The Nomad and the Olive Branch

1. Commentary on the Fisk Interview One of my most favorite journalists, out of all journalists, is Britian's Robert Fisk , who literally lives in Lebanon, and has been there during not only the Lebanese Civil War back in the 80's, but also during the first Qana massacre (see post below) and beyond. He's been writing articles for The Independent , one of Britian's leading newspapers, along with articles on other think-tanks like Counterpunch . In the words of one blogger, he is definitely "bloody brilliant". He also wrote a book, called "Pity the Nation", which is a very comprehensive account of the Lebanese Civil War and his experiences in Lebanon during that time. Asharq Al Awsat recently conducted an interview with Robert Fisk. What's surprising is that he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the AUB just a few days before the Israeli invasion. Anyways, let's get to the interview itself. The first part concerned Fisk's role as a jou...

I woke up yesterday only to receive a breaking news message from Al Arabiya on my mobile. I was shocked at what I read: Arabiya:BRK: At least 40 people have been killed or wounded in Israeli air strikes on buildings in Qana , south Lebanon, police sources say. That alone just made me half-faint. Then I heard my mom from the living room, who asked me, "Did you see what happened this morning?" "No, I didn't, but I know what it was," was my reply. I went over to see the most gruesome images on Al Jazeera. This, by far, had to be Israel's bloodiest strike since this "war" started: dead bodies all over, houses completely demolished, livelihoods lost, people made homeless, entire families wiped out... What else could go wrong? For one thing, we can be sure that the new Israeli "Defense" Minister, Amir Peretz (who's originally Moroccan, but for shame, he cares not about his fellow Arabs) can wear the label of "war criminal". For a...

Normally, I wouldn't devote enough time for this issue, but what we are witnessing these days is definitely the crux of Israeli aggression, backed by American imperialism, in order to carve a new hole out of the Middle East, thus paving the way for proponents of the "New" or "Greater Middle East" that Condi Rice talked about earlier during the past two weeks. It is sad that many people have been desensitized to feel for the Lebanese and Palestinians suffering from the double-edged Israeli onslaught, all for the sake of a few captured Israeli soldiers. Guess Arab lives aren't worth much as Jewish lives. But let's get to the point. The moment that Rice talked about those "birth pangs", the moment I knew she and her neoconservative clientele in Israel were up to no good at all, trying to make something positive out of something completely negative. That phrase is very misleading: it is meant to downplay the death and destruction that has befallen ...

...who gets to define who the terrorist is in the Lebanese-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli conflicts? We'll consider at most the first one. What we're witnessing these days is both groups attacking each other and each other's cities and towns, with the Lebanese side more damaged in the process, and more civilians dead. All we hear is posh-talk about Syria and Iran being involved, and that they supply the weapons to Hizbullah, even though a large bulk of weaponry supplied to Israel comes from the United States . What we're witnessing is testimony to the American government's blind, unwavering support of Israel just for its own interests. Israel, to the American government, is a satellite nation: it has no other purpose than to serve for America's interests in the MidEast; in return, it is supported blindly by the U.S., even though it remains a leech, sucking at the U.S. Federal Reserve. But let's cut the support aside and focus on the 2 sides actually duking ...

It's everywhere: Israeli propaganda has done an excellent job at concealing the truth behind Israel's motives in Lebanon. Whatever it is, many players of this propaganda machine that is defending every Israeli action, from the most unjust (and therefore indefensible) to the seemingly "just". However, despite the huge number of proof denouncing Hasbara and other similar propaganda outlets, I will focus on a small sample. Yonit Farago, a TimesOnline journalist in Jerusalem, published a report on how Israeli propagandists have taken to the net in order to supposedly "balance" the views on the conflict. He wrote, Israel’s Government has thrown its weight behind efforts by supporters to counter what it believes to be negative bias and a tide of pro-Arab propaganda. The Foreign Ministry has ordered trainee diplomats to track websites and chatrooms so that networks of US and European groups with hundreds of thousands of Jewish activists can place supportive mess...

It's being set aside every time people talk about it, and has been a source of debate for quite a while right now, considering the many viewpoints arising from the situation on the Arab world. The issue I speak of is reform, and this is just a base of the Egyptian issue that I talked about yesterday. It's a pressing issue, and has been called for by both Arabs and Westerners alike; however, both call for forms of reform which differ drastically in many aspects, especially on how to carry out reform at its core. The disagreement, as put by Al Jazeera , is on the question of how to reform Arab political, social and economical infrastructure, which itself will prove a difficult task. Let's consider the Western initiative to reform. Most Westerners advocate that interventionism is the answer, meaning that the U.S., the U.K., and the E.U. should draft reform planning and implement it by force with almost no other alternatives. Although there are other "moderate" alter...

This is just a little update to my previous posts on Gaza's situation. This is a pretty good analysis of how the I"D"F exploits the situation in order to maximize confusion and shock value, while also stoking divisions between Palestinians. Excellent article by an excellent journalist, I might add, as he raises excellent points. Salaam, from Saracen

And we're back again to Africa, this time focusing on the Arab Republic of Egypt. Egypt is a wonderful tourist destination with respect to archaeology and vacationing. It's got the pyramids, the Sphinx, the Temple at Luxor, and tourist places like Alexandria, Sharm El Sheikh and the capital, Cairo. However, just when Egyptians thought that the elections were a promising sight, think again. One of the running parties, the Muslim Brotherhood, achieved popularity during the campaigning phase of the elections, but that wasn't going to be possible, and other parties had no chance of winning; this, of course, meant that the elections were mired with fraud. The Telegraph published a story about this issue. It was claimed by many politicians, including the liberal party leader Ayman Nour, that the elections were not fair in the sense that campaigning posters for people other than Mubarak were forbidden from being shown in villages and polling stations. Moreover, police prevented m...

Iraq has seen the worst case of civil disunity ever since the abrupt end of the tensions between Northern Ireland's Catholic and Protestant communities, as well as the disbanding of the IRA. However, things are looking much more murkier, and no end seems to be in sight. What I mention is of the latest proposal by the Iraqi puppet government under PPM (prime puppet minister) Maliki. You know, for a while, I had confidence in him ever since he claimed that he would launch an investigation into the Haditha killings and has himself said that he is tired of Coalition excuses for murdering innocent civilians, as per Al Jazeera's report on the issue. However, I lost confidence when Maliki met Bush after the death of Zarqawi, and was assured that they would crush all "terrorists" and "insurgents", according to the San Francisco Chronicle . He struck me as another Jaafari, a Shi'ite who has much militia backup and cares about serving himself and his sect over ot...

The nation of Canada was surprised with a raid that produced several "terror" suspects who were going to bomb a place in downtown Toronto, Ontario. After the recent court issuing, etc., debates have since flared all over, with issues of religion and politics being brought into focus as Canada looks like it might enter the world political sphere proper. It's strange, though: Canada has a reputation for its tolerant society and an air of multiculturalism, with people hailing from all over the world. Canada's society is more like a cultural mosaic than a cultural "melting pot", where immigrants are forced to abide by the nation's values and incorporate them into their traditions (i.e. being forced to live the nation's culture instead of their own). However, the issue here is whether the Canadians were being too acceptive or not. The rightwing pundits in U.S. media glorified themselves in criticizing Canada for its liberal laws, allowing more immigration...