tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-194359682012-01-13T02:59:52.597+12:00Les Politiques''My people decide the truth in sixty countries every morning. And in every one it's different.''
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/les_politiques"><img src="http://twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com/t_logo-b.png" alt="Follow les_politiques on Twitter"></a>Sophianoreply@blogger.comBlogger13091100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-86293415853538529712011-12-03T18:05:00.001+12:002011-12-04T01:50:18.367+12:00Michael Young in Ottawa: Mixing narratives on Lebanon and the 'Arab Spring'
Summary from video:
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:Sophianoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-38027010332252631272011-11-15T00:44:00.001+12:002011-11-15T04:16:04.559+12:00The British ambassador to Israel and the plot to attack Iran
Craig Murray graciously authorised the republication of this article which has been blocked by Mainstream Media. There is no need to present Craig Murray, an ex ambassador, but most importantly an insider of British politics and a courageous individual who denounced torture in Uzbekistan while he was posted as an ambassador there as well as western support for its regime. His courage is unlikeSophianoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-89333545809025203572011-10-17T14:44:00.000+12:002011-10-21T06:50:39.542+12:00Lebanon: A Tale of Two Governments and Two Visits (part III)Part I and Part II
We divided our overnight stay in the north between a B&B in a small village high in the mountains surrounding the Qadisha (holy) valley and a hotel in Ehden. The latter, perched at around 1800 meters above sea levels around the same valley, is the summer residence of former president Suleiman Frangie and current Marada movement leader MP Suleiman Frangie jr and an Aoun and Sophianoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-31594395873445632582011-08-25T12:06:00.000+12:002011-08-25T12:06:41.159+12:00Special Tribunal for Lebanon: A Prosecutor's "Tunnel Vision"Al Akhbar English, strong aletrnative to non Qatari non Saudi media, is out.
This is a link to the latest article on the Special UN Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) from Omar Nashabe.
The STL is the first international tribunal to indict someone for a terrorism crime. Instead of targeting suspects affiliated to internationally recognized terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda, the first terrorismSophianoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-13708888579517914852011-08-24T12:45:00.001+12:002011-08-24T12:51:36.109+12:00WikiLeaks releases 349 cables on LybiaThe cables come from different US embassies around the world, most were created between 2006 and 2010 during US normalisation with Lybia. Some date back as far as 1986.Sophianoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-10647144166125804112011-08-11T00:33:00.004+12:002011-08-11T00:44:45.947+12:00Lebanon: A Tale of Two Governments And Two Visits (part II)Part I
My father had died last January leaving each one of us, me and my brothers, few parcels of his land in the north. I was in Lebanon for his funerals back then and I came back this summer, this time with my family, to visit his land.
My father worked hard to acquire and maintain his land. He inherited some of it and bought the rest. He had a spiritual connection to his land. Before the Sophianoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-80781706110497127102011-07-27T10:43:00.003+12:002011-07-27T10:45:58.444+12:00Norway Terror Accused Breivik Loves IsraelInstead of trying to exterminate Europe's Jews, Breivik suggests Hitler ought to have enforced Zionism: "He could have easily worked out an agreement with the UK and France to liberate the ancient Jewish Christian lands with the purpose of giving the Jews back their ancestral lands," Breivik writes. "The UK and France would perhaps even contribute to such a campaign in an effort to support Sophianoreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-31141245864033730362011-07-26T10:26:00.003+12:002011-07-26T10:28:12.571+12:00Iran draws the line with Turkey on SyriaBehind Iran's new Syria move is a calculated gamble that contrary to some Western perceptions, the Assad regime is not completely isolated and still enjoys a considerable mass following. This is reflected in huge pro-government rallies consistently ignored by the Western media, and that with sufficient internal and regional support, Damascus could survive and ride out the current storm.
CompleteSophianoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-24174481904018250372011-07-24T06:05:00.002+12:002011-07-27T10:44:38.650+12:00The Norway MassacreHere is the most extensive and objective coverage I have found to date on the web for the Norway shooting and bombing.Sophianoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-36123196020229991812011-07-23T11:17:00.014+12:002011-07-24T06:13:39.367+12:00Is Sunni Extremism Getting out of Hand? And what to do about it...Today's Norway bombing may still turn out not to be perpetrated by Sunni Extremists, however this is the current hypothesis (the article on this link was amended later to point to what is known at this moment that the shooting and probably the bombing were all the doing of a lonely white norwegian man acting on the basis of probably right wing political motives including hatred of Islam).
Sunni Sophianoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-21373163795239581252011-07-22T06:58:00.001+12:002011-07-22T06:59:21.168+12:00Is the US Cowed by Saudi Arabia because of Oil?The role of Saudi Arabia in 9/11 has never been investigated and that's not because the lack of evidence. This evidence won't go away and is reemerging at the occasion of the10th anniversary of 9/11.
Saudi Arabia: Friend or Foe?
The Kingdom and the Towers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sophianoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-4167878778315641912011-07-21T00:44:00.008+12:002011-07-22T06:59:51.744+12:00'Unfolding The Syrian Paradox'Although the link to this article by Alastair Crooke is featured in one of my latest posts, I wanted to highlight the article again for it offers one of the most complete analysis on what is happening in Syria now as well as revealing the nature of the Syrian revolution 2011.
