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:

The Medium Is The Message

Obama's "first official" interview on Al Arabiya struck all the right notes, but too bad it happened on the wrong station. Obama's aides should know better that, just like in the US, the medium is the message. Al Arabiya, a Saudi funded network out of Dubai, is regionally perceived as being too pro-America and pretty much in support of established regimes and monarchies. As such, despite their very strong penetration in Arab markets, their audience is rather small and falls behind many other networks such as LBC, Future, and the notorious Al Jazeera.

And speaking of Al Jazeera.. love it or hate it, it is by far the leading network in the regions, and thru its English outlet (AJE), rapidly becoming a leading news organization worldwide. Our enemies and foes realize that and that is why they go out of their way to ensure that their messages are somehow carried there. Even the Israelis, who have long resisted dealing with AJE have finally realized that it is the network of choice to speak to the Arab Street/Muslim World.

Knowing Obama, I know this won't be his last interview for that region.. let's just hope that better planning and media realities are taken into consideration next time.

Let me suggest a sit down with Sir David Frost or Riz Khan...

Image Of A "Terrorist"

According to Israel

What? Did We Run Out Of Shoes??

While Bush himself didn't fare nearly as well, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice raked in at least $316,000 in gem-encrusted baubles from the kings of Jordan and Saudi Arabia alone, making her one of top recipients among U.S. officials of gifts from foreign heads of state and government and their aides in 2007.

In January, Jordan's King Abdullah II gave Rice an emerald and diamond necklace, ring, bracelet and earrings estimated to be worth $147,000, according to the State Department's annual inventory of such items released Monday just in time for Christmas.

The king and his wife, Queen Rania, also gave Rice a less expensive necklace and earrings along with a jewelry box valued at $4,630, the document shows.

Not to be outdone, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia presented Rice with a ruby and diamond necklace with matching earrings, bracelet and ring worth $165,000 in July. The inventory also includes a $170,000 flower petal motif necklace the Saudi monarch gave to Rice in 2005, which the department says was not previously disclosed.

Meanwhile, back in Gaza....

Friends Of The Clintons

I know the elections are behind us.. but this is too delicious to pass..

The Clinton Foundation has finally released their list of contributors, and here are some of the more interesting findings:

- Blackwater, the mercenary group in Iraq (and other places) donated upwards of $25K to the Foundation

- The Saudi government also donated $25K, but private contributions from other Saudi individuals and corporations come closer to $500K

- Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei and Oman gave $1 million to $5 million each.

- Saudi businessman Nasser Al-Rashid gave $1 million to $5 million.

- Friends of Saudi Arabia and the Dubai Foundation each gave $1 million to $5 million

- Harold Snyder, director for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the largest drug company in Israel. His son, Jay T. Snyder, serves on the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, which oversees State Department activities, and served as a senior U.S. adviser to the United Nations, where he worked on international trade and poverty. Jay Snyder donated between $100,000 and $250,000 to the foundation.

- Issam Fares, a former deputy prime minister of Lebanon, donated close to $100,000

- TV producer Haim Saban and his family foundation, who donated between $5 million and $10 million, splits his time between homes in Israel and California. "I'm a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel," he told The New York Times in 2004.

- Slim-Fast diet foods tycoon S. Daniel Abraham, a donor of between $1 million and $5 million, has been a board member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which promotes Israel's interests before the U.S. government. (I'm so ready to give up on my diet now)

and many more.. for a complete list, go to: http://www.clintonfoundation.org/contributors

Now, keep in mind that most of the money goes to charity, particularly the fight against AIDS, famine and poverty... while some goes towards the Clinton library in Arkansas..

Still, you have to wonder, what favors did the Clintons have to provide in return? and now that Hillary is about to head the state department, how are these revelations going to affect policy?

What assurances do we have that there will be a complete separation between the work of the foundation, Bill, and Hillary?

Shoes Of The Season

I just love the way how US media outlets, in their coverage of the shoe incident, have to explain (in a very National Geographic tone) that throwing shoes at someone is considered a form of insult in the Arab world.

Really? Why? Is throwing shoes at somebody in the US considered a term of endearment?