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I got a chortle out of an apparent typo midway through the story. "Many senior Wahabis are vehemently against the preservation of historical Islamic sites that are linked to the profit because they believe it encourages shirq the sin of idol worshipping."
It is tragic, though - how the Magic Kingdom so enthusiastically rips up archeological and historical sites.
[Ynet] Arab columnist says Paleostinians will revolt against 'occupation' when they reach state of utter despair
Over the past few weeks an extensive discussion has been held regarding the possibility that the protest against the occupation in the West Bank will escalate into a full-blown intifada. Israel has contributed greatly to this discussion. The heads of the security services in Israel instructed forces to do whatever is necessary to prevent the outbreak of another intifada, which will bring an end to calm and pleasant reality of the occupation in the West Bank.
To this end, the Israeli government has transferred to the Paleostinian Authority the tax revenues it had confiscated, instructed the army to avoid excessive oppression and killing and urged the Paleostinian leadership to prevent the situation from deteriorating.
Israel fears another initidafa, be it an armed uprising or a popular one, because it would expose its true face as a racist and conquering force.
Yeah, yeah.
Such an intifada would unite the Paleostinian people, its political forces and leadership. An uprising would shore up Arab and international support for the Paleostinian cause and prompt regional and international forces to prevent further escalation.
But an intifada has yet to erupt for the following reasons:
First of all, due to the political and geographical division, the Paleostinians concentrate all of their energy on internal struggles, sectoral interests and competition between the various factions. This was evident over the past few weeks when Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, called to expand the protest while the PA urged restraint. Therefore, an end to internal Paleostinian division is one of the conditions for the eruption of a popular uprising. Such an intifada may not be initiated by the key Paleostinian movements, but without them it will not be continuous and will not lead to victory.
Secondly, the lack of a Paleostinian strategy reduces the likelihood of an intifada. The strategy of negotiating with Israel reached a dead end years ago. The armed resistance strategy has also been suspended. The Paleostinian leadership went to the UN, but it does not have a new general strategy. Hamas' strategy of "tahadiya after tahadiya" (calm after calm) is not long-lasting and cannot lead to victory.
Moreover, the leadership, mainly in Ramallah, fears that an intifada may spin out of control and lead to the collapse of the Paleostinian Authority. This is why it preferred the tactic of controllable popular protests.
In addition, the current socioeconomic situation, which encourages the culture of consumption,
That is to say, improved prosperity...
blocks elements of resistance and protest. The way of life in the West Bank and Gazoo, and particularly in Ramallah, has created a gap between the leaders and the people. It has also created individuals and groups, within and outside the Authority, who are against an intifada because it would not serve their interests. They will object to an uprising or refrain from supporting it.
Good for them.
The fifth reason is that the Paleostinian people are suffering from the repercussions of the loss of the uniting national project and the petrifaction of their national institutions, as well as the erosion of these institutions' legitimacy.
Golly. Such fancy, scientific words.
This led to the spread of individualism, nepotism, corruption, sectionalism and to the loss of the people's faith in the institutions.
Wow. Somebody bought a dictionary.
Another reason is that, seemingly, the Paleostinian people will think a million times before launching an intifada, as they cannot ignore the fact that the casualties and suffering during an intifada are always greater than the achievements.
Indeed. Clever of them all to notice.
If we add this insight to the corruption in the PA, we can understand why the simple and poor citizen would say: "I am not going to sacrifice myself or my sons so that the fruits of this sacrifice will be enjoyed by those who are not willing to sacrifice themselves or their sons."
An intifada will erupt only when the people will have hope, or reach a state of utter despair. Currently there is not a lot of hope, but we are not in a state of total despair either. This is why, for now, all we are seeing are seasonal and local waves of protest.
No one knows when the next intifada will break out. But, sooner or later, it will.
Or not, as the case may be. That much can be predicted of a surety.
Hani al-Masri
"The Egyptian?" And now he is a Palestinian...
is a Paleostinian political analyst and an independent columnist for several Paleostinian and Arab papers. His article was published in the Paleostinian news agency Sama and was translated to Hebrew as part of a project initiated by the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and the I`lam Media Center for Arab Paleostinians in Israel in Nazareth
#1
they cannot ignore the fact that the casualties and suffering during an intifada are always greater than the achievements.
Oh, don't be such wussies! Where's that good ol' jihadi "we love death more than you love life" spirit? There is nothing more glorious and Arabic than colossal failure. You'll be able to tell the story for generations.
NO TO A SUPERPOWER POPE. Mercifully, the new pope is not the archbishop of The Big Apple, Cardinal T. Dolan. Shortly after Cardinal J. Mario Bergoglio was elected as the 266th pope, Cardinal Dolan demonstrated why my prayers had been answered. The American had been bypassed.
Out of the papal conclave and into the limelight charged the vainglorious Dolan (who, it has to be said, harbored hopes of becoming pope). He then suctioned himself to the television cameras, American style. No other cardinal elector granted interviews on emerging from the Sistine Chapel; they were enjoined to secrecy.
Not the American cardinals. According to the Associated Press, these prolix self-promoters held daily press briefings near the Vatican to a room packed with reporters and television crews.
This was vulgarity, not transparency.