Can Syria properly be understood as an example of a "pure" Arab popular revolution, an uprising of non-violent, liberal Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-65023193281843556872011-07-19T12:07:00.015+12:002011-07-23T09:45:10.059+12:00Syrian Protesters In Homs (UPDATED): The Government killed And Mutilated Three Of His Own In Order To Incite Sectarian Strife!This kind of crazy propaganda from Syrian protesters reporting to western news outlets has been going on for long now. Giving credence to such statements is like giving credence to the saying that the US government was behind 9/11 in order to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. And giving credence to these statements from the Syrian revolution 2011 is like giving credence to the Syrian regime Sophianoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-74104088567815779422011-07-18T10:40:00.011+12:002011-07-20T02:55:48.775+12:00Bashar El Assad and Legitimacy, UpdatedOne must recognise that Bashar El Assad is still, after four months of unrest, hugely popular in Syria. This is a fact, not an Al-Jazeera fabricated story. This is the fourth pro regime rally in Syria since March. The Syrian revolution 2011 has never been able to rally as much.
If one adds to this three other facts:
1. The hijacking of the Syrian Revolution 2011 by USrael and the Muslim Sophianoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-75779025829294857942011-07-16T03:03:00.002+12:002011-07-16T03:42:46.352+12:00The Illiberal Tendencies Of The So Called Liberal Syrian OppositionFrom Angry Arab:
...They call for democracy in Syria...in the mouthpieces of Saudi princes; they call for freedom for Syria...in publications that have excelled in racism against the Syrian people (An-Nahar and Al-Mustaqbal); they call for the safety of the Syrian people...in publications that have been responsible for creating the climate that led to the murder and abuse of Syrian workers in Sophianoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-78589478949813908672011-07-14T10:40:00.041+12:002011-07-25T09:36:50.896+12:00Lebanon: A Tale Of Two Governments And Two Visits (part 1)
I was recently in Lebanon on a vacation with my family. The internet is so slow there that for those who are used to high speed like me it feels like there is no internet. I could barely check my email. While my visits to my native country are usually rare, this visit was my second this year. I have been in Lebanon just six months ago, alone, for my father's funerals. My first visit Sophianoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-8416546862347138312011-07-05T07:43:00.012+12:002011-07-17T21:56:01.376+12:00The Special Tribunal For Lebanon: Justice For All Or Justice For The Cedar Niggers?Days after the nth leak, the Special Tribunal For Lebanon (STL) announced his indictments on July 2nd accusing, what we now know at least since 2009, four members of Hezbollah. The announcement coincides with the new Lebanese government's statement of principle on the STL going for a confidence vote in the Lebanese parliament soon, and with the positive developments for Assad in Syria coming Sophianoreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-32617915505624161172011-06-27T18:17:00.001+12:002011-06-27T18:35:04.993+12:00Iran, Syria, Regime Change, And The Resistance AxisThis is an opinion article by Elie Shlahoub in the June 27th edition of the Lebanese daily newspaper Al Akhbar.
“The Syrian turmoil is targeting the Islamic resistance in Lebanon; and defending Damascus constitutes protection for Beirut and Tehran. This is in short, the Iranian approach to the events taking place in the Levant as “We will not allow the hand of the Sayyed of the Resistance to be Sophianoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-68661970732872400492011-06-26T18:54:00.001+12:002011-06-27T06:53:57.635+12:00Syrian refugees in Turkey prisoners of armed groupsAl Manar reported this morning sunday June 26th that Syrian refugees in Turkey are being prevented from returning to their homes in Jisr Al Shoughour by armed groups inside the camps. A delegation of Syrians, including a cleric, sent to Turkey to visit the refugee and ask them to return home, was attacked. Al Manar showed a smashed car window and a cleric who was hit by a stone in his eye. TheSophianoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-50136165760440772992011-06-26T08:45:00.008+12:002011-06-27T06:34:29.520+12:00Tom MacMaster On Ressuscitating Gay Girl In Damascus And Saving ArabsTom MacMaster, the man behind the hoax that was Gay Girl in Damascus, still wants to believe in Amina. In this exchange, answering questions sent to him by Angry Arab, he talks passionately about Amina and about his grand fiction masterwork to save the Arab world!
I think this man is having the Lawrence of Arabia syndrome but if he really knew Syrians well he would have known that they hate Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-37614046110918948682011-06-26T05:41:00.001+12:002011-06-26T05:49:14.328+12:00US and UK Meet Syrian Muslim Brotherhood Representative In LondonFrom Angry Arab.
Links about Al Bayanouni and the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood:
The Muslim Brotherhood: the trojan horse of the syrian revolution. (article in Arabic)
The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood between piety and lethal errors. (article in Arabic)
The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood by Gary Gambill (article in English).
Al Bayanouni speaking on the Syrian regime, Iran and Israel.
As of late, sunniSophianoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-82050559138700413642011-06-23T08:09:00.006+12:002011-06-24T22:19:07.708+12:00Western Coverage Of Syria: Active Denial, Highly Partisan Narratives And Orientalist ClichesAngry Arab, who is against the Syrian regime, posted on the massive pro-Assad demonstrations in Syria yesterday the following:
But it is obvious that the pro-regime demonstrations were not covered. Can one deny that those pro-Syrian regime demonstrations are far bigger than the protests that have been promoted from Youtube by Syrian Muslim Brotherhood opposition, and which headlines coverage ofSophianoreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-35360341804886637472011-06-22T01:58:00.002+12:002011-06-22T21:17:10.382+12:00Hurriyet Daily News: Syria On The Right TrackAssad's third speech delivered on Monday June 20th was well received in the Turkish press, contrary to the Saudi funded press like Al Sharq Al Awsat.
Al-Assad’s speech Monday was promising as he talked about concrete steps with a concrete timetable. I am sure that most of the measures he mentioned were the ones advised by the Turkish officials over the course of the last two months.
