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October 2006 Archives

October 28, 2006

On Iraq & Pre-War Predictions: What Do You Mean "We", Paleface?

Apologies to the old Lone Ranger joke. Clive Davis writes this lament of the disaster unfolding in Iraq. "It wasn't just the Bush team that made mistakes, of course. Didn't we all underestimate the challenge?" (emphasis added).

Ummm, no. That sentence may imply a whole new set of meanings for the words "we" and "all", hitherto unsuspected. Even my own neglected blog in early 2003 quoted this far-from-rare Jason Vest article from the (annoyingly) lefty mag The Nation that got it right. That article (and even little old me) were among so many others -- from every walk of life, punditry, as well as civilian and military industry, large and small -- who loudly forsaw everything, more or less. Not to mention our very own Aqoul curmudgeon. To the time machine!

Continue reading "On Iraq & Pre-War Predictions: What Do You Mean "We", Paleface?"

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 02:03 PM | Comments (23) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Foreign Policy & MENA , Iraq War , Op-Ed , US Foreign Policy

October 26, 2006

Sheikh Hilali, Imported Imams and the Cultural Divide

Since I'm sick and daytime television is unbearable, thought I might write a bit about the emerging controversy around Sheikh Hilali, an Australian imam who recently made some rather provocative observations about women during a speech on marital relations and adultery.

The story is splattered across the front page of The Australian, which offers an mp3 version of the speech, along with an edited English transcript (which I'm sure only captures the boring parts).

Currently, the primary media hook seems to be that Hilali compared unveiled women to meat that gets snatched up by cats because it is left outside, uncovered. This is clearly drawn from the one-page English transcript noted above, which contains little substance save for the frankly bizarre and crude remarks about cats, meat and fridges (and some gratuitous mudslinging at People of the Book).

Continue reading "Sheikh Hilali, Imported Imams and the Cultural Divide"

Posted by eerie at 11:45 AM | Comments (33) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Gender Issues , Islam General , Media , Society & Culture

October 24, 2006

Sudan's North, East, South, West; Whose Peace Treaty is the Best?

Another day, another peace treaty. Eastern Sudanese factions signed a peace deal with the Sudanese government earlier this week ending the convoluted, if less bloody and less publicised, uprising in the east of the country. Since the Naivasha treaty, which ended the long-running war between the North and the South, there have been two more treaties, one with rebel factions in Darfur and the latest with Eastern rebels. But have any of these treaties any promise? Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir declared, very much reminscent of a mother who had given her children too much candy, "This is the LAST peace treaty!" and, after a short pause, "to be negotiated outside the country."

Judging from the inherent weakness of the agreements themselves, and the Sudanese government's unfolding willingness (I will stop short of 'eagerness') to accomodate the immediate demands of rebels, it is not unreasonable to expect more uprisings, and/or more importantly, the disintegration of the current peace treaties as well.

Continue reading "Sudan's North, East, South, West; Whose Peace Treaty is the Best?"

Posted by Meph at 12:00 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
Filed Under: North Africa , Op-Ed

October 22, 2006

Spinning in different languages or proper adjusting of message to audience?

Following up on some small debates on MEMRI mendacity and accusations of doubletalk between English and Arabic on the part of Arabophone intellectuals, I found the following article from Reuters interesting, amusing and also thought-provoking: Diplomat acknowledges U.S. "arrogance" in Iraq.

The essence of the story, the head of US public diplomacy Near East bureau, Alberto Fernandez, apparently (I have been too busy to watch TV myself) acknowledged the US has bollixed up Iraq due to arrogance and stupidity. The US government has forthwith claimed (re the English) it is a misquote.

A moment to reflect on the problems of structuring messages and communicating between languages, based on the longer text of the same Reuters story from the NY Times Reuters feed.

[Update: Unsurprisingly this is showing signs of setting off, what was it called in comments, a stupid storm: I point to Bou Aardvark's note on the issue. I wonder if the stupid storm on the part of pornstarlet wannabes like Malkin will actually deprive the US of one its few capable interlocutors on the Arab Sats, in some cretinous recreation of Soviet style purges for not following party lines]

Continue reading "Spinning in different languages or proper adjusting of message to audience?"

