Blogging The Casbah

#Assad Will Fall -- or not?

2012-01-27T07:53:00.000-08:00

Whenever I'm looking for something about the Assad regime in Syria I go Joshua Landis's blog, Syria Comment. He's got a new post up now, basically saying that as long as President Assad can keep the military united, his oppression divided, and not provoke foreign military intervention, the regime is likely to survive.

In his post, Joshua Landis makes a few notes about the "heavy weapons" in Syria, and how the Free Syrian Army, or other armed groups, don't have them. My question is: what are these heavy weapons? Like warships, tanks, or simply anything punchyer than a machine gun? Because I would think that using something like a warship, for example, would take a level of organization that I'm not sure the opposition currently has. I mean, a lot of this heavy weapons equipment takes a full apparatus of people supporting the main units.

Regardless, I can't imagine the Assad regime falling by fully conventional means, unless it's from the outside. They're just too far ahead in organization of any other internal contender for power, and as Landis points out, the Assad's have spent the past 40 years practicing putting down Sunni dissidents.

I'd think the lousy economy and the fact that that Syria has the last "minoritarian regime" in the Levant would be the triggers to a popular revolt and Assad's ousting. That seems to be the call here.

Anyway . . . it's a great piece and I recommend reading it.

UPDATE: NYT has yet another piece on "Israel attacking Iran," and yet another checklist of "red lines" that the Iranian regime may cross. Check it out.

Out-Polygamizing His Mormon Competitor

2012-01-25T15:35:00.000-08:00

Next Monday my book, Surfing the Middle East, goes to the book designers . . . and then to the printers. It'll be available on March 1st on Amazon. Kindle version sooner. But in the meantime, here is my most recent blog for The Huffington Post:

The resurrection of Newt Gingrich?

Have you noticed? The Tea Baggers really have a thing for this guy. Newt's simple, blast 'em all strategy, fits brilliantly into their tough guy ego. They respect that. And they want a candidate who will body-slam the Washington establishment and stick it to the liberal media.

So stand by, folks. After the Republican "values voters" of South Carolina stunned us all by giving their state to Newt last week, we now have a primary that's a two horse race. It's Romney and Newt. And on January 31st, Florida Republicans will vote for the stud they think can outrun Obama.

Romney is the most obvious candidate: he's the sober businessman, who believes that his executive experience and four decades of monogamous marriage is something to campaign on in Reality TV America. Romney has the big money, PACs, vicious Super PACs, and an organized army of squeaky clean, on-the-ground missionaries who will take his message to the far corners of this God-fearing country.

Then there's Newt: the candidate who just recently became viable and surged in the polls -- but has minimal organization and funding. Is Newt a lean enough stallion to win the race against Romney? President Obama?

The answer is in the debates. Because on stage Newt's anything but "Newtered" in both balls and politics. And the Tea Baggers love him for it.

Unlike his Mormon competitor, (who Evangelical voters remain unsure about), Newt is becoming their guy. He may be about as morally corrupt a politician to ever run on the "values ticket".

Newt has masterfully turned his affairs and three marriages into an image of power. This is a man who does what he wants, gets away with it, and it's all laced with an aggression that speaks to down-on-their-luck voters, who vicariously feel empowered by his assault mentality. Newt is the "I've had it! F*** you!" candidate. And as recent polls show, the therapeutic value of watching this man debate should not be overlooked.

But morals and values? Give me a break. As Speaker of the House, Newt worked tirelessly to make sure that every little drop of Bill Clinton's libido made the nightly news.

The hypocrisy.

After leaving government, Newt was hired by Fannie Mae as a "historian" to help lobby, or as Newt would say, "consult," their interests through the maze of D.C. From penis to politics, it is undeniable that Newt is the ultimate Washington insider.

So in this troubled economy, the score is simple: Tea Bagger Republicans don't really care how many wives or what kind of semi-corruption their candidate has been involved in. More than anything, they want a nominee who is going to pound Obama, and every little socialist-minded, fag-converting, abortion-loving thing they think he stands for. These Republicans don't see that in Romney. To them, monogamous marriage is just another way to say limp and losing to Obama.

But the Obama team need not worry: Newt has earned a reputation as a self-imploding, erratic, Captain Ahab (though, some in the "liberal media" insist he is really the "White Whale"). Nonetheless, this boat shall eventually sink.

So be it Romney or Newt who wins the Florida primary, I don't really care. I'm just damn proud to live in a country where slimy Newt Gingrich has out-polygamized his Mormon competitor.
And in Florida, he'll probably get rewarded for it too.

Click here to go to The Huffington Post and read it.

Dealing with Iran . . . as long as it's diffrent than how we delt with Iraq

2012-01-20T15:28:00.000-08:00

Editor's Note: The following is a guest post by Wastafarian.

As the battle heats up over whether or not to attack Iran, it’s amazing to hear from some of the same voices who thought up the Iraq war and claimed it would be a cakewalk.

Of course, I’m not the first person to recognize this amazing feature of American politics. Once you’re high enough, it doesn’t matter how bad you screw up, you can just get a job at some partisan think-tank, and magazines and newspapers will still publish what you have to say.

Anyway, those pushing for military action against Iran would do well to remember that such a strike could lead to a wider war and troops on the ground in Iran. How would Iranians react?

Well . . . how would you react?

Better yet, if all America’s companies were being hit with sanctions and our internet was under attack, what would we do?

It’s a good question: Gary Sick, a specialist on Iran at Columbia, said he believed that the covert campaign, combined with sanctions, would not persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear work.

“It’s important to turn around and ask how the U.S. would feel if our revenue was being cut off, our scientists were being killed and we were under cyberattack.

"Would we give in, or would we double down? I think we’d fight back, and Iran will, too.”

So, if attacking Iran isn’t a good idea, and the current everything-but-overt-war strategy will not work in the long term, what is the solution to preventing an Iranian weapon? Should America even work to prevent it?

I’m open to hearing ideas, as long as they’re not from the same idiots who marketed the Iraq war as an easy success.

Motocycling in Baja

2012-01-18T11:55:00.000-08:00

I road my motorcycle down to a friends house in Baja, Mexico this weekend. I'll post a few more pictures and videos as I get them (surf oriented, of course) and then I'll post 'em! But to hold you over, here ya go:

EPIC RIGHT PEELER!

