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منگل 29 اپریل 2008Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Charlie Wilson's War
The movie is fun to watch, but it's the book that's a must read.
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Posted by Zack at 1:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
پیر 28 جنوری 2008Monday, January 28, 2008
Global Gender Attitudes
I count the reasons why I won't raise my daughter in Pakistan. The attitudes of Pakistanis towards women leave a lot to be desired and women don't have much opportunity there.
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Posted by Zack at 9:57 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
اتوار 6 جنوری 2008Sunday, January 06, 2008
Rendition
This is a movie about sending a man, suspected to be a terrorist, to another country so that he can be tortured. The practice of extraordinary rendition actually dates from the war on drugs. It's a good movie, worth watching.
Posted by Zack at 6:58 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
بدھ 14 نومبر 2007Wednesday, November 14, 2007
War Crimes and Military Justice
War crimes happen in all wars. And are rarely punished appropriately. There are structural reasons for that which are unlikely to change. This is one more reason why war should be the last resort.
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Posted by Zack at 3:23 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
جمعہ 23 فروری 2007Friday, February 23, 2007
Deflated Balls and Military Bureacracy
A military spokesman sputters nonsense in reply to reports that the US army distributed deflated soccer balls to Iraqi kids because no one had the foresight to order pumps or pins.
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Posted by Zack at 1:37 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
جمعرات 3 اگست 2006Thursday, August 03, 2006
Muslim Occidentalism
Thabet argues that Muslims see the West similar to the way the West sees Muslims. Western Orientalism has a counterpart in Muslim Occidentalism. What is even more interesting is that Western Muslims set themselves apart from the West.
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Posted by Zack at 9:18 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
پیر 6 فروری 2006Monday, February 06, 2006
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad Cartoons
If you came here looking for my thoughts on the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad that Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper, published in September and that were republished in several other newspapers this year, you have come to the wrong place. I won't consider getting upset over freaking cartoons.
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Posted by Zack at 3:14 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
پیر 21 نومبر 2005Monday, November 21, 2005
Letter to a US Representative
Greetings Web Community, I drafted the following letter with the intent of sending it to my representative in the US House of Reps. Before executing my plan, I wish to gather comments from this online community. LETTER BEGINS Our country’s...
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جمعرات 8 ستمبر 2005Thursday, September 08, 2005
اسرائیل اور پاکستان
پاکستان اور اسرائیل کے وزرائے خارجہ نے استنبول میں ملاقات کی۔ کیا پاکستان اسرائیل کو تسلیم کرنے لگا ہے؟ کیا اسے تسلیم کرنا چاہیئے؟
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Posted by Zack at 12:58 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
ہفتہ 9 جولائی 2005Saturday, July 09, 2005
London Bomb Blasts
My heart goes out to the people who died in the London bomb blasts. I hope their murderers are caught and punished soon.
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Posted by Zack at 11:43 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
منگل 14 جون 2005Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Reaction to Criticism
The Bush administration responds to Amnesty International's cataloging of abuses in Gitmo and beyond by tarnishing Amnesty's name. The Musharraf regime saves Pakistan's reputation by not allowing Mukhtaran Bibi, a gang rape victim, to go abroad.
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Posted by Zack at 3:16 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
منگل 28 دسمبر 2004Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Tsunami Tragedy
The death of more than 50,000 people due to the tsunamis caused by a 9.0 earthquake is beyond words. All I can say is that we should all help as much as we can in the relief efforts. Here are...
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Posted by Zack at 1:46 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
پیر 22 نومبر 2004Monday, November 22, 2004
The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited
I read The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited before Michelle’s birth but haven’t had time to review it. It is a detailed look (640 pages) at the issue of the Palestinian refugees with more than 2,700 endnotes/footnotes. The...
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Posted by Zack at 12:41 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
جمعہ 5 نومبر 2004Friday, November 05, 2004
The Day the Iraq War was Lost
Phil Carter in an excellent article in the Washington Monthly Nov 2004 issue: A generation from now, historians may look back to April 28, 2004, as the day the United States lost the war in Iraq. On that date, “CBS...
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Posted by Zack at 3:03 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
منگل 2 نومبر 2004Tuesday, November 02, 2004
WMD in Iraq = Lost Coin at Beach
There are times when a comment on one of my posts is so worthy that it needs to be lifted from the comments section and reproduced as a blog post for a wider audience. I think Andrew Hughes qualifies: Quite...
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Posted by Zack at 3:49 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
بدھ 29 ستمبر 2004Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Legal Torture
Obsidian Wings has a very important post about a bill in Congress which will allow the US to legally send suspected terrorists to any country for torture. The Republican leadership of Congress is attempting to legalize extraordinary rendition. “Extraordinary rendition”...
