Irony at a whole new level.

"And they the hunters should hunt them' - that will be the Jews. 'From every mountain and from every hill and from out of the holes of the rocks' - if that doesn't describe what Hitler did in the Holocaust, you can't see that," (Aljazeera English, May 22, 2008)

This quote is something you would normally expect to hear from Hamas. However this time there is a twist. This now well known quote comes from John Hagee who is the founder and national chair for Christians United for Israel. Seriously I have no idea how this kind of thing happens. I mean you support a nation of people and the person who tried to kill all of said people. I'm truly speechless. The only thing I have to say is too those who always throw the charge of anti-semitism at people who support Palestine: Who is anti-semitic now?

You leave for a couple of days and...

I'm glad my friend's house out here as internet (it's literally in the middle of nowhere) because I wouldn't want to miss this. After I read this, I was convinced that our congressmen and women celebrate Israel's independence more than our own. But speaking of which I finally got my project paper back. I was doing a project on stereotypes and how media affects bias towards Arabs. For my project I had to flash Arab and American names on the screen (I will not bother explaining the Implicit Attitudes Test, just google it). One of the Arab names I showed was Haifa. If you, like my psych. professor, think it is an Israeli name, I was referencing the Arabic singer Haifa Wehbe. My mind for some reason was not prepared for that one.

I also got a call from the Lebanese embassy telling me that I forgot to send some stuff with my visa. I had forgotten that they do not take check but I also missed one item that confused me. They wanted a self-addressed envelope. At first I was wondering what they expected me to send my stuff in if not an envelope but I just figured they were covering every angle. I missed their intention. Apparently the Consulate General of Lebanon in Detroit needs you to address the return envelope for them. I had always known the Lebanese gov't was dysfunctional but it was only then that I realized how dysfunctional it was.

One little country.

I talked to my friend from Beirut yesterday doing a may term with the UN. He was doing much better since things have been calming down. Meanwhile Bush pushes himself further into irrelevancy with his latest statements on Lebanon. Obviously disarming Hezbollah is not an option until the causes of their support is addressed. It is weird to hear him talking about Hezbollah turning on their own people like he really cares about the Lebanese people. He even recognizes Hezbollah's role as protecting Lebanon against Israel. It only took him two years. And where was his help for the Lebanese army when Israel was bombing the country? Where was his concern about the fate of the Lebanese people when Israel was bombing them ?!?!? It kills me the most that my friend laments about how Arabs are fighting each other. There will always be people who sell out there own no matter where you go. I just wish someone was honest about our role in Lebanon and how no one really cares about the people there.

Summer plans.

Well we have seen that once again I have impeccable timing on my summer plans. I honestly do believe that things will settle down before I arrive but this could last for awhile. Either way its a risky situation but I didn't get into the Middle East because it seemed like the place with the least amount of risks. Truth be told though I still fear Chicago more than Beirut. The amount of crime here lately has been out of control and unlike the violence in the Middle East, this just seems far more random. To sum up my life, if something is going to happen to me it doesn't matter where I am because danger is always lurking around the corner in life. In America though we seem to have this illusion that it doesn't happen here. Maybe that's why we're always pissed when something does go wrong.

Walkout...

No wonder why we can't solve the crisis in Gaza. Still this is the typical Western response as Gaza starves: Just walk away. I don't agree with the Libyan ambassador's comparison to the Holocaust because this has become a different situation in and of itself given the length it has continued for. That being said it's just deplorable that the West would allow people to starve because it doesn't agree with the language used in the discussion of the situation. Have we really compromised so much on our humanity? It seems the West will only discuss this situation only if blame for this situation is placed on the victims. It's truly an embarrassing time to be an American.

Another bout of craziness

Thanks to Al Jazeera for showing me something that would motivate me to update this.

Lately Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livini(I'm glad i'm writing this because I could never say it) has been at Doha's annual democracy forum. She said that Arab states do not need to wait for an agreement with the Palestinians to normalize ties with Israel and that Israel and Arab states face the same threats from Hamas and Hezbollah (It seriously took me ten minutes to write this sentence while my mind tried to block me from doing so). I've also debating whether to seriously discuss this point by point but I'll take a different approach.

At one point in Josh Rushing's book Mission Al Jazeera he writes about how Americans think that Iraq and Palestine are totally different issues while he states that most Arabs see them as similar if not the same. Why is this? Although some would claim that this is the work of the Israel lobby (This sounds like a job for Mearsheimer and Walt), I think that people really should be able to see that the conflict in Palestine has effects in the rest of the Middle East in some way. That said, I don't think that Livini is really trying to court Arab states. I think the statement is for the Israeli and American publics to say that Israel is still interested in peace but since the Arab states are delaying on normalizing relations with Israel, the Arab states are not interested in peace so we can keep on bombing Gaza. That's the only way this makes sense.

ha...

Looks like the only democracy in the Middle East decided to prove that Mr. Falk's criticisms were completely unfounded by NOT LETTING HIM IN!!!