BAJA ROAD

OFF ROAD . . . AND I HAD MY FRIENDS CARRY MY SURFBOARD AND THINGS

JUST FROTHY HARD REEF BREAK . . . NOTICE THE LEG DUCK DIVING THROUGH THE CREST OF THE WAVE

FLAT TIRE ON MY BUDDY'S MOTORCYCLE . . . IT TURNED OUT TO BE A NAIL

AND THEN I ASKED THE DUDE FIXING IT IF HE HAD A BATHROOM AND HE SAID BEHIND HIS SHOP . . . WHERE I FOUND THIS:

It's been a fun week

2012-01-12T09:28:00.000-08:00

First my piece, "Oiled in my Yoga Spandex" was published on The Huffington Post. Then a blog called RecoveringYogi picked it up . . . with their affiliate sites. Then someone called my work "highly offensive and blasphemous from the bigotrice and homephobic Jesse Aizenstat" in the comments section . . . and then someone sent me this:

Perhaps the pagan Yogi gods are trying to tell me something?

Oiled in my Yoga Spandex

2012-01-10T09:18:00.000-08:00

As some of you might have seen on my Facebook page, I've just written my second article for The Huffington Post. Titled: Oiled in my Yoga Spandex. And yes, I've gotten a fair amount of shit from the Yogi & spiritualist crowd . . . and I did receive a few burning Yoga mats on my front lawn this morning. So on that note, here it is:

Oiled in My Yoga Spandex
May the pagan gods bless the New York Times -- because when I read "How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body" this week, I enjoyed one of those fine belly laughs that only comes once in a great while.

The article, by William J. Broad, was laced with first-hand accounts and all the classic scenes that one might expect in a yoga studio. But the thing that irked me was not the main point of the piece: fit teachers whipping their students into injury. It was the failure to get into the pseudo-religious attitude found in modern yoga, which is about as unique as the Starbucks latte you're currently holding.

That's right. Yoga. And the pill of ignorance that is offered in many American studios is as dogmatic as it is silly. It's cafeteria-style theology, where people can choose what feels good among a field of mediocre options, and consume it all for $15 bucks a session.

But what bothered me wasn't the fact that amateur yogis were dropping straight into Full Lotus and getting hurt. That's just stupidity -- and should be cited in some college paper as proof of Darwin's theory about the fittest.

What got me going was the built-in church session. The relentless banter, which is contradictory to the "quieting the mind" element of yoga I actually enjoy. It's the glorification of some naked Indian guru on the wall -- elevating him to Jesus -- while pretending to hold the morale high ground over American Christianity. And then there's the famous Yogi line: "Well, we're not religious... we're spiritual."

Ahh... yes. Spiritual. The real demon at work here. It's the queer in the closet that refuses to buy into the brand that it is just another a system of belief. It's the shifty yogi creed, stitched together all across America that has too many holy deities to list. Which is why it's so hard to understand. Every Yoga teacher who mixes stretching and spirituality is different.

Some drink the Native American "Mother Earth" stuff, while others smoke the other kind of Indian -- mostly Hindu based -- and then there are those who just hit the spike with "sacred geometry" or "holy cosmology" or whatever the hell can get you high.

Spirituality. It's a way for people to pretend they're "not religious," while hiding from a dogma that may have sodomized them as a child.

But really, what's wrong with that? What's wrong with a newer and friendlier religious term? Is being spiritual such a bad thing?

No. It's not. But it's an excuse to urinate on the very tenets of the Western Enlightenment: rational thought and the ability in humans to think things through.

Of course there are questions out there that make our big brains hurt. It's a scary universe. And it's frightening to think the cosmos may have never known we were here... and may never know when we're gone...

So what the hell? Why waste my time on spiritual yoga teachers as they whisper some kind of aloof gibberish in my ear? Simple. I came for the back stretches. Not reworking my deeper meaning, and doubling down on my quest to enter the fourth chakra.

Jesus. Do you really think I got all oiled up in my yoga spandex for that?

Follow Jesse Aizenstat on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SurftheME
Read it on The Huffington Post

California Swells

2012-01-09T10:51:00.001-08:00

OK, now it's time to share the past week here in California. Notice that the lines of swell along the West Coast of North America have longer lines--a result of the Pacific Ocean having a lot of open room for swells to build on. The Mediterranean, in the post below this one, has shorter period swells, as the Giant Puddle (The Med) is always running out of room for swells to build on.

This, along with other things (rocket attacks, Islamist militias, and warmer water and jellyfishes) are some of the other differences.

Somewhere in San Diego Country

Malibu

Swell in Northern Israel

2012-01-08T11:32:00.001-08:00

Somewhere in Northern Israel there is surf breaking right now. It's as fluid as the sea, colored with a deep turquoise that hints of a winter-time swell. Man, I wish I was there. Don't you?

Qatar on the rise

2012-01-03T12:14:00.000-08:00

Just to be clear, NPR is the best news outlet in the United States. Period. And I'd be happy for anyone to contribute something they think is better.

That being said, here's what's going on in Qatar these days:

The tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar has deep pockets and a big microphone in the form of its news network, Al Jazeera. In recent months, those assets have been used to propel the Arab Spring forward. Qatar has supported rebel movements in Libya and Syria, and is promoting a "Marshall Fund" for Oman, Morocco and Jordan. The country's emir has close, personal relationships with the emerging Islamist leaders from Casablanca to Cairo — and meanwhile provides a home to the largest U.S. military base outside the United States.

Make sure to click the link and listen to the NPR streaming audio version of it too. Qatar--led by the Emir--is doing a really great job keeping the small Gulf powerhouse in the center of things. He uses many of the same political tactics as Walid Jumblatt in Lebanon: side with everyone and make sure to comedown on the last needed 5% on everything.

HAPPY NEW YEAR PERSIAN GULF

2011-12-31T01:03:00.000-08:00

Well, this is one way to create American jobs.

Funny thing is that neither Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, or the U.A.E. would do a thing if attacked by Iran. They'd ask the Americans to do the work for them. So I guess these kind of deals are just the cost of protection.

Muqawama on Iran

2011-12-30T12:00:00.000-08:00

Oh, what the hell. Let's outsource this one: here is Abu Muqawama on Iran.

Frankly, I agree with Muqawama when he says:

. . . it's tough to explain how, exactly, a nuclear Iran would be that much more dangerous than a non-nuclear Iran. I am not saying it would not be more dangerous -- I am saying it is very hard to explain how, exactly, a nuclear Iran would be more dangerous. And I think those arguing for war with Iran have an obligation to sketch out those specifics to both policy makers and to the public.

