Monthly Archives: April 2011

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Leaving The Sinking Ship

Alhayat is reporting that the political leadership of Hamas will be leaving Damascus for Doha.

If confirmed, this is big news. One of the Syrian regime’s strength was its ability to gain regional leverage by exporting instability. Harboring the political leadership of Hamas in Damascus meant that no peace with the Palestinians can happen without Assad’s approval.

The fact that Qatar is the next home of Khaled Meshaal is also testimony to Qatar’s regional ambitions. The tiny emirate has been playing a very high stakes game in the region and is actively growing its influence using aggressive diplomacy. The Hamas politbureau is only the latest addition to its growing repertoire of key trump cards..

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Al-Akhbar Censors Too

Ass’ad Abu Khalil (a.k.a Angry Arab), November, 01, 2010:

Al-Akhbar has become a newspaper phenomenon in Lebanon, and beyond that in the Arab world at large. [...] Something unusual in a country where the newspaper is the function and product of a strong-willed publisher and his whims. Its other formula is the ability to challenge taboos of all kind. I know that the paper has been critical of some of those who fund it. This is most unusual.

Ass’ad Abu Khalil, April 29, 2011 (today):

This is my weekly article in Al-Akhbar which won’t be published in Al-Akhbar this Saturday. It is titled: “The Ba`th Party: The process of long death“

The Arab Spring of broken hearts..

Update: Al-Akhbar apologized, and wrote that it “felt compelled” to prevent the article from being published..

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How The Syrian Dissidents Are Organizing Themselves

Robert Fisk:

The Independent can reveal that a system of committees has been set up across the cities of Syria, usually comprising only 10 or 12 friends who have known and trusted each other for years. Each of them enlists 10 of their own friends – and they persuade 10 more each – to furnish information and pictures. Many were put in touch with each other via the cyber kings of Beirut – many of them also Syrian – and thus “circles of trust” have spread at the cost of the secret police snooping that has been part of Syrian life for four decades.

Sounds like an offline version of Facebook. I wonder what kind of Lebanese support the “Cyber kings of Beirut” are getting. They are uploading Youtube videos as they get them, but at the connection speeds we have in Lebanon, this seems like torture, unless they have access to fancy internet connections which they cannot possibly get without a proper paper trail.

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The Shame Of Tahrir Square

It’s a pity that at such a glorious time and place something like this happened:

[Reporter Sarah Logan] was ripped away from her producer and bodyguard by a group of men who tore at her clothes and groped and beat her body. “For an extended period of time, they raped me with their hands,” Ms. Logan said in an interview with The New York Times. She estimated that the attack involved 200 to 300 men.

Now wait for the ignorants to blame her for what happened.

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Syria Vs. Libya

Many people are asking why Gaddafi is being bombed and Assad is spared. If you’re the kind who fancies bullet-point comparisons, check out this Guardian feature on how the two countries compare.

If you prefer a paragraph explanation, check out The Economist’s take:

If the West deems it right to bomb Libya in an effort to force the murderous Muammar Qaddafi from power, why not do the same to Syria? The answer is entirely pragmatic. Most Libyans inhabit a thin coastal strip connected by one big road that can be policed from the air; Syria’s geography is complex. Moreover, Colonel Qaddafi is far more isolated and derided by his fellow Arabs than Mr Assad is. The Arab League, the UN Security Council and countless Libyans have all endorsed the Western assault on Libya. No such constellation has come together over Syria, and it is unthinkable at present for Western leaders to intervene militarily in the face of widespread local objections.

Plus of course, Syria has no Oil to pay for the air strikes..

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Our “Hijacked” Foreign Policy

Our Foreign Minister is playing by two different playbooks:

[MP Atef] Majdalani said that when politicians recently demanded that [Minister] Shami summon Syria’s ambassador to Lebanon [...] after the diplomat called for launching legal proceedings against a Future bloc MP, Shami said such a move required a Cabinet decision. However, Shami acted on the Security Council vote without consulting the Cabinet

Imagine how mad Mr. Berri would be if the Minister of Finance (Future Movement) acted in the same way and released funds only to March 14 projects and causes..