Free Republic

A foreign policy of penance has won America no friends. By FOUAD AJAMI 'He talks too much," a Saudi academic in Jeddah,... It was the norm for American liberalism during the Bush years to brandish the Pew Global Attitudes survey that told of America's decline in the eyes of foreign nations. ... 2009 bring findings from the world of Islam that confirm that the animus toward America has not been radically changed by the ascendancy of Mr. Obama. In the Palestinian territories, 15% have a favorable view of the U.S. while 82% have an unfavorable view. The Obama speech in...

Muslim "extremists” are “spreading lies” by alleging that Israel is digging underneath the Temple Mount to cause the collapse of the mosques, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the Cabinet Monday morning. The Arab world, including the Palestinian Authority, has increasingly accused Israel of the same charges over the past several years, and many Muslim and Arab leaders have told the Arab world that the Temples never existed.

ARAB STATES LAUNCH SECRET MOVES WITH CHINA, RUSSIA, FRANCE TO STOP USING DOLLAR FOR OIL TRADING... DEVELOPING...

Saddam Hussein killed more Arabs and Muslims than any other Middle Eastern leader in recent history. He committed genocide against the Kurds, launched wars of aggression against Iran and Kuwait, launched missiles at Israel and Saudi Arabia, tortured innocents without compunction and imposed totalitarianism in Iraq. His regime brought unprecedented war, terror and misery to the region. Why, then, does the Butcher of Baghdad remain such a heroic figure to so many Arabs? Saddam Hussein, at the opening of his trial. Photo: AP [file] Two decades ago, famed historian Bernard Lewis wrote a prescient piece in The Wall Street Journal...

It was the furies of the Arab world, not Afghanistan, that struck America eight years ago today. ArticleThe road that led to 9/11 was never a defining concern of President Barack Obama. But he returned to 9/11 as he sought to explain and defend the war in Afghanistan in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Phoenix, Ariz., on Aug. 17. "The insurgency in Afghanistan didn't just happen overnight and we won't defeat it overnight, but we must never forget: This is not a war of choice; it is a war of necessity. Those who attacked America on...

The world's first Muslim cartoon superheroes have taken the Arab world by storm, and now they are headed for British television screensNamed the 99, as each possesses one of Allah's 99 attributes, the characters include a burka-clad woman named Batina the Hidden and a Saudi Arabian Hulk-type man named Jabbar the Powerful. They have proved a hit from Morocco to Indonesia and were recently named as one of the top 20 trends sweeping the world by Forbes magazine. Now they are being brought to British television by Endemol, the production company behind Big Brother, with a mission to instill Islamic...

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, several hours before his scheduled meeting on Monday with U.S. President Barack Obama, said that the Arab world will not make any gestures towards Israel until a regional treaty is signed. A Middle East peace pact must include Israeli agreement on the Arab demand for the right of millions of foreign Arabs to immigrate to Israel and the demand that the Palestinian Authority have control over all of eastern Jerusalem, Egyptian officials said.

Seventy-one senators have signed an AIPAC-backed letter to US President Barack Obama supporting his effort to encourage Arab states to normalize relations with Israel. It comes after Americans for Peace Now and other left-wing pro-Israel groups - including Brit Tzedek v'Shalom and J Street - made a battleground of the document, which was circulated by Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and James Risch, (R-Idaho). They called on senators not to sign it unless it is amended to include mention of steps that all the parties in the Middle East need to take towards peace - especially Israel's need to stop settlement...

THE supposedly "moderate" Palestinian party remains steadfast in its refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. But then, this week's Fatah gathering in Bethlehem won't even help promote the creation of a new Palestinian state. All of which leaves the Obama plans for the Middle East looking like a road map to nowhere. It's been 62 years since the UN General Assembly partitioned British-mandated Palestine into two states, defining one as Arab and the other as Jewish. Egypt signed on to peace 30 years ago, and in 1993 Yasser Arafat "recognized" Israel in the Oslo agreement. Six years ago,...

‘It made me feel so jealous,” said Abdulmonem Ibrahim, a young Egyptian political activist, of the recent upheaval in Iran. “We are amazed at the organization and speed with which the Iranian movement has been functioning. In Egypt you can count the number of activists on your hand.” This degree of “Iran envy” is a telling statement on the stagnation of Arab politics. It is not pretty, Iran’s upheaval, but grant the Iranians their due: They have gone out into the streets to contest the writ of the theocrats. In contrast, little has stirred in Arab politics of late. The...

