My thinking on how to pronounce Ahmadinejad

There has been much discussion over the proper way to pronounce — and even transliterate — the current Iranian president’s last name. Most news outlets use Ahmadinejad. Others, such as Financial Times, prefer Ahmadi-Nejad. In the Persian alphabet, the president’s name is spelled احمدی‌نژاد (alef-Ha-mim-dal-ye-nun-zhe-alef-dal). It is a combination of Ahmad and Nejad. The ﻯ [...]

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Why hasn’t Algeria recognized Kosovo?

Picking up where the previous post left off, I want to explore some reasons that may have contributed to Algeria’s refusal to recognize Kosovo. As noted before, Algeria, like many countries, has a strong relationship with Russia. Russia is the source of most of Algeria’s military materiel, and it shares many geopolitical interests with the [...]

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Kosovo and the `umma

After the declaration, America and most European Union countries began the process of recognition. Muslim states will follow. Like the people of Albania, Kosovars are that rare combination, a majority Muslim people who are also passionately pro-American. Russia, and of course Serbia, reacted angrily. Russia argues that Kosovo’s independence will open a Pandora’s box of [...]

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Excuse me Professor?

Khalidi said he supports Obama for president “because he is the only candidate who has expressed sympathy for the Palestinian cause.”
This is an assumption that many American-Arabs are working off of when supporting Senator Obama’s candidacy. Many have heard that he was involved in the local Arab-American community in Chicago when he was a state [...]

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Observations

A survey in al-Akhbar newspaper asked Lebanese Sunnis, Shias, Druzes, and Christians if they supported “action for the overthrow of the Zionist regime”. The results show 77.4% for Lebanese Christians, the lowest out of all the sample groups except the Druze (65.9%). A classmate who also saw this survey told me she was surprised that [...]

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More on before

Traditionally, dissent within the Christian churches of the East had been expressed through doctrinal disputes. In the nineteenth century dissent took a new form, ethnic-linguistic division. In the Greek Orthodox patriarchate of Jerusalem and Antioch, the hierarchy, drawn from the monastic clergy, spoke Greek, while the parish priests and the parishioners spoke Arabic. The vast [...]

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Without Islam?

Graham E. Fuller’s “A World without Islam” piece in Foreign Policy is well worth reading. It smashes the icons of those who believe that the world would be much better of without Islam. AWI puts the Middle East and its peoples in terms of interests due to geopolitical factors that would exist regardless of their [...]

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On Saturday, I will be attending a birthday party for a cousin’s one year old daughter. I will inevitably find myself in mind numbing conversation with a pompous uncle,* who told me during `Eid that he would not support Barack Obama because black person could never get through a primary, let alone a general election. [...]

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Castro steps down

Good bye, Fidel.

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Vanguards

I remember a time when right wingers routinely derided Marxism and leftist thinking because it was “emotional” and “irrational”. Attempting to use the state to create utopia was bound to fail because there was not feasible means by which this could be, that human nature was too strong, and that socialism was incapable of creating [...]

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Huh

This sounds an awful lot like the reasoning used to justify the Israeli [failed] assault on Lebanon in 2006. Depressingly so.

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Goeiedag, Goddag, Marhaba, Was geht?, Hej, Hola!

There are four languages I would like to learn:

German: I, unlike many people, enjoy the way German sounds and have found that it is quite useful as a research language. There tons of books and articles written about obscure topics in history in German. I have always been fascinated by Bismarck and Metternich and to [...]

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Boo-hoo

I am often asked about my views on Ayaan Hirsi Ali; I am uninpressed and believe that she makes problems faced by Muslim communities worse by fomenting xenophobia and feeding off of bigotry. Anyway, after having left Holland to come to America, she is now hoping to become a French citizen after the American government [...]

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What?!

“What a burkha” declared the Sun newspaper, alongside a picture of a head-covered figure making a rude gesture. To judge by the tone of the British press (and not only the tabloid press), the archbishop—who is also the leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, numbering 80m people—might have been advocating the mandatory covering of every [...]

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Radical Arabs and Alien Rule

Men from their kings alone their worth derive.
But Arabs ruled by aliens cannot thrive:
Boors without culture, without noble fame,
Who know not loyalty and honour’s name.
Go where thou wilt, thou seest in every land
Folk driven like cattle by a servile band. 
From Diwan, Abu at-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi, 10th century, as translated by R. A. Nicholson.

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"The Heart"

The heartis a paper eaglecoasting overan arboretum of wind.
“The Heart”, by Zakaria Mohammed.

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Blind Ink

Blind inkand idle lettersis all that remainsbetween us.
“Blind Ink”, by Khaled Mattawa.

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The Fuddleduddle Campaign

It is very much known to readers of this blog that I find Rudy Giuliani to be the most repugnant individual to have entered the Republican primary race this past year. I rank him above Mrs. Hillary Clinton in terms of idiocy and potential detriment to the United States of America, only because of his [...]

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The "Premier"

On any given day, Syrian President Hafiz al-Asad may be extolled as the nation’s ‘premier’ pharmacist, teacher, lawyer, or doctor; he may be pictured in the newspapers with foreign dignitaries, showing ‘complete understanding of all issues.’ Following elections he is congratulated for winning more than 99 percent of the vote. Routinely in official discourse, Asad [...]

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Color Lines

Realistically, Clinton seems to have difficulty winning anywhere she can’t mobilize racial polarization in her favor. Obama has, of course, deployed polarization to his benefit in a number of states (South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana most notably) but he’s also dominated the states with very few black voters.
Matthew Yglesias, “Maine for Obama“.*
I agree with [...]

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