested three bloggers apparently for a ‘minor’ issue this week.
On the eve of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Monday 17th October 2011, Khaled al-Rasheed, Firas Bughnah and Hosam al-Deraiwish were detained on Sunday after they produced a YouTube video about poverty in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. The video was part of a series they did called ‘Mal3ob3lena’ which means ‘fooling us’.
03 Monday Oct 2011
Posted in Arab World, MB Politics, MicroBlogs, Other Arab issues, Politics
In the wake of today’s attack on a mosque by suspected Jewish extremists in northern Israel, the above picture can probably give you a good explanation to the background of similar attacks, and to the spread of this mental corruption, the “Price Tag” policy.
The photo is for armed Jewish settlers in the West Bank hosting some foreigner comrades, who are part of the Jewish Defence League aiming to defend the settlements against ‘Palestinian violence’. They, in fact, ignore the fact that their presence where they are in the first place is considered an occupation and aggression by the Palestinians, United Nations and the international law.
Continue reading »
28 Wednesday Sep 2011
Posted in Arab World, MB Social, MicroBlogs, Other Arab issues, The rest of the world, World
I love these charts, especially when they tell you something you already know! or when they put something in a graphical systematic mathematical geeky way for something you vaguely know…
The relation in this chart is straightforward: when democracy is down, gender inequality is up. No wonder Middle East is at the bottom…oh, sorry, at the top on this chart.
23 Friday Sep 2011
Posted in Arab Spring, Arab World, Caricature of the day, Other Arab issues
Tags
One of the outcomes of the Arab Spring (on the ‘soft side’ of things) is the increase of the national pride of the nations that experienced uprisings, especially where the revolutions were successful. Egypt’s revolution has been called ‘sexy’, and revolution in Tahrir Square (or Tahrir Roundabout) became a role model for almost anyone writing or planning a protest. Egyptians and Tunisians are proud of themselves and of the outcomes of their revolutions.
05 Friday Aug 2011
Posted in Arab Spring, Arab World, Other Arab issues
One aim of the pro-democracy protests sweeping the Arab world is toppling the dictators, but the ultimate aim of the Arab Spring should be establishing democratic countries that respect of human rights in all its forms. As we know, this is NOT necessarily happening.
Sadly, there are always parasites that will mushroom and try to exploit any successful revolution to bring their respective country backward to the dark ages. One of these parasites is someone called Sheikh Abdallah Rushdi in Egypt, who was debating on Egyptian TV if women are allowed to run for presidency (imagine we are still in the ‘debate’ stage on these matters).
Continue reading »
25 Monday Jul 2011
Posted in Arab World, LB Politics, Lebanon, Other Arab issues, Politics, Wikileaks
Tags
Cyprus, Foreign Policy, Israel, lebanon, Oil & Gas, Turkey, United States, Wikileaks
The recently discovered oil and gas in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean will not only change the balance sheets of the involved countries, but also the balance of powers towards the side of the US – via Israel:
…And this is what an article in The Globe and Mail suggests:
But one day – count on it – Israel will match Canada in oil exports to the U.S. and thus free its long-time friend from needing to deal with tyrants.
We, in Lebanon, are still yet to confirm the legal internal framework for the whole process, and more likely to have a disputed area with Israel. The Turkish part of Cyprus has threatened today Greek Cyprus that it is entitled to block any sea deal with neighbouring countries (although this was Turkey’s position in 2008 according to Wikileaks).
17 Friday Jun 2011
Posted in Arab World, Other Arab issues, The rest of the world, World
Tags
arab spring, Egypt, Foreign Policy, GCC, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Jordan, lebanon, Palestine, Satire, Saudi Arabia, syria, United States
Socialism: You have two cows. The government takes one of them and gives it to your neighbor.
Communism: You have two cows. The government takes them both and provides you with milk.
Nazism: You have two cows. The government shoots you and takes the cows.
Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.
Do you remember the above? I remember it very well; it was a famous political sarcasm that was widely circulated in 1990s (at my time) about the different political systems. It’s has an older origin though. Believe it or not, these jokes affected my political ‘evolutionist’ thinking then.
Continue reading »
29 Sunday May 2011
Posted in Arab World, Other Arab issues, Politics, USA, World
We all know the clear US foreign policy in supporting Israel. This policy was reconfirmed with the two major recent speeches for President Barack Obama (on Arab Spring and before an AIPAC event); But I must say I 
was bemused when I saw the extensive exaggerated applause the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received this week, Continue reading »
15 Sunday May 2011
Posted in Arab World, MB Politics, MicroBlogs, Other Arab issues, Politics
In commemoration of 1948 Nakba Day of Palestine today, I enclose this video from 2009.
It’s taken from a Basketball game between F.C.Barcelona (Spain) vs Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel).
Enjoy, if you can!
Continue reading »
12 Thursday May 2011
Posted in Arab World, Other Arab issues, Politics
Tags
Since the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GGC) have announced yesterday, that they are expanding to include Jordan and Morocco, jokes have circulated around the social media networks. This showed how the citizens of the concerned countries are struggling to understand this expansion. It is worth noting here that Jordan had its ‘application’ accepted, while Morocco has been ‘invited’ to join. I liked Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi article in Gulfnew.com when he called them GGC 1.0 & GCC 2.0.
I think there is little in common between the existing 6 GCC countries with the two new joining countries except: they are all Monarchs, with a majority Sunni population. The question becomes: will the Arab League be more ineffective, and left for the ’republics’?
Continue reading »
