Do foreign journalists often visit National Guard units and ask_to_train? Military officials met Cohen and his crew at the gate. “He was treated like a member of the media and escorted around. He was put in a uniform like he requested to allow him to get a taste of what it was like to be [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Here is very interesting story from Egypt’s Al-Masryoon newspaper on Mohamed Hussaneyn Heikal (for more on his background see this post from mregypt). Basically, Heikal was one of the most important Arab voices of the 1950s and 1960s (close ally of Nasser) and still has a huge following throughout the region. As a sign of his popularity, he has [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: "مع هيكل" على قناة "الجزيرة, Egypt, Heikal, heykal, محمد حسنين هيكل, الوثائق | 3 Comments »
Editor’s Note: Yes, we know that the font’s messed up. Blame wordpress for not allowing a simple copy and paste from a word document. Not Rob. Last year, Syria and Lebanon finally agreed to establish diplomatic ties. The decision was hailed as a political breakthrough, with significant credit given to French President Nicolas Sarkozy for his [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Bashar el Assad, Collette Khoury, Damascus, embassy, Lebanon, Michel Khoury, Sarkozy, Syria, Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Walid Mouallem | 5 Comments »
I want to recommend a good book I’ve been reading called AC/DC Maximum Rock and Roll: The Ultimate Story of the World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band. Overall a good read, even if it occasionally provides more details than necessary about the band’s extracurricular activities. Any band that has a tendency to melt amps with [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Blackstar, Esq, MediaShack’s Legal Analyst, continues her coverage of the Lebanese Special Tribunal. Naharnet and Al Mustaqbal report today that Justice Antonio Cassese, has been appointed presiding judge of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Justice Cassese was the former presiding judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and one of the [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Antonio Cassese, Bert Swart, Daniel Bellemare, Howard Morrison, ICTR, ICTY, Lebanon, special tribunal for Lebanon, William Schabas | 3 Comments »
This is a very good article on Prince Alaweed Bin Talal, a Saudi businessman and a major player on the Saudi, Arab and even global scene. I like this part: He’s not above a little discreet bragging. “I’ll tell you a secret,” he confides to a reporter. “I went to the king almost ten years ago. He [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Alaweed bin talal, Gulf, kingdom, Saudi Arabia | 8 Comments »
According to this story, 134 members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (which really means the most extreme holdouts from Algerian GSPC who don’t understand that the war is over) have turned in their weapons and embraced the national reconciliation process. This came after Hassan Hattab, the group’s founder, issued a statement and set up a website calling [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Al Qaeda Maghreb, Algeria, GSPC, Hattab Hassan | 4 Comments »
A few months ago, Rob and I discussed Russia donating 10 MiG-29 fighter jets to Lebanon (read here and here). The cost of maintenance was back then considered a serious issue for (and probably by) the Lebanese government. As it turns out, so too it was for the Russian government. Russia has apparently failed to [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Algeria, fighter jet, Lebanon, MiG 29, Russia | 2 Comments »
Is there really any question about this? If this contestant does not win American Idol, something is seriously wrong with the American people. I don’t even care if she wins, make a cd, anything, I’ll buy.
Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Yesterday both Blackstar and Abu_Muqawama posted on the UK’s attempt to open up lines of communication with Hezbollah. I don’t think its signifigant and I participated in a long 91 comment discussion at Mr. Muqawama’s site which was quite good until about the last 40 when the whackjobism of a few individuals…… Anyway, speaking of Hezbollah, I [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Hezbollah, Islam, Lebanon, qaradawi, Sadr, Shia | Leave a Comment »
I imagine that many of my fellow constituents of Bethnal Green and Bow, East London woke up quite surprised to find that our local MP, George Galloway, had arrived in Gaza along with $1.5 million in aid to the embattled enclave. ”I have entered Palestine many times but the most emotional of these is after the [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
The Obama administration seems to have ushered in a welcome wind of change (well, for now). The British government this week has announced that it is opening up talks with low-level officials from Hezbollah’s political wing. The UK had cut off all ties with both the military and political wings of the party in 2005, [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Al-Manar, Hamas, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Obama, Roger Cohen | 8 Comments »
1) America’s Finest: Except for Lou_Dobbs, most major American TV stations are mediocre and unserious in their coverage of important news — unless we now consider Tweeter updates as “serious and critical.” There is, however, one huge exception to this trend. Check out this clip and see what I’m talking about. I learned more from this 8 minute clip [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: bombing, Egypt, financial crisis, football, jon Stewart, Lou Dobbs, media, metro, Saudi Arabia | 5 Comments »
Note: This post is the first part in a series explaining why the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which opened its doors on March 1, 2009, was created. Today’s post explains why Rafiq el Hariri was such an important personality on the national, regional and international scenes. Check back in the next few days for a [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Article 49, Bashar Asad, Beirut, Damascus, Hariri, Heiko Schmid, Lahoud, Lahoud extension, Lebanese Constitution, Lebanon, Reconstruction, special tribunal for Lebanon, Syrian mandate, Taef Agreement | 7 Comments »
1) History of Jihadi Forums: I’ve always been skeptical about the significance of Jihadi internet forums, perhaps due to my experience using the Net in the Middle East. Like spending ten minutes waiting for my AOL account to load at one of those Internet Cafes in Cairo that brags about their “High-Speed Internet” and then having [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Al-Qaeda, internet forums, Jihadi, rational, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism, violence | 1 Comment »
Hillary Clinton just gave an interview_with_Al_Arabiya. I still don’t understand the lack of interviews with Al-Jazeera. There’s simply no way of getting around the fact that Al-Jazeera is the top dog in Arabic media. If you want to reach the Arab street and be given any sense of credibility you have to face tough questions [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | 6 Comments »
Son of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is in_Washington: While his father hosted U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Sharm el-Sheikh resort on the tip of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula earlier this week, Gamal Mubarak quietly slipped into Washington for a “private visit,” multiple sources have told Foreign Policy. The younger Mubarak, who is widely [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Timothy Noah contines his eight-part series at Slate. Part III is called ” the_Melting_Pot_Theory” and basically says that one reason for a lack of attacks is that American Muslims have not been as receptive to Al-Qaeda: The relative dearth of Islamist radicalism in the United States is at least as much a function of American demographics [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon opened its doors to the world yesterday. After a tedious investigation which has lasted for the past 4 years, Daniel Bellemare, the last head of the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC) and now Chief Prosecutor of the Tribunal, has moved along with his team to The Hague, where [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: 1757, Bellemare, Brammertz, chapter VII, Hariri, international tribunal, Lebanon, march 14, Mehlis, Rome Statute, special tribunal for Lebanon | 11 Comments »
Al-Quds Al-Arabi is an extremely anti-US foreign policy newspaper and has been 100% against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Therefore, one might expect that they would be happy the US has announced a firm withdrawal date. Not_quite: هذا القرار سيضع عبئا ثقيلا على كاهل الحكومة العراقية، لانها ستكون مسؤولة عن حفظ الامن في مختلف انحاء [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