Posted by The Lounsbury at 12:23 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Foreign Policy & MENA , MENA Region General , Media , Op-Ed , US Foreign Policy

Memo from Dubai

It seems worthwhile to draw attention to an interesting article in NYT on Dubai and culture clashes, one which I think despite some superficialities is actually quite interesting. Stemming from a recent local Expat paper's admonishment to respect local culture a bit, it appears to have set off some reaction. I frankly agree with the admonition.

I also found the illustrating image amusing as the inappropriate couple behind the Emirati clique is so very clearly Leb.

Continue reading "Memo from Dubai"

Posted by The Lounsbury at 11:14 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Economic Development , Economic Policy , Ethnic Minorities , Political Development , Society & Culture

October 17, 2006

Iraq the Mortal: Lancet reports 800 gazillion slain

I'll probably update or followup as time permits (have updated now after the break), but we should note the recent study issued by The Lancet, which alleges some absurd figure for Iraqi deaths from coalition and other violence post-US invasion -- a followup to their earlier study (see below for link to abstract), which at least had a broad enough confidence interval to fig leaf the foolishness. When I begged my government in 2002-3 not to enter this stupid war and occupation with all the cruelty and foolishness it would entail, I neglected to leave out the fact that it would perpetuate mass gulllibility among those who think "Bush & Co." is Hitler, and that any accusation should stick. And those, like the media, who think peer-reviewed medical literature is face-value gospel. Thankfully, a responsible and serious set of critics of the invasion/occupation/budding civil war, the Iraq Body Count, who actually ask critical questions and document the same matters in real time, has issued a serious commentary listing enough red flags about the Lancet study to decorate a communist banquet.

Continue reading "Iraq the Mortal: Lancet reports 800 gazillion slain"

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 09:29 PM | Comments (27) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Iraq War , Media , Op-Ed

Debating the merits of MEMRI, chez Clive Davis

There has been a flurry of email in the wake of Clive Davis's thoughts on MEMRI spin. Clive has posted updates to add reader opinions, but I'm collecting the correspondence here to engage our own peanut gallery (and perhaps lure Clive's readers over here for a wee discussion).

First, a brief summary of events: After Clive's initial post, some emails were exchanged between Meph and a couple of uninformed wankers, which he dutifully recorded in a follow up entry, More on MEMRI. A few more emails have since been sent from our side, including a signature Lounsbury response.

Continue reading "Debating the merits of MEMRI, chez Clive Davis"

Posted by eerie at 07:54 PM | Comments (18) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Media

October 16, 2006

Backers of Dovish American Jewish Initiative Deny Opposing AIPAC

When JTA ran a story last week about an initiative backed by George Soros (or not yet backed if you believe Rosner's reports below) and other powerful dovish American Jewish leaders, it noted that one of the purposes of the initiative would be to present a progressive counter to AIPAC. All of this seems perfectly reasonable to any reasonable American Jew. But the 900lb gorilla Goliath has taken notice of little David standing beneath him and he's roared his annoyance. As a result, it's humorous to see the erstwhile progressives scurrying like ants to backtrack:

Jewish organizational officials who have participated in the meetings said JTA's characterization of their aim in a story earlier this week, as an alternative to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, was wrong...

Those currently leading the effort say they're happy to work with AIPAC.

"My involvement is that Mort Halperin's an old friend," said Mel Levine, a former U.S. Democratic congressman who is now a high-powered West Coast lawyer. "Mort asked me to go to an initial exploratory meeting about a pro-Israel advocacy organization that would focus on a two-state solution, that would focus on Israel and was not in competition with anyone else."

That did not usurp AIPAC'S role of advocating for a strong U.S.-Israel alliance, Levine said.

Continue reading "Backers of Dovish American Jewish Initiative Deny Opposing AIPAC"

Posted by Richard Silverstein at 08:09 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Levant , Op-Ed , US Foreign Policy

Tarawih in the Kingdom, Part 2

Today I got the giggles.

We chose a small makeshift mosque that was close by as the big neighbourhood one was too far to walk after a long day and so we made our way to the small one round the corner. It was tiny, barely holding a hundred people and the women's section held barely a third of that number. The moment I walked in and saw that there was a curtain, a CURTAIN, separating the male and female section, all the piety I had managed to muster evaporated as all I could think of was that the billowing curtain might be blown high enough to expose the two worlds. There would be havoc.

