Abbas Aide in Sex Tape Scandal

What?!?

NYtimes has this piece on the story, neither on their front page nor easily reachable.

Apparently, JPost has been covering it for about a week. The story involves an aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and the tape allegedly shows the man wielding his influence for sex.

One word: Haram. Maybe that's why Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya have nothing on this story so far? I know it's sensitive, but as the top regional news providers these networks should be covering this scandal, if not on air then maybe just online.

UPDATE: Catch the broadcast of the video here, from Israeli TV. There's Hebrew subtitles, but Arabic speakers will understand what's going on.

Time to become a "follower" of the Casbah

Just click the button! It will help me as we build this Casbah into a more reputable Middle Eastern forum...

Plus, I have a surprise lurking on the horizon... Just wait Casbahites, I think you shall be impressed!


Update: A great read if you have time...

Matt Nash on the next round of Levantine warfare

I'm currently sitting near the Mexican border at a coffee shop. My 1991 Ford Bronco--perhaps the best off-roading American best of a 4x4 ever made--has just broke down... They say it is a leak in the rear differential. So, my attention is thus back to the Casbah and other crazy things Middle East.

The dude fixing the damn Bronco said it will be done by 1PM tomorrow, meaning I shall be on Baja road soon. Ahh... Weekends in Mexico...

So at this coffee shop I was checking NOW Lebanon, looking for some more news on the next round of Levantine warfare... And I found this:

Following the 2006 war, Israel’s ground operations in Lebanon were widely derided as poorly planned and executed, something Yossi Kuperwasser, formerly the head of the Research and Assessment Division of Israeli Military Intelligence, argued should not be repeated in a 2008 paper.

“If there is another round between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel will not be able to make do with standoff counter attacks on Lebanese targets and will probably have to launch a large scale ground operation […] to take control of the organization’s operational territories in southern Lebanon, including north of the Litani River, and if necessary, also in Beirut and the Bekaa Valley,” he wrote.

This piece is called, "What will the next war look like for Lebanon?" by Matt Nash. I highly recommend it.

Also keep in mind that earlier in the piece, Matt Nash writes about the alleged “Dahiyeh Doctrine,” or what those in the Israeli Defense Force refer to as the flattening of the southern Beiruti suburb in the 2006 War. The idea is that the Dahiyeh Doctrine is something of a collective punishment campaign. Nash suggests that Lebanon will be in for something of a "collective Dahiyeh Docterin."

(Hezbollah rally "remembering the martyr of the 2006 war in Dahiyeh, south Beirut.)

Meaning, the whole country could look like south Beirut in 2006, Gaza in 2009, or perhaps all of Lebanon in...

War Profiteering off the next Lebanon war?

I just exchanged a few emails with freelance journalist Michael J. Totten. We both more or less agreed on the sames points:

1. We both don't have publishers for our books, though we are working to get them.

2. Whatever happens--be it self-publish or publisher--it is a categorical imperative to get our
books out before the next Levantine war.

(Hezbollah controlled south Beirut. These are mock-rockets pointed south at Israel. It is something of a public relations campaign, Hezbollah-style.)

3. We both have friends in Israel and Lebanon and as a human being we both do not want to see another round of conflict.

4. If there is another war, we hope it shall be the last.

5. It is ridiculous to think that a war that has not happened yet will happen. Nothing is inevitable. Though, it is naive to think there shall never be another war in this region, or that a "war to end all wars" exists as a concept.

(This is a blown bridge in the Beekaa Vally in Lebanon. Locals here say "blown by American bombs [via Israel] and rebuilt by American contractors.)

Now for my last question... The idea of a "next war" makes both Totten and I sick to our stomachs... but does it make us "war profiteers" to know that in all likelihood another round of war is coming this year and it will also help us sell books?

I think not. Just because we know it doesn't mean we are rooting for it. Though, I've heard of journalists being accused of this kind of thing before.

Armed resistance is a hell of a lot more romantic when you can escape an Israeli "collective punishment" campaign

Yes, this is anti-American: I skipped the Super Bowl to work on my book proposal. Truth is that I'm going with a few comrades to surf Baja, Mexico over Presidents day weekend and I want to take a hard copy to edit while I'm southward.

But while I was sneekin' around the Internet today, I came across a wonderful post by our friends over at Notes from Amedinah. I met this Cat in Beirut last summer... And boy can he blog.

For example, I've been busy and missed the new Pew poll on the Middle East:


What do I think?

Well, the idea armed resistance is a hell of a lot more romantic when you can escape an Israeli "collective punishment" campaign. This stat shows me that most Arabs/Turks don't like Israel; they like getting bombed by them even less. Too bad they don't have numbers on Syria. That is a country that likes Hezbollah bounds beyond the Assad regime.