Nidal

Comment le Liban a failli conquérir l’espace
http://bibliobs.nouvelobs.com/la-tendance-de-jerome-garcin/20130425.OBS7153/comment-le-liban-a-failli-conquerir-l-espace.html

C’est ainsi que, en pleine guerre froide, et tandis que les Spoutnik russes et le programme américain Apollo se disputent le ciel, le petit Liban s’impose comme une nation spatiale ! Ses fusées Cedar sont d’ailleurs si performantes - elles peuvent atteindre Israël - que le monde commence à s’inquiéter de leur force de frappe potentielle.

Sous la pression internationale, le président Fouad Chéhab doit alors abdiquer ses ambitions et mettre un terme définitif au rêve des jeunes prodiges qui avaient les mains sur la paillasse et la tête dans les étoiles. L’incroyable aventure a ensuite été oubliée.

Un demi-siècle plus tard, miracle du cinéma, cette lampe magique dont Pagnol disait qu’elle « rallume les génies éteints », Joana Hadjithomas et Khalil Joreige (réalisateurs de « Je veux voir », avec Catherine Deneuve) ressuscitent « The Lebanese Rocket Society » dans un incroyable film-enquête.

For backing “5 Broken Cameras”, “Jewish Press” smears Dustin Hoffman as has-been “figleaf” with “Semitic nose”
http://mondoweiss.net/2013/04/for-backing-5-broken-cameras-jewish-press-smears-dustin-hoffman-as-has-b

What an ongoing calamity Zionism is for the American Jewish community. On Saturday night in LA, Dustin Hoffman was to present a Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) award to Emad Burnat, the Palestinian co-director of the brilliant documentary “5 Broken Cameras” about resistance in occupied Bil’in. A disturbing article in the Jewish Press vilifies both Hoffman for daring to present the award and Burnat for daring to chronicle the occupation.

Lori Lowenthal Marcus first provides the news, then the character assassination, then the “He’s not really Jewish stuff.” Along the way, she talks about his “Semitic nose.” Imagine if a non-Jew used such a description! And Marcus calls Burnat an “Israel-hater” because he has protested the seizure of his village’s lands by an illegal settlement.

Curieux (et un peu inquiétant) éditorial d’Ibrahim al Amine dans le Akhbar : le Hezbollah a-t-il un message à faire passer ? War on the Horizon : Crossing Syrian Red Lines
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/war-horizon-crossing-syrian-red-lines

Behind the scenes of the war over Syria, there are those in Tel Aviv who are seriously considering some sort attack on the Resistance in Lebanon. Despite the real possibility that this could spark a regional war, Hezbollah’s enemies at home and abroad are betting on a party that is isolated and vulnerable due to the Syrian situation.

It is therefore important to point out the following to friend and foe alike: Hezbollah’s preparedness tops most estimations of its military abilities. And despite the fact that it has had to reveal some aspects of its growing power in order to deter its enemies, it has what it needs – particularly when it comes to strategic weapons – to fight a bitter and prolonged confrontation.

It is useful to remind those thinking of taking action against the Resistance that its arsenal of rockets has reached such a scale that it can launch in single day more than what it fired in all 33 days of the July 2006 War combined.

It should also be known that there is a major current within the party – including among the civilian and military leaderships – that believes it would be to their advantage if the Zionist enemy does in fact take such a step, which will lead to unveiling the surprises the Resistance has in store for them.

Le Liban serait le 4e pays du monde pour la qualité de son enseignement des mathématiques et des sciences :
http://www.hummusnation.com/لبنان-الرابع-عالمياً-جودة-تعليم-الريا

http://www.hummusnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Batman-Hummus-700x450.jpg

إذا كان صحيحاً أننا نحتل المركز الرابع عالمياً لناحية جودة تعليم الرياضيات والعلوم، فجودة التعليم هذه لن تكسب الأجيال الصاعدة سوى ذكاء خارق في حساب ساعات تقنين التيار الكهربائي أو عدد الأيام المتبقية للحصول على تأشيرة الهجرة الدائمة إلى اوستراليا.