Agreed. A nuclear Iran--adding the possibility that they even went as far ahead as making a bomb that fit onto a missile--would be the most useless thing in Iran, beyond psychological reasons. The regime will not commit national suicide; they will not do something that will cause their theocratic government to fall. And that, for example, would be even threatening to use nuclear weapons. So let's deem a few Iranian nukes as a deterrent, call it a day (because we can't really doing anything meaningful to stop them here in the West) and wait for the Iranian youth to overthrow the government . . . because it's only a matter of time.

Iraq the unraveling (UPDATED)

2011-12-26T16:37:00.000-08:00

Thank you Tom Ricks, over at The Best Defence, for the appropriate title for this blog post. (He indeed uses "Iraq the unraveling" in a whole series . . . that's up to Jesus-only-knows how many.)

So what this post is about is The News that Shia cleric Moktada al-Sadr has called for elections in Iraq. Sadr is a key supporter to the Maliki's Shia-led government . . . and with recent arrest warrant against the Sunni vice president (who is now hiding in Iraqi Kurdistan) the day after the American troop pullout, the conditions are most ripe for the unraveling.

Here's my comment: I'm finishing up my book right now, Surfing the Middle East, and just glanced over a paragraph I wrote about Lebanon:

In Lebanon in particular, these tensions are inflamed by the governmental system—where each sect is appointed different access to the political power, reinforcing sectarian identity and taking away from the sense of being Lebanese.

Of course Iraq does not define political power by sect . . . but the lesson still stands: Don't allow the governmental system--that reads great in some Western-published essay on "power sharing"--turn into the very force that reinforces sectarianism.

The challenge for Iraq's democracy will be to maintain what's left of Iraqi identity while avoiding dictatorship.

UPDATE: How to Save Iraq From Civil War was an interesting "counter Dawa" opinion piece in the New York Times today. Worth a read, if for no other reason to hear what the opposing voices are saying in Iraq. (And read it while you can, because if Iraq falls back into dictatorship, I would imagine that these sort of op-eds would cease . . . along with the people who write them.)

A Conclusion (if there are any)

2011-12-25T21:53:00.000-08:00

In going through the fact-checking process on my book, I've come to a conclusion while going over the Saba and Shatila massacre:

There is nothing innate in Westerners or Middle Easteners that makes for a more "violent people." Rather, it's the surroundings; the situation that brings out whatever shade in human nature. Everyone is capable of everything.

Iraq a week after the US pullout:

2011-12-23T00:25:00.000-08:00

This could be a problem:

Levantine Cookin'

2011-12-22T14:52:00.000-08:00

So it's getting crazy in the Levant again. Harretz's is reporting that up to 10,000 members of the Syrian Republican Guard are defecting, with some units just not showing up altogether. They've been called up three times now.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that he thinks the Assad regime will fall within the next month.

Will it happen? Who knows. January could be the test.

If Assad falls in Syria, well, we'd just have to wait and see. I, however, can't see it happening unless more of the army defects. They control the heavy weapons, and are the safeguard of the regime.

And in the mean time, looks like the Palestinian Authority is getting ready to go back to their UN bid unless there is progress in the Quartette.

Editing the last chapter . . . on Saba and Shatila

2011-12-16T21:00:00.000-08:00

I'm going to spend the whole weekend editing and reediting my book. Right now, I'm working the chapter on the Saba and Shatila refugee camps in South Beirut.

As some of you might know, the Saba and Shatila refugee camps home to the single most bloody event in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The massacre was done on the part of the Christian Phlangist Party against unarmed Palestinians. The Israelis armed, supervised, and gave logistical support to these Lebanese Christians as over 4,000 Palestinian men, women and children met their end.

Here is the quote that I used to start that chapter. It's from Chris Hedges.

We are all capable of carrying out acts of evil. That’s the great lesson you learn as a war correspondent, and probably the most disturbing. That the line between the victim and the victimizer is razor thin. That in moments of fear and instability and social disintegration we all have the capacity to carry out acts of atrocity, or at best stand by as silent accomplices. And almost no one is immune. The contagion of the crowds sees to that. When you externalize evil, you turn human being into extractions. Human beings like Muslims, for instance. That no longer grieve, or love, or suffer like we do. But embody a virus that must be eradicated.

Chris Hedges

Christopher Hitchens

2011-12-15T23:02:00.001-08:00

"And we followed the trodden path down past the darkness to the bowels below. It was there we found our souls, dancing naked in the lake of fire and a sea of flesh and sweat. . . ." - Eric R.

RIP Chris.

Nasrallah shows himself

2011-12-11T22:13:00.000-08:00

On December 6, the south Beiruti suburb of Dahiyeh had a thousands who gathered in the streets. They were celebrating Ashoura--the tenth day of Muharram, and the first month in the Islamic calendar. For the Shia, they are marking the killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohamed, who was martyred in 680.

For a whole slew of reasons, Hassan Nasrallah decided to opt out of his normal on-screen broadcasts. This time, he made an appearance. Himself.

Perhaps it was because he felt that his party message was growing weak. Or that his support was in question. Whatever the reason, the heat is most definitely on The Party of God, as their regional supporters--Iran and Syria--are feeling it from within their own countries. The fiery Islamist who fought Israel in 2006 has waned from the minds of the so-called Arab Street. Nasrallah is now a whole Arab Spring ago.

Anyway, analyze--and over analyze--all you want about politics and "Why He Did It." (Or really, sound off in the comments section if you feel strongly about it.) But the real thing I'm getting at is that I saw a really powerful Al-Jazeera photo spread on the rally, and I thought it'd be something that the Readership of the Casbah would dig on. Here's my favorite pic . . . the guy with the machine gun to Nasrallah's left draws such intensity to the scene.

Update: If you have not seen the Bashar al-Assad interview with Barbera Walters, you should.

Russia is a "Bastion" of Syrian support

2011-12-11T11:27:00.000-08:00

Nicholas A. Heras: A good friend, Levantine scholar, and best dude ever to crash around the Middle East with, just wrote a fine piece on Syria . . . and how the Russian regime is it's biggest "bastion" of support. Give it a read. He makes a convincing argument.

