tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-338252992012-02-01T00:22:37.886-08:00News items from the Arabic-language press to help fill in the gapsbadgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.comBlogger9171100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-18702091656381291172009-03-29T06:50:00.000-07:002009-03-29T13:31:20.857-07:00

AlQuds alArabi prints an op-ed by Egyptian writer Mohammed Diab called "Political writing, and the issue of Liberalism and its relationship to projects for change".He says political writing has become more like a form of armed combat than of civilized debate. The principles of tolerance, admission that true assertions can contain mistakes and vice versa, that circumstances can change truths

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-76668722808385648722009-03-28T09:53:00.000-07:002009-03-28T12:33:40.260-07:00

The announcement and interpretations of the Afghanistan/Pakistan "policy" have said nothing about those actual countries, and here is the reason: The problem--"how to make the US government move"--has now been solved, as the USIP dude says. “We have never seen this level of political attention on Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is easy to underestimate how much that attention means.” Beyond the

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-39826179669228261382009-03-27T12:37:00.000-07:002009-03-27T13:46:49.172-07:00

Paul Krugman has famously complained of a feeling of policy-despair, and now in the Atlantic, a former chief economist at the IMF has a similar complaint. Without questioning the fact that they have good grounds for despair, I would like to point out that there is something funny here. Funny issue # 1Krugman, in the Japan crisis of the 90s, argued that the problem was entirely monetary, and

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-17948292768174094792009-03-27T02:46:00.000-07:002009-03-27T05:14:38.281-07:00

ObamaIn the first year, in the spring, the court was in declinethe poets were writing satire

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-1300803415559656632009-03-27T02:39:00.000-07:002009-03-27T12:35:22.846-07:00

is the road [to Sichuan, over the high mountains]more difficult than climbing the blue heaven...--Li Bai

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-85674013744493920992009-03-27T01:46:00.000-07:002009-03-27T12:33:50.664-07:00

colors

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-13774982269928886932009-03-23T03:10:00.000-07:002009-03-23T15:15:21.647-07:00

On March 19, Prime Minister Maliki's office issued a statement clarifying the meaning of his recent statements about an opening to those outside the political process, and in particular the ambiguous point about the Baath party as such, the Baath party under different names, ex-Baathists, guilty Baathists, and so on. And also the relevance or otherwise of talk about constitutional amendments

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-9809690313909194552009-03-22T15:43:00.000-07:002009-03-22T18:24:00.824-07:00

For what it's worth, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, 19-year-old up-and-coming blogger Ezra Klein explained why he was a strong supporter a US war against Iraq, despite his dislike of Bush, and the text is here (thanks to an alert commenter on his blog). (You have to scroll one-third of the way down, to March 6, 2003 post called: "Why the Hawks of the Left Must Not Falter"). Saddam, he

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-45851592472822915432009-03-21T15:23:00.000-07:002009-03-21T16:32:26.677-07:00

AlHayat prints the first installment of an extended interview with Ahmed Chalabi--it would be a tough job for some poor soul to translate, if anyone were to bother, let alone annotate with all the necessary caveats given the man's reputation. Meanwhile, the first thing that jumped out at As'ad AbuKhalil was Chalabi's mention of the famous "liberal" Kanaan Makiya as a co-conspirator with Chalabi

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-54072480072675425882009-03-20T09:45:00.001-07:002009-03-21T01:51:05.672-07:00

Too much has been made about the uniqueness of Jonathan Krohn, the gifted 14-year-old conservative thinker and talk-show radio orator featured in the NYT a few days ago. Because there's 24-year-old Ezra Klein, too, who writes: Sometimes I need to know about Pakistan before the ICG issues its report, explaining the usefulness of the secret-membership e-mail "JournoList" that he created. The

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-46614643966019992482009-03-19T05:42:00.000-07:002009-03-19T18:19:25.161-07:00

Nahrainnet.net, the Sadrist-leaning news-site, says this: In a serious followup to the recent reports that have spoken of an American/British plan to return the Baathists to the scene of power in Iraq, including participation in, or control of, the government, via what the General Secretary of the Arab League has called "the broadening of national reconciliation in Iraq", to include Baathists,

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-37350428889857287632009-03-17T16:56:00.000-07:002009-03-17T17:59:54.240-07:00

Iraqi writer Fadhil Al-Rubaie, continuing his series in the Qatari paper AlArab on Iraqi national policy, has some interesting observations on what people think the current American position is, and what it means.He describes discussion among expat Iraqis and others opposed to the occupation and the current political process. The discussions cover all kinds of "national reconciliation" issues,

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-58512897821207634452009-03-17T06:45:00.000-07:002009-03-17T08:18:47.504-07:00

(See also this piece by LB at RoadstoIraq. What I have tried to do here is merely spell out what could well be an Iranian view and/or Daawa-party view of what the American administration is currently up to in Iraq.) AlBayyana AlJadida, an Iraqi paper that supports the Daawa Party and Prime Minister Maliki, printed on its front page the other day a summary of what it describes as a plan being

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-10204924633617523252009-03-16T06:59:00.000-07:002009-03-16T07:44:18.472-07:00

Ignorant of Pakistan, feeling victimized by the corporate media coverage? Why not read the five comments on this post by Manan Ahmed, alias sepoy, where Pakistanis express their jubilation over the success of the Long March, even in the face of the "no clean hands" argument. Particularly the narrative of Omar Ali. And I thought: It has been a long time, maybe around 1968(?), since American