Art – a new weapon for Hezbollah

http://www.yourmiddleeast.com/features/art-a-new-weapon-for-hezbollah_13621

The Party has mastered information dissemination on two levels: psychological warfare against its “eternal” enemy Israel and mass communication directed towards its people. For this latter goal, Hezbollah profiles itself through different social, political, and cultural messages. Today, the group is using graffiti as a new tool to assert its ideals by appealing to the young urban generations, and that is exactly what is happening in the streets of Dahyeh.
(...)

“Why graffiti ? Well you can think of it this way, instead of posting a picture on our Facebook walls, we are getting out of the virtual world and painting it on a real wall in the street,” Hassan said. “Dahyeh is always portrayed as a closed and violent society with no room for creativity and imagination, that is untrue, and we proved it,” finishes Hassan.

“Art in Dahyeh is generally welcomed because it speaks the language of the people”, said Mohammad (not his real name), a member of Hezbollah. “We honor our religious symbols by these paintings on the walls to remind the people of their (religious symbols) sacrifices,” he adds. Mohammad was referring to graffiti showing the names of Zeinab and Hussein, Imam Ali’s children and holy symbols in the Shiite sect.

Ah ah : samedi, Ziad Doueiri était en faveur de la liberté d’expression et de la normalisation culturelle avec Israël :
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=355156667918227&set=a.277698072330754.47095.277665939000634

This decision to ban the film by the Lebanese Ministry of Interior is foolish and unfair. It does not end the occupation, it does not improve their situation either. All this does in the end is portray Lebanon in a negative light, and tell us, filmmakers, that we if think outside of the box, we’ll be considered pariahs and outlaws.

Mais ça, c’était avant de découvrir que les gens pouvaient exprimer des opinions qui lui déplaisent sur Facebook :
https://www.facebook.com/DoueiriZiad/posts/355927967841097

According to Facebook terms of Service and Conditions, any inappropriate, disrespectful, harmful, offensive or damaging comment or post will be deleted.

Syrie : le Premier ministre échappe à un attentat à Damas (c’est pas la peine de suivre le lien, tu n’apprendras rien – je référence pour archivage)
http://www.liberation.fr/monde/2013/04/29/l-attentat-a-damas-visait-la-voiture-du-premier-ministre_899764

Le Premier ministre syrien, Waël al-Halaqi, est sorti indemne d’un attentat à Damas, a rapporté la télévision officielle Al-Ikhbariya, une ONG syrienne rapportant que son garde du corps a été tué.

Geneva Document Key To End Syria Stalemate
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/geneva-agreement-syria-solution.html

Most players on either side of the battlements fear such an outcome for their own reasons. But too close or literal a reading of the Geneva understandings is unnecessary if a diplomatic outcome is favored. Assad, in his January 2013 speech and former opposition president Moaz al-Khatib, as well as Tehran, have noted interest in a political dialogue. Geneva, as Kerry himself implied in his Brussels remarks, offers the only hope of a diplomatic path that leaves the country intact. Bitter and esoteric disputes about its details in this context are all but irrelevant, and even counterproductive. Argument over the precise meaning of the text not only misses this important point but also risks discrediting the creation of an effective, joint US-Russian plan and distracting attention into fruitless debates about the real intentions of Geneva’s authors. As Kerry himself acknowledged, “you have Assad and you have the opposition, and until they come to some kind of an assessment of what they’re willing to do here, this remains a very, very difficult diplomatic initiative to achieve.”

It is enough to say that a diplomatic solution entails Washington “walking back” its pre-emptive demand for Assad’s departure and Moscow’s support for the regime’s pre-eminence. Geneva is the first way station along this road, a hesitant step in a long journey that has only just begun.

Lebanon’s First Civil Marriage A Sign of Change - Al-Monitor : the Pulse of the Middle East
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/lebanon-first-civil-marriage-political-change.html

Lebanon’s First Civil Marriage
A Sign of Change

 : très claire mise en perspective, par Jean Aziz, des enjeux pour le Liban du marriage civil, célébré pour la première fois dans l’histoire moderne du pays le 25 avril dernier. (On rappelle au passage que le marriage civil n’existe par en Israël.)

