Flight of Ideas

ارتفاع أعداد ضحايا درعا بصورة مروعة

2011-03-23T22:07:00.000-04:00

ذكرت الأنباء الواردة من مدينة درعا في الجنوب السوري أن عدد الذين سقطوا ضحايا إطلاق الرصاص الحي من قبل عناصر السلطات السورية على المواطنين المتظاهرين في المدينة ومحيطها والمعتصمين في المسجد العمري تتزايد بشكل مروع ، وقد تم إحصاء وتمييز الأسماء الآتية منذ بداية التظاهرات السلمية وحتى تاريخه:

1- معتز ابو زايد - خربة غزالة
2- فادي المصري - خربة غزالة
3- حيان حاج على - خربة غزالة
4- منذر رنس حواش قنبس الشمري – مدينة الحارة
5- صلاح عبد الرحمن الحريري
6-محمد عبد الرحمن الحريري
7- عيسى محمد الكردي
8- معاذ نايف الأبازيد- قرية الصورة
9- محمد أحمد السلامات- البانوراما
10- -جمال الجربوعي- الحراك
11- مهاب نايف أبازيد
12- مالك محمود مفضي الكراد
13- علي غصاب المحاميد
14- عباس سعد المحاميد
15- خالد عبد الله المحاميد
16- نايف حسين الأبازيد
18- ابتسام مسالمة
19- رائد أحمد الحمصي
20- منذر عمرو- 22سنة عسكري
21- عمر عبد الوالي
22- خالد المصري – مجند من تلكلخ أطلق عليه الرصاص من آمره لعدم مشاركته في اقتحام المسجد العمري.
23- محمد أبو نبوت
24- -حميد أبو نبوت
25- بلال أبو نبوت
26- عزيز أبو نبوت
27- أيهم حريري
28- حسام عبد المولى
29- مؤمن منذر مسالمة- 14سنة
30- أكرم جوابرة
31- محمد رشراش الجراد- مدرس- 47سنة- الحارة
32- ماهر المسالمة

هذا ولا تزال الأعداد في تزايد وترد تباعاً...

إن اللجنة السورية لحقوق الإنسان تدين بأقوى التعابير استخدام الرصاص الحي ضد المتظاهرين والمعتصمين المسالمين، وقتل أعداد كبيرة منهم، وتعتبر هذا التصرف قتل خارج إطار القانون السوري والمعاهدات الأممية، ولا بد تجاه هذه المعلومات المروعة من مناشدة المجتمع الدولي للتدخل وحماية المدنيين ومعاقبة المتورطين في هذه المجازر آمرين ومنفذين.

اللجنة السورية لحقوق الإنسان

23/3/2011

Daraa events and the Fisk's axiom

2011-03-22T23:07:00.001-04:00

Haven't they learned anything from the last six months? violence will lead to more violence, the same apparatus that maintains the regime will hasten it's collapse. It's the Fisk axiom

Gaza

2009-01-04T15:37:00.000-05:00

Alarabiya redefines journalism standards in the Arabic world!!

2007-12-22T20:38:00.000-05:00

حصاد اليوم من العربية!!

"تناطح الثيران" يتحول إلى رياضة شعبية عند العمانيين
... ووضع العمانيون قواعد وحددوا أساليب لمناطحات الثيران التي أصبح لها أيضا معلقون متخصصون مشهورون. ويربي أصحاب الثيران التي تشارك في المباريات في عمان حيواناتهم ويدربونها خصيصا من أجل المصارعة. وقال عماني يملك عدة ثيران يدعى حسين البلوشي "الثور تدريبه أول شيء في المزرعة. بعدين نأتي به هنا في الحوطة يكون ما في ناس عشان نعرف كيف يناطح عشان ما يخاف. وبعدين مندربه شوي شوي ليناطح". وكلما زاد نجاح الثور في المناطحة ارتفع ثمنه. وتصل قيمة ثور المناطحة في بعض الأحيان الى 2500 ريال عماني (أي ما يوازي 7 آلاف دولار أمريكي). ويقول عيسى البلوشي، المشرف على مصارعة الثيران في بركة "نفترض أن عندي ثورين ثلاثة. ما أردهم مع بعض. أردهم مع ثور زميلي مثل مع ثور أبو سعود. يدخل الثيران.. بيناطحن خمس دقائق.. أربع دقائق.. ست دقائق. الثور الدي يشرد عن الربية بروح".

الرئيس اليمني يحاول ترك القات تدريجياً "للحفاظ على وقته الثمين"
يحاول الرئيس اليمني علي عبد الله صالح الابتعاد تدريجياً عن تناول القات، للحفاظ على وقته الثمين"، وفق ما نقلت مصادر إعلامية في الرئاسة اليمنية الخميس 20-12-2007. وأشارت المصادر إلى أن صالح بدأ يبتعد عن "مقيل القات المفتوح"، لتجنب استغلال المقيل لطرح أحاديث قد تندرج في إطار "القيل والقال". ولفتت إلى أن الرئيس "بدأ فعليا في تنفيذ هذه الخطوة منذ عدة أشهر، ولن يلجأ إلى إقامة مثل ذلك المقيل إلا في حالات ضرورية جدا وتقتضيها المصلحة العامة ودون الحاجة إلى تناول القات خلالها".

نور الشريف لـ"العربية.نت": لا أخجل من التعري للضرورات الفنية
... وعما إذا طلب من نور الشريف أن يكشف عورته أمام الكاميرا أكد لـ"العربية.نت" بأنه لن يعمل ذلك إلا بحسب الموضوع وفي حدود ألا يظلم مشاعر الناس، فالمتحكم من وجهة نظره هو وظيفة المشهد، فإذا كان بهدف الإثارة فهو يرفضه، قائلا "ولو لم أكن مقتنعا بهذا فلن أقوم به، فأنا لا أعمل فيلما جنسيا"، وطمأن نور الشريف جمهوره قائلا "لا خوف على قيمتي عندكم، وعليكم التأني في الحكم إلى حين مشاهدة الفيلم "ليلة البيبي دول" وحينها ستتعاطفون معي".

العمى ضربك شو غليظ، الديوس قال اثارة قال ، قلبلي منافسي###!خ

A "journalist" sues a fellow blogger and wins

2007-06-21T05:04:00.000-04:00

From Yaman's amateur ramblings

Kaplan vs Salahi

As a student at UC Berkeley, the center for the Free Speech Movement, I never thought I’d find myself at the receiving end of a politically-motivated libel lawsuit. I am the creator of a blog called “Lee Kaplan Watch” which focuses on analyzing the integrity of Kaplan’s published articles. When he discovered the website, Kaplan began a campaign of intimidation, including e-mail threats of legal action and various online smears alleging that I was a Nazi, a Ba`athist, and a member of al-Qaeda. He threatened to harass me and members of my family, and even went so far as to contact the Dean of Student Life at the university. After asking me to stop writing about his work several times, he finally filed a lawsuit against me in small claims court for “tortious business interference,” libel, and slander.
Lee Kaplan, for those who are unaware, is a journalist for David Horowitz’ right-wing, anti-Muslim, and anti-Arab publication, FrontPageMag.com. He is also associated with a number of regressive organizations like the Bruin Alumni Association, the United American Committee, StopTheISM, Dafka, and the Northeastern Intelligence Network. Kaplan chooses easy and weak targets and he chooses them well, focusing on students who mobilize on campuses throughout the country in opposition to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. He is more relevant in the San Francisco area, where his extreme and annoying behavior has often come under scrutiny. He has widespread financial and organizational backing at his disposal, a privilege that others and myself, as college students, are sorely lacking.So it goes that Kaplan cleverly decided to sue me in small claims court, where standards for evidence are virtually non-existent, procedures occur at the discretion of the judge, and no record of court proceedings are kept. These low standards allowed Kaplan to present misleading and false material as “evidence” that I had defamed him and cost him a job offer writing for SportsBlogger.com, a website which does not even exist and has not for at least the past 2 years. Even more troubling, I had never written the very things he claimed were defamatory. One of the statements was taken from a spoof of my blog on a third-party website that I have no control over. The other simply does not exist. In addition to the lack of evidence, nearly arbitrary procedures meant that three witnesses, including a computer expert who could attest to the fact that my website did not contain those statements, were not able to testify during the 25 minute hearing, and my lawyer was asked not to present legal arguments in my defense.
Despite all of these problems with the evidence, the judge, for reasons I will never know, bought one of Kaplan’s many claims and ordered me to pay him $7,500. I will never know which ones or why because judges in small claims court do not release written opinions explaining their rulings. Furthermore, as far as I know, the decision is not appealable to a higher court. That means I have no recourse against a judgment given without justification despite the fact that it punishes me for exercising my first amendment rights to political speech.
Dave Johnson at SeeingTheForest was right to call this “a freedom of speech and right-to-blog issue.” Ann Althouse, a professor of law at the University of Wisconsin, commented on the lawsuit saying that “thinking small [as in, small claims court] looks like an effective way to squelch speech.” But she poses the more serious question regarding the fact that this suit was brought before a court that doesn’t write opinions: “if the court’s opinion doesn’t explain what you did wrong, how can you keep writing? You have to worry about the next small claims lawsuit.”
What does this mean? It means that this lawsuit is not only about me, and is not only about Lee Kaplan. It is about the real danger that underhanded legal tactics like these pose to all bloggers and those without the resources to protect themselves from abusive litigation that is aimed at silencing them. For now, it looks like small claims court is a convenient and reliable route for anybody who can dish out $75, the cost of filing a claim, to harass and intimidate those they disagree with. Real evidence and a credible story might not even be necessary to make a hefty return on that small investment. At least, that is what I have learned with this experience.
In the meantime I continue to investigate my legal options to see if there is any way to salvage my free speech rights. To that end I have established a fund to collect donations that will go either towards paying legal expenses in case of an appeal or paying off the lawsuit if there are no other options. But I will also continue to blog about this and other contentious issues, despite the enormous pressure that this abusive lawsuit has put my family, friends, and myself under.
For those who might be fearful to speak up due to cases like this, you have every right to be weary. Indeed, this case is very ominous in its implications. But the worst thing we could possibly do is shy away from continuing to publicly take firm, principled, and dedicated political stands. We should remain courageous enough to embrace and confront contentious political issues, especially those regarding the cause of the Palestinian people in particular and American involvement in the Middle East in general, despite what we have faced and, no doubt, what will continue to come our way.
I have written extensively about my reaction to the ruling and my thoughts on Kaplan’s claims on the blog here and here for those who would like more information about the case. You may also browse the court’s record of documents and filings by clicking here. If you would like further comment from me regarding this case, please feel free to contact me at ysalahi@gmail.com.
I would also like to make a small request that those who are in the least bit outraged by this story please do what they can to publicize it by e-mailing it to friends and listservs, writing about it on blogs, or sharing it on websites like Facebook and MySpace. People need to know about this new method of shutting down dissent so that steps can be taken to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Bridge over troubled water