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-9677505830122336352009-03-13T07:28:00.000-07:002009-03-13T09:14:00.619-07:00

AlHayat this morning summarizes statements about the "Maliki to talk to Baathists" story, as follows:A spokesman for the De-Baathification Commission said as far as his agency is concerned, it has received no new instructions from Cabinet in connection with the recent reports about a supposed new attitude of the government to former Baathists, and the spokesman said the issue as far as his

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-18728559534817829292009-03-12T17:03:00.000-07:002009-03-12T19:01:58.004-07:00

No one can keep up with LB at RoadstoIraq when it comes to keeping track of interesting stories. She notes that AlArabOnline, following up on the original AlShorouq story, runs an opinion survey on its front page, that asks readers this: Stories of reconciliation in Iraq with the Baath party coincide with leaks about an American plan to revise their views of leaders in the Saddam government.

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-48856651125113209612009-03-12T13:02:00.000-07:002009-03-12T13:31:31.209-07:00

AlQuds AlArabi today refers to a planned "new" round of talks between representatives of Maliki and certain Baathists, something the journalist describes as the culmination of two years of communications between the two sides, adding that this round of talks will start with the wing closest to Syria. All of which suggests that this process dates back to the January 2007 split between the

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-24967014361266613052009-03-11T18:51:00.000-07:002009-03-12T03:37:51.059-07:00

It is an idea that seems to be catching on: If America and its "moderate Arab" friends want to create any kind of bulwark against expanded Iranian influence in the region following the US "withdrawal" from Iraq, this would have to involve some kind of fundamental re-structuring of the Iraqi political system. Or re-re-structuring you might say. De-Bremerizing. Or rehabilitating would be

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-58512505166903073652009-03-05T09:57:00.000-08:002009-03-05T11:12:33.697-08:00

If it were possible to reverse six years of sectarian political culture in a single year, the report released on Tuesday by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI, where Reidar Visser works) shows you what steps would have to be taken, and it explains why such steps are necessary. The report is a consensus compilation of the views of a number of Iraqi contributors (who are

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-31487758748346398392009-03-04T11:27:00.000-08:002009-03-04T16:08:48.972-08:00

I have concluded--very judiciously I think, and only after several years of doing this--that it doesn't matter, in American politics or public opinion, what opinions are expressed or by whom in the Arab world or the Arabic-language media if they do not completely dovetail with one or other of the prevailing opinions in the West.While you might think that respect and receptivity for alien

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-40388635765537476252009-03-02T03:47:00.000-08:002009-03-02T06:33:35.768-08:00

Reluctantly and unwillingly or voluntarily; by agreement and understanding and in the framework of the famous agreement with the Iraqis or without any deep consultation with them; with what they call a "gentleman" agreement with Iran or without one; the time has come for the story of Exodus of America from Iraq. Because in any event Obama has decided to exit from Iraq and to cross over into

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-7089846722962113652009-02-27T15:24:00.000-08:002009-02-27T16:57:26.200-08:00

Zaid Al-Zubaidi writes in AlAkhbar about anxiety on the streets of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities over the security implications of the latest political development: namely Maliki's apparent move to ally with the Sadr trend in substitution for his prior alliance with the Supreme Council. Many have concluded that this means the return on the Mahdi Army, and already the result in some Sunni

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-41368555662226632852009-02-27T07:33:00.000-08:002009-02-27T09:23:25.156-08:00

Abdul Amir Al-Rikabi, an ex-pat Iraqi who has belonged to the anti-occupation Iraqi National Alliance aka Iraqi Patriotic Alliance, writes in AlQuds alArabi: The eagerness on the part of the Saudi authorities to convene a mini-summit in Riyadh probably has a lot to do with Iraq, and particularly with the changes in prospects resulting from the recent local elections, and the proposed US

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-11253956689223074592009-02-24T08:24:00.000-08:002009-03-02T18:42:29.776-08:00

There are a couple of odd coincidences in the recent report about Carole O'Leary's meeting with former-regime officers in Amman. The first is the invitation said to have been offered to the ex-officers to "offer their views and proposals for restoration of security and stability in Iraq", with the promise that these ideas would be reported to the Obama administration. The coincidence is that

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-55702655956467043872009-02-23T05:49:00.000-08:002009-02-23T10:32:40.627-08:00

Qatari paper AlArab quotes sources who say the Maliki administration is preparing to disband the network of secret informants that was set up by the Americans right after the invasion, and that has been responsible for the assassination and unjust imprisonment of thousands of Iraqis, based on material and sectarian motives of the informants, described as the dregs of society. But at least one

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-2320710738325768622009-02-22T18:05:00.000-08:002009-02-23T10:19:37.769-08:00

Saudi newspaper AlWatan said on Friday that an American "legal delegation" met recently in Amman with Saddam-era army officers currently residing in Jordan, Syria and the Emirates, following the announcement by the Iraqi government of the opening of offices in a number of countries to facilitate the return of former-army personnel to Iraq and service and/or retirement. So the question is: If

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-70412254731366990722009-02-22T05:00:00.000-08:002009-02-22T15:52:46.454-08:00