It is no Sophianoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-2210985115561613722011-06-21T02:26:00.011+12:002011-06-21T12:27:36.697+12:00High Noon: Bashar El Assad's Third Post-'Revolution 2011' SpeechThis is his third speech since the start of the revolution 2011, different from the exuded confidence during the first and the measured confidence of the second. This speech is about a situation that has been deteriorating daily and El Assad seemed to be fully aware of this. The Main points:
- A realistic assessment of the situation: but there is no going back, Syria must look to the future.
Sophianoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-11721603978430573572011-06-20T11:04:00.000+12:002011-06-20T11:04:15.322+12:00Curating the news on Syria: Sunday June 19thFriday Lunch Club has some really interesting links on Syria that you won't read anywhere else on the blogosphere.
Today's Zaman: The not so peaceful demonstrations
The reporters said that the town smelled of blood and smoke, whilst almost all the social and public facilities such as post offices, hospitals, banks, the court house and security buildings had been destroyed, pointing to heavy Sophianoreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-3884625406239576752011-06-19T05:14:00.001+12:002011-06-19T05:16:27.074+12:00The Muslim Brotherhood: The Trojan Horse Of The Counter RevolutionBy As'ad Abukhalil for Al Akhbar. The article is in Arabic but I will try in the coming days to translate some of it if not all.
In a way what is happening in Syria is at the same time a revolution and a counterevolution because the syrian revolution has already been hijacked by the Syrian revolution 2011 which is the baby child of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). That's why it is very difficult toSophianoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-21309463357212427282011-06-17T06:33:00.029+12:002011-06-17T22:15:32.150+12:00Tom MacMaster, Britta Froelicher, The Guardian, Academia, And the Much Wider Web Of Deceit Behind Gay Girl In DamascusI never believed in the authenticity of the Gay Girl in Damascus, neither the persona nor the blog, despite reading her praise across blogs and mainstream western news outlets. As an Arab, I immediately knew that the Gay Girl character was false and intended for western audience. Her narrative was superficial and dissonant. However, many who badly wanted regime change in Syria, from The GuardianSophianoreply@blogger.com57tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-20330333379058936802011-06-13T03:31:00.010+12:002011-06-14T07:39:58.125+12:00The False Premises Of The Syrian Revolution 2011: a logical analysis of a typical discourseRobin Yassin Kassab's article in foreign policy titled 'The fall of the house of Assad' is a condensed example of all the false premises of the Syrian revolution 2011.
Mr. Kassab who is 42 and who, according to his website, was born in London, grew up in Scotland, and lived and worked in the following cities and countries: London, France, Pakistan, Turkey, Syria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Oman, Sophianoreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-59644898203095279622011-06-11T17:15:00.100+12:002011-06-12T10:01:11.555+12:00Some personal thoughts on Syria
Photo credit: Voirlemonde
I have not been posting on Syria because the state of this country is a very personal thing to me. I grew up during the Lebanese civil war. I saw the savagery of my fellow men and women. I saw people who used to be friends denounce and kill each other out of fear and under coercion. Militia in Lebanon were intent at destroying each other. Only the presence of Sophianoreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-81189065715115590322011-06-03T12:24:00.000+12:002011-06-03T12:24:19.492+12:00Making peace with the TalibansBritain and the United States are pressing for United Nations sanctions against 18 former senior Taliban figures to be lifted later this month in the strongest indication yet that the western powers are looking for a negotiated peace with the Taliban.
Candidates include the controversial former head of the regime's religious police, Mohammed Qalamuddin, whose officers were responsible for some Sophianoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-77655776863392070732011-06-03T11:35:00.001+12:002011-06-03T11:37:25.649+12:00Israel leaving dangerous munitions near Palestinian homesThe Israeli army has been accused of leaving dangerous munitions near Palestinian homes after two boys were seriously burnt when they picked up a mysterious silver canister which exuded toxic white fumes.
A second canister, discovered nearby less than a week later, was destroyed by the army in a controlled explosion.
The army does not deny leaving the devices, but would not identify them and Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-91165874340842240982011-05-30T06:07:00.001+12:002011-05-30T06:07:53.872+12:00The Weak Foundations Of Arab DemocraciesAn excellent analysis by Timur Kuran in The New York Times:
"THE protesters who have toppled or endangered Arab dictators are demanding more freedoms, fair elections and a crackdown on corruption. But they have not promoted a distinct ideology, let alone a coherent one. This is because private organizations have played only a peripheral role and the demonstrations have lacked leaders of stature.
Sophianoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-26836310752318884902011-05-29T11:05:00.001+12:002011-05-29T21:57:41.428+12:00Outrage: UK Training Saudi Forces Used To Crush Dissent In BahrainHere are some gems of justification from the UK about their ministry of Defence training Saudi troops in crowd control, some of them were used in Bahrain:
“This is the shocking face of our democracy to many people in the world, as we prop up regimes of this sort,” Edwards said. “It is intensely hypocritical of our leadership in the UK – Labour or Conservative – to talk of supporting freedoms in Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-7174131933387436112011-05-26T07:16:00.003+12:002011-05-29T11:08:44.337+12:00"Why Palestinians Have Time On Their Side"I agree with most of what Mr. Goldberg writes here, although I do not agree with his main premise, his concern for the survival of the state of Israel as a Jewish state. But is it possible that people like Netanyahu don't see things the way Mr Goldberg sees them? It is quite possible that Israeli politicians, like other politicians in other countries, see only for the short term and think in Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-22598362463633853352011-05-25T15:17:00.008+12:002011-05-26T02:49:54.432+12:00US congress controlled by Israel
At the beginning of the video a pro-AIPAC activist snatches the camera from a reporter.