2007-06-04T07:46:00.000-04:00

the original song was written and performed by Paul Simon and Art Garfunke, here you have Elivs' amazing version

When youre weary, feeling small,
When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all;
Im on your side. when times get rough
And friends just cant be found,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

When youre down and out,
When youre on the street,
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you.
Ill take your part.
When darkness comes
And pains is all around,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.

Sail on silvergirl,
Sail on by.
Your time has come to shine.
All your dreams are on their way.
See how they shine.
If you need a friend
Im sailing right behind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind.

Syrian elections and the Magic of numbers

2007-05-29T20:00:00.000-04:00

Ya3ni amanna ou sada2na inno there are 97,62% of the population who love this president, i am fine with that, but how on earth the percentage of people who participated could reach 95,86% (of the people who got the right to vote)?
in comparison with the 6% participation in the parliament election.
this is not science, this is dam magic!!

Inside Nahr el-Bared by Franklin Lamb

2007-05-29T05:59:00.000-04:00

the name of Franklin Lamb is all over the internet, he is now inside Nahr el bared camp (my info based on his writing, nobody could confirm this fact obviously) he has written two articles from the camp, the first one called "Who's Behind the Fighting in North Lebanon?" and the second one "Inside Nahr el-Bared" which is presented below. i have to tell you, many people will not be pleased with those articles. for more details about the controversy surrounding him check this blog

From CounterPunch
By FRANKLIN LAMB

With very intermittent internet access and this ancient pc with one lone wire running from the spaghetti wiring system tied to the ceiling and taped to a single bare light bulb socket, plus 8 toddlers, two babies, crawling over and under this 'foreigner' in a 10 x 12 concrete room where 28 or more of us slept on the floor last night, this blurb may never be sent. But if it does get out and for what it's worthan update on the situation in the Palestinian Nabr al-Bared and Bedawi Camps. Will try to send results shortly of my interviews with 11 Fatah al-Islam fighters regarding who paid them and got them travel documents and weapons and what was their mission. There was no bank robbery by them. That wasa fake story put out by the Welch Club. Sorry I misreported it. BBC was suckered. Also, no, repeat no heads cut off. Where are the medical reports from those who claim it? That was black propaganda to smear Fatah el-Islam. Must leave this building nowmay not be until tomorrow or so.

Bedawi is teeming with new arrivals from al-Bared where there is still no water, power or food. A few NGO's still negotiating with army for permission to enter. (Still possible to sneak in from the east but getting more dangerous to try it). The problem is not being shot by Fatah al-Islam anymore. They are digging in. And the army is not as trigger happy as on Monday-Wednesday. The "security agents" on the slopes above the army looking down into al-Baled are the main sniper danger. People claim they are Hariri militia but I can not confirm that. The army told the PLO they would stop them but as of Saturday night they are still shooting. They are trying to shoot anyone they see inside or leaving al-Balad. Someone should stop them.

Several hours ago I met a woman arriving from al-Bared who had walked the whole 7 miles with an 18 month old baby and a daughter of 5 who just stares into the press cameras with her mouth open and eyes glazed over. The Palestinian mother told us neither she nor her children have eaten or taken water for four days. The children will be ok. The mother's husband is in Syria she said and she has no relatives.

One NGO group of three from Beirut left a few hours ago in tears from frustration, sadness and anger from repeatedly being stopped by the army from taking supplies to al Barad. Their cargo of water and blankets abandoned. On Saturday the Palestinian Red Crescent, which for a quarter century has provide the medical service to both camps has been formally and completely banned from al-Bared and told they will be shot if they try to enter al-Bared. I met with the PRCS leadership and drivers.

There is some-near panic in Bedawi caused by many rumors. One rumor, widely believed, is that the Lebanese government plans to demolish al-Bared to make room for the huge US/NATO airbase which is to be built next to the camp. 5,000 of the Palestinians in al-Bared are from the 1975 ethnically cleansed east Beirut camp Telazatter. The PLO moved them to al-Bared at the beginning of the Lebanese civil war (1975-90) and they live close together in one al-Bared neighborhood. Saw women wailing that they may be another Telazatter massacre and destruction of their homes.

Many Palestinian young men are being arrested as they leave al-Bared. An old woman sleeping in the same room as me last night told us that her son was taken as he left al-Bared on Monday and she has not heard from him. There are now 6 check points between Tripoli and Beirut. Many (I was told all but have not confirmed it) Palestinian males traveling to Beirut are being arrested and taken for interrogation. Some from al-Bared are afraid to try to go to Beirut and stay with relatives.

Fear among PLO camp leaders that there could be a blood bath. "It's the Bush complex," one German NGO volunteer said. "The Lebanese government wants to be macho like the Israelis to gain some respect. This could be another Waco in the making, for no reason." The PLO is trying to mediate with the army to avoid a slaughter that would occur if the army tries to enter al-Bared. "What is needed is leadership and for the warlords to keep quiet. The army has behaved very badly but it's the politicians fault."

Great fear that the army will try to enter al-Bared.

The army moved the press position to more than one mile from al Bared, "for security". The army has orders to give no information to the press. Some journalists feel something terrible is going to happen here. Just heard the army has now completely sealed the camp. No access to the wounded still in basements and bombed houses needing help Palestinians activist in Bedawi say that if the army goes into al-Bared and makes a massacre that Palestinian from all over Lebanon will fight. This may be what some here or outside Lebanon are hoping for.

The Welch Club wants the army to "wipe out the terrorists", and "protect our Palestinian brothers". Not one Palestinian in either camp or observer I know believes that. Rather the Palestinian community here believes that the whole Fatah al-Islam "very strange case" was designed to assault their 420,000 population here.

School is cancelled in Bedawi because up to 20,000 from Bared are being housed in them. Food and water are arriving intermittently but distribution is not yet well organized. Much angst among the arrivals who come with only what they are wearing.

Joy to find al-Bared loved ones. Statements are heard on the crowded streets such as" why did the army fire on us? There were no fighters in our area?" "Where was their artillery during the July war? Why did they not fight Israel and now bomb us"?

The leader of Nahr al Bared Women's association accused Lebanon's envoy Abbas Zaki of not helping the refugees and with cooperating with the government and Israel. 'He should come here', one woman said. Abu Ammar or Abu Jihad (Arafat and his deputy Khalil al Wazir) would have come if they were alive". Fatah is weak in Bedawi and even weaker in al-Bared.

Seven PLO factions operate in both camps. They jointly chased Fatah al-Islam out of Bedawi on September 21, 2006 not long after they split from Abu Musa's Fateh Intifida which has been based in Badawi since 1983. Fatah Intifada still man's the entrance to Bedawi but they seem to have only about 100 members left. When one interviews them they are almost apologetic about their step-brothers, Fatah al-Islam. "We expelled them because we did not like their friends (Hariri intelligence staff) they were too religious and acted strange but we did not think things would come to this") but the al-Barad PLO factions do not have arms or power to confront FAI.