Manan Ahmed, a historian and blogger who understands among other things Urdu and something of the history of the Swat valley and that part of the world, has a post about the difference between recent events there as reflected in English-only, and the considerably different picture you get via the writing of an Urdu-speaking and -writing journalist who lives there. Here is the link to his post on

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-83404830332202197312009-02-20T15:53:00.000-08:002009-02-20T16:49:45.142-08:00

Further to the idea raised in the prior post about bringing together texts that try and melt the language barrier using the force of the original as the blowtorch, here is an example from reader Parvati who posted her English rendition of a report by Beijing-based reporter Federico Rampini in La Reppublica, quoting senior Chinese financial officials giving their point of view on the problematic

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-52110580743084771352009-02-20T05:25:00.000-08:002009-02-20T06:06:46.204-08:00

I was going to recommend the Google translator for people wanting at least some kind of a leg-up for Hebrew-language media, but when I tried it out on the lead story in Maariv this morning, I got a text that concluded this way: Cshnhno victory occurred in the disputes Ohtahdno. Ntahd Next Onslb us Onbtih the future of country our children. And a little earlier there was a reference re the

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-75940922482368421892009-02-19T17:45:00.000-08:002009-02-19T19:20:04.440-08:00

Fadhil Al-Rubaie, continuing a series of articles in the Qatari paper AlArab on the new Iraqi sectarianism, takes up the role of the recent local elections, and the likely method for alliance-forming. He says political alliances are normally based either on commonly-held principles, or common long-term objectives, or else common short-term objectives (and as an example of the latter he

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-91948680470409172422009-02-18T05:05:00.000-08:002009-02-18T07:22:35.506-08:00

Awni Qalamji (for other writings of his summarized here, try the search box on the upper left) offers a glimpse of the kind of debates that Obama-optimism caused among resistance factions in Iraq, and his conclusion is that many were completely taken in by the wave of optimism, misreading both Obama's intentions and their own capabilities, and hurting the reputation of the resistance among

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-7554508191171950242009-02-17T06:58:00.000-08:002009-02-19T04:31:14.386-08:00

1. Perhaps more of the same?There is of course an alternative to the potential confrontation between the SupremeCouncil/Kurdish coalition on one side and Maliki with his new anti-sectarian allies on the other (the confrontation hypothesis outlined here). The alternative would be decision by Maliki, Hakim and others to in effect reconstitute the Shiite coalition ("United Iraqi Alliance") with

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-18685349594100948082009-02-15T12:42:00.000-08:002009-02-15T15:58:43.827-08:00

Saleh Al-Mukhtar, a former ambassador and senior person in the Saddam regime, and more recently a spokesman and essayist for the Baathist resistance, gave a talk in Amman at a closed session of alumni or graduates of Iraqi universities and institutes, and a reporter for the Jordanian paper AlArab alYaum prepared a summary, which included among a lot of other points, the following:[Al-Mukhtar said

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-2708324894118867192009-02-15T05:37:00.000-08:002009-02-15T05:44:56.050-08:00

Here are some gems from this morning's piece by Tom Ricks in the WaPo, followed by some translations into plain English and an Executive Summary of what he is really saying. He says if the US forces withdraw:(1) "The Iraqi tendency toward violent solutions will increase"(2) "Many of those closest to the situation in Iraq expect a full-blown civil war to break out there in the coming years"(3) "

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-46880334289342235282009-02-14T06:57:00.000-08:002009-02-15T16:04:37.905-08:00

Recent news in English about Iraqi politics has been unusually fragmentary. Some of the pieces:There are increasingly convincing reports of a rapprochement between Maliki and the Sadr trend. There was the report last week of an unusual meeting in Najaf between Ayatollah Sistani and Iyad Allawi. And the battle to the death continues between two opposing alliances in Parliament over the naming

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-69268233018132135312009-02-12T06:17:00.000-08:002009-02-12T08:42:21.850-08:00

In keeping with the unusual degree of attention being given to the Iraqi local elections--including claims by the supporters of the occupation that this represents a vindication of sorts--writer and editor Mohammed Aref writes in the UAE paper AlIttihad about sectarianism, and whether or not the strong showing by Maliki's "Nation of Laws" coalition reflected a genuine move by the Iraqi political

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-15517889472010813072009-02-12T02:19:00.000-08:002009-02-12T02:59:16.875-08:00

The Minister of the Interior in Lebanon issued a circular that said Lebanese people will not be required to state their religious (or "sectarian") affiliation in their statements of civil status, and will be allowed to change or delete any such statements already made and registered. The Minister said this is in accordance with the freedom of religion provision in the Lebanese Constitution, the

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-47532877241215139932009-02-11T10:54:00.000-08:002009-02-12T03:01:36.372-08:00

Some see the Israeli election results as an important step that will eventually lead the American sponsor to turn away from its regional client and thus in effect pull the rug out from under Zionism. The code-word for this is "the end, or the approaching end, of the two-state solution", the assumption being that the modern world would not tolerate the "ethnic cleansing", or in the alternative

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-36450301121308497722009-02-11T04:09:00.001-08:002009-02-11T06:40:30.570-08:00

The idea that the United States is in the process of "withdrawing" from a newly-democratic Iraq depends in large part on the idea that the United States is exerting no pressure on the Maliki administration to bring about any particular domestic political outcome in Iraq, other than the pressure for "reconciliation" that is supposed to result from the realization that the US intends a bona fide,