Bibi has received today more standing ovations in the US congress than BO, some allege the number was 28 for Bibi and 25 for Obama when he last spoke to the US congress. People at Syria comment were joking that the people's assembly in Syria gives its president Bashar the same treatment, except that he is Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-74908699681388838302011-05-25T03:14:00.003+12:002011-05-25T03:23:18.126+12:00Further Israeli-Saudi Links in LebanonThe Lebanese have arrested a pro-Saudi shia cleric for spying for Israel. It seems that they have been monitoring him for some time before his arrest.
Here is a collection of the deeds of this cleric:
Lebanese Shiite Scholar Muhammad Ali Al-Husseini Criticizes Hizbullah for Threats against Israel
Mohamad Ali El Husseini/Lebanese Shi'ite Scholar Muhammad Ali Al-Husseini Slams Syria, Iran, Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-34933810477838162282011-05-17T01:26:00.003+12:002011-06-03T13:08:30.996+12:00Israeli soldiers break silence on brutalitiesRoutine harrassement and humiliations of Palestinian civilians.
It is important to note that the website of breakingthesilence.org is actually shut down*. It is also important to note that, even though the soldier speaks about Israeli supreme court rulings, those rulings have no significance whatsoever, they are never respected when they contradict what the IDF want to do and most of the time Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-53644425935632016432011-05-16T14:51:00.002+12:002011-05-16T15:00:54.428+12:00A Historic Moment In The Golan On The Anniversary Of The NakbaIn this video you see Palestinians who came from refugee camps in Syria and Lebanon crossing to the occupied Golan.
More here
Picture gallery here on Nakba protestsSophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-15410836856877939512011-05-16T02:46:00.010+12:002011-05-16T07:02:47.171+12:00The ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians or the never ending NakbaSource: ISM
While we are still desperately concealing, denying and repressing our major ethnic cleansing of 1948 - over 600,000 refugees, some who fled for fear of the Israel Defense Forces and its predecessors, some who were expelled by force - it turns out that 1948 never ended, that its spirit is still with us. Also with us is the goal of trying to cleanse this land of its Arab inhabitants as Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-11574448942716025962011-05-05T14:28:00.011+12:002011-05-07T22:14:12.220+12:00Katherine Marsh reporting from DamascusThe name is a pseudonym for a Guardian journalist reporting from Damascus. He or she was the one to report the fabricated story of the Syrian security shooting the 9 army personnel in Banias.
She raised my curiosity because her misrepresentation of the Syrian uprising, lack of analysis and depth (more american style journalism than European and British journalism) as well as her flagrant bias, Sophianoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-65863861912826860542011-05-02T22:49:00.016+12:002011-05-14T11:17:08.414+12:00OBL DeadOsama Bin Laden is dead killed by a special unit of US forces in Pakistan. He was killed in his compound located in an urban area 30 miles from Islamabad.
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan must have known about his whereabouts during all these years. Saudi Arabia is in a difficult position now in the ME, with all those revolutions at its door, and badly needs US protection for the survival of its Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-45660615951555714322011-05-01T04:29:00.001+12:002011-05-01T04:29:56.182+12:00The Israeli-Saudi alliance and the counterrevolution in the middle eastIsraeli officials want a public commitment from Washington to protect the Saudi regime should it come under threat.Sophianoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-87543415402781398022011-04-19T12:05:00.000+12:002011-04-19T12:05:36.416+12:00Prospects for the sectarian terrain in the middle eastBy Nir Rosen.
Part 1
Part 2
My comment on this later.Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-68672311024529120972011-04-17T01:05:00.009+12:002011-04-18T03:05:36.217+12:00The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood: Now and ThenIs this what Lebanese want?
Their kind of Islam has just executed an activist in Gaza who was helping Gaza fishermen since 2008.
And they have many more crimes on their conscience.
Now
Then_1: The Muslim Brotherhood according to Saad Hariri
Then_2 (please see video below on Memri TV, a zionist outlet). Since I posted yesterday, the video embedded code hasn't been working well, but you Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-37078521819806786522011-04-16T12:46:00.007+12:002011-04-20T04:59:58.317+12:00Ciao VittorioVittorio Arrigoni contacted me as a blogger to exchange links few months after I entered what he called the alliance of bloggers against the Israeli occupation. This was late 2006. He was blogging in Italian and I was blogging in English but he didn't see a problem, he said that through pictures, videos, we can communicate emotions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He was a man without Sophianoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-15885780534719941972011-04-16T05:50:00.004+12:002011-04-16T06:34:04.467+12:00Hariri in Wikileaks: ''The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood supports peace with Israel''Here, Saad Hariri, who is trying to convince the US to get rid of Bashar El Assad by replacing his rule with a sunni Muslim brotherhood rule, paints a rosy picture of the worst brotherhood in the history of the ME (after Saudi Arabia):
They would accept a woman as a president in Syria
They would accept civil government
They would accept a christian as a president of Syria
They would support Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-19210524675051747072011-04-15T00:00:00.006+12:002011-04-15T12:04:22.888+12:00Opposition and conspiracy in SyriaWhen I listened to Bashar El-Assad's speech, I first thought that his outside conspiracy accusations were exaggerated. I thought this is classic talk by leaders when they are challenged by their own people.
After all, Mubarak also claimed that the Egypt uprising was also an outside conspiracy. But in his case, he could hardly blame anyone from the outside, Mubarak was like a violent man who Sophianoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-38024404020589600822011-04-13T12:03:00.007+12:002011-04-14T10:47:40.671+12:00The daughter of a Bahraini human rights activist on hunger strikeZainab Al-Khawadja announced her strike to president Obama to hold him responsible for what is happening to human rights in Bahrain where the US has a military base.
She is also tweeting her hunger strike.
Zainab spoke with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now
Amy Goodman: Bahrainis are suffering the same oppression as Lybians so why does Obama have nothing to say?