Amazing examples of humanity happening here. There are many family connections between the two camps. Kids distribute and water bread when it arrives in cars from Beirut and elsewhere. Young girls picking up and caring for babies of people they don't know, helping old people find a place to sit and listen to them when they tell of what happened. I could be wrong but I have rarely witnessed the solidarity among people as I see here with the Palestinians. Clean, smart, patient, charming, funny, and caring toward one another-determined to return to Palestine

Many who have been in Badawi for nearly a week now just want to just go back and die in their al-Bared homes. On 5/25/07 the Palestinian group, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine tried to organize a convoy of those who wanted to return to al-Bared. The plan is to go as far as they can and refuse to leave the army checkpoints until they are allowed back in. The convoy did not leave Bedawi yet and the idea may be abandoned.

Franklin Lamb's just released book, The Price We Pay: A Quarter Century of Israel's Use of American Weapons in Lebanon is available at Amazon.com.uk. His volume, Hezbollah: a Brief Guide for Beginners is due out in early summer, 2007. He can be reached at fplamb@gmail.com

http://www.counterpunch.org/lamb05262007.html

مخيّم «نهر البارد» تحت الحصار "مدنيّون فلسطينيّون بين نارين"

2007-05-28T20:18:00.000-04:00

From Al-Akhbar newspaper

حسن عليق - رشا حطيط

يحظر القانون الدولي الإنساني، ولا سيما معاهدة جنيف الرابعة، التعرض للمدنيين أثناء النزاعات المسلحة. لكن، منذ بدء الاشتباكات في الشمال بين الجيش و«فتح الإسلام»، يظهر أن المدنيين واقعون بين نارين، رغم إجماع النازحين عن المخيم الذين التقتهم «الأخبار» في مخيم البداوي، على أن «لا ناقة لهم ولا جمل في هذه المعركة»

لم تلتق «الأخبار» أحداً من سكان مخيم نهر البارد النازحين إلى مخيم البداوي، إلا وذكر أن منزله أصيب بقذيفة، أو أن منزله تضرر جراء سقوط قذيفة قرب بيته. أحدهم، ممن كانوا يقطنون حي زعل في مخيم نهر البارد، وهو موظف في وكالة غوث اللاجئين ـــــ أنروا، ذكر أن 36 منزلاً في الحي المذكور كانت قد تعرضت للقصف حتى بعد ظهر يوم الثلاثاء الفائت. فجر ذلك اليوم، كان بالنسبة إلى موظّف الأنروا «مليئاً بالرعب»، ويقول: «لم نصدق أننا سنخرج أحياء. كنا نحتمي في الطابق الأرضي، ننتظر الموت».

القتلى المدنيون
لا أحد من الموجودين في مخيم البداوي يعطي رقماً نهائياً لعدد القتلى المدنيين، لكن كل من التقت بهم «الأخبار» أبدوا امتعاضهم مما ذكرته وسائل الإعلام عن عدم تجاوز عدد المدنيين الذين قضوا منذ بدء الاشتباكات القتيل الواحد. وعند سؤال الهلال الأحمر الفلسطيني في مخيم البداوي عن عدد المدنيين الذين قتلوا في الاشتباكات، وزع أطباء عاملون في مستشفى صفد على الإعلاميين أسماء 14 شهيداً، نقل أربعة منهم إلى مخيم البداوي، أما البقية فلا تزال جثثهم داخل مخيم البارد، وبعضهم دفن هناك، كما ذكر أحد الأطباء. من جهته، قال د. عبد العزيز البقاعي، طبيب في الهلال، إن أسماء المدنيين القتلى التي زُوِّد الإعلاميون بها هي لأصحاب الجثث الأربع التي دفنت في مخيم البداوي حتى يوم أمس وهم: نايف صلاح صالح المستر (قتل أثناء خروجه من المخيم بإطلاق نار على الباص الذي كان يقوده يوم الثلاثاء)، ومنتهى أبو راضي (إحدى ركاب الباص)، وعامر أحمد حسين (جرح في منزله ثم نقل إلى البداوي حيث توفي يوم الجمعة)، وخالد رشيد سليمان (قتل في منزله داخل المخيم وشيع أمس في البداوي). إضافة إلى هؤلاء، أحصت طواقم الهلال داخل البارد سقوط عشرة مدنيين، وهو ما أكده الطبيب العامل في مستشفى الهلال الأحمر الدكتور رائد الحاج، الذي خرج من مخيم البارد أول من أمس،

موكان حتى ذلك الحين قد كشف على جثث المدنيين العشرة، وهم: عبد اللطيف خليل (قتل بالقصف قرب مركز الشفاء، أمام مسجد الجليل) ورائد عبد الرحيم (الشنص) (قُتل أمام مسجد الجليل) وجهاد عزام (قتل يوم الثلاثاء عند دخول قافلة مساعدات إنسانية إلى المخيم وتعرضها للقصف)، وعدي ناصر إسماعيل (قتل بقصف القافلة)، وليندا محمد جبر (قتلت في اليوم الأول بمنزلها قرب حاجز المحمرة) ومحمود عوض حسين (قتل إثر قصف منزله في اليوم الأول)، وسعيد حيدر أبو حيدر (قتل وهو يحاول مغادرة منزله قرب مركز صامد)، وسليم صالح بهار (قتل في منزله)، وعسلة الراشد (قتلت في منزلها، في حارة صفوري) وعادل يونس خليل (قتل على درج مسجد القدس، كان في عداد المفقودين، ووجدت جثته بعد يومين). تجدر الإشارة إلى أن الدكتور الحاج هو من زود «الأخبار» بتفاصيل وفاة كل من الضحايا المذكورين أعلاه.

المدنيون الجرحى
ذكر المسؤول الإعلامي في الهلال الأحمر الفلسطيني، محمد مصطفى، لـ«الأخبار» أن عدد المرضى والجرحى الذين نقلوا من مخيم نهر البارد إلى مستشفى صفد في مخيم البداوي يزيد على 300. العدد الأكبر من هؤلاء هم ممن عولجوا في قسم الطوارئ في المستشفى، وخرجوا مباشرة بعد تلقيهم العلاج. أما الجرحى المصابون بطلقات نارية أو شظايا القذائف المدفعية والصواريخ ممن أدخلوا إلى قسم العمليات الجراحية في مستشفى صفد التابع للهلال الأحمر الفلسطيني في مخيم البداوي، فهم: نبيل أحمد بشير (28 سنة) طلق ناري بالفخذ اليمنى، وأيمن الحسن (9 سنوات) طلق ناري في الرجل، وعبد الغني خليل (35 سنة) طلق ناري بالفخذ، وأحمد شرشرة (8 سنوات) طلق ناري، وأحمد صالح (18 سنة) طلق ناري في الرجل، وغسان السعدي (35 سنة) طلق ناري في القدم اليمنى، وساميا غنام (47 سنة) جرح قاطع في الجبين، ونوال ربيع (57 سنة) طلق ناري في الرجل، ومحمد علي (17 سنة) شظية في الفخذ، وتهاني خضر (20 سنة) طلق ناري، ومنتهى العبد (25 سنة) طلق ناري، ومنال سرحان (21 سنة) إصابة في الخاصرة اليسرى، ويوسف أبو راضي (12 سنة) إصابة في البطن.
يُشار إلى أن عدداً من جرحى اشتباكات البارد ومرضى آخرين تم إجلاؤهم من المخيم ونقلهم إلى مستشفيات لبنانية، وخاصة مستشفى الخير ومستشفى المنلا والمستشفى الإسلامي والمستشفى الحكومي في طرابلس. وفي هذا الإطار، أعطى وزير الصحة المستقيل محمد جواد خليفة توجيهات للمستشفيات باستقبال جميع الجرحى الذين ينقلون من نهر البارد.
إضافة إلى هؤلاء، ذكر مصطفى أن 11 جريحاً عولجوا من إصابات شديدة دون الحاجة إلى إجراء عمليات جراحية لهم، كما أن 8 عمليات قيصرية وإجهاض أجريت لنساء حوامل نقلن من البارد.

استهداف المنشآت المدنية
ذكر أطباء ومسعفون عاملون داخل مخيم نهر البارد أن عدداً من المراكز الطبية والاستشفائية في المخيم أوقف العمل فيها، نتيجة تعرضها للقصف، أو إثر تعرض محيطها لقذائف أو صواريخ أو طلقات قناصة. فقد ذكر طبيب طلب عدم ذكر اسمه أن مركز الأقصى تعرض للقصف المباشر فأوقف العمل فيه، كذلك، أقفل مركز ناجي العلي الطبي لوقوعه في منطقة شديدة الخطر. أما مركز بيت المقدس القريب من مركز صامد العسكري، فقد أقفل لأن عدداً كبيراً من القذائف سقط في محيطه. كذلك، استُحدث مركز طبي في مسجد الحاووز الكبير عند بداية الاشتباكات، لكنه أُقفل بعد شائعات سرت عن تردد عناصر فتح الإسلام إليه، ما اعتبره القيمون عليه خطراً على العاملين والمرضى والجرحى الذين ينقلون إليه. وذكر أحد الأطباء أن المركز الطبي الوحيد الذي لا يزال يعمل داخل المخيم هو مركز الشفاء، الذي تنقصه أنواع عديدة من الأدوية والمستلزمات الطبية.
كما ذكر شهود عيان أن عدداً من خزانات المياه في المخيم تعرضت للتدمير، إضافة إلى أن عدداً آخر منها أصيب نتيجة القنص. إلا أن جميع من التقتهم «الأخبار» أكدوا أن المياه مقطوعة بشكل شبه كامل.
وتجدر الإشارة إلى أن قوافل المساعدات التي أدخلت إلى المخيم تعرضت للقصف، أبرزها القافلة التي دخلت بعد ظهر الثلاثاء الفائت، ونتج من القصف مقتل مدنيين اثنين، أحدهما طفل، وتضرر صهريج المياه الوحيد التابع للأنروا في المخيم. كما استهدف طاقم للإسعاف في اليوم الثاني من الاشتباكات، ما أدى إلى إصابة المسعف سعيد الطويسي بطلق ناري في رقبته، أثناء دخوله إلى المخيم بعد التنسيق مع الجيش، لإخلاء عدد من الجرحى.