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-29255795928356127032009-02-10T06:21:00.000-08:002009-02-10T07:34:16.564-08:00

Iraqi academic Kamal Al-Majeed, writing in AlQuds alArabi, sets out the argument for re-assessing and re-planning the Iraqi resistance, taking into account the pitfalls that he hopes have become apparent. His main point is that there are common, negative, features of "sectarianism" (Sunni/Shia for instance); "chauvinism" of the type that is promulgated by the two big Kurdish parties; including

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-23139299072165228832009-02-08T04:39:00.000-08:002009-02-08T05:20:31.184-08:00

The quotation marks in the following excerpt were put there by the AlHayat journalist, not by me. The piece is in this morning's paper (Sunday, Feb 8), and it represents roll-out of the politically-correct version of the "renewed reconciliation" story (see prior post). He writes:The government of Iraq is intent on utilizing the "change" [the journalist's quotation marks] brought about by the

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-14375127657164062192009-02-07T18:42:00.000-08:002009-02-07T20:02:51.114-08:00

The news from the region is sporadic (h/t to LB of RoadstoIraq for a lot of it), and the silence from Washington is absolute, but it appears Maliki is responding at least superficially to pressure from the US (in the person of Joe Biden) to do more to try and placate a greater number of officers in the Saddam-era armed forces by offering them either positions in existing armed forces, or pensions

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-72928634784541119632009-02-07T10:37:00.000-08:002009-02-07T11:28:13.681-08:00

Haifa Zangana, writes in AlQuds alArabi: We didn't really need an election to confirm the temporary ascendancy of Maliki, because it followed directly from American policy. First, on the collapse of the UIA coalition: They held together as long as the enemy was the national resistance, and the priority was thus to follow the dictates of the occupation authorities to whom they owed their

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-29278081663523352462009-02-07T08:15:00.000-08:002009-02-09T03:33:15.540-08:00

Before leaving for Munich, VP Joe Biden gave a little talk to Democrats "at a Virginia retreat", and the part about Iraq went like this, according to the AFP. In a sometimes somber speech to Democratic members of the House of Representatives on a Virginia retreat, the vice president said last week's elections suggested progress was being made in Iraq, but more had to be done.Biden said Iraq's

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-5974697436360324822009-02-05T16:25:00.000-08:002009-02-05T17:13:39.092-08:00

This morning AlQuds alArabi op-ed writer Subhi Hadidi quotes from a piece in Haaretz yesterday by Gideon Levy. Levy wrote: Benjamin Netanyahu will apparently be Israel's next prime minister. There is, however, something encouraging about that fact. Netanyahu's election will free Israel from the burden of deception: If he can establish a right-wing government, the veil will be lifted and the

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-49853280683270257392009-02-05T13:01:00.001-08:002009-02-05T13:58:29.822-08:00

Meanwhile, as the Israeli national election approaches, Likud party leader Netanyahu has endorsed Avigdor Lieberman's Ysrael Beiteinu proposal for a law that could take away the citizenship of Israelis deemed "not loyal." According to Haaretz: Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday branded as "legitimate" rival prime ministerial candidate Avigdor Lieberman's electoral campaign against

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-21051199827428415872009-02-05T07:29:00.000-08:002009-02-05T11:51:33.510-08:00

Al-Akhbar and Azzaman print quotes that are apparently from an original AFP story, including remarks by Yusef Al-Hububi (or Al-Habubi; top vote-getter in the election for provincial council in Karbala), responding to charges that he is a Baathist. Al-Hububi has a long career in the civil service in Karbala, having served in a number of local-government positions during the Saddam years, the

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-87719974573727453642009-02-04T07:21:00.000-08:002009-02-04T18:17:45.390-08:00

Nine Arab foreign ministers met in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, and the host-country foreign minister issued a statement that included this: We are working to overcome this difficult time in the Arab world and ensure that unwelcomed, non-Arab parties do not get involved in our affairs in an un-constructive manner.And this: Our aim is to boost Arab solidarity and mobilize our backing for the Arab Peace

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-86238593522429231802009-02-03T16:04:00.000-08:002009-02-03T17:59:31.894-08:00

Iraqi writer Fadhil Al-Rubaie calls in question the idea that the Iraqi local elections were an exercise in national democracy in any conventional sense. Rather, he says, they were subject to three factors that make them more likely a further step in the direction of national break-up.(1) When the GreenZone government was created "on the rubble of the former state", as he puts it, one

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-27047825234300330962009-02-03T05:24:00.000-08:002009-02-03T06:21:52.360-08:00

The highly celebrated US "engagement," aimed at "revitalizing the peace process" has led to "moderate Arab states" calling a special meeting of foreign ministers in Abu Dhabi today to consider what is being called the "Mitchell Plan", which is either a set of "steps and mechanisms" or else a plan for analyzing and evaluating certain proposed steps and mechanisms being set out by Mitchell in an

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-38974244530337794462009-02-02T05:38:00.000-08:002009-02-02T06:12:58.285-08:00

Three pan-Arab, non-regime newspapers (AlArab, Kuwait; AlQuds alArabi, London; and AlAkhbar, Lebanon) take the following view of the initial Iraqi election-reports: (1) Their leading point is that apparently none of the local councils was returned in its existing party-configuration, and in particular it appears likely that the Supreme Council lost control of six of the seven provincial councils