Le phosphore blanc est trop photogénique pour l’armée israélienne. Elle va chercher une arme chimique moins voyante.
http://www.france24.com/fr/files_fr/imagecache/france24_169_large/story/Israel-phos-m.jpg

Israel gives up white phosphorus, because ‘it doesn’t photograph well’ | +972 Magazine
http://972mag.com/israel-gives-up-white-phosphorus-because-it-doesnt-photograph-well/70063

So the IDF is looking for a replacement for the white phosphorus bombs. A senior officer in the ground forces explained: “As we learned during Cast Lead, it [white phosphorus] doesn’t photograph well, so we are reducing the supply and we will not purchase beyond what we already have.”

“It doesn’t photograph well.” In all honesty, the man is right.

C.I.A. Delivers Cash to Afghan Leader’s Office - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/world/asia/cia-delivers-cash-to-afghan-leaders-office.html?ref=global-home

A la une de tous les médias norvégiens aujourd’hui : « La plus grande source de corruption en Afghanistan a été et est l’Amérique : de l’argent dans des valises, des sacs à dos et des sacs en plastique... »

KABUL, Afghanistan — For more than a decade, wads of American dollars packed into suitcases, backpacks and, on occasion, plastic shopping bags have been dropped off every month or so at the offices of Afghanistan’s president — courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency.

#afghanistan #états-unis #corruption #cia

Law blocking Israel’s enemies from suing the state gets government backing
By Jonathan Lis
Haaretz Daily Newspaper
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/law-blocking-israel-s-enemies-from-suing-the-state-gets-government-backing.

The Israeli government is backing draft legislation to prevent citizens of enemy nations from suing the state.  

The Ministerial Committee on Legislation gave the government’s approval to the proposed “Dirani Law,” named after Mustafa Dirani, a Lebanese citizen who was abducted by Israel in 1994 in an attempt to get information about captive Israeli Air Force navigator Ron Arad. Israel then detained Dirani to use him as a bargaining chip in securing Arad’s release by Hezbollah. Dirani sued Israel for NIS 6 million in 2000, while still in jail, claiming one of his interrogators, known as “Captain George,” sexually abused him and threatened his life.

Saudi Woman Given Lashes For Texting Stranger by Mistake
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/460767/20130424/saudi-arabia-woman-lashes-wrong-sms-number.htm

A Saudi woman has been sentenced to eight lashes by a court in Qatif for mistakenly sending a text message allegedly promoting the Shiite branch of Islam.

The 30-year-old woman, identified only as YH, has been pronounced guilty for sending an SMS to another Saudi woman, containing a group of telephone numbers under the name ’Shiite Islamic religious services’.

One phone number apparently led to Ayatollah Sistani, Iraq’s most senior Shiite cleric who is renowned throughout the Gulf for his learned counsel on Islamic law.  

The Saudi Arabian state is a staunch adherent to the Sunni branch of Islam, and publicly disparages the Shia sect. Shia Muslims are not allowed to practice their faith, or even profess their sectarian beliefs in private.

(via Angry Arab)

Article apocalyptique dans le New York Times : Islamist Rebels’ Gains in Syria Create Dilemma for U.S.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/world/middleeast/islamist-rebels-gains-in-syria-create-dilemma-for-us.html

Across Syria, rebel-held areas are dotted with Islamic courts staffed by lawyers and clerics, and by fighting brigades led by extremists. Even the Supreme Military Council, the umbrella rebel organization whose formation the West had hoped would sideline radical groups, is stocked with commanders who want to infuse Islamic law into a future Syrian government.

Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of.

(C’est moi qui souligne cette dernière phrase.)

Ne pas se méprendre : ça ne veut pas dire que c’est plus vrai que lorsque le New York Times ment dans l’autre sens… Mon intérêt ici, c’est à nouveau de remarquer qu’il y a d’un côté l’habituel discours assez simple et binaire des dirigeants (avec spectaculaire alignement du gouvernement français), mais qu’il y a aussi, quasiment depuis le début, nombre de tribunes totalement contraires dans les médias. Certes loin d’être majoritaires, mais beaucoup plus forts et présents que pour d’autres guerres. Et ces discours hétérodoxes (pendant que les gouvernements occidentaux refont le coup des armes de destruction massive) débarquent au NY Times. C’est assez curieux.