Russia: A ‘Bastion’ of Support for the Beleaguered Al-Assad Government

The current Syrian government is facing severe international criticism and diplomatic isolation. One ally of Syria, however, the Russian Federation, stands firmly in support of the legitimacy of the Al-Assad government.

Russia’s December 1^st announcement — that it has completed delivery of advanced “Yakhont” surface-to-sea missiles to Syria — comes at time when the international community is applying intense pressure to isolate the Syrian government. The delivery of the missiles, which completes a 2007 arms agreement between the two countries, is part of a larger “Bastion” coastal defense system delivered by the Russians to the Syrians. Not to be limited to just the sale of weapons, on November 31, the Russian news agency Pravda reported that a Russian naval exercise including a Russian aircraft carrier and its supporting flotilla, planned in 2010, would continue from a Russian resupply base in the Syrian coastal city of Tartus.

This “business as usual” approach to relations with the Al-Assad government is putting the Russian government in a controversial position and possible diplomatic confrontation with the USA, its middle eastern allies’ (mainly Saudi Arabia), and the international community, as it poses a challenge to the latter’s policy aspirations vis-à-vis Syria.

Click here to read the rest at Siyese.com

Triple Crown: Pipeline Masters

2011-12-09T01:14:00.000-08:00

A good friend (Hesu) took this one today from Pipeline. According to some peeps on the beach, the waves were breaking up to 20 feet, all the way out on the third reef. Simply unreal conditions. Almost too big to even surf.

You can download the Vans app and watch the contest live on your iPad or iPhone. Otherwise, you can go to Surfline.com and watch it on your computer. It's a pretty radical thing.

RQ-170 Spy Drone On Iranian TV

2011-12-08T13:01:00.000-08:00

So a US spy drone crashed onto Iranian soil last week. You can read here and here why some people think Iran did (and didn't) shoot it down. For example, it might have just crashed and the Iranians claimed they had something to do with it.

My question (along with David Axe) is why the hell doesn't it come with a self-destruction device? Didn't the engineers know that if the Iranians got a hold of this highly secretive drone they'd do this:

Update: Just heard on Al-Jazeera that Iran has up to 4,000 cyber warriors, some of whom might have had something to do with the RQ-170 downing. It's very probable that it was "jammed," since the unit looked to be in good condition.

Three More Pictures from Not So Lost Generation

2011-12-05T08:55:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone who posted on their Facebook, Twitter, and all other forms of social media last week. My first piece in The Huffington Post went unbelievably well; it was featured on the College section of their website, and got thousands of hits. I got emails, interview requests and letters from all over the country. Here are three more fun pictures from that night:

Additionally, here is a paragraph that was cut during the blogging process. I think you'll get the point:

Feeling good about it, Erik and I moved carelessly into the club, my nostrils shifting from the smoke at the door to the humid thickness of human dancing. The air felt like a steam bath of desire, confirmed by a curvy Hollywood blonde, moving and swaying and pumping to the hard beat of the club. Her hips lowered in an opening allure as she sank, eyes bending onto the main dance floor, ready to pounce on some tender piece of masculine meat.

Iran's posturing -- SF Chronicle

2011-12-01T22:23:00.001-08:00

So this week has been big for me as a journalist. I've taken a small break from my book and I've written two pieces that couldn't be more different: the first, on Swag of the Month (the post below this one), and the second, right here, on Iran:

Iran's posturing always more smoke than fire

By Jesse Aizenstat

Be it the International Atomic Energy Agency nuclear report last month, the British announcement of new European Union sanctions last week, or the storming of the British Embassy on Tuesday, everything between Iran and the West is calculated. In fact, it's just how they dance. War isn't inevitable here.

Since the 1979 Iranian revolution, the religious leaders, paired with the Revolutionary Guard, have made anti-Western and anti-Israeli rhetoric a staple of the regime. Today more than ever, the Iranian government has honed this narrative, positioning its nuclear program as a symbol of national pride. And so we've got to get a little realistic about how the ruling mullahs work: Fiery rhetoric and nostalgic embassy stormings are just what the Iranian government does. It's the same old trick; it's how they consolidate power.

The mullahs of Iran do not want to commit national suicide and use a nuclear weapon. They are not al Qaeda; they are a deterrable actor interested in self-preservation. The diplomatic leverage that comes from becoming a nuclear power is enticing not only to Iran but also to nearly all aspiring powers. And Iran, with all its rich history, sees itself as special. At the very least, it wants the option to build a nuclear weapon.
Click here to read the rest!

Not So Lost Generation - my first piece for The Huffington Post

2011-11-30T18:19:00.000-08:00

Well . . . I just got asked to be a weekly blogger at The Huffington Post. Yeaow! Right? Adrenaline pumping, indeed!

The chances of this piece getting featured on the site go up with the more HuffPost hits and comments. Don't be shy.

Not So Lost Generation

By Jesse Aizenstat

That Saturday night started alone, with the music up and the windows down, jamming my white Ford Bronco up the LA freeway to some club in Hollywood. The traffic was light and when I got there a small Korean man kept wailing about the angle of my vicious park job. I slammed the door, failing to please him, and drifted along the easy Hollywood sidewalk with Jim Morrison's ghost mumbling like a drunk in my ear. I was making tracks to my buddy's start-up party. A t-shirt company birthed from two dudes from the Lost Generation -- who went to college and couldn't find a job. So, they made their own.

"Creeping Jesus!" shrieked Erik, one of the founders. He was standing near the door of the music-bumping club. "You old dog! How are you?" He was postured upright, near a myriad of hell-bent souls waiting in line, hugging each other and slapping hands ... giving big grins with a whoop here and there. "We thought you weren't going to make it. It's opening night!"

Bewildered and feeling the urge for a drink, I congratulated him with a fresh whack on the back and mentioned something about Whiskey. He gave out a bellow of laughter and crested his chest, whistling twice to the grizzly bouncer to lift the velvet red gate to pass the loitering yuppies ... continuing to whoop in their high top shoes, tight jeans, and Swag t-shirts. Their cigarette smoke stung my eyes like a blast of UC Davis pepper spray.

The reason for this party was simple: the launch of Swag of the Month, a company that taps into the fashionable desire of youngsters on a budget. And after a few cool minutes on their website and a social media-like experience of getting to know your tastes, Swag of the Month picks your probable Swag, sending you a fresh tee every month from independent designers. All for only 9 bucks a month. Don't like your new threads? Send 'em back for some more.

