Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

View from my Hamra Hotel Window

Impressive

Courtesy of Jess Devaney

• Fareed Zakaria: Build the Ground Zero Mosque - Newsweek

  "Ever since 9/11, liberals and conservatives have agreed that the lasting solution to the problem of Islamic terror is to prevail in the battle of ideas and to discredit radical Islam, the ideology that motivates young men to kill and be killed. Victory in the war on terror will be won when a moderate, mainstream version of Islam—one that is compatible with modernity—fully triumphs over the world view of Osama bin Laden." Five years ago, the ADL honored me with its Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize. I was thrilled to get the award from an organization that I had long admired. But I cannot in good conscience keep it anymore. I have returned both the handsome plaque and the $10,000 honorarium that came with it. I urge the ADL to reverse its decision. Admitting an error is a small price to pay to regain a reputation.

• Settlers Assault A Palestinian Woman In Hebron - International Middle East Media Center

  " A group of settlers assaulted a Palestinian woman in Al-Buweira area east of Hebron in the southern West Bank Friday morning. Suzan Sultan 51, was moved by local to the nearest medical clinic for treatment as she was suffering bruises in different parts of her body and head."

• Five comments on the Israel-Lebanon border clash and what it means by Daniel Levy - The Middle East Channel

  "The Syrian and Lebanese tracks, de-occupation and rights for the Palestinians, recognition and final borders for Israel, the broader Arab Peace Initiative, diplomatic efforts with Iran, and even relations with Turkey are all linked. It is time for a policy that recognizes that and wraps its head around an inclusive new approach to building an architecture for regional stability and security. "

• ADL: If mosque-builders really wanted to promote reconcilation, they'd move - The Plum Line

  "This goes considerably further than ADL's initial statement, which didn't question the motives behind the center. In other words, this is no longer just about the feelings of those still wounded by 9/11, as ADL initially claimed. With this response, ADL has strayed even further from its own stated mission. After all, the group says its "ultimate purpose" is to "put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens." And in his letter to Zakaria, Foxman says ADL will continue to stand up for Muslims who are the targets of "racism and bigotry.""

• David Ignatius - Obama offers Iran an opening on engagement - Washington Post

  ""It is very important to put before the Iranians a clear set of steps that we would consider sufficient to show that they are not pursuing nuclear weapons," Obama said, adding: "They should know what they can say 'yes' to." As in the past, he left open the possibility that the United States would accept a deal that allows Iran to maintain its civilian nuclear program, so long as Iran provides "confidence-building measures" to verify that it is not building a bomb. "

• Oil Spill Fashion Photoshoot From Vogue Italia - Refinery29

  "There's no denying that these images from the oil spill editorial in Vogue Italia's August 2010 issue are beautiful. The 24 pages of Kristen McMenamy, shot by Steven Meisel, are realistic interpretations of images of injured, oiled animals that have inundated the news media since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April. As beautiful and provocative as they are, we can't help but feel uneasy. Creating beauty and glamour out of tragedy seems quite fucked up to us, not to mention wasteful and hypocritical, seeing as thousands of dollars of luxury clothing was flown in, and then subsequently ruined for the shoot. Glamorizing this recent ecological and social disaster for the sake of "fashion" reduces the tragic event to nothing more than attention-grabbing newsstand fodder. But that's just us. Do you think this is appropriate commentary, or just tasteless? "

• Fareed Zakaria - The fantasy of an Iranian revolution

  "I have been deeply supportive of Iran's Green Movement. I wrote about it, highlighted it on television and showcased its advocates. But I do not think it was likely to overthrow the Iranian regime. To believe that, one has to believe the government in Tehran is deeply unpopular with a majority of Iranians, holds onto power through military force alone and is thus vulnerable to a movement that could mobilize the vast majority in Iran who despise it. None of this is entirely true. "

  "Ironically, those hoping to liberate Iranians are the same people urging punitive sanctions and even military force against Iran. Do they think that when the bombs hit, those who wear green will be spared?"

• Jerusalem revives plan to raze Palestinian homes

  How sweet, Israel "consulted" with the Palestinian residents whose houses they are going to destroy to find how they can "better their lives." Perhaps, they should not destroy their homes, that would help. "A Jerusalem planning body on Monday approved a plan to raze 22 Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem to make room for an Israeli tourist center, a decision that could raise tensions in the divided city and deepen the conflict with the Obama adminstration. "Now, after fine-tuning the plan and seeking more cooperation with the residents as far as their needs and improving the quality of their lives, the municipality is ready to submit the plans for the first stage of approval," said Barkat's spokesman, Stephan Miller, before the city's planning commission agreed to the plan. "

• Rahm Emanuel expected to quit White House - Telegraph

  "Washington insiders say he will quit within six to eight months in frustration at their unwillingness to "bang heads together" to get policy pushed through. Mr Emanuel, 50, enjoys a good working relationship with Mr Obama but they are understood to have reached an understanding that differences over style mean he will serve only half the full four-year term. "