The Guardian has an article on Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-8385732971983869302011-04-12T06:20:00.003+12:002011-05-17T11:20:27.690+12:00Saudi Arabia and the counter revolution in the middle east: Part 2It is not only Israel that is freaking out at the thought of the Arab spring. The rulers of Saudi Arabia are in a state of panic. They invaded Bahraïn, they are maneuvering to influence the Egyptian revolution, and they are fomenting trouble through their proxy March 14 in Lebanon and they are trying their best in Syria. Saudi Arabia is leading the counter revolution in the middle east and Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-18715550261634800632011-04-08T10:31:00.008+12:002011-04-09T00:57:53.603+12:00Wikileaks: 'King of Bahrain has links with Mossad'How long will we continue to ignore the close and secret collaboration of some Arab states with those who butcher Arab children and steel their land and their livelihood?
4. (C) The King spoke at some length on Israeli-Palestinian developments, expressing satisfaction at the positive turn of events. This is a good moment, he said, that can be important for stability in the region. He said that heSophianoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-74025262192223148062011-04-05T03:40:00.009+12:002011-04-06T07:14:32.514+12:00Arab dictators and USrael: some thoughts on the Arab springSome argue that Arab dictators who are against US policies in the ME, which is mainly safeguarding Israel's interests first, seem to be more immune to popular uprisings against them because they have the approval of the people who are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause which they perceive as being the product of an injustice perpetuated by Israel and the US.
I think the argument has no basisSophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-7403834861528618412011-04-04T03:49:00.010+12:002011-04-09T16:01:49.149+12:00Israel buries the Goldstone report with Goldstone's approvalThe Goldstone report has infuriated Israel who launched a sustained attack on the report and on the south African judge (read also 'Anatomy of a smear campaign').
Finally, this sustained attack has come to bear fruit and make Goldstone discredit his own report by retracting some of his most damaging accusations against Israel.
Goldstone has caved to pressure and he should not have been Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-3842133185482330592011-04-03T12:36:00.006+12:002011-04-03T12:46:37.590+12:00Stalemate in LybiaBy Peter Beaumont and Chris McGreal, The Guardian.
It is not the first time western powers are willingly conned into going to war. Remember Curveball? This time, it is the entire revolutionary council of the Lybian revolution + Sarkozy and his consiglieri pseudo philosopher BHL + a would be Thatcherite hoping an impact of the Lybian intervention on his political career similar to what the Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-91300701550044681512011-03-30T00:24:00.000+12:002011-03-30T00:24:33.162+12:00The Syrian Time BombA fairly reasonable assessment of the implications of what is happening in Syria.
By Patrick Seale.Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-60684372922968940792011-03-28T11:43:00.001+12:002011-03-29T04:23:15.934+12:00Turkey's increasing role as a power player in the MEI am all for it.
Turkey is a muslim country and a successful democracy. It has a lot to lose if the whole region will play out like Bahrain and maybe Syria where SA is sowing and encouraging sectarian strife with the benediction of USrael.
At the same time, Arab countries veering for change toward more democracy and reform can learn a lot and better from Turkey.
UPDATE: Turkish PM urges Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-33484319813939735622011-03-27T08:45:00.002+12:002011-04-12T05:25:23.993+12:00Saudi Arabia and the counter revolution in the middle east: Part 1I am no longer optimistic about what is happening in the Arab world. Saudi Arabia, who corrupted most Arab regimes, gave us Bin Laden and Sept. 11th, is leading the counter revolution in the Arab world through a rapprochement with the UAE.
In Bahrain, Lybia, and Yemen, the voices of democratic change have been and are being silenced. And in Syria, where a regime change and more democracy is Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-72986377013311994712011-03-21T05:09:00.004+12:002011-03-21T05:19:07.613+12:00The Arab Spring Is Being HijackedI know that this title seems to be in contradiction with the other below but even if I believe that in the long term the Arab spring will endure, because the West and USrael have shown their hypocrisy to the Arab public more then ever (they are not even trying to hide it), they are trying to hijack the Arab spring and they seem to be succeeding in the short run.
The secretary of the Arab Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-85020961080905871312011-03-15T07:00:00.001+12:002011-03-15T07:00:26.001+12:00The Arab Spring Is Brighter Than EverBrian Whitaker, The Guardian.
Arabs don't talk much about democracy as such, and they tend to be cynical about elections. They do talk increasingly about "freedom", though what they mean by it is not quite what Bush meant. They want freedom from corruption and political cronyism, and the freedom to make their own choices – an end to repression and government attempts to control the minutiae of Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-91668087856325074682011-02-23T09:21:00.006+12:002011-03-01T01:14:30.863+12:00Arab countries' current revolts are Israel's worst fearsWe don't know where the current revolts in the Arab world will lead but some conclusions can already be drawn:
1. There is no going back to dictatorships, even though the road ahead will be difficult and long;
2. Current Arab rulers are wary of the public sentiment against Israel, so they will be inclined, not only to stop cosying up to Israel and the West but also to be belligerent against Sophianoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-60993470603992232902011-02-18T12:06:00.002+12:002011-02-18T12:21:39.992+12:00Sarkozy: A Banana Republic Dictator?At least this is what many are starting to say including Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes.
Because I love France, I must post sometimes on this country's continual demise under the rule of Sarkozy 1er.
Lately, Sarko, as he is known in France, has espoused vigorously and bullishly the case of a French woman imprisoned in Mexico for her contribution to the Mexico based kidnapping business of her Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-89923192239010642852011-02-14T12:07:00.013+12:002011-03-10T14:00:17.049+12:00The grey areas of post 9/11 terrorism: Jihadi who helped 7/7 bombers freed by the USJust in, from the Guardian: Claims Islamist was US informant while assisting London terrorist.