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Posted by Zack at 2:51 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
اتوار 5 ستمبر 2004Sunday, September 05, 2004
Words Fail Me
I don’t have the words to blog about the atrocious killings in Beslan, Russia. These terrorists are the worst creatures on this earth. At least 200 people have been killed during the bloody climax of a three-day hostage crisis at...
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Posted by Zack at 12:13 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
جمعرات 5 اگست 2004Thursday, August 05, 2004
Pakistan and Darfur
The humanitarian crisis in Darfur engendered by the Janjaweed militia and the Sudanese government has finally caught some international attention. While the US is threatening sanctions and France has moved troops to the Chad-Sudan border, Pakistan has responded with mealy-mouthed...
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Posted by Zack at 12:13 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
اتوار 25 جولائی 2004Sunday, July 25, 2004
The Great Game
Conrad Barwa has an insightful post at the Head Heeb on the structural and strategic elements in Pakistan’s policy towards the tribal areas and Afghanistan. Here is his conclusion: What does seem clear is that the production of any ‘HVTs’...
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Posted by Zack at 1:31 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
جمعرات 22 جولائی 2004Thursday, July 22, 2004
Do They Look Like Me?
You might have heard about the terror induced by 14 Syrian musicians on a Northwestern flight. There is no doubt that something out of the ordinary happened on Northwest Airlines Flight 327 from Detroit to Los Angeles on June 29....
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Posted by Zack at 12:12 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
جمعہ 11 جون 2004Friday, June 11, 2004
Torture, Emperor and Forgetfulness
Via Mark Kleiman, I came upon the story of the torture memo in the Wall Street Journal. Bush administration lawyers contended last year that the president wasn’t bound by laws prohibiting torture and that government agents who might torture prisoners...
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Posted by Zack at 1:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
منگل 8 جون 2004Tuesday, June 08, 2004
Darfur, Sudan
Sudan has been in the news for quite some time. First there was the civil war between the North and the South. Finally, a peace agreement has been signed there. But now some militias backed by the Sudanese government are...
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Posted by Zack at 8:01 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
پیر 3 مئی 2004Monday, May 03, 2004
Over
A year after President Bush declared major combat operations over in Iraq, the war in Iraq has finally ended. In case you don’t know, the US lost. Also over is my brief and very skeptical love affair with Sharon. If...
Posted by Zack at 2:48 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
منگل 13 اپریل 2004Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Israeli Fence
Let me just say that I agree wholeheartedly with Jonathan about the fence Israel is constructing. I think the fence can have a positive effect in cooling down Israel-Palestinian relations and thus get them to the negotiating table. Forward talks...
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Posted by Zack at 12:59 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
جمعہ 9 اپریل 2004Friday, April 09, 2004
No More Editing Embargo
It seems that the embargo on editing scientific and technical papers from countries on which the US has imposed economic sanctions (Iran, Cuba, Libya and Sudan) has been lifted. According to IEEE, they can now publish papers from the embargoed...
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Posted by Zack at 5:58 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
پیر 29 مارچ 2004Monday, March 29, 2004
Assassinations and Arrests
Recently, the former President of Chechnya, Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, was assassinated in Qatar. Two Russian intelligence agents were arrested. Russia protested and promptly detained two Qatari wrestlers on their way to a sports competition. The Gulf state of Qatar says Russia...
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Posted by Zack at 12:51 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
منگل 16 مارچ 2004Tuesday, March 16, 2004
The Jingoists Have Won
I have been hopping mad since yesterday. Somehow I waded into the warbloggers’ world and found everyone berating the Spanish for letting the terrorists win. I disagree. The terrorists did win. But not on sunday. They won on thursday when...
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Posted by Zack at 2:32 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
پیر 8 مارچ 2004Monday, March 08, 2004
Vote to Heaven
Via the Head Heeb comes this report of God focussing attention on the Malaysian elections since the football (American) season is over. Is God a swinging voter in this month’s Malaysian elections? An unholy row has broken out between the...
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Posted by Zack at 4:32 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
پیر 1 مارچ 2004Monday, March 01, 2004
No Saudi Visit for Us
Via Brian’s Study Breaks, it seems that the Saudis are doing what they do best. Saudi Arabia is barring visits by Jews after launching a new visa scheme to try to attract more tourists. The Saudi tourism department website said...
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Posted by Zack at 1:58 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
بدھ 18 فروری 2004Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Pakistan and Iran are Arab?