• Israel warns Lebanon aid ships - Al Jazeera English

  "A group of Lebanese women activists joined by Europeans and journalists are planning to sail for Gaza in the latest bid to break Israel's blockade of the coastal enclave." Just one more attempt to break the inhumane and injust blockade of Gaza. Momentum is building and Israel is on the wrong side of justice and history

• Poll: Most Palestinians want peace with Israel - Haaretz
  

  "Fafo, a Norwegian based international multidisciplinary research foundation, found that 73 percent of Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza were in favor of peace negotiations with Israel, but stressed that a settlement freeze should be a precondition to talks. The poll also revealed a rise in Palestinian support for halting rocket attacks from Gaza against Israel, rising from 53 percent in favor of a halt in 2009 to 61 percent in 2010. "

• Non-violence is not a principle, it is a tactic

  "“The point is that even if they were – while terribly difficult – the passengers could have resisted nonviolently by refusing to comply with the soldiers’ demands without making any attempt to injure them,” is ridiculous. When someone is shooting at you and your friends, you must disarm them, and probably use violence to do so. If you can’t disarm them, you must use violence to stop them from shooting, one way or another. The demand a bullet entering your skull makes on you is for you to die, and if there is a way to “refuse to comply” with that demand, Taylor and Nagler should fess up quick."

• In the Face of Overwhelming Odds - P U L S E

  "Which recent siege-busting ship was more visible, the Mavi Marmara or the Rachel Corrie? The unarmed activists on the Mavi Marmara quite correctly and lawfully resisted the piratical hijacking by Israeli forces in international waters. (Does anyone remember the heroes of United Airlines Flight 93?) On the Mavi Marmara, nine activists were murdered. Their sacrifice was not in vain – in the following days Israeli criminality was exposed as never before, and even the White House and Downing Street were enabled to make anti-siege noises. The passengers on the Rachel Corrie, on the other hand, announced in advance that they would not resist. As a result, only keen observers noticed the ship at all. (Readers of Ha’aretz may remember a photograph of a middle-aged European lady smiling as a gallant stormtrooper helped her disembark in Ashdod.) Unwittingly, the ‘non-violent’ activists (whose commitment I salute) handed Israel ammunition for its propaganda – ‘when civilised, peaceful activists arrive we deal with them peacefully. When mad Islamist Turks attack us with sticks, we have no choice but to shoot them many times at close range in the back of the head.’"

• Does Israel suffer from 'Iranophobia'? - CSMonitor.com

  "Menashri says the analogy is a mistake. “Because if Ahmadinejad is Hitler, if Nasser was Hitler, Saddam was Hitler, Arafat was Hitler – what can I tell my children about the unique character of the Holocaust? If I want to keep the memory, I am downgrading the historical significance of the Holocaust by repeating that every crazy thing is Hitler.”"

Peace not wanted
By Gideon Levy
Haaretz

Israel does not want peace with Syria. Let's take off all the masks we've been hiding behind and tell the truth for a change. Let's admit that there's no formula that suits us, except the ludicrous "peace for peace." Let's admit it to ourselves, at least, that we do not want to leave the Golan Heights, no matter what. Forget about all the palaver, all the mediations, all the efforts.

Let's face it, we don't want peace, we want to run wild, to paraphrase an Israeli pop song from the '70s. Don't bother us with new Syrian proposals, like the one published in Haaretz this week that calls for a phased withdrawal and peace in stages; don't pester us with talk about peace as a way to break up the dangerous link between Syria and Iran; don't tell us peace with Syria is the key to forging peace with Lebanon and weakening Hezbollah. Turkey isn't an "honest" broker, the Syrians are part of the axis of evil, all is quiet on the Golan - you know how much we love the place, its mineral waters, its wines - so who needs all the commotion of demonstrations and evacuating settlements, just for peace?

It's not only the current extreme right-wing government that doesn't want this whole headache, and it wasn't only all of its predecessors - some of which were on the very brink of withdrawing from the Golan and only at the last moment, the very last moment, changed their minds. It's all the Israelis - the minority that is really against it and the majority that doesn't give a damn. They'd rather pretend not to hear the encouraging sounds coming out of Damascus in recent months and not even try to put them to the test.

Everyone would rather wave the menacing picture of Bashar Assad alongside Hassan Nasrallah and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, his partners in the axis of evil, with the hummus and the bulgur. That on its own should have made Israel try 10 times harder to make peace. But in Israeli eyes, the picture of the banquet, as one Israeli paper termed the "modest meal," is worth more than a thousand words. After that, do you really expect us to give up the Golan? Don't make us laugh. We'll make peace with Micronesia, not Syria.

When the Syrians talk peace, it is all "empty words," "deception" and a wily way of getting closer to the United States. But when Assad poses with the president of Iran, that's the truth, that's Syria's real face. Even when he merely says, on the same occasion, that Syria must prepare for an Israeli attack, he is immediately accused of "threatening" Israel.