Femen : You’re Doing it Wrong
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/femen-youre-doing-it-wrong

The words of Femen leader Inna Shevchenko perfectly illustrate the group’s total lack of respect for women. "They say they are against Femen, but we still say we are here for them. They write on their posters that they don’t need liberation but in their eyes it’s written ’help me.’”

Reading these words, one cannot help but wonder where Femen was during the Arab revolutions. Indeed, women in the MENA have played a leading role in the revolutionary processes in their countries.

To stand in solidarity with these women would have been to help deconstruct the myths and prejudices of Arab women in mainstream western media. Instead, Femen repeats clichés and strenghtens discrimination against them, further isolating them form public debate.

Femen is telling women from the MENA region what to feel and how to act, but isn’t that what patriarchy has been doing for millenia?

Dix chaînes de télévision suspendues en Irak pour « incitation à la haine confessionnelle ». Parmi elles, Al-Jazeera.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iraq-suspends-10-tv-channels-encouraging-sectarianism

Iraq has suspended the licenses of 10 satellite TV channels for promoting “sectarianism,” the country’s media regulator said on Sunday, after five days of violence killed more than 215 people.

[…]

The suspensions include al-Jazeera, the prominent Arab news channel, and Sharqiya, a leading channel in Iraq.

Obama évite de prononcer le mot génocide.
http://www.armenews.com/article.php3?id_article=89114

Le président américain Barack Obama a de nouveau évité de prononcer le terme génocide lors de son discours, par ailleurs un discours similiaire à celui formulé au cours de son premier mandat.

Obama a employé l’expression arménienne Meds Yeghern, ou « la Grande Calamité », pour commémorer le 98e anniversaire du génocide des Arméniens.

[…]

En 2008, Barack Obama, alors candidat à la présidentielle, avait annoncé que le génocide arménien est un fait largement documenté et prouvé. « L’Amérique mérite un dirigeant qui ose parler du génocide arménien. J’ai l’intention d’être ce président », avait-il dit en 2008.

Obama a fait marche arrière sur cette promesse après être devenu président, soucieux de ne pas contrarier la Turquie, un allié clé des Etats-Unis. En avril 2009, il a implicitement évoqué la nécessité de ne pas compromettre le rapprochement entre l’Arménie et la Turquie. Le processus de normalisation arméno-turc s’est finalement soldé par un échec.

Rappel : ça fait un bon mois qu’Israël et ses alliés font monter la sauce chimique en Syrie :
http://seenthis.net/messages/124026

Or, même l’Observatoire syrien des Droits de l’Homme désignait assez clairement les rebelles comme auteurs de l’attaque :
►http://news.yahoo.com/twenty-six-killed-syrian-attack-monitoring-group-124003651.html

“Sixteen Syrian regular army soldiers were killed in Khan al-Assal,” Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Reuters. “Ten more died in hospital but I cannot confirm if they are civilians or soldiers.”

Le Telegraph indiquait également, selon plusieurs témoignages, qu’il s’agissait d’une bombe artisanale fabriquée par des rebelles :
http://seenthis.net/messages/124727

Il est assez charmant de voir la France et ses médias s’aligner, une fois de plus, avec autant de rapidité sur la dernière petite phrase du Département d’État. Vraiment charmant.

Saudi to keep ban on churches – minister
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/saudi-keep-ban-on-churches-minister-499626.html

Saudi Arabia has no plans to lift a long-standing ban on the construction of non-Muslim places of worship, according the Gulf kingdom’s Minister of Justice.
In comments to Saudi media on Thursday, Mohammed Al-Issa said that the country is "home to the Muslim holy places, it does not allow the establishment of non-Muslim places of worship”. Al-Issa is currently on an official trip to Brussels.

Annulation de la condamnation pour blasphème du pianiste turc Fazil Say
►http://www.lorientlejour.com/article/811960/annulation-de-la-condamnation-pour-blaspheme-du-pianiste-turc-fazil-s

Un tribunal d’Istanbul a annulé vendredi la condamnation controversée à dix mois de prison avec sursis prononcée contre le pianiste turc Fazil Say, reconnu coupable d’insulte à l’islam, ouvrant la voie à un nouveau procès, a rapporté l’agence de presse Anatolie.