Click here to read the rest!

Surfing the Middle East on Film

2011-11-27T22:40:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I wrote that a Brazilian surf magazine randomly picked up Surfing the Middle East as a topic of content. Indeed. They did. And the magazine is called Fluir.

What I thought they did was just rip off a few pictures from the Santa Barbara Independent's piece that aired last year. It wasn't till my dad was thumbing through the other sections that he found a full-page spread, with a published excerpt, featuring original artwork that apparently Fluir had produced on their own. (I'll get a pro-scanned version up soon . . . but here it is in the meantime.)

OK. Now that you've seen it . . . it gets fun. Because, while I was rather shocked by the artwork, I was even more shocked by the direction they decided to run with it. I think it's just as good as anything I've produced. From what I see, it's got a post-apocalyptic thing, with the surfboard and it's peace sign functioning as a sort of astronaut's flag on a far away planet. It's gritty, it's rough, it's the first green leaf of hope that's risen after a chainsaw cut the whole thing to the ground.

The film treatment for Surfing the Middle East will be about a cool twenty-something, down on his luck and leaving the United States because he can't find a job after he graduates from college. The only interest he gets is from a surf magazine to write about his crazy idea to surf the Middle East. His route will be from Israel to Lebanon, not being able to pass up and along the Eastern Mediterranean. So, he'll go around: through Jerusalem, the West Bank, Jordan, fly over Syria, and land in Lebanon. The film will be shot with a similar filter as Limitless and Body of Lies.

For the twenty-something there will be encounters of steamy youth hostel sex, parties with local surfers on hilltops, surfing, hashish smoking, and all the harrowing leftovers from simmering conflict. Rocket craters and everything. Even a convoy incursion while in the West Bank . . . and sneaking into a Hezbollah rally in South Beirut, just for the sake of trying to understand the Islamist turf he's trying to get to.

Along the way, there will be events that change the main character, giving drama and bringing a maturity into focus that will resemble an Apocalypse Now-type of sensation of "getting off the reservation," being beyond the morality of other people's judgments. Free from what regular people assume about the Middle East, tribal conflict, and war as a human condition.

Once in Lebanon, the twenty-something meets a rogue surfer who lives there and was once an American arms contractor in Iraq. The twenty-something surfer had heard rumors of this man's ghost in northern Israel, from Israeli soldiers (at the hilltop party) who ran special ops in Lebanon . . . but none of it had ever been confirmed.

The rogue surfer had been seeking asylum with Hezbollah, being wanted by the United States for what was called a "compromise of morals and values on the battlefield." In other words, he was a mercenary who saw what had to be done and did it. He played by the rules of the battlefield and was punished and was kicked out of Iraq . . . and decided to evade his American trial by becoming a hermit surfer in Lebanon, offering intelligence and tactical advice to Hezbollah, as Israeli and American military tactics are largely similar. Hezbollah, and its Iranian allies, were the only ones who took in this rogue surfer . . . and saved his life . . . as the Americans and Israelis had been trying to kill him for some time.

The story ends with screeching jets flying overhead, looking for the rogue surfer, as he paddles out for a final surf. The Americans were getting closer to killing him, and the young Californian watches in horror as a bomb is dropped on him, terminating his life.

The twenty-something leaves the Middle East and heads back to the shore of his origin, his feet sizzling from the post horror and post war experience . . . the smoke rising from the battlefield has taken hold of his brain and haunts him for he has lost his innocence and has learned that this is a world at war, often quietly, willing to work against anyone to preserve dominance.

And, it'll look like this:

Spyless in Lebanon

2011-11-21T11:55:00.001-08:00

Hezbollah has taken out US and Israeli spies in Lebanon. Beyond what the video says, I'd like to add that Beirut is the hub of CIA operations in the Arab world. Particularly in Syria. This will be a blow for US efforts to deal with Hezbollah in the event of an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. It will also be a blow in trying to figure out what's going on in Syria. (However, there is always the Turkish front for that.)

"It cannot be aginst the public" - Bashar Assad

2011-11-20T12:23:00.000-08:00

Just wow. I guess I've never seen Assad speak in English before. What a trip. Any thoughts beyond the obvious cringe?

Interesting how isolated and vulnerable the regime feels. They are. And that could be a big reason why they believe they can shoot their way out of what Russia called a "civil war."

Barry Eisler on publishing

2011-11-18T19:04:00.000-08:00

I think you'll enjoy this:

Barry Eisler, Publish It Forward Lecture Part 1 from Grub Street on Vimeo.

The Sunni's of Syria

2011-11-18T11:49:00.001-08:00

Over at the Angry Arab, the following is quoted. Thus, I am re-quoting a quote.

"Moderate Sunnis in Syria are worried by the increasing militancy of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis who have taken the upper hand in opposition ranks. The large pro-regime demonstrations in Damascus and Aleppo over the past week cannot simply be written off as crowds who were intimidated or threatened with loss of jobs if they did not turn out."

This could be big for Russia's claim that Syria resembles a civil war. Is it not?

I was going to be on Lebanese TV this week, but I canceled because I felt like I needed more push-ups before I brawled with the pro-Syrian commentator

2011-11-15T22:46:00.000-08:00

Yup, it's all true.

Duqu Worm Infecting Iranian Nuclear Systems

2011-11-13T22:42:00.000-08:00

Today, Iran announced that Duqu, a new malware worm, has infected a number of systems in the country. However, a software program to “control” it has already been developed and distributed to affected sites.

The Duqu worm shares a code base with Stuxnet. It was not known if the new worm was also targeting those same installations.

Duqu was discovered on September 1st, at a University of Budapest laboratory.

Fluir article on Surfing the Middle East (dont ask me to translate)

2011-11-13T10:14:00.000-08:00

Well . . . what a surprise. The largest surfing magazine in Brazil, Fluir, has somehow found my work and has written an article on it. And when I was in Brazil last month, I saw it! (Tho I should say that the writer did contact me to let me know, but still, it was a Huge Random Surprise.)

What the hell, eh?

Regional War: Attack on Iran will 'ignite' full scale Middle Eastern War - Nasrallah

2011-11-11T14:39:00.000-08:00

Following the IAEA's report about Iran and their nuclear weapons program, just about everyone has been asking: Will Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria, and various factions in Iraq, Bahrain, Yemen, and Afghanistan follow in retaliation?