Not for nothing was the vow of silence once considered a test of character and spirituality in Christianity and in other faiths. This universal value has been inverted by American pop culture and pop religion. In the U.S., a deeply private person is considered defective; a blabbermouth who does and says anything on camera is canonized.
Dolan, by CBS telling, broadcasts a weekly radio show and was hardly silent during the cardinals self-imposed hush order. For his vulgar electioneering, the archbishop of The Big Apple was dubbed by Kean University historian Christopher Bellitto The Ed Koch of Catholicism. Having gigged with liberal comedian Stephen Colbert, Dolans showman credentials are better than Kochs.
American public life is such that even our pick for pope (Dolan) struts his stuff like a Jousey Shore reality star.
The two-day-long conclave gave us a glimpse of the sublime. The elevated atmosphere was sustained by the crowds in St. Peters Square. Dolan shattered the majesty and solemnity of that event at a press conference where he alone was in attendance. There, Dolan disgorged the obligatory niceties about Pope Francis I. Cardinal Bergoglio was an inspired choice. May he persevere for years to come (Ad Multos Annos).
Actually the first person I thought of was Chuckie Schumer. El Rushbo once said that the most dangerous neighborhood in DC is any space between Chuckie and a TV camera.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
03/15/2013 10:02 Comments ||
Top||
It has now come to light that in the lead up to the Sabah "invasion", Jamalul Kiram III had been entertaining a string of rather interesting Filipino personalities at his home in a Manila suburb.
There was, of course, Nur Misuari, the discredited former governor of Muslim Mindanao. And then there was Norberto Gonzales, national security adviser under former president Gloria Arroyo.
Another colourful figure consorting with the sultan was Pastor "Boy" Saycon, a "political strategist" linked to Jose Cojuangco who had been a thorn at the side of his sister, the late president Corazon Aquino, and now of his nephew, President Benigno Aquino.
Aquino has since launched an official investigation into a possible conspiracy linking at least some of these personalities to the Sabah misadventure.
* ION DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Sun Star] PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT; BRUTALITY AGZ PINOYS IN SABAH UNACCEPTABLE.
* RELATED SAME > [Manila Bulletin]PALACE DEPLORES "UNACCEPTABLE" TREATMENT OF PINOYS IN SABAH.
* SAME > [Jakarta Globe] MALAYSIANS FLEEING SABAH ENTER INDONESIA.
* SAME > [Phil Star] SABAH SITUATION MAY AFFECT TEAM PINOY BETS CHANCES IN POLLS.
Political Candidates supported by PHIL President Aquino.
VERSUS
* TOPIX > [ABS-CBN] PHILIPPINES MAY SEND TROOPS TO SABAH, SAYS MIRIAM [PHIL Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago].
RELATED SAME = "LIMITED MILITARY FORCE" COULD BE USED TO RESCUE FILIPINOS IN SABAH [+ deter Malay abuse of Filipinos]: SANTIAGO [see above PHIL Senator].
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PHILIPPINES AND JAPAN ALIGN [Geopol, Mil + Econ] STRATEGIC INTERESTS.
Read, CHINA.
* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > RUSSIA RETURNS TO VIETNAM'S CAM RANH BAY TO DETER OR COUNTER US AND CHINESE AGENDAS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA AND SOUTH CHINA SEA.
Lest we fergit, Vietnam has invited many world powers to set up in Cam Ranh Bay EXCEPT CHINA.
If interested, don't forget to buy through Freds Amazons ;ink.
Wordsmith Media, Inc. (OTC Pink: WDIS) and Highland Loch Press announced today that its new book, Shaking Hands with the Devil: The Intersection of Terrorism and Theology is now highly ranked on Amazon.com. Following reviews from The American Spectator magazine and other national media, the new book soared in the rankings at Amazon.com ahead of Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History, the story (Penguin Books) on which this year's Best Picture at the 85 th Academy Awards was based.
The Wordsmith Media, Inc. and Highland Loch Press book was ranked in the top 10 in sales on March 15, 2013 at Amazon.com coming in at #7 in its category. This development has come exactly one year to the day that Wordsmith Media, Inc. announced its 49% acquisition of Highland Loch Press:
A detailed review of the newly-released publication appeared in the "Buy the Book" section on March 14, 2013 of the very popular American Spectator magazine in an article entitled, "An Irish Methodist Challenges America's Churchly Pacifists." The article states, "One of United Methodism's most distinguished theologians has written a powerful new book on terrorism that challenges the unthinking pacifism dominant among many Protestant and evangelical elites," and continues to describe the book in great detail and its importance to the subject of terrorism in the modern age. The article can be read here: http://spectator.org/archives/2013/03/14/an-irish-methodist-challenges.
Wordsmith Media, Inc. announced the release of a special hardcover edition of the book on March 5, 2013 stating, "Dr. Abraham recounts his experience growing up in Northern Ireland and the correlations inherent in all terrorism albeit from the IRA or more rampant expressions of its evil roots in modern times. This is a fascinating read developing the correlations between prominent forms of terrorism as they intersect with theological beliefs and the deadly effects on society. Why do people resort to such extreme exhibitions of faith? What causes such distain and disregard of the innocent? Dr. Abraham explores these ideas and others in this very telling work never more needed than in today's world.
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.
