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”.
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.
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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.
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07 Thursday Jul 2011
Posted in LB Social, Lebanon, The rest of the world, USA, World
When I came across this piece of information stating that Google Maps (or Google Earth) doesn’t cover Israel ‘properly’, I was a bit sceptic and I decided to check myself.
In the past, I came across many aerial satellite maps in many countries as part of my work in engineering, and I know it is quite common to remove/blur/cover any details that can be considered of ‘sensitive’ nature i.e. military or intelligence bases (especially if American in an Arab country!), and any other asset that can be considered of strategic importance (power plants, nuclear plants etc).
But what’s not common is to assume a whole country is a ‘sensitive’ location, and stops it from appearing in the standard resolution of the powerful global open-to-all tool Google Maps; this is exactly how Google Maps treats Israel – a country that can’t be photographed in detail.
18 Saturday Jun 2011
Posted in LB Politics, Lebanon, Politics
After calling for an uprising in Lebanon last week, it seems the Lebanese Sunni Mufti – Mohammad Rashid Qabbani - has really started an uprising, not against the Lebanese leaders, but against the Palestinians. If what was reported true, the Mufti would have been involved in an unusual, inappropriate, and offensive verbal attack against the Palestinians.
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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.
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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 »
24 Tuesday May 2011
Posted in MB Culture, Media Monitoring, MicroBlogs, TV
As I am in an anti-censorship mood after my earlier post today on Lebanese censorship, I found this act by BBC a bit over the top!
In their trial to be ‘impartial’, Continue reading »
22 Sunday May 2011
President Barack Obama gave today a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the US pro-Israel lobby. This is his second major public speech this week, the first one being last Thursday, which was addressed to the ‘Arab Spring’.
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19 Thursday May 2011
Posted in Arab Spring, Arab World, Politics, USA, World
When I started listening to President Barack Obama’s speech on Middle East in my car, I had a lot of images coming to my mind, particularly when he was describing how the Arab Spring started in Tunisia. I imagined Abraham Lincoln making his stamp on history.
15 Sunday May 2011
With all the Nakba Day fairness and justness, it was intriguing to see the Palestinians protesting today on the Lebanese and Syrian borders with Israel. In commemoration of 15 May 1948, the day the Palestinians were forced to leave their land and became refugees, protests were organised today in Maroun El Ras on Lebanese-Israeli borders in South Lebanon, and in Ain El Tini on the Syrian-Israeli border on the occupied Golan Heights borders (Syrian side).
15 Sunday May 2011
Posted in Arab Spring, Arab World, MB Politics, MicroBlogs, Politics
Tags
The Palestinians have commemorated the Nakba Day today with protests within the occupied Palestinian Territories, and in surrounding countries, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan & Egypt.
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!
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