WHAT ails the Arabs? The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) this week published the fifth in a series of hard-hitting reports on the state of the Arab world. It makes depressing reading. The Arabs are a dynamic and inventive people whose long and proud history includes fabulous contributions to art, culture, science and, of course, religion. The score of modern Arab states, on the other hand, have been impressive mainly for their consistent record of failure. They have, for a start, failed to make their people free: six Arab countries have an outright ban on political parties and the rest...

It's not easy living in an Arab state. Egyptians stay away from government hospitals; illiteracy among women in some countries can top 50 percent A new United Nations report presents a bleak and sometimes scary picture of a citizen's life in the Arab countries. One out of every five people in the region lives on less than $2 a day; the illiteracy rates are very high; and, for the most part, public health services cannot be relied on at all.

RIYADH/LONDON (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will seek to reassure Gulf Arab states this week that U.S. dollar assets they hold in large quantities remain a strong investment. A recent decline in Saudi foreign assets shows the purchase of U.S. treasuries by Washington's Gulf allies, five having currencies pegged to the dollar, at levels seen in the past decades should no longer be taken for granted. Geithner, offering assurances on the United States' ability to pull out of recession, is combining a visit to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Arab world's largest and second-largest economies, with...

CAIRO — The rancorous dispute over Iran’s presidential election could turn into a win-win for Arab leaders aligned with Washington who in the past have complained bitterly that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was destabilizing the region and meddling in Arab affairs, political analysts and former officials around the region said. The good-news thinking goes like this: With Mr. Ahmadinejad remaining in office, there is less chance of substantially improved relations between Tehran and Washington, something America’s Arab allies feared would undermine their interests. At the same time, the electoral conflict may have weakened Iran’s leadership at home and abroad, forcing it...

Bahraini royal mourned him publicly, young Lebanese held a candlelight tribute, Egyptian musicians hailed him as an inspiration. Beyond his global reach, Michael Jackson held a special place in the Muslim world, as one of the first major Western entertainers to break through cultural barriers in the 1980s. Some made a connection with the pop icon because of rumors, never substantiated, that he had converted to Islam. Others embraced him as one of their own after he sought refuge in the Gulf emirate of Bahrain in 2005, following a bruising trial on child molestation charges in the U.S. "God have...

"CAIRO – A Bahraini royal mourned him publicly, young Lebanese held a candlelight tribute, Egyptian musicians hailed him as an inspiration." "Beyond his global reach, Michael Jackson held a special place in the Muslim world, as one of the first major Western entertainers to break through cultural barriers in the 1980s." ""Religion is a big part of identity in this part of the world, and the idea he became Muslim boosted his popularity," said Egyptian cultural critic Tarek el-Shinnawi."

Arab states are watching intently as Iran's political convulsions continue, seeking clues to how the unfolding crisis will affect the strategic picture in the Middle East, especially the key issue of the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions. In a region where democratic politics are the exception, there is nervousness about the implications of people power on the streets of Tehran. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is deeply unpopular – but mass protests worry all autocrats. Recently emerging from their own political upheavals, savvy Lebanese see much of themselves in the people politics unfolding in Tehran. "It reminds me of our protests," said Haitham Chamas,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Saudi Arabia on June 3 for talks on Iran's nuclear program and Washington's renewed push for a Middle East peace plan, the White House said on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, is a staunch U.S. ally in the region and has been a key player in the drive for a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which Obama has declared a top foreign policy priority. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama would meet Saudi King Abdullah and would also discuss terrorism. The visit comes at a time when...

Washington - As President Obama prepares for the highly anticipated speech he will deliver to the Muslim world from Cairo in early June, new polling from Arab countries suggests he has his work cut out for him. Only a small percentage of Arabs appear to have been won over by Barack Obama. There has been some slight improvement in US standing during the past year, based in part on the departure of President Bush and in part on Obama's policies, such as announcing a withdrawal from Iraq and a desire to shutter the Guantánamo detention facility. But one new poll...

Obama more popular than U.S. among Arabs: survey Sun May 10, 2009 7:02pm EDT By Paul Eckert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's popularity in leading Arab countries far outstrips that of the United States, suggesting he could be able to boost goodwill in the region toward his country, a survey showed on Sunday. Obama, set to give a major speech to the Muslim world in Egypt next month, "currently enjoys widespread optimism among citizens of that region that he will have a positive effect on their own country, the Middle East, the United States and indeed the world," the...

