“Unknown members of the hacker collective “Anonymous” reportedly broke into the private email account of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad this week and learned that the embattled dictator is not one much for electronic security. That’s because he picked the second-weakest password around: “12345,” according to documents published by Israeli news magazine Haaretz. Security researchers say the only password........."
Password: 12345. Now WTF kind of police state is that? Syria is a police state, but that is a mark of a stupid police state (come to think of it, police states are always stupid in the long run). Speaking of Arab police states (almost ALL Arab states are police states, with perhaps two ‘possible’ exceptions): I used to opine that Syria is a police state that feels and looks like one and that Jordan is a police state...........<< MORE >>

Senator John McCain, true to the rootin’ tootin’ shootin’ angry form, is calling for the United States to arm and aid the Syrian opposition. He’d rather the US and NATO joined the fray. He and his dog of war pals Lieberman (Joe not Avigdor) and Goose have finally given up on the idea of setting up camp, their very own base, in Iraq. Now the senator is eying Libya, a latter day Douglas MacArthur wading ashore at Latakia or more likely Tartus. McCain can sweep.......<< MORE >>

“Intersected an information from different sources confirmed Chairman of the AL-AYAM newspaper Najib Al-hamar, who is the brother of Nabil Al-hamar the media adviser for the king, That the royal family of Bahrain (Al Khalifa) has decided to sell Bahrain and its people to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through the declaration of "Union of two in a royal decree" is likely to be released soon. The move, if true, confirms the desire of the family of the ruling Al Khalifa to ensure control of the wealth looted, and fear of rea..........."
This piece quoted up there is garbled and messy (in English), but the news has been circulating over the past 24 hours. It is not clear what is going on here. This item is being circulated by Bahrain opposition sites, but some regime dailies in Bahrain (al-Ayam) have also reportedly dealt with it. Al-Ayam is reportedly owned by the prime minister Khalifa al-Khalifa or by someone close to him. He is the main architect of the apartheid policy and the Saudi man in Manama......... I do believe the al-Khalifa have no loyalty to Bahrain as an entity........<< MORE >>

"“contrary to what the left’s relativist ideology says, for us, all civilizations are not of equal value.” He criticized the French Socialist Party for not having voted for a legislation that banned the Muslim face veil. “The majority voted to ban the full veil and the Socialist Party did not vote,” the French daily Le Monde quoted him as saying. “Another example is street prayer. I heard a very ........"
That is truly Fascist territory, almost Salafi French Wahhabi territory........ banning a public expression is assign of the neo-right civilization. Almost something both the "national insecurity" and "cultural" sides of the American right would agree with. Yet only a French right-winger in a tough election year may be able to say this with a straight face. Sarkozy is......<< MORE >>

“Ayatollah Khamenei the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution met today with foreign poets. Speaking at the meeting, His Eminence said that Muslim poets should play a role in Islamic Awakening and increase the insight of the Islamic Ummah with their poetry. "In the poems related to Islamic Awakening, it is necessary to pay special attention to the orientations and lofty goals of this great development, the path that leads to these goals........."
The Ayatollah insists on calling the Arab uprisings an “Islamic awakening”. It is beginning too look like he may be partly right, after all. They are not Islamic except maybe by default. They are Arab uprisings that are mostly degenerating into Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood ‘awakenings”. From Libya to Egypt to Yemen to the Gulf the wild ones are taking over. Very likely they will take over soon in Syria as well, once it is liberated by NATO. Tunisia is the one bright..... << MORE >>

“Russia's foreign minister said after Damascus talks on Tuesday that President Bashar al-Assad was "fully committed" to ending the bloodshed in Syria even as regime tanks pounded the central city of Homs for a fourth straight day. Sergei Lavrov said he had had a "very useful" meeting with Assad and that Moscow was eager to work towards a solution based on an Arab........"
Of course Assad is committed to ending the violence. The problem is that he seems to want to end it his own way: by killing off the opposition. That would end the violence, but if the opposition refuses to be killed off, then it goes on. Qaddafi also tried to end the violence by finishing off the opposition, but NATO would not allow him. The al-Khalifa regime in Bahrain is doing the same, but on a smaller.........<< MORE >>

“For years, U.S. citizens have not been able to fly legally to Cuba from the United States. Some travelers found their way around the ban, slipping in through Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean. This was time-consuming, costly and a bit risky……… Looking for a deal to Cuba? Despite these changes, deals are still rare. Airfare is chartered, and with the U.S. government paperwork required, it is nearly impossible to put a trip together yourself. But deals can be found........"
This is like in the old “Communist” Soviet Union, when the state restricted travel. It is almost like trying to travel from old “Communist” Albania to any other country in the “free” or “communist” world. But wait, this is not the.............<< MORE >>

"The IRI was also working with organizations and individuals that were involved in the coup. In 2005, the IRI was involved in an effort to promote changes in Brazil's electoral laws that would weaken the governing Workers party of then President Lula da Silva. Most recently, in 2009, there was a military coup against the democratically elected government of Honduras. The Obama administration did everything it could to help the coup succeed, and supported "elections" in November of 2009 to legitimize the coup government. The rest of the world – including even the Organization of American States (OAS), under pressure from South America......"
I bet there are no offices for either IRI or NDI in places like Amman (Jordan), Manama (Bahrain), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Abu Dhabi (UAE), or Tehran (Iran), and all for the same reasons. You’d think the Saudi and Emirati and Bahraini potentates, with whom some Western (American and British) leaders profess a communality of values.......<< MORE >>