As we began to pray an old woman a couple of feet away from me began whispering visciously in my direction. Alarmed slightly I edged away from her but this only seemed to infuriate her further. After a few more ignored hisses, she grabbed me by my cloak and dragged me in one surprisingly firm move towards her. As I staggered in alarm my mother looked at me barely surpressing a laugh and whispered "You were too far away from her, there shouldn't be any gaps between worshippers." This I knew but had never witnessed it so dedicatedly implemented. I managed to regain my composure and keep praying, bemused by the small, bent octogenarian's strength.

Continue reading "Tarawih in the Kingdom, Part 2"

Posted by bint ash-shaitan at 09:10 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Gulf , Islam General , Op-Ed , Society & Culture

October 14, 2006

Muhajabah and Heretic ponder the Offenderati

Last week, a devout Muslim friend and I had another productive talk about the state of Muslim-West relations over lunch. Actually, it wasn't lunch per se, more a stroll through the local bookstore as she was fasting and I was not.

I really don't know why she likes me. Perhaps she is trying to draw me back into the fold as it were, but I enjoy her company and find her observations astute and refreshing (as an aside, I am always amused when women view me as a "project", someone who needs to become more social, outgoing, faithful, less eccentric, etc).

In any case, the Muhajabah, while strolling through my favorite corner of the bookstore (World History/International Political Science, obviously), made an observation that recalled recent discussion of "Professional Offenderati" here on Aqoul:

"Do you think these wild-eyed types in Pakistan call their bosses to ask for the afternoon off because they need to throw things at the US embassy and burn the Pope in effigy?"

Continue reading "Muhajabah and Heretic ponder the Offenderati"

Posted by eerie at 04:38 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Islam & Politics , Islam General , Media , Society & Culture

MEMRI Mendacity, brief thoughts

Following up on my Lounsbury comment about a fine illustration of MEMRI's mendacity with respect to its pretensions of providing a window on Arabic/Islamic discourse, as identified via this post at Dean's World, I thought I would blither on a bit about this and other nasty spin.

There is certainly an emerging and quite nasty strain of bigotted or at least xenophobic reactionary commentary in the West with respect to Islam generally - and let me insert here for the sub-literate that in noting this I am not intending to excuse the Islamic world of its own version of this nor deny there is a sad and often disgusting strain of violence-mongering as our own bint ash-shaitan illustrated in her note on Saudi mosque nonsense - and it strikes me that MEMRI is an agitprop operation that is specifically trying to feed that now.

Continue reading "MEMRI Mendacity, brief thoughts"

Posted by The Lounsbury at 10:58 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Media , Op-Ed

October 11, 2006

Tash ma Tash: Serious Saudi Satire or Child's Play?

The Tash ma Tash controversy rages on and has been adequately reported in both Arabic and non-Arabic media as well as on the blog of our own Lounsbury. However, apart from the obvious religious knee-jerk reaction that has sadly come to be expected when the world is dealing with something apart from sombre doom and gloom of the Wahhabi institution, there have been some interesting and disturbing reactions that reflect some entrenched attitudes towards free speech and criticism.

The attitude towards comedic parody laced with political observation differs widely. In Egypt for example, despite the long-standing heritage of presidential domination and totalitarianism, political satires, most prominently Mohammed Subhi's "Mama America", get away with a lot and resonate with the concerns of the Egyptian public. The Egyptian actor Adil Imam's "Al-Irhabi" (The Terrorist) in the 90's was one of the first indigenous Arabic works to tackle and put a human face on the phenomenon of homegrown terrorism and Syria's Duraid Lahham has a long history of political satire, the play "Ka'sak, ya Watan" ("Cheers, o homeland") being one of the most moving works deriding the weakness of the Arab states in confronting Israel, where hope in a bright Arab future is metaphorically killed off in the death of Dureid's new-born baby Ahlam (= dreams).

Continue reading "Tash ma Tash: Serious Saudi Satire or Child's Play?"