There was a really bad article in the New York Times by Leslie Wayne about Arab Americans backing Bush in this election cycle. Leslie Wayne considers Iranians and Pakistanis as Arab too. Who knew? Fortunately, I don’t have to debunk...
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Posted by Zack at 2:27 PM | Comments (20) | TrackBack
بدھ 11 فروری 2004Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Fading Stars and Fraying Stripes
In the past few years, a thought has grown in my mind. The seed of it, a nod to inevitability, long layed dormant, but the events of the past few years prompted germination. The steady erosion of the nation’s manufacturing...
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Humanitarian Imperialism
Referring to the current troubles in Haiti, Tacitus asks: One might fairly ask whether such chronically failed states might be better off under some sort of permanent protectorate or even colonial arrangement for the maintenance of peace and good governance....
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Posted by Zack at 8:39 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
پیر 9 فروری 2004Monday, February 09, 2004
Learn to Become a Terrorist at Tech
The School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech is offering a course on terrorism. I mean student projects in that course include terrorist acts. For those students who always seem to have a gripe with Tech, a 3000-level special topics...
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Posted by Zack at 8:45 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
جمعہ 30 جنوری 2004Friday, January 30, 2004
Turkey and EU
A Fistful of Euros reminded me of the discussion my friends and I had recently about Turkish membership in the European Union. The first objection I have always heard is that Turkey is not in Europe except for Istanbul. Mrs....
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Posted by Zack at 7:00 AM | Comments (20) | TrackBack
More About Israel and Pakistan
I have argued before that Pakistan should recognize Israel. There have been some ambiguous signs regarding relations between these two countries recently. First, there was Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf meeting Israeli opposition leader Shimon Peres during the World Economic...
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Posted by Zack at 12:59 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
جمعہ 9 جنوری 2004Friday, January 09, 2004
Israel: 1948 Transfer?
An Unsealed Room points to an interview with historian Benny Morris1 in Haaretz. Benny Morris is promoting a new version of his book about the Palestinian refugee problem, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Allison is definitely correct...
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Posted by Zack at 3:34 PM | Comments (25) | TrackBack
منگل 6 جنوری 2004Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Pakistan's Nuclear Export
The New York Times has an important article about Pakistan’s ties to nuclear programs in a number of countries. The Pakistani leaders who denied for years that scientists at the country’s secret A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories were peddling advanced...
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Posted by Zack at 12:25 AM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
جمعرات 18 دسمبر 2003Thursday, December 18, 2003
Embargo on Editing
Via Through the Looking Glass, I found out some news about my own backyard (IEEE). I know the news is old (October/November timeframe), but this is my weblog and I never promised timely coverage of news and events. As you...
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Posted by Zack at 5:45 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
پیر 15 دسمبر 2003Monday, December 15, 2003
Saddam Captured
It is definitely good news for the Iraqis. Their future is still uncertain, but a brutal thug of a dictator is now completely out of the picture. Like I said before, one of the positive outcomes of this war was...
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Posted by Zack at 1:32 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
جمعہ 5 دسمبر 2003Friday, December 05, 2003
Hope in Conflicts?
There have been some positive developments in two major conflicts recently. I am not sure whether these will amount to much as a little progress is often followed by a lot of backtracking. But may be I’ll be proven wrong...
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Posted by Zack at 3:28 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
An Impressive Endorsement
Brian Ulrich has a very good and idealistic post explaining his endorsement for the Presidential election next year. One day a couple of summers ago, I was wandering with some friends through the streets of Madaba, Jordan, looking for a...
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Posted by Zack at 1:19 AM | Comments (23) | TrackBack
اتوار 23 نومبر 2003Sunday, November 23, 2003
Coup? Revolution? What?
I heard there was a revolution here in Georgia, but as far as I can tell Sonny Perdue seems to be the governor still. Then I realized that the revolution happened in Sak’art’velo. For more serious coverage, visit Cinderella Bloggerfeller...
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What to Do in Iraq?
Talking about the despicable desecration of US soldiers’ corpses in Mosul, the Poor Man captures some of mythoughts on US involvement in Iraq. If this is true, if this is the way things happened, it is going to be very...
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Posted by Zack at 8:25 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
اتوار 16 نومبر 2003Sunday, November 16, 2003
Nutcases and Murderers
What can I say about the murder of 20 people in Turkey? Near-simultaneous car bombs exploded outside two Istanbul synagogues filled with worshippers Saturday, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 300. The government said the attack had...
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Posted by Zack at 2:31 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
بدھ 5 نومبر 2003Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Afghan Mujahideen and Reagan
One learns something new everyday, sometimes from weblogs. Here’s an excerpt from Juan Cole about Reagan’s role in support of the Afghan Mujahideen fighting the communist Afghan government and the Soviets in the 1980s. In fact, of course, Ronald Reagan...