More Tea Party than Ahmadinejad. “President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been summoned to the parliament to answer questions by lawmakers about a number of the administration’s irregularities. The move came after MP Reza Hosseini, the spokesman for the MPs who signed the motion, announced on February 1 that the MPs had not been convinced by the answers provided by the president’s representatives at a meeting which was held on the same day to discuss the reasons behind........"
After reading this, the royal appointed rubber stamp Shoura Council felt invigorated, decided that it needs to question the king on some policy issues. They summoned the king over for questioning, whereby he summoned them back immediately and gave them the choice of being beheaded in public or castrated in.......<< MORE >>

“The crisis has taken a toll on medical care, affecting the middle class as well as the poor. Because of the ever-tighter pressure on any kind of trade with Iran, the black market price of Herceptin, a breast cancer drug, has nearly doubled in the past year, said Lian, a young nurse who works in the cancer ward of one of Tehran’s major hospitals (the government regulates the mainstream supply of such drugs, but supplies are very limited). The sanctions have also affected medical technology, because radiology machines fall under the “dual use” provisions of laws aimed at............"
It is truly killing by diplomatic means. What these Iranians don’t seem to understand is that the sanctions are not really aimed at their nuclear program. In the media-controlled sound-bite and video-clip politics of America these days, it is the perception that matters more than anything else. The main goal of the sanctions, ever tightening, is primarily to influence the perception of the American voters, to out-hawk the Republicans, usually mostly war evaders. Otherwise all this weekly, almost daily, recalibration of the Western blockade........It is tempting to say that every time Mr. Netanyahu clears his throat, a panicked Obama.......<< MORE >>

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that his famous long-anticipated “existential” war with Iran was imminent. He said it could come within days, or weeks, or months. When cornered by reporters he added that it could potentially start within a year or two or three. When cornered again, he admitted that it all depends on how resolute the “international community” (aka the United States, aka Obama) will be. On the other hand, retired General Alfred E. Neuman opined..........<< MORE >>

"His Grace Shaikh Salih al-Lhaidan, member of the Commission of Senior Ulema (clergy) and former chief of the High Judiciary Council today demanded that the writer Hamza Kashghari should be put to death as an apostate, even if he repents. .......Saudi King Abdullah has ordered the writer Hamza Kashghri be arrested for ins.........."
This Kashghri, I haven’t read anything by or for him, has now got a double whammy. The shaikhs fatwad that he be killed, the king (no less) has now ordered his arrest. It is usually Prince Nayef’s empire that arrests people and “punishes” them, but this time his royal majesty decided to get the credit. Unlike the shaikh, the king did not tie all this to Russia and,.......<< MORE >>

“An Iranian government-affiliated agency has banned dolls of the Simpsons cartoon characters, who join Barbie and others on a toy blacklist, an independent newspaper reported on Monday. The report said that the Simpsons were banned to avoid the promotion of Western culture. But Superman and Spiderman were allowed, because they helped the "oppressed." "We do not want to promote this cartoon by importing......."
I like the Simpsons. I firmly believe they are more entertaining and more interesting than Press TV (Iran) or al-Manar TV (Lebanon) or CNN (USA) or BBC (Britain). Hell, they are always even more interesting than Pat Robertson’s 700 Club, although not always funnier. All of the above are more interesting than, say, William Hague (aka Yoda) or David Cameron (aka Pierce Morgan). The Iranian decision to ban The Simpsons is a repressive measure. It is more repressive, in my view than, say, the house arrests of opposition leaders like.......<< MORE >>

“The media’s reticence on the subject no doubt has several sources. One may be fear of provoking additional violence. Another is most likely the influence of lobbying groups such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation—a kind of United Nations of Islam centered in Saudi Arabia—and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Over the past decade, these and similar groups have been remarkably successful........"
There are three people the Western media resort to when they want “objective” opinion on Islamic-Western relations. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is one. Not that I disagree with ‘everything’ she espouses: I probably agree with her on some points. Ali hasn’t been on television as much, mostly writings and ‘utterances’. Ali makes sure everyone knows she has nothing but contempt for Islam and how it treats women. Fair enough, that is her opinion....... Now Christians and the world-wide assault on Christianity is apparently the cause du jour, even in Campaign 2012. She certainly is not .......<< MORE >>

"Authorities in Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic bordering Iran, have arrested two men suspected of plotting to attack prominent foreigners including Israel's ambassador and a local rabbi, officials and media reported on Wednesday. The National Security Ministry said the men were connected to an Iranian citizen who had links with Iran's intelligence. Azerbaijan, a secular Muslim country, is home to more than 9,000 Jews and ........"
In Azerbaijan? Another Iranian plot against some other embassy? If this continues the mullahs would have to add the picture of a generic embassy in the middle of the Iranian flag. Truly when it rains...........I haven't seen any statement of outrage from Senator Secretary Clinton yet. .......<< MORE >>