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-63068315083154682772009-02-01T14:46:00.001-08:002009-02-01T15:34:18.571-08:00

There are now at least two reports, independent of one another, about a deal between Maliki and the Sadrists involving an alliance in one or more provincial councils. There aren't any details about the nature of the alliance, but one reported preparatory step was the agreement by Maliki for the release--with the acquiecence of the Americans--of Sadrists held prisoner at Camp Bucca. (1) In an

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-8093808860997442002009-01-31T07:32:00.000-08:002009-02-03T10:13:17.362-08:00

If you believe in miracles, then the overnight transformation of Jaafari and Maliki into reformers and secular nationalists respectively will present you with no particular difficulties.On a different scale, if you believe in the redemptive power of America, then the fact that a corrupt two-party political system has produced an administration dedicated to fundamental change will seem the most

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-10402579074550736042009-01-30T14:40:00.001-08:002009-01-30T15:00:35.996-08:00

This op-ed, by Yossi Sarid, appeared on the Haaretz English-language website earlier today. It doesn't seem to be on their main page any more, so here it is in its entirely, in case you missed it. (Recall, among other things, that Yisrael Beiteinu is proposing a measure to strip "disloyal" Arab citizens of their citizenship, something that has as its model a 1935 Nazi law). Centrists must

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-50156182872752701792009-01-30T08:47:00.000-08:002009-01-30T09:42:05.038-08:00

NYT: Early Voting in Iraq is mostly smooth. In a way, that is unquestionably true. Here's an example. A source in the Iraqi citizenship directorate told AlArab there was fraud in the special elections that were held on Wednesday. The source, who preferred not to have his actual name mentioned, but who is an officer with the rank of Major, said: "We were asked to provide special

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-76412699092825313762009-01-29T04:02:00.000-08:002009-01-29T14:12:49.320-08:00

The people of Nahr alBarid camp in northern Lebanon near Tripoli, mostly Palestinian refugee families going back to the 1948 nakba, found their houses destroyed when they were finally allowed to return to the camp 40 days after the end of the recent "war" between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam, but the government assured them there would be reconstruction. On January 16, when they were

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-67472438421530973072009-01-28T10:42:00.000-08:002009-01-28T19:43:15.367-08:00

curtain rises on a bare stage, two individuals, one of them in a harsh, unforgiving lightCan you feel it?Feel what?You knowI don't know, what?Come onCome on what?Aren't we all friends?Of course, and?Don't just say "and",What should I say?What you feelAbout what?You are a doubterWhat's that?He has practically hit a home run, and you feel nothing?Who?Don't be obstinateWas there a siege lifted

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-74558686722432733462009-01-28T04:07:00.000-08:002009-01-30T15:36:16.393-08:00

Advance voting for security personnel, prisoners and people in hospital starts today in the Iraqi provincial-council elections, the main voting scheduled for this coming Saturday January 31. The Iraqi paper AlMashriq says there are a total of 14,431 candidates, representing around 400 different political entities, for a total of 440 seats in the 14 provincial councils (including all provinces

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-71318456186733822072009-01-27T17:23:00.000-08:002009-01-27T19:09:49.812-08:00

Iraqi writer Fadhil Al-Rubaie, writing in the Qatari paper AlArab, says there has been a real uproar in the Green Zone ever since Obama said in his speech at his "imperial installation" (Rubaie's phrase) that "We will leave Iraq to its people." This was immediately followed by a statement by the Iraqi minister of defense to the effect that the Iraqi armed forces are 90% ready to deal with an

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-71017001537287609972009-01-27T13:34:00.000-08:002009-01-27T13:49:34.413-08:00

My earlier comments on American "progressives" as say-nothing courtiers to the Obama administration only scratch the surface. Here's a summary of criticism by Ali Abunimah of two flagship left media institutions on the same theme. (Posted by Adam Horowitz on philipweiss.org, here, including the video link): Ali Abunimah challenges Mark Green and Katrina vanden Heuvel, saying that

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-50656405135294998312009-01-27T08:18:00.000-08:002009-01-27T11:08:44.447-08:00

From his Herzliya Center bio: "Brig. Gen. (res.) Amos Gilboa, Advisor on Intelligence Affairs to the Israeli Intelligence Community and lecturer on Intelligence Studies at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy, the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. A political columnist for Ma’ariv, an Israeli daily newspaper. Held several senior positions in the Intelligence Directorate and

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-10572847400211196442009-01-26T08:44:00.000-08:002009-01-26T10:54:10.440-08:00

On January 15, The Jewish Chronicle, oldest Jewish newspaper in Britain, published an attack on three people often interviewed on British TV and critical of Israel: First, Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor in chief of AlQuds alArabi (pro-Palestinian partisan); second, Richard Falk, the American Jew who is UN Rapporteur for Gaza (Israel-hater); and third, Dr Mads Gilbert, the Norwegian surgeon who went to

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-4647017937449583182009-01-25T16:53:00.000-08:002009-01-25T17:39:05.769-08:00

This appeared January 21 in the mass-circulation Israeli paper Yedioth Ahronoth, and in English on the YNetNews site. It is by a member of the public-relations group for the right-wing party Beiteinu, Arik Sinai by name, and it explains to readers why the party condemns the recent High Court decision permitting two Arab parties to contest the coming national elections. In a nutshell, his