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جمعرات 23 اکتوبر 2003Thursday, October 23, 2003
League of Nations and Racial Equality
An interesting chapter in the book “Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World” is related to Japan. Japan was on the Allied side in World War I, though it hadn’t done much fighting. The Japanese had three goals for...
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Posted by Zack at 9:08 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
بدھ 22 اکتوبر 2003Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Saudi Nuclear Bomb?
Via The Poor Man and Tacitus, I read a news story on UPI and Washington Times (both stories are by the same guy) about Pakistan helping Saudi Arabia acquire nuclear weapons. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have concluded a secret agreement...
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پیر 20 اکتوبر 2003Monday, October 20, 2003
Iraq and Philippines
I was amused to read about President Bush’s comparison of Iraq to Philippines. President Bush told the Congress of this former American colony on Saturday that Iraq, like the Philippines, could be transformed into a vibrant democracy. He also pledged...
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Posted by Zack at 2:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
پیر 6 اکتوبر 2003Monday, October 06, 2003
Iraq, Media, Politics and Public Opinion
Via Balkinization, I found a survey of US public opinion of the Iraq war and related matters. This survey has a lot of interesting information regarding public beliefs about the Iraq war and their correlation with media and political beliefs....
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Posted by Zack at 8:51 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
پیر 29 ستمبر 2003Monday, September 29, 2003
Nepotism?
Is this nepotism or is it just a small world? Douglas J. Feith is undersecretary of defense for policy. His former firm has recently established a task force dealing with issues and opportunities relating to the recently ended war with...
Posted by Zack at 4:33 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
جمعہ 19 ستمبر 2003Friday, September 19, 2003
Abraham's Claim to Mesopotamia
An interesting (funny is probably more like it) case in the DC district court: Plaintiff “Great Prince Michael” (a.k.a. Michael Craig Clark) brings this action along with a group referred to as the “Inhabitants of the Land” against the United...
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Posted by Zack at 7:42 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
جمعہ 5 ستمبر 2003Friday, September 05, 2003
Woodrow Wilson
Once again Wilsonian ideas are popular, both with liberal hawks and neoconservatives. So I thought I should excerpt some comments about Wilson from the book I am reading nowadays about the Versailles Peace conference at the end of World War...
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Posted by Zack at 6:27 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
اتوار 24 اگست 2003Sunday, August 24, 2003
Kashmir
I am working on a few posts related to Kashmir. I can’t promise when they will be posted since I have to do a lot of research on the topic and am busy with my dissertation as well. You might...
Posted by Zack at 7:10 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
جمعہ 22 اگست 2003Friday, August 22, 2003
Agricultural Subsidies
I am probably late in this, but it’s a blog and I never promised timely coverage. As we all know, the agricultural subsidies given by US, EU and Japan to domestic interests hit the developing world hard. The New York...
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Posted by Zack at 5:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
پیر 18 اگست 2003Monday, August 18, 2003
Risk of Terrorist Attack
According to a report by World Markets Research Center, the following countries are at the most risk of a terrorist attack in the next 12 months: Colombia Israel Pakistan United States Philippines Afghanistan Indonesia Iraq India [Added later – ZA]...
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Posted by Zack at 7:51 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
جمعرات 7 اگست 2003Thursday, August 07, 2003
World War II and Me
I forgot that yesterday was August 6: the day that the A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Ampersand links to a couple of articles which seem to show that dropping nuclear bombs on Japan was not necessary to end the war....
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Posted by Zack at 4:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
منگل 29 جولائی 2003Tuesday, July 29, 2003
I am Speechless
Via Unqualified Offerings, here is an excerpt from the Washington Post. Col. David Hogg, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, said tougher methods are being used to gather the intelligence. On Wednesday night, he said, his...
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Posted by Zack at 3:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
منگل 22 جولائی 2003Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Pakistan and Afghanistan
This random rant is brought to you courtesy of Tacitus: Pakistan itself, meanwhile, is happily engaging in its national pasttime of effectively ignoring its extremists and conducting small-scale aggression against its neighbors. Is Islamabad an ally? I guess if Riyadh...
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Posted by Zack at 8:08 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
جمعرات 17 جولائی 2003Thursday, July 17, 2003
Israel and Pakistan - A Report
Google is great; it’s amazing what you can find while looking through your referral logs. I have gotten quite a few visits who were searching for Israel and Pakistan. My post about Pakistani recognition of Israel is #5 on Google....