Help Nahr el Bared!

2007-05-28T20:12:00.000-04:00

The Nahr el Bared Relief Campaign was spontaneously formed following the tragic events in Nahr el Bared Camp and organizes on behalf of those not getting NGO aid.
amazing job is being carried out by those people, for more info check their website and Razan' s blog

For tax-deductible donations to the Nahr el Bared Relief Campaign please use the following account: AUB Office of Development Please make sure to specify that your donation is going to the Nahr el Bared Relief Campaign.

Photo courtesy of

Decentring Damascus

Late night phone call...

2007-05-25T17:22:00.000-04:00

Ange: write me something, a poem
Me: a poem? I don’t feel like writing poems anymore “especially now that your heart is with someone else, I said to myself”
Ange: it’s strange, I feel that I don’t know you anymore
Me: why? “as if I don’t know why”
silence…

-------------------

ehhh, my My friend Talal Haidar has said it all, hasn’t he?

بِغيبتِك نزِل الشتي
قومي طلعي ع البال
في فوق سجادة صلا
والعم بيصّلوا قلال
صوتن متل مصر المرا
وبعلبك الرّجال
ع كتر ما طلع العشب بيناتنا
بيرعى الغزال

بيتي
متل ورقة احترق
ما عاد عندي أهل
شبهتك بهاالسهل
بقرص العسل
عملو ع مهلوا النحل

وجك طقس متل الصحو
دايخ ومش سكران
متل الشتي
نازل على حزيران
شبهتك بقوس القدح
جايي على لبنان

شبهتك بكل الدني
من بعدك عليها السلام
بس تفرحي
بيطير من صدري الحمام
وبس تزعلي
ع مصر باخدلك الشام

"Enough!" London is rallying for Palestine

2007-05-23T18:42:00.001-04:00

if you are in London, come to Trafalgar square, see you all there!
for more information check the website

COLLECTIF_FACT

2007-05-12T16:09:00.000-04:00

this is another post was sent to me by my friend, La Parisienne

Conférence-projection

Date: mercredi 28 mars 2007
Adresse: Ensad 31 rue d’Ulm 75005 Paris, Amphi Bachelier.

Trois Jeunes artistes Claude Piguet (1977), Annelore Schneider (1979), Swann Thommen (1979), constituent le trio d’artistes du collectif_fact. Diplômés de l’École supérieure des beaux-arts de Genève, nés à Neuchâtel et travaillant à Genève.
Le projet qui m’a vraiment intéressé dans leurs travaux et qui était en relation avec mon projet de mémoire de master 1, c’était un projet qu’Ils ont réalisé (une série de photographies et une vidéo) quand ils sont encore étudiants à l’Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Genève.

DATATOWN, 2002:

Vidéo durée de 5'33 minutes, en boucle, sans son.

Nous pouvons remarquer dans ce vidéo la caméra numérique qui se déplace dans le noir, se balade dans des rues qui sont à la base des rues réelles, et qui filme les placements des panneaux réelles dedans, mais tout est en noir sauf les lumières des signes et des objets signalétiques.

Nous retrouvons dans un espace urbaine, énormément proche de notre vie quotidienne mais le seul différence c’est ce qu’elle met en valeur car c’est pas nous les êtres humains mais les messages visuels qui envahie notre vie tout les jours.

On y voit des personnages n’existent pas dans ce monde virtuel qu’en noir, ils sont comme un négative qui n’existe pas que par défaut, par leurs absences par rapport au monde de signe.

Et ça me rappelle de mes questions concernant la valeur de ces productions visuelles qui nous envoient des signes toute la journée et nous croyons ne rien recevoir, alors même que la quantité d’images qui rentrent dans notre inconscient est énorme. Face à ces messages visuelles parfois on s’arrête pour réfléchir et pour les analyser en quelques secondes, et parfois on est trop pressé pour le faire, mais la vérité que dans la plupart du temps on reçoit les messages visuelles même sans le savoir.

Collective-fact a relevé toutes ses signes et les a mis en lumière, seules dans cette vidéo pour qu’on puisse vraiment voir quelle taille et quelle importance cela forme dans notre monde actuel. Il fait une comparaison entre ce monde virtuelle imaginaire et le vrai monde où nous vivons tous. Et ce qui choque qu’on peut avoir le sentiment que ça peut être le même!!

La communication est le débat de notre monde actuelle, nous vivons dans un monde qui se construit sur une circulation d’information intensive.
De quelle manière lit-on ? De quelle manière dit-on ? De quelle manière voit-on et montre-t-on ? Voilà des questions qui se présentent dans mes pensées.

Et une autre question ce qui se pose par rapport à cette vidéo, en quel niveau on peut contrôler cet envahissement d’information, et où sommes nous de cette production visuelle ?
Est-ce que nous sommes vraiment des ombres noirs qui n’existent pas fortement, qui vivent dans un jeu plus grand qu’eux ?

Les photos ont été prises du site officiel: http://www.collectif-fact.ch/

Je fais ce cours (ODNM) avec mon prof : Liliane Terrier.

Observatoire des nouveaux médias : Cycle de conférences organisé par l’École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs et l’Université Paris 8.

Pour plus d’information sur ces conférences :
http://www.ciren.org

Pour voir tous les travaux de Collectif-Fact :
http://www.collectif-fact.ch/

My life is for rent

2007-04-18T19:02:00.000-04:00

my favorite song of all time, is there anything can describes me better?

Life for rent (Dido)

I haven't really ever found a place that I call home
I never stick around quite long enough to make it
I apologize that once again I'm not in love
But it's not as if I mind
that your heart ain't exactly breaking

It's just a thought, only a thought

But if my life is for rent and I don't lean to buy
Well I deserve nothing more than I get
Cos nothing I have is truly mine

I've always thought
that I would love to live by the sea
To travel the world alone
and live my life more simply
I have no idea what's happened to that dream
Cos there's really nothing left here to stop me

It's just a thought, only a thought

But if my life is for rent and I don't learn to buy
Well I deserve nothing more than I get
Cos nothing I have is truly mine

While my heart is a shield and I won't let it down
While I am so afraid to fail so I won't even try
Well how can I say I'm alive

If my life is for rent...

The world’s most hated countries, and the winners are…!!

2007-04-08T20:02:00.000-04:00

A majority of people believe that Israel and Iran have a mainly negative influence in the world, a poll for the BBC World Service suggests.
It shows that the two countries are closely followed by the United States and North Korea.
The poll asked 28,000 people in 27 countries to rate a dozen countries plus the EU in terms of whether they have a positive or negative influence.
Canada, Japan and the EU are viewed most positively in the survey.
source BBC

it is interesting that the top two hated countries are shared by Iran and Israel, at least the hate is divided equally, fifty-fifty.

Einstein & Faith

2007-04-08T19:49:00.000-04:00

"I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals himself in the lawful harmony of all that exists, but not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind." Einstein

Charbel Khalil's new show on Swat el Ghad, moush kalil!!

2007-04-04T18:57:00.000-04:00

Chabel khalil, known for his Basmat Watan programme on LBC, is having a new show on Sawt el Ghad Moush Kalil ma3 Charbel Khalil . It is series of daily short monologues taking on politics and social issues. Let me tell you, they are hilarious. Here you have a couple of them,
Kama Takounoun Tasoukoun, El Taleta El Aswad, Kif keno ou kif saro, Tayyar Saad ebn aamteh, Koumat Al Tebwiss.

The whole archive can be found on Tayyar el 3aouni website, why? 7zeeeeer ;)

One day our generation is gonna rule the population. John, you gotta be kidding me!!

2007-04-03T22:32:00.000-04:00

Waiting on the world to change by John Mayer

I love this song,the Lyrics are just amazing, maybe because it depicts quite accurately my helplessness’ feelings towards what is going on in Syria and in the Middle East. I don’t like the situation but I can’t change it, I even don’t see how it could be ever changed. Totalitarian regimes are bad but Iraqi chaos on the American style or Lebanese chaos on the USA/France/Iran/Syria/Saudi… style isn’t much better, ou 7ella iza bet7ella.
All what I can do is to ne2 (nag) ou 3ala na2!!
If you want to be enlightened by further discussion and waje3 2albak check my last post.

Lyrics:
me and all my friends
we're all misunderstood
they say we stand for nothing and
there's no way we ever could
now we see everything that's going wrong
with the world and those who lead it
we just feel like we don't have the means
to rise above and beat it

so we keep waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change

it's hard to beat the system
when we're standing at a distance
so we keep waiting
waiting on the world to change
now if we had the power
to bring our neighbors home from war
they would have never missed a Christmas
no more ribbons on their door
and when you trust your television
what you get is what you got
cause when they own the information, oh
they can bend it all they want

that's why we're waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change

it's not that we don't care,
we just know that the fight ain't fair
so we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change

and we're still waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting waiting on the world to change
one day our generation
is gonna rule the population
so we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change

we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change

Lebanon, Arabism and political double vision

2007-03-25T21:59:00.000-04:00

تأكد ان ‏لبنان سيتمثل في القمة العربية بوفدين اذ اعلن الوزير طارق متري عن الوفد الذي سيشارك ‏مع الرئيس السنيورة المؤلف منه والوزيرين متري وسامي حداد والامين العام لوزارة ‏الخارجية هشام دمشقية هذا فيما علم ان رئيس الجمهورية اميل لحود سيشكل الوفد المرافق له ‏من الوزيرين فوزي صلوخ ويعقوب الصراف كمستشارين بالاضافة الى مشاركة نجلي لحود، اميل ‏ورالف والسفير مارون حيمري والمستشار الاعلامي رفيق شلالا ومدير مكتب لحود العميد غابي ‏رعيدي.

اما بالنسبة للتوزيع البروتوكولي داخل قاعة المؤتمر فعلمت الديار ان الامانة العامة ‏للمؤتمر تقوم بدرس مخرج لحضور الرئيس السنيورة كضيف على المؤتمر الى جانب الضيوف الآخرين ‏لان السنيورة لن يجلس وراء الرئيس لحود او ضمن الوفد المرافق له وقد وضع جميع الاطراف في ‏اجواء هذا المخرج، الذي يفيد في ترسيخ حالة «فك اشتباك» تجنب تكرار ما حصل في قمة ‏الخرطوم لا سيما وان ورقة العمل اللبنانية التي درست في اجتماع وزراء الخارجية العرب لا ‏خلاف عليها بين كل من لحود والسنيورة

Source Addiar Newspaper

So for the second year in row, Lahoud and Sanyoura, separately, are representing Lebanon in the Arab assembly. So let me ask here the million dollar question, which one is the representative of the Lebanese people? It is really hard to tell, since accusation of Lahoud having Syrian-rather-than-Lebanese agenda can be followed by accusation of Sanyoura to be America’s puppet. Furthermore, one can argues that Lahoud was elected under Syrian influence which makes him unrepresentative of the free will of the Lebanese, but on the other hand Sanyoura government is not legitimate since half of the ministers had resigned which render it to be non representative as well. I think this is a unique political situation when both parties are legitimate and not legitimate at the same time, it depends who you do like, Syria/Iran or USA/France.

We always take for granted that people should choose the Arabism choice, but why will they? We are assuming that they feel the Arabism so this should influence their choice, but isn’t this exactly the point in question? They simply don’t feel it; hence their decision is a logical one, in their point of view. I will very much like if anyone disagrees with me, but please no emotion shall be involved.

By the way, both Lahoud’s sons are attending the assembly, isn’t this hilarious?

these two photos may be helpful in explaining the term: political double vision ;)

Goverment's version

Opposition's version

Both pictures courtesy of Andrew Lee Butters, Time's Middle East blog

The Pianist

2007-03-21T19:52:00.000-04:00

When the Tsaritsa speaks everyone should remain silent

Filmed by me

Eric Augier's Sometimes, the esthetic of destruction

2007-03-20T20:20:00.000-04:00

This is another post sent to me by my friend La Parisienne. I believe she has got a lot to say, so I am encouraging her to start her own blog. She is La Parisienne, so this post will be in French ;)

To whom French is an unfriendly territory: this is a short video made by Eric Augier (Pleix Films), a French artist. The movie is inspired by 9/11 attacks, however his take on this subject is interestingly different from what has been done previously “We are not trying to deliver any political message neither to play the moralist. We are simply a sponge which absorbs and is influenced by everything surrounded it”

ERIC AUGIER, artiste : « PLEIX »
Conférence projection le mercredi 28 février 2007

Après les attaques de 11 septembre, beaucoup d'images en ont été vues à la télé, sur Internet. Tout le monde était impressionné !! Et on a beaucoup réfléchi d'un point de vue politique.
Dans cette conférence, ce qui était remarquable c’est qu’on abordait un sujet qui a fait bouger le monde, mais sous un aspect artistique ou esthétique.
Pleix a fait une vidéo inspirée du 11 septembre, qui se base sur une recherche en 3D, qui parle d’une esthétique de la destruction et présente des détails comme un bâtiment qui se détruit, une voiture qui bouge...
C'est un aspect de l'événement que je n’avais jamais vu auparavant, sans aucun rapport au politique, mais qui fait revivre notre mémoire dans un autre sens.
En nous expliquant son point de vue ERIC AUGIER nous a dit :
« Nous n’avons pas envie de porter de message, de jouer les moralisateurs. Nous sommes simplement un peu éponges, inspirés par tout ce qui nous entoure. »

Eric Augier's lecture at ODNM

Oeuvre: Sometimes Présentation : film vidéo +3D
Produced by Pleix.
Music : Kid606 Mille Plateaux 2003.
Technique utilisée: photographie réelle, construction en 3D, musique.
Caméra utilisée : numérique type Nikon.
Nombre de personnes en charge: 2 personnes.
Temps pour achever le travail : 2-3 mois.

Vous pouvez voir cette vidéo sur le site :
http://www.pleix.net

Pour voir tout les conférences de ODNM :
http://www.ciren.org

Je fais ce cours dans mon master avec la prof : Liliane Terrier
Observatoire des nouveaux médias ODNM : Cycle de conférences organisé par l’École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs (Atelier de recherches interactives) et l’Université Paris 8 (Programme de recherche Ciren et Master Art contemporain et nouveaux médias).
Ensad 31 rue d’Ulm 75005 Paris, 18h30, Amphi Bachelier.

Let Old Damascus Be

2007-03-20T09:08:00.000-04:00

Posted by Abu Kareem

"I will try not to cry until late at night; to cry for my memories and the memories of my family and all that pulls me to this magnificent place. I cannot cry during the day because I have several families whose livelihood depends on my business. I need to think about how to feed them and to insure a dignified life for them." Soon to be evicted store owner in old Damascus as told to Razan Zeitouna.

Several websites and blogs have have reported on the story of the plan to bulldoze a last vestige of old Damascus outside the city walls. It is a critical issue that is worth repeating to give it the widest exposure as the anonymous comment on my last post stated. An article in the magazine, The Architectural Review, aptly titled "The Damascus Massacre" which appeared in 2005 details the history of this ongoing dismantlement of the very heart of this ancient city. It is a history of colonial destruction (the 1925 French bombardment) followed by imposed urban planning, misguided modernization and most recently a combination of neglect, mismanagement, corruption and greed. The current project for the old city date back to the 1968 plans of Michel Ecochard, a French architect commissioned by the city. His plans, followed the Western urban planning ideas of the time, emphasizing urban functionality; hence the focus on wide arterial roads to the detriment of everything else.

The 1968 plans have been met with a variable resistance from Damascenes since then , but even when parts of the plan was implemented, it was done carelessly. In fact UNESCO, which designated old Damascus as part of the World Heritage has been unhappy with the course of events in the past few years. The recent plans and the haste with which they seem to have been implemented have aroused protests but also some suspicions. Interestingly even government controlled media outlets have published articles critical of these plans. The plan when implemented will result in the loss of livelihood and displacement of thousands of Damascenes without plans for adequate compensation.

No one can dispute that change is needed in a city whose population is mushrooming. However, intelligent change takes into account the social, historical and architectural character of the city and minimizes the impact of any planned change. Unfortunately, no such intelligent planning can be seen in the completely unregulated and chaotic expansion of the outer areas of Damascus. Given the opaque and corrupt nature of most government institutions in Syria, there is little confidence that what is being planned is absolutely necessary and if so, that it is carefully thought out and executed.

Razan Zeitouna

Subhi Hadidi

Shady Zayat

Abu Kareem

Yazan

Syrian Brit

Fares

Ammar

Decentering Damascus

Andre

Express your views on this poll

Free Hugs Campaign

2007-03-14T09:05:00.000-04:00

"Love is as contagious as a cold. It eats away at your strength, morale... If everything is imperfect in this world, love is perfect in its imperfection."
from Bergman's the Seventh Seal

The video was sent to me by la Parisienne, posted by Moi

What were the “cool local” people in the red mini cooper looking at?