Posted by Meph at 04:32 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Gulf , Media , Society & Culture , Terrorism

October 09, 2006

Tarawih in the Kingdom

I stepped into the women's section of the neighbourhood mosque, my mother by my side and the imam's quranic recitations booming in my ears. The praying area was on the upper floor of the mosque, ornate, sweet-smelling and half full by the time we got there. The imam had already finished isha'a prayer and started on tarawih so we quickly joined the last line and started praying under the brilliant chandelier and, thankfully, an air conditioning vent.

One thing that has always moved me is the reverberation of the congregation as they say "Amen" after the end of a quranic verse. As women are not allowed to raise their voices in prayer if men are in earshot, the rising chant after each verse is a deep rich tenor. These moments always affirmed - as far as I was concerned - the virtues of group prayer and the significance of communal religion. A lone worshipper believing more in a personal spiritual relationship with one's Maker, I am not a fan of mosque prayer but taken with the spirit of Ramadan and not wishing my mother to go on her own, I found myself smiling at the familiar "Amen" that emanated from the (not overlooked) male congregation below.

Continue reading "Tarawih in the Kingdom"

Posted by bint ash-shaitan at 05:03 PM | Comments (24) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Gulf , Islam General , Op-Ed

October 07, 2006

Mr Straw & The Niqab

It appears that Foreign Secretary Straw's comments on the Niqab, the face veil, have set off a bit of a storm. From The Financial Times to The Times coverage of his original comments regarding prefering women not wear the face veil as divisive through to coverage of The Poodle's craven and inconsistent pandering (the sooner he is gone the better, I await with impatience) and The New York Times (but "British Official", come on, how about [former] British Foreign Secretary? [mea culpa, I entirely forgot about Beckett's very existence]).

I am not sure if that is good or bad, but it bears some commenting on. First, when I first saw the comments I wasn't sure if he meant the hijab, which would have been annoyingly tedious, or the niqab, which I agree with. I am pleased to see it is about the covering of the face. There is a vast and important difference between the ninja get-ups that are so very Saudi Wahhabite neo-Islamic rot, and a woman covering her hair with a scarf.

Continue reading "Mr Straw & The Niqab"

Posted by The Lounsbury at 12:58 AM | Comments (17) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Ethnic Minorities , Islam & Politics , Islam General , Islamism , Religious Minorities , Society & Culture

October 06, 2006

Petulance: MENA, American Magicalism & Infantilism

I noted our old amigo Abu Aardvark has a comment on Israeli presence on al Jazeera (and an apparent continued American boycott) that is worthy of consideration, as usual.

I frankly am at a loss to understand how the present American Administration is proceeding in region, other than by pure infantile magicalism. Refusing to talk to "bad actors" and essentially adopting a politico-diplomatic strategy that amounts to "I am going to hold my breath until you change and like me" hardly seems to be an appropriate strategy of a great power. But then considering the cretinous demarches to date, perhaps not talking is best.

Posted by The Lounsbury at 01:15 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Media , US Foreign Policy

Dubai, the Attraction

A quick note to draw attention to a recent arty by Roula Khalaf of FT on Dubai and the why behind its success to date: Dubai cultivates oasis of calm where Arab business life can flourish.

The main thrust of the article is to highlight some of the why behind Dubai's success to date, beyond just stupid amounts of capital. Although that is a clear major condition, it is not a sufficient one as the other petro-giants of the region never managed to achieve Dubai's success (even if we mitigate our appreciation of the success by noting a definately unsustainable aspect doped by too much liquidity chasing too few quality assets).

Despite my own critical attitude towards Dubai - much is clearly illusion and can not survive, there are also clear lessons with respect to the ability of the Arab/MENA region entreprenurial classes actually being able to flourish when a moderately liberal (quite liberal for the off-shore aspects) business environment is established. I do note that some of - indeed in some ways much of Dubai's liberalism is rather Potemkin liberalism insofar as it is all of a very temporary, Enlightened Despot Suffrage quality. That being said, if one takes Dubai with a grain of salt, it does illustrate via its off-shore business services sector the degree to which Arabo-Muslim entrepreneurship is seeking a place to flourish away from the dead hand of the state, and the degree to which even in the temporary, Prince-dependent liberalism of Dubai seems vastly attractive in a world where the West is growing stupidly more hostile to Arabo-Islamic money.