Fascism in the Arab world (part 9) Very deeply dyed in black: Sir Oswald Mosley and the resurrection of British ...‎ - Page 47by Graham Macklin - History - 2007 - 205 pages   Some British fascists were also eager to fight the Jews in Palestine, a development noticed after Jamal Nasir of the Arab Office addressed a group of fascists in Hampstead, as a result of which the 43 Group learned  that some were visiting the Arab League Office in Eaton Square, London in order to join the Arab Legion' with the express intention of 'killing Jews... Azzam Pasha,...

US President Barack Obama's efforts in Turkey to repair the relationship between Washington and Muslims won praise in the Arab world on Tuesday, more than seven years after the 9/11 attacks. "This is a first important step towards lessening tensions that have existed in recent years between the Muslim world on the one side and the United States and the West on the other," Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said. He said Obama's initiative had put the two sides "on the path towards rebuilding bridges of trust between the US and the world's more than one billion Muslims." In...

Saudi and Egyptian Executioners Discuss Their Lives and Profession in Debate on Capital Punishment in the Arab World Following are excerpts from a TV debate on the death penalty in the Arab world, with the participation of two Saudi state executioners, an Egyptian hangman, the head of the Lebanese Association for Human Rights, an Amnesty International representative, and an Egyptian MP. The debate aired on Abu Dhabi TV on January 28, 2009.

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden accused moderate Arab leaders of plotting with the West against Muslims and urged his followers to prepare for jihad, in a recording aired by Al Jazeera television. "It is clear that some Arab leaders have plotted with the Zionist-crusader coalition against our [Muslim] people, these [Arab countries] the United States calls the moderate states," bin Laden said, without naming any of the leaders. Excerpt: read more at link

DiCaprio To Convert to Judaism To Marry Bar: Arab World Says To Hell With Him Israeli journalist, Guy Bechor, writes on the Israeli website gplanet (Hebrew language) that the Arab world is going crazy over reports that Leonardo DiCaprio is converting to Judaism in order to marry Sports Illustrated cover girl, Bar Rafieli, an Israeli. The report appeared on Al-Arabiya website and, according to Bechor, is quite vicious. Apparently, Leo is a hero in the Arab world (everyone loved Titanic) but that the combination of his relationship with the Jewish beauty, and his conversion, should it happen) instantly transforms him...

Abu Essam's footsteps echo loudly as he walks through the narrow alleys of Damascus' old city. Around him in 1930s Syria, tall stone buildings block the scorching sun. Cautiously, he walks on. Around the next corner he could find the key to the gate to free prisoners captured by Syria's colonial ruler, France. Or he could face a shot from a French soldier's rifle. As he turns the corner, a shot rings out , but it is the soldier who is dead. This is not Syria of 75 years ago, however. It is a rolling, 3-D video game on Wael...

The new president of HCJB Global says the Christian radio ministry now has an estimated seven million mostly-Muslim listeners in North Africa and the Middle East. Wayne Pederson says the Arab world is full of "lost people who need Jesus, and they're getting tired of a message of hate and are looking for a message of love." He says that through HCJB radio broadcasts, the gospel is penetrating Muslim societies -- so much so that entire households, and in some cases entire villages, are converting to Christianity. When Jesus came, He didn't just preach. He healed. And so we want...

(ChattahBox) — The French government and particularly it’s President seem to be strongly advocating the teaching of Arabic language and civilization in French schools. In 2006 the United States Department of State placed the Muslim population in France at roughly 10%. In accordance with a law dating from 1872, the French Republic does not ask about religion or ethnic origin in its census. In his message to the participants at the French National Assembly earlier this month, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Arabic the “language of the future, of science and of modernity,” and expressed the hope that “more French...

(IsraelNN.com) Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Saud al-Feisal and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Musa warn that the Arab world is on the verge of collapse. Speaking at a joint press conference they held in Kuwait, the two said that the Arab world faces anarchy and an inner split, which they attribute to two factors: The inter-Palestinian struggle, and the “Israeli aggression and occupation.” Several recent incidents portray the weakness of Arab unity, correspondent Haggai Huberman reports. Last Friday, a gathering of representatives of more than a dozen Arab and Muslim nations was held in Doha. Among the participants were Damascus-based Khaled...

The reaction in the Arab world seems almost mute. There are a few rallies in countries such as Syria and Yemen where Israeli flags are burned but that happens after Friday prayers on high days and holidays anyway. The Arab League splinters over which member state should host an emergency summit on Gaza. Even in West Bank, just 40 miles from Gaza and home to 2.5 million fellow Palestinians, a call by militants for mass protest rallies dubbed "days of wrath" passes largely unheeded. Why is it that, as Israel prepared to announce a cessation of offensive operations in Gaza,...

