Katie Green

DO THESE LOOK LIKE KUWEITI WOMEN TO YOU?!

Just listen to the Syrian orchestra trying to play the Russian national anthem when President Medvedev arrived at Damascus. It must have been hard for him to keep a straight face.

User1

Why does everybody praise Turkey ? As if Turkey was an Islamic state and not a NATO ally and hadn’t sent its forces to Afghanistan to fight Muslims, Turkey, from which we only see words, not deeds…

User2

Isn’t this the same Turkey that used to help Israel all this time? And during the Greco-Turkish War Israel was Turkey’s greatest ally..(An interesting claim, considering the fact that the before mentioned war took place in 1919-1922, that is, some twenty years before Israel was created (1945)…)

User3

First of all, Turkey’s relations with Israel were public while the Arab and the Persian Gulf states had secret ties with Israel. […] Erdogan (Prime Minister of Turkey) acts wisely, unlike us Arabs who are ruled by passion. Give the man a chance, don’t skin him alive. Pray for the man’s success, that’s the least you can do.

User4

Allah is great you Turks…All that time the Arabs were boycotting Israel, and no one is pleased with them, and Turkey only severed ties with Israel now but everybody cheer.. And only yesterday, Turkey still had military and commercial ties with Israel and no one criticized it.. Arabs are crazy.

User5

We must support Turkey and boost its industry by buying Turkish clothes and boycotting Chinese goods because of China’s support for dictators and oppressors.

User6

When the Turks withdrew from Davos, some said it was only a show. After Mavi Marmara, some said it was just a game. Now that Turkey expels the Israeli ambassador, they say Turkey only wants to look good in the eyes of the Arabs. I'd like to know what is it that some of the Arab commentators want?

User7

Go forward, Oh Erdogan, all the Arab peoples are with you, follow this path and bring us back our dignity […] Down with the cowardly slaves of America and Israel!

Mamdouh Sabri Saydam, a prominent Fatah leader, died in Jul 71 of cancer. Today, it seems that his son, Sabri Saydam, is disappointed with his father reasonably peaceful death. Mr. Sabri seems to believe that a Palestinian leader has only one worthy way of dying - at the hands of the Israeli military. A fellow blogger found out, that Sabri chose to tell an Israeli journalist, the native Russian-speaker Natasha Mozgovaya, a rather spicier version of the events. In her blog, Mozgovaya claims that Mamdouh Saydam had been killed by the Israelis when his son was only four months old. I wonder why that is?

By the way, the fact that Mamdouh Sabri had died of cancer doesn't prevent the Palestinian sources from dubbing the man a "shaheed", that is, a martyr. Can it be that a prolonged struggle with Israel have led to the man's premature death?

Can it be? Is Osama bin Laden actually dead? According to President Barack Obama, the al-Qaeda leader has been killed by US forces in Pakistan. Couln't help thinking about that last Wikileaks leak, claiming that al-Qaeda had obtained and hidden a nuclear bomb in Europe that would be detonated if Osama bin Laden was killed or captured. We're all waiting with bated breath here. Here it is, live:

By the way, someone claiming to be a local resident of Abbotabad, where bin Laden was allegedly killed, commented on the video saying this:

I am local from that area abbottabad and would you believe or not no helicopter landed there as we were waching it very closely just on helicopter of two fell at ground and the other escaped we just wactched firing from heli but all pak forces and intellegence were around the house so how US take osama out of there its was from 12:35 to 1:10 am . we live there we didnt watch osama in years there nor a vihecle etc thats all false believe me ALL PEOPLE ...my eng is not good but i thk i cnvy msg

I'ts getting more and more interesting. Let's wait and see!

But the thing is, there are now about twenty new pages in Facebook, all calling for a Third Intifada. Most have around 30 likes or so. Just type "Third Intifada" or "الانتفاضة الثالثة" in the search box, and you'll see them all. Here's just one militant example. Here's another: Reopen Third Palestinian Intifada Page.

Oh, and there's also a page named Delete The Terrorist Hate Group "Third Palestinian Intifada", with more than 21,000 likes. Nice, but the have to change that to "Terrorist GroupS. They'll have trouble reporting all that to Facebook, so for now, we'll still waiting for May 15th.

Take a look and tell me what's wrong with this cute avatar (from a militant Islamist forum, bearing the proud nick "mokawama"- resistance).