Signalé par @warda ici :
http://seenthis.net/messages/130910#message133974

Concours de virilitude chez les deux escrocs salafistes (celui du Sud et celui du Nord) :
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/sheikh-assir-declares-arrival-his-mujahideen-syria

Sheikh Assir called on followers to register at the mosque and fill out applications for jihad. After that, they merely await Assir’s orders to begin training before being dispatched to Syria, particularly to the town of Qusayr close to the Lebanese border.

But if the path of jihad is a long and arduous one, requiring many stages of preparation, then how did those volunteers manage to deploy to Syria in just a few days? Had Assir secretly sent his supporters earlier? Or did he send them in the past few days with little training and scant arms?

These questions circulated on Friday in Saida. Some even believe that Assir’s revelation was only meant to liven up his theatrics, which many think are growing stale.

[…]

Addressing former prime minister Saad Hariri, without mentioning him by name, Rafei said, “When our people were slaughtered in Beirut, what did you do? You sat crying like a woman. You said that the UN and America failed us.”

Interdiction de mariage en jilbeb : le tribunal donne raison à la maire
http://journaldumusulman.fr/interdiction-de-mariage-en-jilbeb-le-tribunal-donne-raison-a-la-ma

La mairie et son avocat Me Mohad Bourouis ont bel et bien improvisé un argument pour se défendre alors que ce n’était pas celui-ci qui était mis en avant le jour du mariage. Comme l’a indiqué Me Gilles Devers, l’avocat du couple « L’opposition formée par l’adjointe était fondée sur la laïcité, et cet argument du doute sur l’identité n’est apparu que devant le tribunal, comme une roue de secours. En l’occurrence il n’y a aucun élément de doute sur l’identité, chez ce couple »

Speech by Shaykh Mouaz Al-Khatib, President of the Syrian National Coalition, directed to Mr. Hassan Nasrallah, General Secretary of Hezbollah
https://www.facebook.com/ahmad.mouaz.alkhatib.alhasani/posts/637999119560485%5C

I will say to you with all honesty: some of the stances that are being taken by some your officials will make part of your ideology responsible for a historical disorder, for moral bankruptcy, and some of the stances of some members of your party has caused a tidal wave of atheism that has began to invade generations: those stances, in my opinion, cannot be affiliated in any way to the prophet’s household (peace be upon them).

The consciences of the people can no longer go on, and the invitation by the two respected scholars, Al Rifai and Al Aseer, (towards defending the Syrian people) was nothing but a response to the chilling events that are occurring from the butchering of civilians and the gushing of blood, to the screams of the women in the prisons.

Je cite ce passage que je trouve quelque peu étonnant (quelqu’un a la version originale, il accuse vraiment Nasrallah de provoquer l’athéisme ?). Sinon, Salem Raféi et Ahmad el-Assir sont deux sheikhs salafistes, le premier de Tripoli, et le second est le dangereux escroc de Saïda ; « respected scholars » est certainement discutable dans le paysage religieux libanais.

Musharraf arrested over Bhutto murder case
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2013/04/2013425151713444188.html

General Pervez Musharraf has been formally arrested in relation to the Benazir Bhutto murder case.

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said that Musharraf will remain at his Chak Shahzad farmhouse residence but will be produced at the anti-terrorist court in Rawalpindi on Friday.

“The Musharraf case has many implications given the fact that the country is less than two weeks away from election,” he said.

“It will be the responsibility of the new elected government to deal with this important issue.

“He has admirers no doubt. Many of the powerful political parties were all on board with the former military ruler.”

Since his return to Pakistan in a bid to contest the 2013 general election, Musharraf has been dealing with a number of legal cases against him, including the detention of judges and treason against the state.

Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan, was assassinated in a gun-and-bomb attack outside Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh on December 27, 2007 while Musharraf was president.

Netanyahu’s helicopter forced to land as Israeli forces shoot down drone
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/25/israeli-aeroplane-shoots-down-drone

Israel has shot down a drone as it approached the country’s northern coast, the military said. Suspicion immediately fell on Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.

The incident on Thursday is likely to raise already heightened tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, a bitter enemy that battled Israel to a stalemate during a month-long war in 2006.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in northern Israel at the time of the incident, said he viewed the infiltration attempt with “utmost gravity”.

“We will continue to do everything necessary in order to protect the security of the citizens of Israel,” he said.

#drone