Power And Torture

A real disturbing clip about a serious torture case from Abu Dhabi....

Oh, The Chutzpah

This morning, Reuters is reporting that the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying that he and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman had decided to recall Ambassador Ilan Elgar from Berne "for consultations and in protest at the conference in Geneva". The conference in subject is a UN gathering planned to discuss global issues of racism.

Once again, many countries are, rightfully IMHO, trying to equate Zionism with Racism. The US as expected, is boycotting the conference on orders from AIPAC on the hill.

And now, we have Netanyahu, the prime minister who said that Israel should have gone all the way in Gaza, apparently over 1,000 civilian deaths were not enough for him, and Lieberman who openly advocates mass transfer of Palestinians from their '48 lands protesting the gathering..

oh, while we're at it, war is peace and ignorance is bliss...

Murders In Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Six gay men were shot dead by members of their tribe in two separate incidents in the past 10 days, an official with Iraq's Interior ministry said.

In the most recent attack, two men were killed Thursday in Sadr City area of Baghdad after they were disowned by relatives, the official said.

The shootings came after a tribal meeting was held and the members decided to go after the victims.

On March 26, four additional men were fatally shot in the same city, the official said, adding that the victims had also been disowned by their relatives.

The official declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Witnesses told CNN that a Sadr City cafe, which was a popular gathering spot for gays, was also set on fire.

Skokie, Palestine

There was rioting in the Palestinian town of Umm El Fahm in Israel yesterday due to a planned march by an ultra nationalist Israeli group who insisted on parading the middle of town. The Israeli high court gave permission to the highly controversial request, but police had postponed it several times, fearing violence.



Reading that, I was reminded of a similar incident that happened in the town of Skokie, a suburb of Chicago IL back in 1977. The National Socialist Party of America (a Neo-Nazi group) planned a march in the middle of town which had a largely Jewish community including many Holocaust survivors.

sad, no?

Defending Bashir

I was laying in bed this morning listening to RMC-Doualiya the popular NPR- like station based in Paris and covering the entire Arab world. The program was called Oxygen and consisted of a blend of popular pop songs along with call-ins by listeners to discuss current events.

While the host of the show was trying to suggest various topics of conversations, caller after caller seemed intent on discussing one issue and one issue only; that of the warrant of arrest against Omar Bashir, the president of Sudan.

What was interesting and scary is that none of the callers believed Bashir to be guilty and there was a unanimous belief that the whole thing was nothing more than a US (read Zionist) led conspiracy to go, not only after Bashir, but after every Arab leader in the region. One woman even suggested that the UN passes laws protecting all presidents from prosecution.

While the host of the show tried to raise some questions regarding Bashir's own flaws, that didn't seem to change the opinions of the callers. Just like in the days before we took down Saddam in Iraq, at least on the popular front, there was once again, the sentiment that by going after the leader, you are going after the country. The two are simply the same.

If there is anything that Arab leaders were successful at, this was it..

Protecting The Homeland?

Gay Protest In Beirut

In response to recent police brutality incidents, HELEM, the Lebanese LGBT organization organized a demonstration in Beirut yesterday...

this is the first ever protest of this kind in the region....

Check out the video: