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PUK office bombed in Mosul
More bad news for the Iraqi Kurds. From Al Jazeera: A bomber has attacked the offices of a top Kurdish political party in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing and wounding more than 40 people. The explosion outside the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) killed at least nine people and wounded more than 36 on Tuesday
Atzmon descends
As I’ve noted, Oliver Kamm and I are on different sides of the Israel/Lebanon debate, and other debates as well. But Kamm remains one of the most effective and articulate foes of the deranged left (if one can even call it left). In this post Kamm exposes the latest ravings of the Israeli-born, UK-based jazz musician Gilad Atzmon. I wrote
Jill Carroll’s ordeal
The Christian Science Monitor is serializing Jill Carroll’s account of her 82-day hostage ordeal. Part I is gripping; check back in coming days for the rest. Carroll’s interpreter, Alan Enwiya, was murdered on the spot at the site of the kidnapping. There is a fund for donations to his bereaved family. Information below. — Alan Enwiya is one of nearly
Clarification on a quote
On August 10 I expressed annoyance with a quote from a story in the Forward about “zero dissent” within the Jewish community on Israel/Lebanon. I’m grateful to the person quoted, Hadar Susskind of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, for taking the trouble to get in touch with me: I was not happy with the original quote in the Forward.
“Hezbollah’s Other War”
Michael Young, opinion editor of Beirut’s Daily Star, has an excellent primer on Lebanese sectarian politics in today’s NY Times Magazine. While Young doesn’t address it directly, his piece underscores the absolute intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the far-left embrace of Hezbollah. Detailing the Siniora government’s tense and fragile efforts to deal with Hezbollah and secure a hopeful future for
Halliday’s new column
Fred Halliday has a new column at openDemocracy, calling us back to the universalist ethos of Isaac Deutscher and Hannah Arendt:What Isaac Deutscher and Hannah Arendt noted contains truths that the contemporary middle east, and the world, sorely need. Their relevance is to much more than the Arab-Israeli question; it applies in principle to any of the numerous other national
Iraqi Kurdistan troubles
There are reports of spreading anti-corruption demonstrations and government crackdowns in Iraqi Kurdistan. (In March I visited the autonomous northern region and wrote about it on this blog.) Bill Weinberg at WW4 Report has links, including a statement from Houzan Mahmoud of the Worker Communist Party of Iraq, and this piece in Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The RFE page contains
More music video greatness
Late last year I linked to a fantastic video by the group OK Go. Here’s another. Wow these guys have a lot of time on their hands. Apparently they sustained minor injuries while making the clip. (Hat tip: Phil DiPietro)