Do you want proof that we really don't want peace with Syria? Well, there has not yet been one Israeli prime minister who has said that we do. Because, after all, the order would have to be the opposite of the usual Israeli haggling. A prime minister who really wanted to achieve peace would have to say one terribly simple thing: We undertake in advance - yes, in advance - to hand back the entire Golan in exchange for a full peace. But no, not one prime minister has declared readiness to leave the Golan - right up to the last grain of sand, as we did in Sinai - in exchange for a peace like that which we have with Egypt.

Why on earth do we always have to hold onto this card so it can be played last? And what kind of a card is it, anyway? What kind of end does it ensure? After all, if the Syrian reply is negative, nobody will make us leave the Golan Heights. And what if the reply is positive? Why not start off with a promising, invigorating declaration, one that will give the Syrians hope and thereby at least put their intentions to the test.

But we are not the only ones who don't want peace. The United States has turned out to be a true friend that extricates us from every briar patch. It doesn't want peace enough either, praise the Lord. It's a fact: Washington is applying no pressure. Here's another marvelous pretext for doing nothing - America isn't pressing us and the redeemer will come to Zion, in the words of the prophet Isaiah. Yet we are the ones who have to stay in the dangerous and menacing Middle East, not the Americans; we should be more interested than anyone in preventing another war in the north, in creating a new relationship with Syria and then with Lebanon, and in weakening Iranian influence; in trying to integrate, at last. An Israeli interest, no? And what do we do to advance it? Half of nothing.

So what is there left to do? At least admit the truth: We do not want peace with Syria. That's all there is to it.

Below are a number of sources that I compiled this week asI found them thought-provoking, interesting, alarming or just downright scary (see video).

John Mueller, a professor of political science at Ohio State University published a piece entitled "The Rise of Nuclear Alarmism" in Foreign Policy. His thesis:

The only real effect of nuclear weapons is humanity's unhealthy obsession with them, a preoccupation that has inspired some seriously bad policy decisions.

While I am certainly not an expert on anything nuclear related, he makes some convincing (and some not too convincing) arguments about the hysteria surrounding nuclear weapons. In an apt comparison, he mentions the hysteria in the 1960s when China was acquiring nuclear weapons, and the United States believed China would use the bomb to blackmail its enemies. Rather, China acquired the bomb, and kept it quietly hidden away, much as the US and Soviet Union had done (with a few exceptions). He does not make the exact comparison, but I think this will apply to Iran as well should it acquire the bomb.

The article can be found here.

The second article is a blog post from Al Jazeera correspondent Jacky Rowland. Writing in a very personal style, she examines continued Israeli efforts to change the demographic makeup of East Jerusalem by driving out Palestinians, demolishing their homes and destroying their very way of life. The post can be found here.

The third article, also addressing US political options with Iran is an article by the eminent political scientist Steve Walt. In this article, he examines the arguments made by neocon Eliot Cohen, who says the only choice in Iran is this: either Israel bombs Iran or the United States does. The second op-ed examined comes from the NYT and is written by Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett. This op-ed calls for robust diplomatic options with Iran, as everyone knows the military option will not work with Iran. Overall, an interesting analysis. It can be found here.

Finally, a rather frightening piece found on YouTube, courtesy of my Arabic professor. It is a six second clip of a Star Trek episode, with a guest appearance by a certain Middle East figure. I won't tell you who it is, but I'll give you a hint (He is currently king of Jordan). Enjoy.

Below is a rather entertaining and controversial music video by Lebanese goddess Haifa Wehbe. Allegedly, this is her equivalent of a music video bedtime story... I personally wonder what parent would let their child watch this video, but that's another story, and it certainly shows less skin than her previous "Boss al-wawa".

Some people have accused Haifa of racism, as the child refers to a Nubian monkey in the video (in reference to a toy or something).

Enjoy.

Very well-informed and interesting interview with Theodore Kattouf, the former US ambassador to Syria and the United Arab Emirates, on US-Syria relations and possibilities for progress in the future.

The interview can be found here.

Below is a well-written article from Al-Jazeera English on Syria's strategic political maneuvering as it has shifted and changed its alliances and the balance of power in the region over the years.

Worth the read

The original article can be found here.

Excerpts:

Syrian foreign policy has been based on two pivotal principles: first, that there are no permanent enemies and no permanent friends; and second, that every situation can and will be used as leverage that will serve national interests and ensure the survivability of the regime.

Immediately after the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, Washington considered implementing regime change in Damascus as part of the Bush administration's policy of pre-emption.

Damascus observed with alarm as US officials alleged that Iraq's "nuclear material" was hidden on Syrian territory and the rhetoric against Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, became more venomous.

Realising that its survival was at stake, Syria - in tandem with Iran - supported the insurgency in Iraq despite US sabre-rattling.

Below is a link to a recent photo journalist's website which I stumbled upon from a friend's link. His work is absolutely breathtaking and I recommend exploring the different sectors of the website.

The website can be found here.

Below are a few examples:

Overhead shot of Baghdad

Aftermath of the Lebanon War 2006