A remark from the sentencing judge that Babar "began co-operating even before his arrest", has raised the possibility, supported by other circumstantial evidence obtained by the Guardian, that he may have been an informant for the US government before his detention by the FBI in April 2004.
Babar Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-40274805533084866782011-02-12T08:28:00.000+12:002011-02-12T08:28:09.038+12:00With Mubarak gone, 'The Age Of Political Reason Is Returning To The Arab World'By Tariq Ali.Sophianoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-79369949549798281272011-02-11T09:17:00.001+12:002011-02-11T12:09:18.590+12:00Sticky MubarakHe won't go.
The US was first to speak of an 'orderly transition'. I want to scream when I hear this word. 'Orderly' like military maybe...Or 'orderly' like giving Mubarak some time to organize his assets...Or 'orderly' like giving USrael some time to think of an Israel friendly alternative...They won't find it. They only have dictators on their side...
Slavoj Zizek: Miracle in Tahrir Sophianoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-32863004191606362202011-02-08T15:39:00.000+12:002011-02-08T15:39:09.931+12:00Wikileaks: Israel is most comfortable with the prospect of Egypt's Suleiman
The cable quoted the adviser to Israel's defense ministry, David Hacham, as saying an Israeli delegation led by Defense Minister Ehud Barak was "shocked by Mubarak's aged appearance and slurred speech," when it met him in Egypt. "Hacham was full of praise for Soliman, however," it said. Suleiman was spelled Soliman in some of the leaked cables.
Hacham added that he sometimes spoke to Suleiman's Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-63295452206704613322011-02-06T07:45:00.002+12:002011-02-06T11:36:41.938+12:00USrael really hearts Arab dictators and torturers-in-chief
Israeli government officials started out urging the Obama administration to back Mr. Mubarak, administration officials said, and were initially angry at Mr. Obama for publicly calling on the Egyptian leader to agree to a transition.
“The Israelis are saying, après Mubarak, le deluge,” said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator. And that, in turn, Mr. Levy said, “gets to the core of Sophianoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-73182940949150111802011-02-04T08:42:00.001+12:002011-02-04T08:54:39.977+12:00Tyrannology: a short guide with Egypt on my mindTyrants come in two major varieties, external and internal, belonging to the same dream hater, blood loving, species.
In today's globalized and monolithically ideological world, external tyrants are few. Usually they are heads of big and powerful economic nations with past and present colonialist aspirations. They usually like to claim that democracy inspires their principles and actions but Sophianoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-80641572848164901832011-02-02T09:37:00.005+12:002011-02-02T14:23:23.448+12:00Mubarak's masters are trying to buy timeIf Mubarak has any dignity left at all, he should resign now and give the power to the people of Egypt. But he is still listening too much to his Israeli and US masters who want an 'orderly transition'.
His speech today promising not to run for reelection in September is simply made to give the US and Israel more time to influence the process.
Dictators who spend their political life Sophianoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-30112092414642800522011-02-01T22:33:00.000+12:002011-02-01T22:33:27.993+12:00Why fear Arab revolutionary spirit?By Slavoj Zizek.
''The inevitable conclusion to be drawn is that the rise of radical Islamism was always the other side of the disappearance of the secular left in Muslim countries.''
And vice versa, I must say. The fact that the Muslim brotherhood concerned itself with policing the private lives and conduct of egyptians while neglecting social justice made this movement and other islamist Sophianoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-68531467006296599452011-01-30T06:26:00.003+12:002011-02-03T02:37:54.029+12:00The Arab World Berlin MomentI am waiting for the dictators to go and for Arabs to regain prosperity, dignity and respect. We were for a long time humiliated by history, by the US, by Israel, by our dictators...
I am proud of my fellow Arabs on the street. Israel and the US, helped by Bin Laden, tried to pin on us the image of terrorists. We are tired of the lies and the arrogance of USrael and our dictators who Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-14117314552941300582011-01-29T08:06:00.001+12:002011-01-29T08:07:39.355+12:00Israeli Minister: ''I am not sure the time is right for the Arab region to go through the democratic process''Zionists really love Arab dictators.Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-14778168262457711702011-01-29T01:22:00.002+12:002011-01-29T01:43:27.258+12:00Lebanon's final revolution?I read this analysis from Nicholas Noe in the Times. Agree with much of it. But the central question raised in the article is: how much is the US willing to go against its own interests in the region in order to please Israel? And the answer in my opinion is: to the point of political suicide.
By Noe's own admission, the New York Times was sensitive to everything concerning Israel in his Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-67167980861769184222011-01-28T11:50:00.000+12:002011-01-28T11:50:00.202+12:00''Dealing With Assange'': The Arrogance Of The TimesThere is arrogance in the way the N Y T portrays Assange and their venture into the world of real news. Instead of dissing on him they should be thankful for having been fed real news for once and not lies as was the case with their star reproter Judith Miller.
The Time, always unapologetic...Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-1705961446567853562011-01-26T03:49:00.012+12:002011-01-28T13:38:38.882+12:00Lebanon: The 'civility', and the ignorance, of March 14th.Every time Lebanon is steered in the direction of USrael it goes in the other direction. This artificial entity that is the Lebanese state is based on two tendencies: pro-western (which is now synonymous of USrael) and anti-western (which is now synonymous of resistance to USrael). The bitter taste US policies have left in the region and in Lebanon has increased anti-western sentiment and Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-37511052440069706902011-01-24T11:49:00.005+12:002011-01-27T14:19:13.965+12:00Farewell to peace in the Middle EastA decade of US sponsored Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are leaked today by Al-Jazeera and The Guardian. The documents will be published over the next few days.
The minutes were recorded by the Palestinian based, UK sponsored, Negotiations Support Unit (NSU).