It seems that Yemen is following Gaddafi's footsteps. and spares no ammunition to stop the protests. Al-Jazeera reports at least 40 dead in Sana'a as police opened fire on protesters. I looked for comments on that item, and when I didn't find any, I just scanned Al-Jazeera front page. And what a view that was.. Wouldn't have believed it a year ago (abridged) :

France To attack Libya in a few hours.

Gaddafi's forces bombing Masrata city.

Gaddafi threatens to attack Bengazi.

Demonstrations in Iraq.

Demonstrations in Bahrain.

Saudi King threatens those threatening stability. ( a good one)

Rising tide of popular demands in Jordan

Japan comes last. The nuclear threat is obviously considered less dangerous than regional instability. Just kidding. On second thought, Iran is thought by some to be exploiting this instability to expand its influence. The Shiite protests in Bahrain in particular are just too good an opportunity to miss. Bahrain, where a Sunni majority rules over an oppressed Shiite minority, is just what Iran needs. the Bahraini regime should considered the threat of Shiite discontent to its stability a long time ago and done something about it. Like giving some rights to the Shiite, for example. Now, Bahrain already needs the help of Saudi troops against the protesters.

Or does it? Iran has claimed more than once that Bahrain is nothing but its province. Hope it won't turn to be a Saudi province. And by the way, let's not forget that Saudi Arabia has its own Shiite minority, just as discontented. Arab Unity at its best, at last.

At least the Arab channels copy from good sources. Hundreds reported dead by now.

Please donate anything you can to help Japan!!! Here's an international relief site that seems trustworthy enough. GLOBALGIVING is an international organization, that collects funds to aid countries that need it most. Right now, it's Japan.

Have I already mentioned that I'm a passionate flamenco lover? I think I did. So here's another post about it, and once again, I'll start with the Muslim musical tradition.

Qawwali (قوٌالی), a Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in areas with a strong Muslim presence, like Pakistan, Punjab, Sindh, Hyderabad and parts of North India. To start with the word itself, Qawwāli derives from the word Qaul (Arabic: قَوْل). Literally, it just means "utterance", but here, it's understood as an "utterance of the prophet". A Qawwāl is someone who often repeats a Qaul, and Qawwāli is what a Qawwāl sings. Their singing voices are quite different from the voices of Arab singers in countries like Egypt, Syria, Iraq and so on: quite high, even a bit feminine. Cheb Mami, the Algerian-born singer that sings with Sting in his Desert Rose, has a voice like that, I admit I used to think he was a woman. Shame on me. Now, back to Qawwāli.

Qawwāli tradition is more than 700 years, with roots in 8th century Persia. In the 11th century, this musical tradition (then called "Sema"), migrated to South Asia, Turkey and Uzbekistan. Qawwāli as we know it today is a fusion of the Persian and Indian musical traditions, created in the late 13th century in India.

Now, the lyrics. In the best traditions of Sufism, the lyrics speak of love, devotion and longing and can sound a bit... outspoken, but make no mistake - A Qawwāl only speaks of longing of man for God. :-)

Since it's the International Women's Day (anybody there celebrating?), I feel I must mention the subject of women Qawwāli: Unfortunately, since women are traditionally prohibited from singing in the presence of men, they're usually excluded from traditional Muslim music. Today, we can already see female singers such as Abida Parveen, who is quite popular, but mainstream Qawwāli still remains a male business.

My favorite Qawwāl is Faiz Ali Faiz. Listen to this: A fusion of Qawwāli with flamenco. Is there something in flamenco that makes people want to mix it with other styles or what? Does anybody mix, let's say, belly dance, with classical music?!

Abida Parveen

User3: What right does he have to speak, that bastard? [Sayf al-Islam, Gaddafi's son] Doesn't he have any responsibility? But he's afraid to lose the billions he looted. He says that his father has no authority or position, but he was chairman of the Arab summit in the Libyan [city] of Sirte a few months ago in March 2010! He says he has no authority, but his army obeys his orders to kill the innocent and the defenseless!! Where will you go? [..] What people will welcome you after this injustice, murder and destruction that you're doing to the people of Libya. The people spat you out and came to hate you, and lo and behold! You tell them: We will either rule you or slaughter you.

And the curtain falls.