2007-03-12T20:53:00.000-04:00

In replying to the controversial, World press awarded photo posted by Arima and Lujain, this is what I visualize the people in the car were looking at, its name is Land of despair and it was taken by the genius Thomas Dworzak (Magnum). He is well-known for his shocking New Orleans’ pictures, right after hurricane Katrina, known as Ghost Town. Land of despair was voted one of the best Photos for 2006 by Time magazine.

I will not comment any further, because sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

Is this the best Cabernet wine because God says so ? An essay in God and morality

2007-03-08T21:38:00.000-05:00

It has been widely believed that God is necessary in order to have and maintain a system of morality or moral knowledge. Away from God, this system will fall into the subjectivity of individuals and their prejudices in distinguishing right from wrong. Killing is wrong because God says so, and we can’t rely on people’s judgment to decide if it is right or not.
in this post the previous statement will be analyzed, it is not an easy task, so be patient ;)

a little story to start with:
Toni is fond of wine (who is not?) he mainly relies on his own olfaction to decide which bottle of wine he will buy. His friend Jeff is also wine fanatic, but he is always dependent on the famous wine taster Geo’s opinion in deciding which wine bottle to buy. One day Toni asked Jeff how he knows that Paul’s advice is accurate; Jeff replied “Paul’s wine selections are always of supreme quality” Toni’s great philosophical mind found this answer ambiguous, so he replied “but is it this wine selection good because he says that it is good, or is this wine good because it is actually a good Cabernet-sauvignon one?"

Pablo Picasso, Guernica

So to put this question in our moral dilemma’s terms
Are things wrong because God says so, or does God say that they are wrong because they are?

This dilemma was first put by Plato; there are only two possible answers or options.
Let’s examine the second option first. God declares that things are wrong because they are. Based on our wine example, wine may be good or bad independent from Paul’s opinion. He only facilitates the selection process; consequently a good bottle of Cabernet-sauvignon is a special treat even if Paul says the opposite.
Similarly things are right and wrong independently from God judgment. He is just confirming the fact and facilitates (or compels) its application. A code for right and wrong exists independently from God. So why we need him to confirm this standard if it’s already out there? We can help ourselves directly to this universal standard.

Now let’s turn to the first option. The omnipotent, omniscient God actually decides what is right from what is wrong. Once more following our wine example, if Paul, our expert wine taster, decides that certain type of wine is rubbish, it will be used by Jeff to season salads and to grill meat. But how do we know that Paul’s opinion is correct? How we can be sure that he will not declare a bottle of balsamic vinaigrette as a good merlot wine one? Jeff will answer back saying that Paul is so good and famous that any bottle he claims to be a good wine will certainly be a good one, but there is a huge contradiction here, Paul is the one who defines our idea of good wine, so what we are actually saying is: the good wine according to Paul, will be always a good wine according to Paul ;)

Leonardo da Vinci, Virgin and child with St.Anne and John the Baptist

in the same way, if God states that killing is right, it will be right. But even the most faithful believer will not agree that killing is right (sometimes, people from all major religions do justify killing for specific reasons and in certain conditions, but they will never agree that killing per se is good, as a concept). Furthermore this will make morality system no less arbitrary decided by God than decided by any one of us. However God is good, as our friend Paul, so he can not declare such horrible thing like killing a good act, but if God is the one who decides right from wrong, he will be always good, because we are saying that God (which by this definition is good) is good by his own laws. It is like saying God is God or that Paul’s wine is always good.
On the same line, God who says killing is good will be a good God, because our measures of “goodness” will be based on his definition.

Now someone can say: maybe you are right, God is not needed to define good and bad, but he is definitely needed to force people to acknowledge and to do good stuff by the heaven and hell duality (this is a popular belief even among some existential philosophers). it sounds like a convincing idea, but following this logic, one can not say that atheists can not distinguish good from bad, they definitely do good stuff even if they don’t attributed to God. In this case they are acting on a free will basis, and not fearing the punishment or seeking the eternal life. Atheists’ actions are much more mature and deserve respect since their deeds are based on their conviction rather than on an imposed contractual obligation.

Van Gogh, Wheat Field Under Threatening Skies

Conclusion:
Moral knowledge is independent from religion in the sense that people are able to distinguish good actions from bad ones, and to behave morally even if they are not religious. I am not saying in any way that people should or should not be religious, this is an absolutely personal decision, everyone decides his way to meet his spiritual needs. Nevertheless, the notion that the only way to moral knowledge is through religion is disingenuous. In the end, religious books are full of moral codes, however people choose the moral facts that are coherent with their existing moral point of view and they reinterpret or just simply ignore the rest! (more examples will be provided upon request) ;) .

Further reading
Stephen Law "the Philosophy Gym"

The best mp3 player for your blog !!

2007-03-02T07:05:00.000-05:00

web widget world is so complicated!! i have been looking for mp3 player for my blog for ages, maybe because i have not had anything more interesting to do;), finally i found one,it is from fine tune little bit awkward to find a specific song but it simply works !! another cool widget is from Library thing one can share books that he is reading and read reviews on them.
it is amazing how nowadays one can waist so much time on web 2.0

Are Iranians shipping weapons to the extremists Shia in Iraq? US officilas have got the proof... or maybe not !!

2007-02-22T14:24:00.000-05:00

This is a wicked show, i love it!!

Humble valentine's thought

2007-02-14T05:20:00.000-05:00

Dedicated to her...

If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don't, they never were."

-- Kahlil Gibran

Baby it's cold outside, analysis of George Bush’s state of the union address

2007-02-12T21:14:00.000-05:00

Following my previous post on Adam Curtis’s documentary the power of nightmares, I am going to elucidate in this post some real examples on what he does mean by politics of fear, baby it’s cold outside strategy, in other terms how politics do scare the public in order to keep them under their control. I can’t think of a better example than George Bush (although many politicians do the same, but he does it extremely well ;) I will analyze some sentences from his last state of the union address.

We know with certainty that the horrors of that September morning were just a glimpse of what the terrorists intend for us, unless we stop them.

The evil that inspired and rejoiced in 9/11 is still at work in the world. And so long as that is the case, America is still a nation at war

In these sentences, it is clear his manipulation to keep the panic spread among the Americans, so he can justify any military budget or the continuous losses in the American army in Iraq. It is very interesting how he uses the analogy of good and bad, evil and God to appeal to one specific sector of the American society, this sentence is directed to some of the religious groups that do support him, they see the world in this perspective God vs. evil, we are the good and they are the bad. (this applies to any religion fanatics as we see in Al-Qaeda discourse)

Our success in this war is often measured by the things that did not happen.

This is one of my all-time favorite logical fallacies, how one can measures success by something that has not occurred?? Like saying: I am successful person because I overcame my handicap which I have never had.

Al Qaeda and its followers are Sunni extremists possessed by hatred and commanded by a harsh and narrow ideology.

These men are not given to idle words, and they are just one camp in the Islamist radical movement. In recent times, it has also become clear that we face an escalating danger from Shia extremists who are just as hostile to America, and are also determined to dominate the Middle East.

The Shia and Sunni extremists are different faces of the same totalitarian threat.

Bush distinguish between Shia and Sunni for the first time ever, this is a very interesting point, I think this is just a maneuver to let people believe that the number of USA’s enemies is greater than ever, and all of them are actually planning to do harm to the Americans. So instead of al-Qaeda, there are Sunnis, Shiaas and much more people who want to do harm to them.

Take almost any principle of civilization, and their goal is the opposite.

To start, what are the principles of civilization? And which ones “the extremists” are against? This logic is suitable for bed time stories for 5 year old children, because it actually encourages their imagination ;)

They want to kill Americans, kill democracy in the Middle East and gain the weapons to kill on an even more horrific scale.

So, they want to kill the Americans, kill the democracy in Middle East and after that they will kill on much horrific scale!! What a nice fairy tale ;)

Actually, many of these political discourse’s strategies are well known psychoanalytic defense mechanisms as splitting and projective identification, maybe I will explain this point in the near future…

Andre

What do Geroge Bush and Bin Laden have in common ?

2007-02-08T21:41:00.001-05:00

This is the First part episode, click on the episode´s name to see the 2nd and the 3rd

The highly controversial documentary filmThe Power of Dreams is a three hours documentary by Adam Curtis , where he criticizes the ruling by fear strategy, which is applied widely in the political scene nowadays. The idea of this documentary is based on the fact that “Instead of delivering dreams, politicians now promise to protect us: from nightmares”.

The documentary analysis’s is one of the best I have ever seen, interestingly enough, he compares between Neo-conservatism and radical Islamic movements and shows that they share the same view of the world but from different angles, he goes on analyzing the rise of both currents in the world and showing the clash between them.

The documentary is in three parts, the first one named Baby it’s cold outside covers the era between the fifties and the eighties, the rise of the neo-conservatism in USA and the radical Islam in the Middle East, the second part The phantom victory emphasizes the mujaheddin war against Russia, and how at that time, these mujaheddin movements and USA had a common enemy which was the “communist Russia”. The third part The shadows in the cave covers the 9/11 attacks and how these two currents, radical Islam and Neo-conservatism, came to a clash between them.

It is a great documentary covering a very interesting topic, which its implications and consequences are shaping our century.

Highly recommended, by moi ;)

Blogs, Books, and Shanklish

2007-02-06T21:06:00.000-05:00

Blogs are going to be printed in books which, I bet, will be available online afterwards, is not the media world wired?

Pamphleteer press , An American publishing group, is starting a new project, following the huge success and the world wide spread of a disease called bloging, they decided to publish books where they collect some of what blogers had to say on a specific topic. Naturally they should choose some controversial issues so lot of materials can be found. They have published five books till now; can you guess the title of three of them? I bet you can, out of five there are three about Hizbollah and the Lebanese-Israeli conflict. The editor of these three books is Michael Totten who writes in Middle East journal blog . It will be interesting to see the type and the quality of the posts collected in these books and how much they do cover the wide spectrum of ideas available on the web. The fourth book is about Jewish cuisine. So since they are willing to indulge into Culinary stuff, I can not think about anything better than Abu fares’ Shanklish post to publish it in a separate book, the passionate carefully explained process of making Shanklish does demonstrate that this is not about making these fermented yogurt balls, this is about the concept of Shanklish and what memories and feelings does unleash (well besides the unleash of onions’ odor, bad joke Andre ), screen the amazing 52 comments this post received and you will see that it is not about Shanklish per se, it is about home, nostalgia, family memories and much more!!
Well done Abu fares

Damm it !! Another blogger wants to write his list of five

2007-02-02T06:51:00.000-05:00

Okay, i have been tagged by Razan so it seems that the deal is to write five things you don’t know about me, sweet!, but because I am fond of philosophy generally and philosophy of the mind and logic especially, I can not help it not to point out the logical fallacy in this tag, five things you don’t know about me , but the truth is that you actually don’t know me , so this tag may should be named “five things I would like you to know about me” ;)

Having been brought up in a non conventional structured family, I don’t believe in family ties, there are people who I like and people who I don’t,as simple as that. I have difficulties establishing long term relationships, maybe part of the reason is that I lived in four different countries in the last five years, this taught me not to be attached to people, meet them experiencing a humanistic whatever experience with them, for one hour, a month, a year then I leave without saying goodbye, quietly, without strong emotions or feelings. I dislike effort people make in exchanging e-mails and phone numbers as part of the goodbye process, even if they had met for just a day, we are not going to use them anyway, so why to bother?

Robert Doisneau - Le Baiser de l'Hotel de Ville, Paris, 1950

My favorite book of all times is Paulo Coelho’s the Alchemist, if you have not read it yet, stop reading this meaningless post and rush to the nearest bookstore, it is the I-Ching of the modern times. My favorite movie is the Godfather I ; no mortal creature can create such a thing. And my favorite motorcycle, the one that I will hopefully buy next year when I get my first paycheck, is Kawasaki Ninja. I like house/underground music and there is no room to list the Djs I like, but my favorite ones for the moment are Franz and Shape , they are great and I think they will be the next big thing in the underground music industry.

Kawasaki Ninja

Despite the fact that I am highly interested in the Christian philosophy, I can’t say that I am a believer. I am interested in the religion as a system of believes rather than faith and daily practices. I have got my “own” understanding of religions in general and the Christian religion in special, I am fond of the Liberation Theology school , which explores the relationship between Christian, , theology and political activism, particularly in areas of social justice, poverty and human rights.

Kandinsky, Wassily Kandinsky

I like Beer, who does not?, seriously I have been for almost 2 years and half now without having anything else (umm well except for wine), I can have up to 4 litters of beer on a good night out or on a discussion on some of Freud theories, this is the same amount of human’s blood, so I think what I have in my veins is beer not hemoglobin. Last year I did a “Beer trip” to Belgium, those people are the kings of beer, they never serve two different types of beer in similar cups, each type of beer has got its own cup, sounds like philosophy, is not? And for curious people my favorite ones are Duvel, Leffe bruin and Kwak

What I want to do in the future? very simple, I like Psychiatry but I think that it has been done in a wrong way (a lot of useless dispute between neurosciences and psychoanalysis), so having trained in both of them, I am going to USA next year, to start my psychiatry training, and to show them how it should be practiced ;). (Actually in medical terms this sounds like full blown mania patient, ya3ni majnoun bil3rabi ;)

The thinker, Rodin

Actually I thought that this post was going to be much more difficult to write, I think I am able to go on and write another 5 things, but I will stop here for the moment.

Andre

P.S: thanks Razan for the tag, writing is not one of my favorite hobbies and I need a motivation to do it :)

WASSUP !!!!

2007-01-22T17:41:00.001-05:00

This Bud ad is a classic ;) i keep on laughing every time i see it , you have to watch it multiple time though ;)

A very interesting debate on Monday 15 at the Debating society of University College London .

2007-01-13T22:36:00.000-05:00

Next Monday 15 a very interesting debate is taking place at the debating society of UCL, the motion is “This House Believes that Israeli Withdrawal to pre-1967 borders will lead to peace and stability in the Middle East."

Speakers include:

Lord Janner : a Labour member and amongst the most senior Jewish figures in Britain

Sharif Nashashibi : : Founder and Chairman of Arab Media Watch

Location: old refractory in UCL main campus at 7 pm

I joined the debating society last September and since then I have attended all of the debates, generally they are good, it depends though on the speakers, this is why I believe the one on Monday 15 is going to be huge!! Anybody lives in London and interested in the topic is more than welcome to attend.

for more information please check the the debating society website

See you all there.

Andre

2007-01-11T08:22:00.000-05:00

Can Faysal el Kasem's program be any funnier ?!

ماذا يقول حزب الله عن إمكانية قيام دولة إسلامية في لبنان

2007-01-08T11:26:00.000-05:00

Here you have Bilal Naim's lecture which he gave 2 weeks ago in Beirut. This is one of the most interesting stuff I have read recently.However one can not predict how this Lebanese fiasco will unfold.

My First day at UCL

2006-10-04T09:33:00.000-04:00

This is a photo of the main campus of UCL in London , I took it in my first day , it wasn't an easy to register due the high bureaucracy they ve got here ( as if we are not used to ) , but at the end of day I could manage to get my library card to have access to internet .

Yesterday I had the introduction day for my MSc; we are just 7 in class, so hopefully this will be a great opportunity to learn “something”. Check the link for more information about my “exciting” course ."(don’t think many people will think the same ,since the Famous Freud is heavily involved !!)

Where is Home ?

2006-09-21T20:46:00.000-04:00

Once in a charming night in Amsterdam, my out of the ordinary Swedish friend asked me “where do you feel home?” It wasn’t an easy question, I replied “I don’t know, I feel that I am lost and don’t belong to anywhere”.
Then I asked her “where is yours? “So she said “wherever I go with him (her boyfriend, interesting guy) I feel home.”
I really envy her because she found Home, as for me, I’m still lost ….

The new Middle East

2006-07-31T09:47:00.000-04:00

"what we're seeing here, in a sense, is the growing -- the birth pangs of a new Middle East."
This is how condelizza rice describes the carnage happening in Lebanon ...

Qana Massacre part 2 and the whole World watching

2006-07-31T08:58:00.001-04:00

To all my dear friends in the Netherlands and Spain who asked me the one million dollar question “why Arabs do suicide attacks against Israel and USA?”
Here I give you THE answer .
for more coverage read NYtimes article .

Andre

Syrian Bloggers: Today, we are all Lebanese...

2006-07-19T19:16:00.000-04:00

Lebanon has been sentenced to death. On Wednesday 12 July, she was put in prison, and now she's being tortured.
Israel's war is with Lebanon's civilians, not Hizbollah. Nearly every person killed has been a civilian. Power stations, bridges and petrol stations have been targeted. Israel has warned residents to get out of certain villages, but bombed roads to make it difficult - and refugee convoys have been picked out for deadly air raids.
And getting out of the country is impossible now too. The airport has been destroyed, the sea ports are blockaded, and the border posts and highways have been razed to the ground.
Lebanon is held hostage to the angry Israeli war machine. And now more than ever, Syrians bloggers, just like every Syrian stand by her.
Another generation of Lebanese will know nothing but war. We can't let this happen, Again.

Top 10 countries in “googling” the word (SEX), you will not believe the results!!!

2006-05-13T16:00:00.000-04:00

The last release from Google is (Google Trends), with this service you can look up the search volume of certain words, also the languages and countries where they have the highest search volume on it. In other words, who is searching for this word you are interested in. So I was trying all the words that it could be interesting to look them up, one of them for sure is sex, so I will post the results here

Pretty surprising isn’t? What do you think?