The French government is strongly advocating the teaching of Arabic language and civilization in French schools. Not surprising, considering the number of Arabs and Muslims in France, and the unctuous deference with which they are treated by officials, beginning notably with Nicolas Sarkozy, who cannot praise enough the splendor of Arabic contributions to the world. ************************* In his message to the participants, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Arabic the "language of the future, of science and of modernity," and expressed the hope that "more French people share in the language that expresses great civilizational and spiritual values." "We must invest...

Kuwait City, Kuwait (AHN) - Political instability in some of the Arab States over the last few years has not affected the residents as much as the global economic crisis has over the period of four months alone. Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah in Kuwait City said that oil-rich Gulf Arab nations have lost $2.5 trillion from the credit crunch, forcing them to postponed or cancel 60 percent of development projects.Although he did not disclose the details on the figures, he blamed the crisis for the "huge damage" caused to the financial state of the region. He was talking...

Arab investors have lost 2.5 trillion dollars from the credit crunch, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah, whose country hosts an Arab economic summit next week, said on Friday. "The Arab world has lost 2.5 trillion dollars in the past four months" as a result of the global financial crisis, Sheikh Mohammad told a press conference following a joint meeting of Arab foreign and finance ministers in Kuwait. He also said that about 60 percent of development projects "have either been postponed or cancelled" by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states because of the global meltdown. Arab leaders who...

Kuwait's foreign minister says that Arab countries have lost $2,500 billion in the last four months because of the global financial crisis.

Chief of Lebanese Shiite armed group Hezbollah Hasan Nasrallah on Saturday accused Arab leaders of collaborating with Israel to proceed until Monday with its attacks on Gaza, the party's TV al-Manar reported. "Arab foreign ministers gave Israel until Monday to proceed with its military attacks on Gaza," Nasrallah told a gathering on Ashoura occasion. He added that if the Israelis do not succeed until Monday, then the Arab leaders might extend the "grace period for the enemy." Nasrallah accused Arab leaders of failing to meet in an urgent Arab summit to discuss Gaza Strip situation, and come up with a...

Arab Fascism In The Middle East: Saturday, 1. April 2006, 03:21:21 Arab Fascism: The More Things Change-The More They Stay The Same: Do you know that the Baath Party got it's roots from The Grand Mufti's involvement with Adolf Hitler, and his Nazi Party's efforts to exterminate the Jews from the face of the earth. So when Nazism was defeated in Germany by the allied forces during World War 11, the Grand Mufti fled to Egypt, and there he continued the Fascist Policy/Agenda to exterminate the Jews. Sadam Hussein was a dictator who was influenced by his uncle (Kiralla Tofa),...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly split over the issue of gay rights on Thursday after a European-drafted statement calling for decriminalization of homosexuality prompted an Arab-backed one opposing it. Diplomats said a joint statement initiated by France and the Netherlands gathered 66 signatures in the 192-nation assembly after it was read out by Argentina at a plenary session. A rival statement, read out by Syria, gathered some 60.

Talking Points Memo & Impact Segment America and the Arab world "Press reports say the guy who threw his shoes at President Bush is a big hero in the Arab world, which points out how difficult it is to deal with some Muslims. There's no question that the USA has sacrificed greatly to bring a measure of freedom to Iraq. If this guy had thrown his shoes at Saddam, he would have been executed. But now he has freedom of expression, thanks to us. The question is, why we are spending billions to free these people if many of them...

ZAWAHIRI OBAMA COMMENT FOCUSES ATTENTION ON ARAB SLAVERY By Judith A. Klinghoffer (bio) Tell a FriendPrinter FriendlyFont [+]Font [–]  Is is possible that Ayman Zawahiri calling Barack Obama a “house slave” or “house negro” has done what Dafur genocide failed to to and focus attention on the long ignored Arab slave trade and Arab racism? If Washington Post columnist Colby King angry outburst on Inside Washington is to be judged typical it just may be. Given Arab involvement in the West and East African slave trade, Colby inquired, how dare Zawahiri make any references to American slavery? He went on...