As the Arab Spring (and I guess people are now calling it the "Arab winter") taught us, anything is possible. People, parties, and states can do anything.

So I have no idea what will happen across the Shia crescent if Israel, the US, or a coalition including Britian, decides that surgical airstrikes against Iran's nuclear facilities are a good idea. Hell, maybe they're not even sure . . . But one thing is:

This week, Secretary General, of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said this:

“The [US] must understand that war on Iran and Syria will not remain [restricted] in these two countries but will spread to other countries in the region. We are not issuing any threats but this is the reality."

“The era of weakness and [submission] to the US or Israel is over. We have entered the era of victories."

I'd count Hezbollah in. And as Nasrallah also pointed out in his speech, Hezbollah's rocket arsenal has increased dramatically since 2006.

Middle East could be in for a massive bummer.

A raw feeling from the West Bank

2011-11-10T07:37:00.000-08:00

I was going through my morning emails and Facebook and all other forms of communication in which people get a hold of me, and I came across an interesting Facebook rant by a Palestinian intellectual dude I met in Nablus a few years ago.

It's a little hysterical, but he has a point. And here is what he wrote, verbatim:

Ahmad Al-Jorbaji

White people go to Africa, come back with the famous facebook profile picture "ohh look at me with those black children, so cute"

Then, they go to Palestine, same shit. "if they found Black Palestinian kids, this will save cash and time", same apply on south east Asian country"well every god dame poor country".
and the only thing you see, is the facebook profile picture...

White ppl changing the world, one profile picture at a time

P.S: if it war zone its even hotter. "mainly countries live under western occupation"

P.P.S: This is something I calls colonialist tourism, ohh wait, u r not a tourist, u r helping, u posted a Profile Picture on facebook.

P.P.P.S: Many ppl will get angry from me for this status

P.P.P.P.S: Delete me!

P.P.P.P.P.S: Fuck you, Respectfully :)

Nothing like a raw feeling to be uttered, eh? And so in other news, Lebanon has banned Steven Spielberg's name to be shown on his movie credits . . . I believe because he is "Jewish." Though not Israeli. Lot of pent of rage, I guess.

Update: Two must reads on Iran today, here & here.

President Ahmadinejad says Iran "will not retreat"

2011-11-09T19:10:00.000-08:00

WELL . . . now that every Tom, Dick and Hussein had heard of the IAEA's report on Iran this week, it only seems fit for Iran's president to utter a response. And really, it's quite good:

In case you haven't seen . . .

2011-11-08T08:43:00.000-08:00

Every so often I like to post the YouTube promotional video for Surfing the Middle East. It's below, and . . . here is a link to the YouTube Channel for all the raw videos that I captured while surfing from Israel to Lebanon, around the closed border.

Mad-Hell Gonzo: John Pedro Schwartz pulls an "easy rider" thru Syria

2011-11-07T19:45:00.000-08:00

On the subject of Mad-Hell Gonzo, John Pedro Schwartz, a Mexican-American from Texas teaching English literature at the American University of Beirut, rode his motorcycle from Lebanon to Syria last month. He filed this first-person report with Foreign Policy.

Apparently, he just wanted to check it out. And why not? Isn't that what Robert Fisk did when Hafez put down all those cats in Homs oh so many decades ago? Just sneak in. Here is an excerpt from his article:

After breakfasting on goat-cheese sandwich wraps and freshly squeezed orange juice, I break the ice with two men in their mid-30s who are sitting at a plastic table just outside the rear entrance to the restaurant. Upon explaining that I’m a Texan professor from American University of Beirut, fresh from Hama on a motorcycle trip, they open up on the subject of politics.

“America good,” Mahmoud says. “France good.” “Russia-” at the evocation of the Syrian government’s ally, he stamps on the concrete pavement with a grimace. “China-” the same disdainful gesture.

The two of them demonstrate every evening, they tell me. When the sun goes down, thousands fill the streets, calling for the fall of the regime. “And they kill us,” Mahmoud says.

“Who kills you?”

“Hezbollah and Iran.”

“How do you know?”

Mahmoud draws his hand down over his face to a point, suggesting the beard that many members of the Lebanese Shiite militant organization Hezbollah wear. “The way they speak,” he adds. This is a common, if controversial, claim made by Syrian activists — that the Assad regime has brought in mercenaries to help crush the protests, their southern Lebanese and Persian accents a giveaway.

Mahmoud looks up at me, an idea forming on his face. “Do you have a camera?”

“No.”

“Will you stay here tonight?”

“No. I have to work in Beirut tomorrow.”

Disappointed, he pauses for a moment. Then: “You are a professor at American University of Beirut. I want you to tell the world what is happening. Do you want to go to see the bullet holes?”

“Yes, I want to go to see the bullet holes.”

He looks over at Bilal and asks him to come with us. Bilal, smoking, casts a wary glance down the street and does not answer. He is weighing the odds — if they get caught showing a foreigner around sensitive sites, they will likely be imprisoned and tortured. “Will you come? Will you come?” Mahmoud asks. Bilal is smoking, looking away, smoking, thinking. But Mahmoud insists, repeating the question a half-dozen times. Finally, Bilal nods.

“You are not American. You do not speak,” Mahmoud warns me as we hail a taxi. Five minutes later, we step out onto Bab al-Sebaa Street where there is no movement and no noise and nothing is open, and three tanks manned by six armed soldiers have their turreted guns pointed at our backs as we make our way, slowly, down the street.

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies

2011-11-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

If you like your iPad, well, you're not alone. It the sort of tool that's so new and revolutionary, that you're not quite sure what you're going to do with it when you buy one. But when you do, it integrates into your life in a way you never thought possible. For me, I have my flip phone (with no Internet or emails) and then have my iPad as my personal music player, office, email station, number cruncher, and so much more.

But more than a functional tool, there's the entertainment. Like eBook apps. And sweet Jesus, look what's creepin' out of the App Store now:

Doesn't Leonardo DiCaprio look like Marlon Brando?

2011-11-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

I know this has nothing to do with the Middle East--or surfing it--but I do have to say: Doesn't Leonardo DiCaprio look like Marlon Brando here?

DiCaprio, about to play J. Edgar Hoover
says he isn't afraid to play complicated characters

Coppla's classic, The Godfather, staring Mr. Brando himself

In DiCaprio's new movie, he plays J. Hoover. Directed by Clint Eastwood, Leonardo reportedly sat for "hours at a time" while make up artists game him "liver spots, yellow teeth and big, bulbous love handles."

