[BesaCenter] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The Ukraine crisis has created a catalyst for Sino-Russian rapprochement. Events in Ukraine have persuaded Russia that it cannot rely on Western Europe as its primary market for hydrocarbon exports. Consequently, after decades of negotiations between Moscow and Beijing for a long term natural gas mega-contract, it seems that Russia has finally relented to China's terms, with China becoming the senior partner in a lopsided China-Russia relationship.
[DAWN] Imagine taking an allegedly blasphemous whisper, noticed by very few, and shouting it from the rooftop in the name of alerting the townsfolk of the misdeed.
Would you not consider the screamer to have caused more disrespect than the whisperer himself, by ensuring that the blasphemy spreads far wider than the whisperer had intended?
There are, after all, reasons why the accuser is not made to repeat the actual derogatory remarks in court, let alone re-broadcast them for the entire world to hear.
An accuser may however disregard this rule if the accusation is borne not of personal outrage for the alleged blasphemy, but a desire to rile up the crowds, take Dire Revenge™, settle a personal score, while simultaneously being cheered on as a hero.
This is where the media war stands today.
We have seen TV anchor Mubashar Lucman condemn Geo for airing what he claims is a blasphemous video. The video features Veena Malik seated together with her husband Asad in what appears to be a wedding.
The occasion depicts wedding rituals of the recently married couple with background score as a qawwali that ostensibly, and perhaps offensively, compares this couple with a revered religious one.
What Lucman fails to take note of is the fact that 'Ali keh saath', a qawwali popularised by Amjab Sabri, is a common recitation at Shia weddings particularly in the rural areas.
This is due to the qawwali's general matrimonial theme, and not because it's intended to compare the bride and groom to personalities of religious significance. Geo neither composed the qawwali, nor invented the tradition of using it in weddings.
This point should be easy for warring media houses to understand, given that old videos have surfaced on the internet of multiple channels airing similar instances with the same qawwali.
That said, it is understandable that those who are not accustomed to the tradition may be offended, and it was prudent of Geo to apologise given the prevailing environment.
Unfortunately, this accusation sets a dangerous new precedent.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/21/2014 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Hanin Ghaddar's attack on Nasrallah reflects battle between Leb's secular establishment and camp of Syria-Iran axis.
The Lebanese law bans any relations with Israel: No handshakes, no exchange of words, definitely no photographs and not even happening to be in the same room with "the Israeli enemy." Those who were caught, including Miss Leb, were put on trial and sentenced to three years in prison.
The two camps, the camp of the secular establishment and public opinion leaders and the camp of the Syria-Iran-Hezbollah axis, are now caught in a battle over the participation of fascinating journalist Hanin Ghaddar, the managing editor of Leb's popular English-language news website NOW, in a Washington conference. She was invited to lecture about the United States' policy in the Middle East and surprised everyone.
Instead of talking about failures and mistakes, as she was expected to do in Beirut, Ghaddar chose to lash out at Hezbollah and used harsh words to blame the organization for the wretched condition of the two million Syrian refugees who fled to camps in Leb. They are miserable, she complained, and we are collapsing under the human burden. We pity them, and we are entangled within ourselves.
The criticism hit Ghaddar from an unexpected place: The watchdogs of the Hezbollah-Iran-Syria axis found former Defense Minister Ehud Barak's name on the Washington conference's list of participants. They went and posted a huge (fabricated) picture of Barak and Ghaddar, and Hassan Nasrallah's mouthpieces declared that she had been "thrown to the dogs."
Such a headline in Beirut is not a child's play. It's a call to watch her, to plant an bomb in her car or in her home and to settle a long score with her.
Ghaddar is an unusual journalist in the Lebanese media landscape. Two years ago, she published a provocative article in New York-based Jewish magazine Tablet about her Shiite grandmother, who "loves Hassan Nasrallah, believes every word he says and he is her only hope."
For my grandmother, Ghaddar wrote without revealing what she herself thinks about Nasrallah, "it is very simple: Jews are evil; Hezbollah is good."
Those targeting Ghaddar have now published a "statement of disassociation" on behalf of her family and an "apology" to Nasrallah. I'm not sure there were such statements.
The Arabic-language press is waging a smear campaign against Ghaddar. Leb's English-language newspapers, on the other hand, have launched a campaign of solidarity with her. In Arabic they are demanding to throw her in jail and destroy her, in English they are slamming Hezbollah and defending Ghaddar.
The battle between the camps has turned into a reflection of the high politics in Beirut: President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... has completed two terms, the law requires elections and a new president in the palace, but Hezbollah is torpedoing, threatening and disqualifying the candidates. Every moment, someone makes certain to fuel the battles between the two camps. This diverts the attention from the charged issue of electing a new president.
But Ghaddar isn't giving up: Upon her return to Beirut, she issued a new attack on Hezbollah in which she announced that she -- as opposed to them -- speaks with one voice: What she said in Washington she will say without hesitations at home too, despite what her grandmother says.
"They say I should have asked for permission before opening my 'big mouth' in Washington," she attacked. "Why didn't Nasrallah ask me for permission before he sent hundreds of fighters to help Bashir al-Assad in Syria and drove the refugees over to us?"
As for her "mingling" with Ehud Barak, Ghaddar stated that she did not break the law: She made it clear in advance that she would not attend his lecture and would not pick up the microphone before she was promised that Barak was not in the room.
She is not alone. In another conference, in the emirate of Qatar, the Lebanese participant asked the organizers to remove the name of the Israeli panelist from the itinerary. The Israeli was offended, and the Lebanese begged for his life. The Israeli gave up.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