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Posted by Zack at 12:12 AM | Comments (55) | TrackBack
بدھ 16 جولائی 2003Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Yellowcake and Moussaoui
No, I am not trying to link the two. These are the big news in recent days. I thought about blogging about them, but I don’t have anything original to say and lots of bloggers have already posted about it....
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Posted by Zack at 4:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
پیر 14 جولائی 2003Monday, July 14, 2003
Palestinian Right of Return
An interesting opinion poll of Palestinian refugees gives some hope on this intractable issue. In a broad, detailed survey, Dr. Shikaki’s [director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research] researchers questioned 4,500 refugee families living in the West...
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Posted by Zack at 12:57 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
جمعرات 10 جولائی 2003Thursday, July 10, 2003
Bush on Slavery
It’s not often that I agree with President Bush or praise him, but his speech in Senegal about slavery is pretty good. For 250 years the captives endured an assault on their culture and their dignity. The spirit of Africans...
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Posted by Zack at 7:26 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
بدھ 9 جولائی 2003Wednesday, July 09, 2003
It's snowing in Iraq
Denmark’s troops in Iraq may dream of the frost of a Scandinavian winter on days when the temperature rises to a blistering 46 degrees. But many may have been wondering if the military back home really had to rub it...
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Posted by Zack at 11:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
بدھ 2 جولائی 2003Wednesday, July 02, 2003
No Recognition of Israel
See my previous post for background on this issue. It seems like General Musharraf is backpedalling on recognizing Israel. President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday categorically stated that recognition of Israel by Pakistan is neither on the cards nor is such...
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Posted by Zack at 11:24 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
پیر 30 جون 2003Monday, June 30, 2003
Israel and Pakistan
The Head Heeb reminds me of the recent signals that Pakistan might establish relations with Israel. Pakistan President General Musharraf hinted about recognizing Israel in an interview to GeoTV. He said in view of the changing international scenario Pakistan has...
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Posted by Zack at 4:39 PM | Comments (68) | TrackBack
بدھ 4 جون 2003Wednesday, June 04, 2003
Global Attitudes
I blogged some time ago on last year’s global attitudes survey here. Now, they have a new survey out (full report here, summary here). It seems that the trust between US and Europe has gone down as a result of...
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Posted by Zack at 10:15 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
منگل 3 جون 2003Tuesday, June 03, 2003
The Poor Man at his best
The Poor Man is supposed to be on semi-vacation working on his thesis (like me), but he is at his funniest and snarkiest posting loads of material. I can excerpt it, so I am linking to all his recent posts....
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Posted by Zack at 3:43 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
پیر 2 جون 2003Monday, June 02, 2003
Salam Pax
Salam Pax was already a famous blogger. Then we heard that he’s becoming a columnist, writing biweekly for the Guardian starting this wednesday. And now Peter Maass tells us that Salam was his interpreter for a couple of weeks in...
Posted by Zack at 10:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
ہفتہ 12 اپریل 2003Saturday, April 12, 2003
Baghdad: Liberated for the Iraqis, but ?? for Us
ABC News Chin, of the 3rd battalion, 4th Marines regiment, says he was just following orders in the minutes before the statue was pulled to the ground in a joint effort by jubilant Iraqis and U.S. troops. “I was...
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Posted by Zack at 1:38 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack
جمعہ 28 مارچ 2003Friday, March 28, 2003
World Tour
This blog has received visits from 44 countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, France, Japan, South Africa, Germany, Belgium, Israel, Singapore, Mexico, Spain, Netherlands, Brazil, Czech Republic, Sweden, Italy, Ireland, Austria, Norway, Thailand, Portugal, Taiwan, Pakistan, Finland,...
Posted by Zack at 7:49 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
بدھ 19 مارچ 2003Wednesday, March 19, 2003
Iraq War Worries
Robert Wright has a good article in Slate about dubious and valid fears about the Iraq war and its consequences. Dubious fear No. 1: The war will be long and messy. Valid fear No. 1: The postwar occupation will be...
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Posted by Zack at 4:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
پیر 17 مارچ 2003Monday, March 17, 2003
Support Democracy in Iraq
I am not in favor of war against Iraq. But I do want democracy there. So for Salam: BTW, go read Salam’s rant about war and democracy in Iraq....
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Posted by Zack at 10:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
ہفتہ 15 مارچ 2003Saturday, March 15, 2003
Guns, Warlords and Afghanistan
Said Tayeb Jawad, chief of staff for President Hamid Karzai, had an op-ed in the NY Times calling for a de-militarization of the armed groups in Afghanistan. Just over a year ago at the conference in Bonn on organizing a...
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Posted by Zack at 8:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
جمعرات 13 مارچ 2003Thursday, March 13, 2003
Boycott Against the French
Some silly things are happening in our country. Changing the name of French fries and French toast is one of them. What the heck is “freedom fries”? Do I get “civil liberties sauce” with it as well? The action by...
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Posted by Zack at 1:28 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
منگل 11 مارچ 2003Tuesday, March 11, 2003
Torture Again
Via Eve Tushnet, I read a very disturbing passage about the torture by right-wing squads in Latin America on Late Night Thoughts. You’ll have to follow the link to read that passage, but here is her conclusion: The human gene...
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Posted by Zack at 2:00 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
پیر 10 مارچ 2003Monday, March 10, 2003
Torture
A debate has been raging in the blogworld recently about using torture on Al-Qaeda members. Here are some of the posts on the topic: No Conclusions: Volokh Conspiracy For: Oliver Willis, The Agitator Against: CalPundit, Unqualified Offerings, Light of Reason,...
Posted by Zack at 8:55 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Iraq War
While Jonathan Edelstein, Josh Marshall and Kevin Drum were pro-war and have major misgivings now, I have been trying to move in the opposite direction. I was very skeptical about Gulf War II initially. Not because it would be a...
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بدھ 5 مارچ 2003Wednesday, March 05, 2003
Conspiracy Theories
CalPundit wonders about Steven Den Beste’s sanity: Several weeks ago, weary of his futile efforts to understand the French psyche, Steven Den Beste announced that he had exhausted all other logical possibilities and come up with the only possible remaining...
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Posted by Zack at 2:30 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
Military Solution to Terrorism
The Talking Dog, commenting on the recent suicide bombing in Israel, talks about the ability of terrorists to act despite military action: Israel can militarily crush all of its enemies combined these days, (possibly including Saddam Hussein), but it cannot...
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Posted by Zack at 2:06 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
پیر 17 فروری 2003Monday, February 17, 2003
Iraq and WMD
I think the US is looking for some nasty stuff that it gave to Saddam in the 1980s. The Bush administration is worried since inspectors haven’t found the stuff and nobody destroys WMDs unilaterally and voluntarily....
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Posted by Amber at 3:19 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
بدھ 12 فروری 2003Wednesday, February 12, 2003
Zimbabwe Cricketers Protest Mugabe
Two members of Zimbabwe’s World Cup Cricket team, Andy Flower and Henry Olonga, are protesting Mugabe’s despotic rule by wearing black arm bands during their World Cup game against Namibia. Andy Flower is a former captain of the team and...
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Posted by Zack at 10:19 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
جمعرات 6 فروری 2003Thursday, February 06, 2003
Democracy or Dictatorship
Zachary Latif recently wrote against democracy in the Muslim world: In fact one remains hopefully that there will be no significant upheaval within the Islamic Crescent since autocracy, in a convoluted way, is the one redeeming aspect of the Islamic...
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Posted by Zack at 5:02 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
بدھ 5 فروری 2003Wednesday, February 05, 2003
National Minorities
Jonathan has a very interesting article talking about legal and political systems for indigenous populations and minority groups. He does a great job at outlining the solutions adopted in the EU and elsewhere and then discusses it in the context...
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Posted by Zack at 11:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
منگل 28 جنوری 2003Tuesday, January 28, 2003
The WildMonk War Personality Test
Wid Monk has a political personality test on his blog. I scored 52 (just into Center-Right territory) and a perfect 10 on the rationality test. (via Unmedia)...
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Posted by Zack at 6:29 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Election in Israel
Today, people in Israel are electing a new government. Let’s hope brings peace and prosperity for the people. Since I don’t have much to say on the election (other than that I am a Mitzna supporter), I am going to...
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Posted by Zack at 5:38 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
بدھ 22 جنوری 2003Wednesday, January 22, 2003
English: An International Language
The Head Heeb talks about the profusion of English language media all over the world. English definitely has become the international language. It definitely has something to do with the British empire. In Pakistan, English is an official language and...
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Posted by Zack at 1:02 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
ہفتہ 18 جنوری 2003Saturday, January 18, 2003
Condemnation of Terrorism: Day 2
Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) had this to say: We at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), along with the entire American Muslim community, are deeply saddened by the massive loss of life resulting from the tragic events of...
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Posted by Zack at 9:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
جمعرات 16 جنوری 2003Thursday, January 16, 2003
Transfer of Palestinians
Diane of Letter from Gotham is back. First, she posted a limerick about Saddam Hussain on her substitute blog and now she has a pretty good debunking of the transfer option for Palestinians: [Transfer] is a fantasy because even if...