If you want to try it, it’s on http://www.google.com/trends

Andre Barkil

Free Alaa Campaign

2006-05-12T09:58:00.000-04:00

Egyptian blogger Alaa (who blogs with his wife Manal) was detained with 10 other young people by the police during a peaceful protest. Concerned bloggers have set up a separate blog Free Alaa! to campaign for his release.
One technique to bring Egypt and the Egyptian Government and the Egyptian Government's human rights record to public attention and perhaps persuade Egypt or shame Egypt into doing something about it is to particpate in the ongoing Google bomb.
Basically if enough people use the linking code < href =" "> (remove spaces) to link to the word "Egypt" then the Free Alaa site will rise up the rankings of Google searches for the word Egypt and draw wide attention to the issue. Come on, let's see if we can unseat the British Museum, which currently holds the top spot for such a search.

Neuroscientists dream team

2006-03-26T18:26:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of my master class, pretty nice , isn’t ?

A prize is held to whom can find where I’m standing!!!! ; )

Andre

اينشتاين - اريد ان اعرف افكار الله

2006-03-22T17:26:00.000-05:00

As Albert Einstein lay on his deathbed, he asked only for his glasses, his writing implements and his latest equations. He knew he was dying, yet he continued his work. In those final hours of his life, while fading in and out of consciousness, he was working on what he hoped would be his greatest work of all. It was a project of monumental complexity. It was a project that he hoped would unlock the mind of God.

"I want to know God's thoughts""I am not interested in this phenomenon or that phenomenon," Einstein had said earlier in his life. "I want to know God's thoughts – the rest are mere details." But as he lay there dying in Princeton Hospital he must have understood that these were secrets that God was clearly keen to hang on to. The greatest scientist of his age died knowing that he had become isolated from the scientific community; revered on the one hand, ridiculed for this quest on the other.

It was a journey that started 50 years earlier in Berne, Switzerland. Then - in his early 20s - he was a young man struggling to make his mark. His applications to universities throughout Europe had all been rejected. In the end his father had pulled strings to get him a job as a third class clerk evaluating the latest electrical gizmos.

But in his spare time he was formulating the most extraordinary scientific ideas. In a single year - 1905, a year that would become known as his miracle year – he published papers that would redefine how we see our world and universe.
Time is relativeHe confirmed that all matter was composed of molecules – an idea that at the time was controversial. And most famously of all, he published the paper 'On the electrodynamics of moving bodies'. It contained his Theory of Special Relativity and suggested that time - something that had always thought to be unchanging and absolute – was relative. It could speed up or slow down depending on the speed you were travelling. From this paper would come an additional three pages, finished in September of the same year, that would contain the derivation of e=mc², the most famous mathematical equation ever written.
Einstein was on a roll. Ten years after his Theory of Special Relativity, he published his Theory of General Relativity – a piece of work widely acknowledged as his masterpiece. The great 17th century scientist Sir Isaac Newton had described the force of gravity very successfully, but what caused gravity remained a mystery. In this Theory of General Relativity, Einstein suggested that gravity was due to the bending of time and space by massive objects. In 1919 astronomers confirmed this by measuring the bending of starlight around the sun during a solar eclipse.

The battle with quantum mechanicsIn 1921, Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize, not for his theories of relativity, but for another paper published in 1905. In this paper, Einstein proposed that light was not simply made up of waves, it could also be thought of as discrete, individual particles or quanta. This discovery would revolutionise physics and chemistry, because it would become one of the foundations of a new science: quantum mechanics.
But during the 1920s the new science of quantum mechanics began to turn the tide against the way Einstein saw the world. Young pretenders in the field of physics had begun to emerge, such as Heisenberg, Bohr and Schrödinger, who are now some of the most famous figures in science. But at the time they were mavericks. They saw quantum mechanics as a brand new way of interpreting everything.

A core element to their new interpretation of the world was that at a fundamental level, everything was unpredictable. You could, for example, accurately tell the speed of a particle but not – at the same time – its position. Or its position but not its speed. It meant that precise predictions were impossible – the best you could hope for was a science based on probabilities.

God does not play dice
Einstein's work was underpinned by the idea that the laws of physics were an expression of the divine. This belief led him to think that everything could be described by simple, elegant mathematics and moreover, that once you knew these laws you could describe the universe with absolute accuracy. Einstein loathed the implications of quantum mechanics. It was a clash of ideologies.

The conflict reached a crescendo in the late 1920s at the Solvay Conference in Belgium. There Einstein clashed with the great Danish physicist Niels Bohr over the nature of the universe. Einstein constantly challenged Bohr over the implications of quantum mechanics, but never budged from his belief that "God does not play dice", meaning that nothing would be left to chance in the universe. To which the quantum mechanics community replied: "Einstein, stop telling God what to do with his dice."

The theory of everything
But Einstein had a trick up his sleeve. He had already begun a piece of work that he believed would ultimately replace quantum mechanics. It would become later known as his theory of everything – it was his attempt to extend general relativity and unite the known forces in the universe.

By completing this theory of everything Einstein hoped he would rid physics of the unpredictability at the heart of quantum mechanics and show that the world was predictable – described by beautiful, elegant mathematics. Just the way he believed God would make the universe. He would show that the way the quantum mechanics community interpreted the world was just plain wrong. It was a project that he would work on for the next 30 years, until the final day of his life.

But while Einstein's theory of everything may be considered to have been a failure, it is an idea that still fascinates and draws some of the brightest minds in physics. Today many believe that String Theory is our best candidate for a theory of everything. But the ultimate irony is that lurking at the heart of String Theory is the very thing that, because of his beliefs, Einstein had been unable to accept: quantum mechanics.

From HORIZON,
bbc.co.uk

نفق برسم التنفيذ

2006-03-21T17:25:00.000-05:00

جورج حاوي : أقول كما يقول الاعتراف المسيحي: "لقد أخطأنا وأخطأ كل منا بالاستعانة بالخارج، أما استعانتنا بالصديق فخطأ، واستعانة غيرنا بالعدو فخطيئة، فلنقلع جميعاً عن ذلك لنبني علاقات داخلية على قاعدة وطينة لبنانية سليمة، في منطلقها عروبة لبنان كخيار داخلي لا كتعريب خارجي تمليه نسبة قوى إقليمية قد تختل، فتختل معه العروبة.

this is one of the best phrases I have ever read analyzing the Lebanese conflict and the solution to it.
I remembered it today while reading news about the “Hiwar el Libnani” which seems that it’s not going to anywhere …. Again!!
I’m not seeing the light at the end of this tunnel, maybe the problem lies in the tunnel it self, it seems that it’s like the one in Omayad Square, always in process but simply, it will never be done!!

Taoism and Lao-Tse (I´m sorry, he is not a Kung-fu movie star)

2006-03-20T19:26:00.000-05:00

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao;
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name;

this appears as darkness.

Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery.

—(Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English, 1972).

Flight of Ideas

2006-03-20T19:22:00.000-05:00

Hey all!
Since this is my first post, I will start by introduce my Blog:

Flight of ideas:

A nearly continuous flow of accelerated speech with abrupt changes from one topic to another, usually based on understandable associations, distracting stimuli, or playing on words. When severe, however, this may lead to disorganized and incoherent speech. Flight of ideas is characteristic of manic episodes, but it may occur also in organic mental disorders, schizophrenia, other psychoses, and, rarely, acute reactions to stress.
Source: Edgerton, Jane E. 1994. American Psychiatric Glossary, 7th Edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press

So maybe you are going to ask yourself, why on the earth he picked up such wired name? well the answer is simple, I m interested in Psychiatry ,I hope I will start the residency in Psychiatry in USA in the near future , meanwhile I live in Amsterdam , the Netherlands. I’m doing MSc, Master of Science in Neuroscience.
Maybe my next post will be on my future plans and why I’m doing this master here!!

Some other things, I m interested also in psychoanalysis which I tried to understand working in a psychoanalysis group in Damascus, Syria.
Until now sounds really intellectual , well I like also wasting time doing nothing , smoking Nargile and unfortunately I don’t like Tarnib neither Trex.
More things, I like to travel, so I will post some photos from my previous trips.

Finally my English sucks , I tried to write In Arabic but it take me a lot of time because I don’t have a Arabic keyboard here , so you will have to get impressed (as my teacher does) by my academic writing skills !!!

I forget to mention that I like politics , but since is my first post and as you know I still have this default natural suspicion of anything surrounds you when you want to speak in politics ; ) , I will choose a less touchy subject , Religion!!!!

Yeah, I know what do you think, but it s not Christianity neither Islam or Jewish.
I picked up a Religion that no one around me is practicing it, so I think it’s a safe choice by the moment!!!
I will speak about the Taoism. For further information please, (3azeb 7alak) and read the next post, if you haven’t got anything more interesting to do !!
Salam
Andre

بلاغ رقم ١

2006-03-19T17:55:00.000-05:00

قررت ان اكتب بالعربي بالرغم من الصعوبات التقنية التي تواجهني منها انني لا املك لوحة مفاتيح عربية ، لكنني اومن بانه يمكننا ان ندرس و نعمل با لانجليزية لكن يجب ان نتواصل بالعربية، امضيت ١٠ دقائق في كتابة هذه الجملة، لكن اعتقد بانني سوف اسرع في المستقبل القريب