They show:
- On the Palestinian side: despair, humiliation, and endless concessions.
- On the Israeli side: extreme intransigence, Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-73612912688495712852011-01-13T06:11:00.000+12:002011-01-13T06:11:22.191+12:00The tribunal of discordThe killers of Lebanon, its economy and its population, before, during and after the civil war, were never brought to justice. They were freed and pardoned and elected to parliament in the name of national concord and unity.
From the beginning, the STL was a political instrument and an instrument of discord, because it accepted 'doing justice' to one man, while forgetting the many victims of Sophianoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-26192557897789127752011-01-07T01:56:00.000+12:002011-01-07T01:56:43.220+12:00Wikileaks: Israeli Corruption At Gaza CheckpointsU.S. businesses allege that corruption by Israeli officials at Karni crossing is impeding their access to the Gaza market. As of late May 34 shipments of American goods, amounting to nearly USD 1.9 million dollars, have been waiting three to four months to cross into Gaza. U.S. distributors assert they are being asked to pay "special fees" which amount to as much as 75 times the standard Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-50902919445951651662010-12-31T13:05:00.009+12:002011-01-01T03:56:21.548+12:00Assange: Many Arab Officials Have Close CIA LinksIn his second interview with AlJazeera, Assange, increasingly fearful of a US cabal against him and his organization, is threatening to unveil sensitive information that a careful editing of the cables would normally not unveil, naming Arab leaders with CIA links and Arab countries that operate torture prisons for the CIA.
I think Assange right now is entitled to any means at his disposal to Sophianoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-28681759438721880282010-12-31T07:23:00.001+12:002010-12-31T07:24:33.534+12:00Frost Interviews AssangeThe interview is on AlJazeera English website. It is a good interview. It brings a lot of nuances on the Assange case, nuances the print media weren't able to achieve.
Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-43941365844347481562010-12-29T17:21:00.003+12:002010-12-29T17:25:55.148+12:00Wikileaks\USrael: The US Covered The Mossad In The Abu Dhabi MurderThe Cable from Abu Dhabi requesting information about the identities of the Master Card holders suspected to be implicated in the murder of a Hamas executive.
The refusal of collaboration in the investigation.Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-64001231698877139722010-12-29T16:36:00.000+12:002010-12-29T16:36:31.161+12:00Palestinian prisoners tortured and denied basic rights by IsraelThe Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club say detainees from the occupied West Bank are cut off from the rest of the world in Israeli detention facilities. The report also cited cases of "systematic violence" and torture.
Between 70% and 90% of the detainees in the years 2005 to 2007 were not allowed to meet a lawyer able to provide advice and Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-39978188092757170602010-12-18T11:10:00.004+12:002010-12-21T11:28:53.183+12:00Organ trafficking mafia: The Israeli connectionThree days ago, The Guardian reported on a council of Europe inquiry implicating Kosovo's prime minister and Kosovo's physicians in killing and harvesting Serb prisoners' organs.
Now it appears that the main recipient of these illegal operations is Israel.
The Israeli market for donor livers has been well-documented, and most international trafficking rings have involved wealthy Israeli Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-70507797668604838572010-12-16T04:13:00.001+12:002010-12-16T07:32:42.631+12:00Rabbis Also Make FatwasIn Israel, Rabbis can have opinions about different public and private matters and their opinions are generally followed by faithful Jews. These opinions are edicts and they resemble the fatwas emitted by Muslim clerics. But in general their edicts do not receive a wide press coverage as the western press is generally reluctant to criticize everything that is related to Israel and Jews but Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-63393099483835149332010-12-11T14:24:00.000+12:002010-12-11T14:24:46.624+12:00The EU Will Toughen Up Against IsraelIt is always former heads of states that adopt a tough stance against israel once they leave office. However, this is a group of former heads of EU states asking the union to adopt a consequentialist approach with Israel refusing any future upgrade in Israel-EU relations unless there is a total freeze in settlements.
• Put forward a plan to resolve the conflict, including a clear time frame, Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-48929139752386148842010-12-11T01:27:00.003+12:002010-12-22T10:07:08.763+12:00The Palestinian cause does not need Julian Assange's accuserIt is reported that one of Julian Assange's accuser will be headed to Palestine on behalf of a religious charity to work for peace and reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis.
The Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people have had enough people working on behalf of Palestine's enemies, parading as friends of Palestine, and/or narcissistic people trying to make good publicity for Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-45066659054963736392010-12-08T10:29:00.000+12:002010-12-08T10:29:23.086+12:00Saudi Arabia appears from the leaks as the biggest threat to Mideast security after IsraelEach of the above two countries is preoccupied with its own survival, Saudi Arabia is preoccupied by the survival of its ruling class and Israel is preoccupied by its legitimacy as an expansionist state. Both states have a very poor track record in human rights.
Saudi Arabia is a cash machine for terrorists
Saudi King urged US strike on Iran
Saudis proposed to the US Arab force to invade Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-85642634260477505832010-12-07T02:12:00.001+12:002010-12-07T04:28:47.221+12:00Lebanon Wikileaks Documents Expose Deep Strife And Treason At The Heart Of The Current Lebanese GovernmentThe US cable is one of several that have been published in Beirut by the leftwing al-Akhbar newspaper which has apparently been leaked as part of the WikiLeaks cache obtained by the Guardian, the New York Times and three continental European publications.
Al-Akhbar has highlighted contacts between the March 14 movement led by the current prime minister Saad al-Hariri, the US and the Saudis, Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-77876556308816790572010-11-29T10:21:00.008+12:002010-12-01T12:47:31.223+12:00The Naked Truth: Wikileaks And The USThis is the first installment in many leaks to come for the next 10 days or so...