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Posted by Zack at 10:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
بدھ 15 جنوری 2003Wednesday, January 15, 2003
Better than Hitler, Stalin and Castro
Add any other of your favorite dictators, thugs or murderers. Is this a good slogan for a country that is proud of its democratic tradition? Unqualified Offerings has a new tongue-in-cheek (I think) version of the pledge of allegiance: I...
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Posted by Zack at 2:14 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
منگل 14 جنوری 2003Tuesday, January 14, 2003
Israeli-Arab Conflict Vocabulary
The Head Heeb looks at the language of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Here is one definition: The West Bank and Gaza. The territories currently in dispute between Israelis and Palestinians have no fewer than four names. The name preferred by the...
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منگل 7 جنوری 2003Tuesday, January 07, 2003
Abductions of Foreigners
Responding to my post about the abduction and internment of Japanese from Latin American during World War II, the Head Heeb points out the modern-day abduction of drug dealers from Latin America and how it’s legal: The Supreme Court explicitly...
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اتوار 5 جنوری 2003Sunday, January 05, 2003
History Lesson: Abduction by the US
According to the Washington Post, The internment of Japanese Americans? No. Matsubayashi was recalling a shameful and forgotten chapter in American history. From 1942 onward, the United States abducted some 3,000 people of Japanese, Italian and German ancestry from Latin...
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Posted by Zack at 11:35 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
جمعرات 19 دسمبر 2002Thursday, December 19, 2002
Democracy and the Middle East
Here is something to chew on: Journal of Democracy’s special issue on the Middle East Oxblog’s earlier debate about the issue. David Adesnik on Algeria vs Iran Found via David Adesnik of Oxblog. I’ll be reading these in the next...
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Posted by Zack at 10:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
بدھ 18 دسمبر 2002Wednesday, December 18, 2002
Terrorism and Repression
The Head Heeb replies to my post about the purpose of terrorism: For the most part - as Zack agrees in the comments - this logic doesn’t work. In places like Peru and Colombia, for instance, terrorists were indeed successful...
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پیر 16 دسمبر 2002Monday, December 16, 2002
Hindu Extremists Gain
The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won by a landslide in elections in the province of Gujarat. In an election that was widely viewed as a referendum on India’s secular character, Hindu nationalists won a landslide re-election victory...
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Security: Pros and Cons
More countries are being added to the special registration requirement by INS (see here.) Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy has just received an advance copy of a Federal Register notice, scheduled to be published on December 18, that adds...
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Posted by Zack at 1:11 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
ہفتہ 14 دسمبر 2002Saturday, December 14, 2002
Terrorism's Purpose
“The purpose of political terrorism for a century and a half has been to provoke repressive countermeasures, so that more and more of “your” people will feel forced to choose you over your enemy.” (Unqualified Offerings)...
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Posted by Zack at 3:43 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
جمعہ 13 دسمبر 2002Friday, December 13, 2002
The Head Heeb
The Head Heeb is the blog of Jonathan Edelstein who is a lawyer in New York. He started blogging only a couple of weeks ago, but already has quite a few interesting posts. For a start, I recommend his posts...
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Posted by Zack at 7:54 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
بدھ 11 دسمبر 2002Wednesday, December 11, 2002
Finally, A Link Between Iraq and Terrorism
Gene Healy wonders whether we have already won against Al-Qaeda: Consider Malvo and Muhammed. Two none-too-bright jokers with a $300 rifle and no formal training repeatedly shut down the Beltway and terrorized Greater Washington for almost a month. If America...
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Posted by Zack at 6:08 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
The Dirty World of Weapons Export
Hans Blix doesn’t want to make the names of weapons suppliers public, according to the NY Times: Mr. Blix, the chairman of the United Nations chemical and biological weapons team, explained that he would, at least initially, remove the suppliers’...
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Posted by Zack at 1:55 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
پیر 9 دسمبر 2002Monday, December 09, 2002
Some Hope(?) in the Holy Land
According to a November poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in the West Bank and Gaza: The poll shows that a significant shift has occurred in Palestinian public attitudes regarding the intifada and the peace...
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Posted by Zack at 4:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
PhotoDude Gets It
PhotoDude has a great blog where he discuss politics and posts his photographs as well. He’s on my blogroll mainly because of the images, but his recent post about clearly differentiating between the extremist murderers of the Al-Qaeda variety and...
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Posted by Zack at 3:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
اتوار 8 دسمبر 2002Sunday, December 08, 2002
Tribalism and Conservatism
Unqualified Offerings talks about how US intervention looks from a foreigner’s perspective: Do not mistake Unqualified Offerings’ point here. UO is not saying Mr. Nawfal is right and we’re terrible people. Unqualified Offerings is saying that what matters is that...
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Posted by Zack at 4:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
جمعہ 6 دسمبر 2002Friday, December 06, 2002
Global Attitudes Survey
There are some interesting results in this Pew survey. Large majorities (>80%) in US, UK and Germany (surprise!) think Iraq is a danger. A majority of Germans, French, and Russians and 44% of the British think the US wants to...
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Posted by Zack at 2:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
پیر 2 دسمبر 2002Monday, December 02, 2002
Muslims, the West and Media
Aziz Poonawalla has a series (1, 2, 3) of posts on the silence of the media in showing the non-extremist Muslim majority. First, some quotes from Aziz: Let me assure him [Steven Den Beste] and you that as a Muslim,...
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Posted by Zack at 8:36 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Gujrat Riots
Aziz Poonawalla (yes, him again) has the best collection of links to stories about the Hindu-Muslim riots in the Indian province of Gujrat earlier in the year. Suman Palit responds to Aziz with the “root causes” of the hatred of...
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Posted by Zack at 1:06 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
ہفتہ 30 نومبر 2002Saturday, November 30, 2002
Condemning Suicide Bombings
Aziz Poonawalla is a devout Muslim with a great blog. That’s why his post condemning the suicide bombings in Israel is so good. He uses the Quran to show how these violent acts are against Islam: Lanat upon Na’il Azmi...
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Posted by Zack at 11:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
جمعرات 28 نومبر 2002Thursday, November 28, 2002
Mitzna and the Settlements
Unqualified Offerings and Talking Dog have joined me in supporting Amram Mitzna for the Israeli PM. Now, as Jim says: “if he can just bring some actual Israeli voters into the tent he’ll be cooking with gas.” The Talking Dog...
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Posted by Zack at 12:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
بدھ 27 نومبر 2002Wednesday, November 27, 2002
Iraqi No Fly Zone
Jim of Objectionable Content writes well-argued and thought-provoking posts. Yesterday, he took on the no fly zones in Iraq: As policy, the no-fly zones appear both poorly conceived and executed… The no-fly zones have been a mixed bag at best...
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Posted by Zack at 2:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Kurds
Unqualified Offerings is surprised to hear about Syrian Kurds. In fact, Kurds are mainly divided in four countries: 13 million in Turkey, 4.6 million in Iran, 4.2 million in Iraq, and up to 1.6 million in Syria. In addition, there...
Posted by Zack at 1:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
منگل 26 نومبر 2002Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Free Trade But Only If It Helps Us
According to AP, The Bush administration, trying to energize flagging global trade talks, announced Tuesday that it will seek the total elimination of all tariffs on manufactured goods [emphasis mine] over the next 13 years. When I read this news,...
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Posted by Zack at 1:52 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Frontline "In Search of Al Qaeda"
I just watched the PBS show online. It’s interesting. The complete show in available online in Media Player and Real media formats. There is also some material on the website that wasn’t on the show itself. The Al Qaeda supporting...
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Posted by Zack at 12:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Double Standards
Yes I believe in them! Not exactly, though I do hold democracies to a higher standard. So you might find me writing a few paragraphs criticizing some small aspect of policy of the US, EU or Israel while sort of...
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Posted by Zack at 8:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
پیر 25 نومبر 2002Monday, November 25, 2002
Past or the Future
One final comment about the Arab-Israeli conflict before I get back to work: There is definitely a need to understand the conflict and its history. However, the Israelis and Palestinians need to understand not just the history from their side’s...
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Posted by Zack at 12:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Jewish Settlers and Israeli Arabs as obstacle to Peace
One reason for my pessimism for a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the feckless Palestinian leadership. The other is the issue of Jewish settlers in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and ironically the Israeli Arabs. It is basically...
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Posted by Zack at 12:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Arab-Israel Conflict
I recently finished reading the book Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001 by Benny Morris. It’s a long read (more than 700 pages) with a comprehensive history of the conflict starting in 1881 and ending with the...
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Posted by Zack at 10:29 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
ہفتہ 23 نومبر 2002Saturday, November 23, 2002
Suicide Bomber or Homicide Bomber
Juan Non-Volokh of the world’s 2nd biggest conspiracy talks about the Orwellian use of the term “homicide bomber” when suicide bomber more clearly expresses their action....
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Posted by Zack at 1:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
جمعہ 22 نومبر 2002Friday, November 22, 2002
France
As CalPundit says, nobody in the US likes France. And it’s not just about politics. As a French friend of mine, now settled in the US, jokingly said, “France is a nice place but beware of those French people.” When...
Posted by Zack at 3:52 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
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