Continue reading "Dubai, the Attraction"

Posted by The Lounsbury at 01:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Business, Private , Economic Development , Economic Policy , Gulf , MENA Region General

October 03, 2006

My Fieldtrip to the Right Blogosphere

Apart from daily scans of the Aggregator, I don't have a lot of time to spend reading blogs of any political/religious stripe. I'm not sure how often our contributors venture out into the wider blogosphere either, let alone cultivate relationships/flamewars with other blogs. My mental image of 'Aqoul somewhat resembles a secluded house on the outskirts of a chaotic city, a bit like Professor X's mansion (I'm sure this will lead to a bizarre side discussion on which X-Men are most like our authors/regulars, but let's try to stay focused).

In any case, I don't follow the daily mumblings of ignorant morons wanking on about dhimmitude and the infinite evils of Islam, nor do I routinely comment on blogs other than this one. Perhaps I'm a victim of the echo chamber effect, but I think it has more to do with wanting to spare myself the frustration of seeing the same Islamophobic glurge repeated over and over until it magically becomes fact.

Continue reading "My Fieldtrip to the Right Blogosphere"

Posted by eerie at 08:16 PM | Comments (35) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Islam General , Media , Society & Culture , Terrorism

October 02, 2006

The reality of Islam and the Republic

I almost missed this fairly important note in the Financial Times on European Islam and the wild-eyed whinging that seems to be becoming the rage in certain circles in North America regarding the Muslim minority in Europe: The reality of Islam and the Republic.

First, the author of the opinion piece, FT’s European Editor, has an excellent summary of the mythology, playing off of a recent publication, Integrating Islam: Political And Religious Challenges in Contemporary France.

Continue reading "The reality of Islam and the Republic"

Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:02 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Islam General , North Africa , Political Development , Religious Minorities , Society & Culture , Terrorism

October 01, 2006

UAE to hold polls in December

The UAE has announced dates for its first-ever polls. While the elections will do little to alter the balance of power in the country- the voters have been chosen by the rulers of the country's seven constituent emirates, and will only elect half the members of a purely consultative body- this still marks an important step towards increasing political participation.

Continue reading "UAE to hold polls in December"

Posted by dubaiwalla at 10:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Gulf , Political Development , Society & Culture

TV in the Middle East: some notes

As some of you know, I've just started writing for Middle East Broadcasters' Journal, and consequently have spent the last couple weeks learning some of what there is to know about the broadcasting biz. I may come back to some of the stuff I've been working on once my actual paying employer has had a chance to publish it, but in the meantime, here's a sketch of the overall situation in the exciting world of TV. (Anyone wanting pretty charts and mostly-reliable statistics should check out this Booz-Allen-Hamilton report on the Middle Eastern TV market.)

Continue reading "TV in the Middle East: some notes"

Posted by tomscud at 07:22 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Business, Private , Media

Violence, Christians, Muslims - More Fallacious Framing

I caught an interesting article in the Washington Post on Somali shopkeepers and violence which I think is a decent point of illustration of the easy, fallacious framing that often occurs.

Now, in this instance, the article focuses on the xenophobic reaction of Xhosa to Somali shopkeepers, telling known by a name derived from Islamic and Somali vocabulary - baraka, which as many readers know is simply the Arabic for "blessing(s)," although not as the journo incorrectly puts it "God's blessings" as a phrase, merely understood, as in English low church usage that it's God that does blessing. Somalis are known as barakas. Now, the article, aside from some ethnic superficialities, is quite good. However, in reading it and reflecting on how such stories get framed I rather thought it typical of, in particular, Western journo reporting in Africa and elsewhere on violence where an ethno-religious cleavage exists.

[Crossposted from The Lounsbury]

Continue reading "Violence, Christians, Muslims - More Fallacious Framing"

Posted by The Lounsbury at 06:34 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Islam General , Media , Religious Minorities

New Month Open Thread

It's that time again. Per long-standing tradition, we give you, the Aqoul consumer, the opportunity to introduce yourselves, ask us questions, praise us lavishly, whinge on about random topics, or ignore us completely: the choice is yours.

Also, in keeping with our ongoing mission of lowering the on-line tone of discussion, I present: Lebanese noncombatants move to engage UN forces.

Posted by tomscud at 06:33 AM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Site News