There is nothing really new in this first installment, for the people who are not blinded by US propaganda and bad western complacent journalism, in the latest leaks from Wikileaks.
Here is a short summary:
1. The Guardian quotes the leaks saying that Arab leaders are urging the US for a strike on Iran. Well Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-92134738930058250872010-10-21T04:46:00.005+12:002010-10-22T07:59:12.296+12:00Judicial Burqa in the trial of Rachel Corrie's killing by Israeli soldiersThe Israeli soldier at the controls of a bulldozer that crushed to death 23-year-old Rachel Corrie in Gaza in March 2003 is due to give evidence tomorrow in the civil lawsuit brought by the American activist's family.
However the judge hearing the case in Haifa has ruled that, for security reasons, the soldier can testify anonymously from behind a screen, denying Cindy and Craig Corrie the Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-8375067853968516562010-10-20T04:23:00.003+12:002010-10-20T04:24:34.275+12:00Saudi prince guilty of servant's murderThe prince then spent hours on the phone to a mysterious contact in Saudi Arabia trying to decide how to cover up what he had done.
Sources said detectives in the case had received little help after requests for information were sent through Interpol to their Saudi colleagues.Saud's lawyers also failed in a last-ditch attempt to stop details of his encounters with male escorts being revealed Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-73541831433401272912010-10-19T01:37:00.002+12:002010-10-19T01:44:52.699+12:00''I cannot come, I do not want to come, and I am not coming''British director Mike Leigh pulls out of Israeli film festival citing Israel's policies, the loyalty oath being the last straw.
Image from Sarah Lee, The Guardian
Other actors , musicians, and performers have pulled out from festivals, venues and performances in Israel recently.Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-26650306773559196482010-10-15T02:59:00.001+12:002010-10-18T14:25:15.265+12:00AhmadiNejad irritates the US but bores Hezbollah supportersAnd rightly so. He is no match to Hezbollah leader Hassan NasrallahSophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-58998876267746505212010-10-12T14:56:00.002+12:002010-10-12T14:58:27.934+12:00Israeli troops deliberately shooting Palestinian children and boysAt least 10 Palestinian children have been shot and wounded by Israeli troops in the past three months while collecting rubble in or near the "buffer zone" created by Israel along the Gaza border, in a low-intensity offensive on the fringes of the blockaded Palestinian territory.
Israeli soldiers are routinely shooting at Gazans well beyond the unmarked boundary of the official 300 metre-wide Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-58304498290348806122010-10-01T23:45:00.000+12:002010-10-01T23:45:59.019+12:00UN report: Israeli killing of US citizen on Mavi Marmara was executionThe report of the fact-finding mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla released last week shows conclusively, for the first time, that US citizen Furkan Dogan and five Turkish citizens were murdered execution-style by Israeli commandos.The report reveals that Dogan, the 19-year-old US citizen of Turkish Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-41906250983252129042010-09-23T11:53:00.000+12:002010-09-23T11:53:27.284+12:00Israel's attack on the Gaza flotilla: Unlawful, brutal, and criminalAccording to a newly released UN report.Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-87783925734609871012010-09-15T05:31:00.001+12:002010-09-15T10:39:07.995+12:00Lebanon, The STL, And The Civil War AmnestyIf the current government of Lebanon wants to go ahead with pressing charges through the STL than for the sake of decency it should follow Peru's example and revokes civil war amnesty. That's the least we should expect from an impartial government and from a non politicized tribunal.
If Peru can do it, we should be able to do it.Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-26273459774456347842010-08-31T16:28:00.005+12:002010-09-01T11:19:07.862+12:00Iraq: A Broken CountryLook at these people, do they seem happy and liberated?
The irony in this picture gallery is that it is published by The New York Times who happily trumpeted the war on Iraq, remember Judy Miller?
You can read here an excellent article from Alain Gresh on Iraq seven years post US invasion.
Also, from Al-Jazeera: The US between two wars.
Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-6298521055270536982010-08-22T12:31:00.000+12:002010-08-22T12:31:32.931+12:00The Most Moral Army In The World?It was a single word scrawled on a wall at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem that unlocked something deep inside Inbar Michelzon, two years after she had completed compulsory military service in the Israeli Defence Force.The word was "occupation"....She cited a routine example of a Palestinian woman waiting at the crossing. Michelzon called her officer, asking permission to allow the woman Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-60294339071061094012010-08-22T11:25:00.002+12:002010-08-22T11:26:41.424+12:00AANS: ''Explosive (not really): Israeli propaganda campaign''The Angry Arab News Service/وكالة أنباء العربي الغاضب: Explosive (not really): Israeli propaganda campaig...: "'Declassified files from a Senate investigation into Israeli-funded covert public relations and lobbying activity in the United States were..."
AANS is for the Angry Arab News ServiceSophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-88637554380628670402010-08-20T09:56:00.004+12:002010-08-20T10:01:55.268+12:00Shut down this tribunalThe latest two developments in the STL, who is assumed to be on the eve of indicting members of Hezbollah in the assassination of Rafik Hariri, add more to the discredit and the numerous political valses that marked the history of this tribunal for the last 4 years.
- Lebanese cabinet asks its minister of justice to investigate false witnesses to the tribunal...And this on the eve of the Sophianoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19435968.post-48107439471390662562010-08-10T13:27:00.013+12:002010-08-11T10:45:14.912+12:00''There are some who spent $500 million in Lebanon to distort the image of Hezbollah*''Hassan Nasrallah provided today substantial circumstantial evidence about a possible role for Israel in the assassination of Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. The evidence is made of confessions by Israeli spies captured by Lebanese authorities, video footage sent by Israeli drones to Israeli operations centers, which Hezbollah intercepted, personal info gathered from Syrian Sophianoreply@blogger.com0