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-72673152626964660942009-01-25T05:21:00.000-08:002009-01-25T05:26:11.806-08:00

"Not the behaviour one would expect from a professional army"

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-10635469530840232962009-01-25T02:52:00.000-08:002009-01-25T04:51:44.116-08:00

AP and AFP report on the visit of Maliki's national security adviser Muwaffak al-Rubaie to Tehran with a mention only of the issue of Iraqi commitment to expel the anti-Iran group MEK from Iraq.The reporter for the Lebanese paper Al-Akhbar adds a couple of other points: First, the reporter says that Ahmedinejad, after urging the Iraqi government to complete its preparations for the withdrawal of

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-77561295011934354472009-01-24T05:24:00.000-08:002009-01-24T06:01:45.568-08:00

Everywhere you look, things are back to normal. The savvy people of the center-left who read Marc, Spencer, Juan, Helena and the others all know that AlQaeda-affiliated honchos are somewhat impressed with Obama and are urging that he be given four months to decide what to say about the killing and maiming of thousands of Palestinians and the laying waste of Gaza and its blockaded and starving

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-57433070936589202832009-01-23T17:13:00.000-08:002009-01-23T18:36:08.075-08:00

AbdulBari Atwan, noting that Obama has failed to condemn the Israeli atrocities in Gaza, grants that the administration is still in its early days, but says a bad beginning can only lead to a worse result. And he explains. It is nice that the new president ended his country's war on terror, recognizing that it cannot be won, the extent of the damage that it had done to his country's image, and

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-47383938328909994362009-01-23T13:59:00.000-08:002009-01-23T15:07:59.562-08:00

Abu Yahya al-Libi, an AQ leader and major spokesman, is featured in a 31-minute video tape published on an internet website, urging the AQ membership to focus on attacking the West and Britain in particular in retaliation for the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Be picks Britain in particular because as he puts it: No child is killed and no calamity occurs in the land of Palestine except as a result

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-21286734776062621982009-01-23T05:08:00.000-08:002009-01-23T07:42:54.239-08:00

Nowhere is the mystery of the new administration's policy-intentions more mysterious than in Iraq. (Let me re-phrase that, having read the text of Obama's remarks at the State Dept yesterday: There isn't any mystery about Obama policy in Palestine, which will be more of the same, only with more NATO involvement. But there is some mystery about his plans for Iraq). Even if the mystery

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-68579716391191880592009-01-22T06:05:00.000-08:002009-01-22T07:05:18.287-08:00

There are a number of Israeli media reports and comments on the war-crimes issue. Here are the main ones available in English:(1) Haaretz says in an editorial Israel should launch its own investigation in order to preempt international war-crimes proceedings(2) YNet publishes an article quoting Israeli lawyers who warn that anyone involved in the operation could be prosecuted anywhere in the

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-26519973109543156372009-01-21T17:09:00.001-08:002009-01-21T17:14:06.162-08:00

Nonarab Arab links to an AlJazeera website feature that shows pictures and details of whole families that were wiped out in the so-called war. He recites details for 13 of those families, and he concludes: I wish it weren't true, but even this is only a partial list of the families Israel has murdered the past few weeks, let alone the past 60 years. Let the deaths of these innocent families

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-42274159742207060492009-01-21T13:38:00.000-08:002009-01-21T15:52:12.201-08:00

The Israeli Supreme Court rejected a decision of the Knesset barring the two Arab parties from participating in the coming Israeli national elections. The center-left Ackerman/Yglesias team swap high-fives over this stunning proof of the health of the Israeli democracy. Ackerman: Correcting an initial Knesset error of judgment, the Israeli Supreme Court has overturned a ban on Israeli Arab

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-15643531924661955582009-01-21T05:51:00.000-08:002009-01-21T08:22:16.694-08:00

However you may choose to characterize the three-week program of killing and destruction that rounded out the Bush-Olmert administration of that region, it is at least clear that the war-crimes/excessive-force theme is not something that is having any effect on Israeli public opinion ahead of their national elections on Feb 10, or on American public opinion either. One Israeli example in place

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-17640376073147158222009-01-20T13:56:00.000-08:002009-01-20T14:51:53.610-08:00

The Iraqi news-site Islammemo: Jordanian doctors returning from the Gaza Strip say the wounds they witnessed confirm the use by the Zionist occupation, in their attack on Gaza, of non-traditional weapons, and of banned weapons. They also referred to the fact that a team of Norwegian doctors took samples for study and a report to be presented as evidence in a trial...The doctors said the

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-70506270008503850692009-01-19T15:37:00.001-08:002009-01-19T16:09:44.077-08:00

Egyptian doctors returned from the Gaza Strip said at a conference held yesterday by the Arab Doctors Union in Cairo that the bodies of the dead and wounded they have seen indicate the use by Israel of a variety of weapons banned internationally, including white phosphorus and so-called DIME (Dense Inert Metal Explosives), and they referred to other cases of distortions and disfigurations that

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-4217995655940365852009-01-19T06:51:00.000-08:002009-01-19T07:59:24.563-08:00

