PhotoDude.com

I don’t normally watch network TV news, but tonight I just happened to catch about two minutes of Peter Jennings on ABC. And it fully reinforced why I don’t bother with network TV news anymore.

... » Full Article, 1551 words »

It’s not surprising that Ayatollah Khamenei didn’t see it or say it, but in my opinion, it is Iran that is the prime example of Washington’s failed policies in the Middle East, not Iraq.

... » Full Article, 1364 words »

It is a shame that he wasn’t celebrating the 56th anniversary of the establishment of Palestine. He could have been. In my opinion, he should have been.

... » Full Article, 171 words »

Spinning History – The Egyptian ambassador, Nabil Fahmy, has some insights for Americans: ”’If you’re talking about freedoms, the greatest distortion of freedoms in the Middle East is the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands for over 50 years,’ says Fahmy. ’Unless you’re ready to stand up and say ’This occupation must end’ in the same strength and with the same temperament that you say violence on both sides should end, people won’t take you seriously.’”

... » Full Article, 479 words »

The Reality Principle – In “Tit for Tat on the Road Map,” I asked anyone to “Please, point out one shred of hope” in the latest Middle East Mess. It was meant as both a cynical challenge and an honest plea, and it has generated interesting comments.

... » Full Article, 1072 words »

Tit For Tat on the Road Map – I’m not going to add links to this, you can go to your preferred news source(s) and read all about it.

Summary as I see it: With 55 years of varying degrees of warfare and numerous failed attempts at peace preceding him, President Bush went to the Middle East to knock heads together on a “Road Map to Peace” that was given the nod of approval by a large number of nations. Both sides committed to this process.

... » Full Article, 316 words »

Who Opposes Peace? – The next time someone asks why the US hasn’t made more progress in bringing peace and independence to the Palestinian people, here’s a clue to pass on: “Three Palestinian suicide attacks in 11 hours stalled a U.S.-backed Mideast peace initiative…”

... » Full Article, 91 words »

Whither Radical Islam? – (via Dangerousmeta) In light of recent discussions, this article offers an interesting history lesson, starting with the roots of fundamentalist Islam and Wahabbism, and how it might relate to bin Laden and his philosophical bunkies: “If Taymiyya was Osama’s first role model, the second was Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, born in 1703 in Arabia, then a remote, neglected part of the Ottoman Empire. He was steeped in the works of Taymiyya that became religious pillars of back-to-basics Wahhabism. Its creed was that ’innovation’ was a grave sin against Islam. ’Takfir’ was proclaimed, which meant innovators were to be put to death. Wahhab, allied with a local sheikh, Muhammad ibn Saud, fought to restore a strict interpretation of the faith. By the time he died in 1792, Wahhabism had conquered most of central Arabia.”

... » Full Article, 388 words »

Letter from Egypt – P. J. O’Rourke writes to us from Egypt, and tells us about the ”Arab Street”: "When I could bear to peek, I saw traffic copsnot in ones or twos but in committees, set up at intersections and acting with the efficiency and decisiveness usual to committees. And I saw a driving school. What could the instruction be like? ’No, no, Anwar, faster through the stop sign, and make your left from the far-right lane.’ Surely John Kifner, Chris Matthews, and NBC News are kidding when they use ’Arab street’ as a metaphor for anything in the Middle East."

... » Full Article, 303 words »

Iran & Afghanistan & Us – It’s a bit sad that Michael Ledeen is pretty much a journalistic Lone Ranger on the Iran patrol, but he continues to cover their important story. And it’s really two stories, that of the Iranian people, and that of the mullahs that rule them. This one is about the mullahs.

... » Full Article, 312 words »

The Sullen Majority – "Iran is a country with two faces. There are the public face of conformity with Islamic rules and the private face, which as often as not shuns, ignores or even despises those strictures [...] Today, two-thirds of Iran’s 66 million people are under 30. But many members of the generation that was conceived as warriors for the ayatollah are now chafing under his restrictive laws, more interested in checking their e-mail than in dying for Islam."

... » Full Article, 287 words »

Palestinian Photo Bans – We’ve been here before, last September. When Palestinian behavior makes them look really bad, they don’t try to change the behavior, they try to censor the coverage of it: "The Palestinian journalists union declared on Monday that news photographers are ’absolutely forbidden’ from talking pictures of Palestinian children carrying weapons or taking part in activities by militant groups, saying that the pictures harm the Palestinian cause [...] ’We have decided to forbid taking any footage of armed children, because we consider that as a clear violation of the rights of children and for negative effects these pictures have on the Palestinian people.’ "

... » Full Article, 252 words »

Iran’s Ayatollah Invokes Godwin’s Law – Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei has declared ” ’Arrogance has drawn the bullying West into disgrace,’ the official IRNA news agency quoted Khamenei as saying, ’and the president of a country which claims to support human rights and freedom speaks the same language to the people of the world as Hitler used.’ ”

... » Full Article, 121 words »

Marriage at the Chastity House – "Loosely veiled and wearing heavy makeup, young women line the main streets in northern Tehran, looking out for prosperous customers in new cars." It’s perhaps the world’s second oldest profession, and it knows no boundaries other than human nature (”Based on official figures, about 300,000 women are engaged in the sex trade in Iran…”). Some countries accept this, like the Netherlands, and attempt to sanction and regulate the prositution industry. Others treat it as a social disorder.

... » Full Article, 392 words »

Illogic in the News – (via Charles Johnson) The Arab News, that is, courtesy of an article by ”Dr. E.A. Richards”: "As to the 5 American students that died, why weren’t they studying in the United States, at Yale, or Vassar, instead of being in a foreign country in which a genocidal war against Palestine was going on? If those students were, like many other such ’American’ students that go to work, study, live, or join the Israeli army, then they must have known they would be in jeopardy. Those students were in Israeli because their allegiance was to Israel, rather than to the United States, and this allegiance had consequences that should have been foreseen by them or their parents."

... » Full Article, 230 words »

Bombing Schools – Although there probably should be no distinction, yesterday’s attack at Hebrew University seems an escalation in a couple of ways. "More than 80 people were hurt in the lunchtime blast, which tore through one of the few places in Jerusalem where Arabs and Israelis still lived peacefully together after nearly two years of Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

... » Full Article, 212 words »

Middle East Dictatorships – On the quest for regime change in Middle Eastern countries, Nick Denton asks, "But what if democratic capitalism is not an option, and the choice is between thuggish client regimes and popular fundamentalists? If the US is truly going to support the principle of democratic legitimacy, we have to accept the likelihood of popular revolutions, and governments as hostile to the West as was Iran after the fall of the Shah."

... » Full Article, 230 words »

UN Report: Arabs Abandoning Ship – "A United Nations report warns that a majority of older Arab young people want to leave their homelands in favor of the West."

What an absolutely awful opening sentence. First of all, why does it say ”warns”? It almost sounds like the UN thinks Arabs immigrating is a Bad Thing. Secondly, what exactly is an older Arab young person? Well, on to the meat of the story…

... » Full Article, 332 words »