New intifada in Palestine would have political power

Israeli Arab politician Hanin Zoabi has a long history of taking on racism within the Zionist state. She was very impressive during her visit to Australia in 2009. Her latest thoughts are calling for a new Palestinian intifada to rival the Arab Spring (a mass, non-violent movement is already feared by the Zionist state); “I…

This is what passes for “serious” Mid-East commentary in NYT

Columnist Thomas Friedman – whose understanding of the Muslim world involves staying at very expensive hotels and then speaking to the doorman to sense the “Arab street” – writes yet another article that shows how little he gets about the region. Want to speak to people who aren’t just in the elites, Friedman? When I…

Egypt may no longer be Israel’s bitch in Gaza

Looks like Israel may have a slight problem with its client state next door: Former International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who had previously announced his intetions to run for the presidency of Egypt, said Monday that “if Israel attacked Gaza we would declare war against the Zionist regime. In an interview with the…

So much for that grand “coalition” for Libya invasion

Welcome to the world of Western foreign policy; only certain kinds of repression are troubling. Pepe Escobar in Asia Times: You invade Bahrain. We take out Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. This, in short, is the essence of a deal struck between the Barack Obama administration and the House of Saud. Two diplomatic sources at the…

Tahrir tweeting reflects spirit of the times

I recently mentioned a newly released book, Tweets from Tahrir, on the Twitter coverage of Egypt’s revolution. This is a very fast turn-around book and should be welcomed. In terms of insights, in 140 characters, it’s a strong addition that shows the power of social media in times of upheaval (via Mondoweiss): Chapter18 –

Why Israelis can’t just lie back and think of Arab democracy

From a young age, the vast majority of Israeli Jews are taught that Judaism is a superior religion and treating Arabs badly is a necessary price to survive in the Middle East. Hence a nearly 45 year old military occupation of Palestine. Here’s an interesting perspective from Eyal Press: Shortly after the democratic uprising began…

Serbia 1999 vs Libya 2011

Leading Australian academic Scott Burchill has some thoughts about Libya: 1. Military intervention like this can make the humanitarian crisis worse, as it did in Serbia in 1999. Milosevich’s attacks on Kosovars only escalated after NATO’s bombing campaign begun. So even though the West controls the skies over Libya, expect ground attacks by Gaddafi loyalists…

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