Seems like a good film. And I've been really getting into looking at plot, story, theme, etc, in movies. I think it's a wonderful unintended consequence for spending so much time looking at such things in my book, Surfing the Middle East. I love films that show the drama in the main character, the trials he (or she) goes through, and the compromise of morals, decay of values, or general experiences that bring the views along for the growth in the character. It's just great stuff. Such development helps explain why we humans do what we do. Nothing on this Earth inherent, it's just a product of our surroundings, and our adapting to them. (Perhaps that's why Hoover was so famous for dressing in drag . . . the goddamn stress got to him!)

(I've also seen The Rum Diary & The Ides of March. Anyone else seen 'em?)

Traveling--Ubatuba, Brasil to Santa Barbara, CA

2011-10-31T16:06:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm back in the USofA now. And for those interested in a Serious Travel Route, check this out:

Ubatuba to Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo to Washington Dullus, Washington Dullus to LAX, LAX to my parked motorcycle (where there is free motorcycle parking at LAX for up to a month, the time I was in Brazil)--to the HWY1, where I jammed up to Santa Barbara, CA.

Yeaow!!! It took me 29 hours!

And just in case you tried to pull up the walking or driving distance from Ubatuba, Brazil to Santa Barbara as I did on Google Maps, well, it just doesn't know. Bummer. Guess someone will just have to try it and write a book about it.

A Facebook Chat W/McGreevy about Brasil

2011-10-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

Ahh, Jesus! I've been too tired and busy and lazy and drunk to write much about Brasil (while I'm here). And frankly, I can't find my usual cadence . . . Perhaps it's because Surfing the Middle East is in its last draft and I'm getting really great feedback on it from people I've sent it to. Makes me happy. But hard to purely enjoy BRASIL.

Anyway . . . I thought I'd post some fun pictures and a somewhat savage Facebook conversation I just had with my old pal, McGreevy. (McGreevy's back in the States . . . I'm in Ubatuba, Brasil.) I love these little Facebook convos. In fact, there is one like this at the end of Book III, in Surfing the Middle East. Enjoy:

(Near Ubatuba, Brasil)

(Guarani (native Brasilian, or "Indian") village near Ubatuba)

(Guarani house near Ubatuba)

In other news, just did a ten mile mountain hike thru the narled green jungle with snakes, wild pigs, and a fine swimming hole (with more snakes). We had a local, "Indian" -- Guarani -- guide, too. We just walked into the village, and he said the next day he could take us.
Awesome! Just don't come back with an anal worm.

Haha, WATER was so clean that the Guarani dude who took us said that the spring river is clean -- he's never heard of anyone getting sick from it.

That's so bitchin. have you eaten bush meat yet? What about cat?
or is that more of an Chinese thing?

Well . . . it could be found. But honestly, most of the people I'm hanging out with live at a better standard than many of us in the States. Why? Exploitation of the lower classes. Anyone with a decent job has in-house cooks, cleaners, and it's all full-time. Food is great here. Actually, to die for. Great beaches & butts, too.

I can imagine. So funny what get's broadcasted about a culture. So you're saying they exploit the lower classes, or we do here?

Brazil has one of the largest gaps between rich and poor in the world

ooooh that's right

In fact, the Brasilian government (who is run by a nominal communist lady) dosen't even go into parts of the countryside, big cities, or Indian communities. It's like modern racism, that's so every-day that it's "cultural"
gnarly, so communism without equality . . . how very Soviet
Yeah. And what the Brasilian gov does is double the tax on everything and employ people (to press buttons on elevators, for example) who don't care about doing there jobs. We should send the goddamn Tea Party (with a few Republicans) down here to clean things up

haha. I love it. Take good notes

--End

(Just rented a jalopy of a car in Brasil and (somehow) have already found a dirt road.
Suggestions on where to jam it!?)

In Brazil

2011-10-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

Readership,

I'm in Ubatuba, Brazil, right now, scouting another project. I have plenty of good adventure-journalism material for blogging about, and I'll slowly release it as I find time to write about it.

As for an update with Surfing the Middle East, the book will be out this January, and I'll of course make the announcement here, first. Stay tuned.

Thanks for the comments & emails.

Best,
Jesse

PS - I just went to visit an Indian village, deep in the Brazilian jungle. Will report soon.

Self-publishing is not all "self-published" -- The Ballad of Barry Eisler

2011-10-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

There has been a fair amount of stuff posted on the Casbah about self-publishing . . . but I hate the term. Or more I hate how the term is used as a categorical "non-legacy publishing" brand. Meaning that a self-published author is someone who didn't sign with a traditional publisher, and thus, is by default, of a lower grade of books.

To me, this is flat wrong. There are two kinds of self-published authors: The first is the low budget, self-published author I've just spent the past 60 seconds typing against; the second is the professional self-published author, who does everything--if not more--than a traditional publishing house, and brings a well-edited, finely designed book to market. And a good example of someone from this second group is Barry Eisler.

If you don't know the man, check out his recent interview with NPR.

Just a little brain food on this weekday afternoon.

Steve Jobs gone but iPad remains

2011-10-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

So I'm in Brasil right now, Ubatuba to be exact, doing a bit of research for perhaps another iPad ebook, and get a whiff of the local culture. It's a hell of a place. In fact . . . I can't even get into it (right now) because it's too mind-boggling (with to many thoughts) so I'll just say this: I saw that Steve Jobs died, which is a bummer, but simply amazing what he and his team at Apple have done. (Yes, I still follow the news from here.) More soon!

Color insert for Surfing the Middle East

2011-09-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

Two and half years ago I dreamed up the idea of surfing from Israel to Lebanon (as a job, after college, with little hope of entering the conventional job market). Now, in September 2011, I've done the trip, written the story, produced an iPad app, and now, have near-finalized the color insert for the paper book: Surfing the Middle East: Deviant Journalism from the Lost Generation.
On a personal note, I like say that I think one of the biggest bummers of travel book is that the insert is rather plane & boring: two pictures per page. Part of my model of publishing is to go hog-wild with the insert section, allowing readers to really feel what it was like to surf the Middle East.

Special thanks to Kasey for printing out the 16 page color insert. That's where these pictures were taken. The final draft will be going to a printer soon (and then an Amazon warehouse) where it'll be bought to market this January.