(1) How is it that the collective civilian punishment argument is rejected in the case of AQ and similar groups, but accepted when it is propounded by the Zionists?(2) What happens when and if the physical nature of the resistance changes, and it adopts in turn this collective-punishment strategy in a more thoroughgoing manner than it has up to now? (3) Has anyone in Israel or in Washington

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-32670798695594949072009-01-18T11:14:00.000-08:002009-01-18T11:45:46.993-08:00

Hosni Mubarak yesterday delivered a fiery televised speech in which, in addition to calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, he also said there will be no foreign presence on Egyptian territory for border surveillance, calling this a "red line". The latter point was spelled out by his Foreign Minister Ahmed Abdul Gheit who said Egypt is not a party to

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-22216963465776779862009-01-18T04:44:00.000-08:002009-01-18T05:57:52.674-08:00

I think if would be useful to compare Israeli military-political strategy in the current war, with AlQaeda military-political strategy as reflected in its failure in Iraq and the internal debates surrounding those developments. By that I mean that the desire for breadth of support from co-religionists--and even more broadly public-opinion in general-- has been in both cases confronted with

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-7227967556116575382009-01-16T08:52:00.000-08:002009-01-16T09:03:46.710-08:00

LB at RoadstoIraq posts a clipping from a Dutch newspaper in which the US army solicits "Iraqis or people who come from other Arabic speaking countries" to try out as actors in a make-believe "Iraqi village" in southern Germany (travel expenses and board will be paid; please bring ID). She notes this confirms the gist of a story in AlQuds alArabi yesterday, that quoted one prospect as having

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-1500420311080123432009-01-16T04:55:00.000-08:002009-01-16T08:22:50.228-08:00

Aluf Benn wrote in Haaretz yesterday (Thursday Jan 15) an important article about the two reports that the Israeli war cabinet will be using to decide whether or not to end the war. (The article has not made it onto the Haaretz English-language website, and in what follows I have relied on the Arabic translation appearing today (Friday Jan 16) on the "Israeli press" page of AlQuds alArabi).

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-88465403551113260162009-01-15T17:05:00.000-08:002009-01-15T19:18:11.065-08:00

The meaning, in words, that lies behind the televised record of one-sided death and destruction in Gaza is this: Israel has given itself over to atavistic impulses; no power is moving to stop them; and the blowback will last for generations. Ibrahim Amin, writing in the Lebanese paper Al-Akhbar on Thursday, said one reason the Israeli public is so solidly behind the 2009 Gaza war--compared to

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-85055702870170132472009-01-15T05:01:00.000-08:002009-01-15T06:22:35.861-08:00

With the Gaza war in its third week and its third stage, Israel is faced with a choice between complete re-occupation of the Gaza Strip on the one hand, or a withdrawal on the best terms and with the best PR it can obtain--for instance the piece by Tom Friedman in the NYT yesterday reads like the opening statement by the defense attorney in a war-crimes trial--on the other. The initial bombing

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-87038306807058359042009-01-14T08:09:00.000-08:002009-01-14T09:03:21.764-08:00

Conditions in Gaza are catastrophic beyond words, and getting worse as the Israeli attacks continue. This of course changes nothing in Washington where points continue to be awarded for demonstrated ability to keep silent in the face of this. There are some weak links in the Zionist/American scheme of things, only not in Washington. First, there are signs of de-Zionization among

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-85395455723297103262009-01-13T07:53:00.000-08:002009-01-13T08:50:09.097-08:00

Iraqi media paid a lot of attention to this part of reported remarks in a Reuters interview by Ammar AlHakim, son and heir-apparent of the head of the SupremeCouncil: The decision to contest the elections separately from Dawa stemmed from disagreement over regional autonomy, Hakim said."There are many readings and opinions on the role of the provincial councils. ISCI has an understanding ...

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-91520393150608412892009-01-12T06:44:00.000-08:002009-01-12T07:17:17.254-08:00

I have nothing much to add to the ideas in the following two articles.Gideon Levy writes in Haaretz: When the cannons eventually fall silent, the time for questions and investigations will be upon us. The mushroom clouds of smoke and dust will dissipate in the pitch-black sky; the fervor, desensitization and en masse jump on the bandwagon will be forever forgotten and perhaps we will view a

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-37127937558290680282009-01-10T12:40:00.000-08:002009-01-10T13:28:18.854-08:00

Trying to follow the fascinating world of American political science? Take this test and see how well you're doing. (a) Who said this? ...the moral issue about whether the hugely disproportionate death tolls on the two sides justify the Israeli action remains on the table.(b) How about this one? This is one of those moments that shines a cruel light on the failure to translate into

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-5299193918101917952009-01-09T14:38:00.000-08:002009-01-09T14:57:39.250-08:00

This is today's update, lifted from a post by Richard Seymour at leninology.blogspot.com: Let's bring ourselves up to date. The death toll as of yesterday - certainly a sizeable underestimate, given that there is only a rare interval in which to recover bodies crushed under the flaming rubble - is 758, 42% of which the UN estimates are women and children. Last night the UN Security Council

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-87328949171857897812009-01-09T07:56:00.000-08:002009-01-09T09:18:18.394-08:00

There isn't a general term that encompasses sectarianism, racism and the other exclusivisms, and besides, even if there was, as the types of cases referred to increases, the specific impact of the term diminishes. As is the case with most of the ismsSo we are without a ready-made vocabulary for talking about the common features of the Zionism that many American liberals and others support in