MEMRI - Cartoon In Jordanian Paper: Whether McCain Or Obama – Jews Win, Arabs Lose. Cartoonist: Jalal Rifa'i. Source: Al-Dustour, Jordan, November 5, 2008 ... http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/11206.htm

Barack Obama has decided to base his diplomatic approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the Saudi peace plan, the Times of London reports today. A “senior Obama adviser” tells the Times that Obama will back the plan that divides Jerusalem into two capitals and pulls Israel back to pre-1967 borders:

US President-elect Barack Obama is planning to base his peacemaking efforts in the Middle East on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, The Sunday Times reported on Sunday, quoting sources close to Obama. The Arab Peace Initiative, based on the Saudi peace plan of February 2002, calls for a full Israeli withdrawal from all territories taken in the Six Day War, including east Jerusalem, in exchange for normalizing ties with the Arab world. Quoting an adviser to Obama, the report states that during his visit to the Middle East in July, the President-elect said Israel would be "crazy" to refuse a...

'Al-Quds Al-Arabi' Editor Abd Al-Bari Atwan Calls on Obama to 'Impose American Model of Equality, Rights, and Opportunities on All Arab Countries,' Says: In an Arab Country, Obama Would Be Told, 'You Are a Slave'; 'We Arabs Are The Epitome of Racism' Following are excerpts from an interview with Abd Al-Bari 'Atwan, editor-in-chief of the London daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi. The interview aired on BBC Arabic TV on November 7, 2008: To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1906.htm. Interviewer: "Is it really so difficult to achieve a breakthrough in the Arab ruling system, similar to what happened in the...

'Al-Quds Al-Arabi' Editor Abd Al-Bari Atwan Calls on Obama to 'Impose American Model of Equality, Rights, and Opportunities on All Arab Countries,' Says: In an Arab Country, Obama Would Be Told, 'You Are a Slave'; 'We Arabs Are The Epitome of Racism' Interviewer: "Is it really so difficult to achieve a breakthrough in the Arab ruling system, similar to what happened in the U.S? Will it take decades or centuries, Abd Al-Bari 'Atwan?" Abd Al-Bari 'Atwan: "By coincidence, at a time when a black president was elected in the U.S., President Bouteflika amended the Algerian constitution so that he could...

If only Martin Luther King could wake from the dead! And his faithful deputy, Ralph Abernathy. And Bayard Rustin who organized the Great March on Washington in 1963 that roused American public opinion to push for the landmark Civil Rights Act that abolished Southern segregation. And the militant Stokley Carmichael who led the students, both black and white, to knock on every black door in the small towns and byways of the South to mobilize them to vote. And, not least, President Lyndon Johnson who, putting his own racist past behind him, used his formidable political energy to push...

Gulf hails 'Muslim-linked' Obama Published Date: November 06, 2008 DUBAI: Arabs in the oil-rich Gulf yesterday hailed Barack Obama's election victory with hopes his perceived Muslim links could alter US policy toward Arab and Muslim issues and that he will pull out troops of Iraq. "I believe that his father is Muslim. Surely that will make a difference. There must be a change in policy towards Arabs and Muslims," said Saudi tourist Abdul Ilah Al-Bakri as he wandered in a Dubai mall for early morning shopping just after Obama was declared president-elect. "God willing, he will be better, especially that...

Much of the Arab press, as well as ordinary people in the street, are rejoicing over the election of Democrat Barak Obama as the next president of the United States. Nevertheless, as Edward Yeranian reports from Cairo, there are misgivings in certain quarters. People on the streets here in Cairo, and across much of the Arab world, appear elated by the election of Democrat Barak Obama as the next president of the United States, despite some apprehension in the Gulf and in Lebanon. Commentators on Al-Jazeera TV, which has consistently criticized the outgoing Bush administration for its policies towards the...

5/25/04: "We're nowhere near that toxic no-nothingism in any Arab media. You couldn't possibly get anyone to watch something that was as blindly, blatantly biased as Fox television."

Since we are discussing the Middle East, it is appropriate to ask "who benefits" from the current worrying situation. Political commentator Rami Khouri, writing in the Beirut Daily Star, notes that "this is not a situation we can blame on anyone but ourselves." Khouri hopes that the crisis will produce a sobering effect in the politics of the region. But while it would be comforting to believe that the gravity of the crisis may lead to a sudden outbreak of political maturity, one would be unwise to bet on the prospect. The most notable political response to the financial crisis...

October 4, 2008: Increasingly, Sunni Arab clerics are agreeing with their Shia counterparts, that Iran and the Sunni Arabs are on a collision course. It's not just about which version of Islam is to be dominant, but which Islamic country will control the most sacred Islamic shrines, and, in effect, become the spiritual leader of the Islamic world. No one has held that position for about a thousand years. Saudi Arabia controls the key shrines (Mecca and Medina), but the Saudis are not accepted as the leader of the Islamic world. To most Moslems, the Saudis are a bunch of...