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-41150111775315129052009-01-08T04:34:00.000-08:002009-01-08T06:22:57.575-08:00

The Qatari paper AlArab this morning (Thursday Jan 8) says Qatar is still demanding that the Security Council vote on a binding resolution calling among other things for immediate withdrawal of the occupation forces from Gaza, and immediate opening of all border crossings. A much more ambiguous proposal concocted by Egypt and Sarkozy, and supported by Condi and others, calls for negotiations

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-80202569881946824642009-01-07T08:44:00.000-08:002009-01-07T10:48:54.269-08:00

Nahum Barnea wrote: The danger at this time is that the operation will roll towards the same failures that undermined Israel in the past; first of all, the shift from a limited operation to a broad one due to inertia - the illusion that whatever cannot be achieved by force may be achieved by even more force.There are some IDF elements – not the entire IDF – who believe that their job is to push

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-10209970210544718622009-01-06T18:50:00.000-08:002009-01-07T04:58:51.363-08:00

If you were wondering what would be the fate of those residents of northern Gaza Strip who, according to the plan approved following a visit from Condi last March, were to be forcibly evacuated from their homes to create a cordon sanitaire within rocket-firing distance of the northern border with Israel, you might want to consider this as a reference point: Forty-two of them were killed yesterday

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-19722779027381143622009-01-06T11:38:00.000-08:002009-01-06T12:47:25.755-08:00

Hasam abu Taleb writes in AlQuds alArabi about the continuing wave of Gaza-solidarity demonstrations throughout Egypt, and he says over a thousand participants, mostly Muslim Brotherhood people, have been arrested by Egyptian security in Cairo in order to prevent them from participating in any more demos. What is new is that he says there are clear signs of dissent in the religious hierarchy:

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-72060487189174571382009-01-06T03:27:00.000-08:002009-01-06T09:40:26.270-08:00

There is an excellent summary of reports about what is being done to the civilian population of Gaza by the Israeli forces here.They conclude: As you can see, “Hamas targets” appears to be a technical term referring to the entire Gaza Strip and everything and everyone located within it....it isn’t at all surprising to find Israel referring to hospitals, mosques, schools, residential homes,

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-82981678710248642312009-01-04T07:18:00.000-08:002009-01-04T18:51:39.417-08:00

Here are four of the main talking points, arranged in order of sophistication, that you will see used in defense, or partial defense, of the current activities of the Zionists. Note that these are arguments you are unlikely to see in other national debates. They are distinctively American-liberal.(1) Their side is in the wrong, quite independently of the fact some of what we do is wrong.

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-82838301475333024332009-01-03T13:58:00.000-08:002009-01-03T14:41:24.751-08:00

The Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip began after dark on Saturday, and this was preceded, the NYT says, by a leafleting of "some residential districts" warning residents to evacuate these districts. This is a new element in the Israeli plans--new in terms of implementation, that is, although we know that the removal of Palestinian civilians was discussed and approved in principle at a

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-73099121546604541252009-01-03T08:59:00.000-08:002009-01-03T09:22:48.818-08:00

Matt, as you would expect from someone who has studied philosophy at Harvard, has been able to solve one of the toughest moral questions that have arisen so far in what he calls "the American conversation" on this. He writes: Meanwhile, of course, there’s still such a thing as ethics and so forth. Vaguely pointing rockets at civilian areas and hoping they kill as many people as possible is

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-1260230603874202009-01-03T01:53:00.000-08:002009-01-03T02:59:43.183-08:00

Failure of the Arab League to do anything more than refer the Gaza attack to the UN highlighted the acquiescence--to say the least--of the Arab regimes in the continuing Israeli attacks on Gaza, and this is helping to focus Arab popular outrage on what you could call the near enemy, namely the corrupt regimes in Cairo, Riyadh and elsewhere. Here's how the Palestinian AbdelBari Atwan, editor in

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-65291344262607995502009-01-01T05:40:00.000-08:002009-01-01T06:20:16.076-08:00

The Iraqi paper AlMashriq published two important political stories yesterday (Wednesday Dec 31), the first highlighting remarks by Saleh AlMutlak (head of the National Dialog Council party to which former Parliamentary speaker Mashhadani also belongs), and by Sami AlAskari (a Dawa party politician thought to be close to Maliki) to the effect that there is a move afoot to topple the Maliki

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-17363539225692516322008-12-31T15:55:00.000-08:002008-12-31T16:27:43.198-08:00

Good health and strength to everyone for the new year, and let's remember: The times they are a'changin' !and let it be in a good way, if you can possibly imagine that. For everyone, everywhere in our collapsing empire, for instance, Ashura is just around the corner (first week in January this year, I believe), and let this be a better year for the Mahdists of southern Iraq, and for all the

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33825299.post-31751766707065201552008-12-31T11:22:00.000-08:002008-12-31T13:19:33.559-08:00

Hosni Mubarak went on television yesterday for the first time since the Israeli attack on Gaza started five days ago, and here is part of what he said (according to a summary in AlMesryoon): He implicitly laid on Hamas the responsibility for the human and material losses that have resulted from the Israeli attacks, and he said: "The right to resist occupation is an established and a legal right,

badgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09427331679635818982noreply@blogger.com0