The stonerish narration of Blacks Beach

2011-09-28T12:07:00.000-07:00

OK, so let's take a break from the Middle East and enjoy some stonerish narration and fine colors. Yes . . . for any of you dialects who've ever surfed in San Diego, SURFLINE.COM has given us a gem . . . here is Blacks at it's best: CLICK HERE TO VIEW.

Update: Just came across this quote:

Sun Tsu: "War is a moral contest and they're won in the temples before they're ever fought."

West Bank boost for Mahmoud Abbas

2011-09-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

I was reading Al Jazeera English today and read this:

"Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, riding a wave of popular support unseen in the West Bank since the late Yasser Arafat, is ruling out new talks without a "complete halt" to Israeli settlement building."

Then, almost not believing it, I emailed a journalist friend in the West Bank, asking him if it's true. He writes:

"I think it's also true that Abbas is enjoying a wave of popularity. People are proud of him for standing up to the US."

(You can also read the full text speech from Abu Mazen, here, too.)

So sort of a bold move for old Abu Mazen, eh? He all of a sudden switched from pleasing the Americans and Israelis, to pleasing his own West Bank Palestinians (and maybe some in Gaza, too). And why not? Really. From his perspective. What does the old man have to lose?

* * * * *

In other news, I went to a hippy festival in North San Diego County yesterday and talked to some Syrian Islamists who ran a booth. The conversation went like this:

Jesse: So do you believe in the State of Syria?
Islamist: No. I don’t care about Assad, and want a Caliphate.
Jesse: Hell, why not? As long as you give me a tourist visa, I mean.
Islamist: Yes, thank you.
Jesse: No prob . . . Btw, did you know that one of the 9/11 hijackers went to our mosque here in SD County. You know, the big one?
Islamist: Oh, yeah, I go to that one.
Jesse: NO WAY! I mean, you knew him?
Islamist: I gave him a root canal. I’m a dentist.

Palestinians at the UN

2011-09-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

Just to follow up with this string I've been posting about the Palestinians at the UN, well, here is some footage of it. I found it particularly interesting when the camera panned through the crowd, showing who was in boisterous applause, versus who was sitting quietly. The representatives from the Republic of Georgia, an Israeli ally, for example, where sitting as bored as ever!

Palestinians give 'two weeks' for UNSC action - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Jeffery Goldberg, Palestinians, and keeping the 2-states alive

2011-09-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

Jeffery Goldberg pointed out a very legitimate fact about other nations and the UN vote. From his blog:

Here's the question that nags at me: How could the United Nations recognize Palestine, a state comprising of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, when the two territories are ruled separately, by factions that have actually gone to war with each other in the recent past, and which disagree about the most fundamental issue of all: the efficacy and morality of the two-state solution. Would a "unity" government suffice? But how could they be unified in reality, when their understandings of the world are diametrically opposed. This is a legal question, and ultimately a practical one. Could someone please provide a poor blogger some answers?

So . . . I thought I'd write the old sport:

Yodals Goldberg,

Of course what you are saying is factually correct. But the crude meat of the matter is that Hamas is claiming to “not get in they way” of a PLO deal that Abbas makes . . . Even though they have been doing everything they can from Gaza to socialize the population against the idea. According to Hamas, “God promised them the land of Palestine,” so it’s not theirs to give up.

I like to think of the PA’s move as a tactic. A tactic that will put them back in the drivers seat, because they weren't able to get any leverage from Bib and his gang of marginal wackos. Furthermore, Obama didn’t really do anything for the PA (other than mostly pay their bills). So this is about credibility for moderate Palestinians. It’s a way of looking like a hard-ass motha’ in the face of the Israeli and American administrations just saying “NO” or “HOLD ON FOR OBAMA’S SECOND TERM.”

That isn’t going to legitimize the Fayyad/Abbas idea that Palestinians can agree to two states. In fact, when I used to live in Bethlehem, there were hardly enough moderate Palestinians for that . . . So Abbas had to do something. Mr. Abbas was done making the same mistake that Obama is making: bending over backward to win-over constituencies that didn’t elect him. Or like him. Or even could vote for him in the first place.

Wouldn't you do the same in his situation?

Best,
The Col.

Update: Ma'an news agency's Nasser Laham gives his take.

September 21, 2011 (FOR ME)

2011-09-21T21:08:00.000-07:00

Today I started with a two and a half hour phone call with my editor, Donna Beech, making sure the narrative of my book, Surfing the Middle East, flows like a traveler on a diplomatic visa (freely). Then I jumped into my Ford Bronco (white, a '91, and a full-out O.J. mobile) and made my way to Trestles for the Hurley Pro, to watch Kelly Slater, win the damn thing at the tender age of 39. Incredible.

Kelly Slater goes into the air, launching off a wave at the Hurley Pro at Lower Trestles near San Clemente. Slater went on to win on Wednesday. (Photo: Sean Rowland / EPA / September 18, 2011)

I then got some food, made a few calls to the Amazon fulfillment house and a few printers for the paper copy of Surfing the Middle East, and proceeded back to Lowers (literal name of the surf spot where the Hurley Pro was held) and paddled out into the most crowded line-up of my life. Interesting tho: It was so packed that everyone was dropping in on everyone--and the only way to get waves was just to "GO!!!"--SO, any "I'll fight you" mentality was dropped and everyone just surfed in a state of profound anarchy. It was great.

And on the way back to North Country San Diego--where I live--I turned on NPR (the best American news outlet in my subjective opinion) and listened to this: In West Bank, Tensions Run High Before U.N. Vote.

It was a King Hell Bastard of a day.

Update: Qifa Nabki subjectivizes on Lebanon moving to a voting system of proportional representation.

Casbah Publishing now in business

2011-09-16T03:06:00.000-07:00

For months now I have been dropping hints about my hardcover book, Surfing the Middle East: Deviant Journalism from the Lost Generation. And for months, Surfing the Middle East, the iPad app, produced by Zentro Media, has been for sale on the App Store. This January, all products--the hardcover book, ebook, and iPad app--will be ready, thus bringing all products of Surfing the Middle East to market.

But what I haven't really talked about is the HOW. The business methodology I used to make it all happen. But first, a bit of background.

After I returned from surfing from Israel to Lebanon, I did a book proposal for Surfing the Middle East. But I decided to shelf it after I signed a deal with Zentro Media to turn Book I (of 3 full "books") into an enhanced media iPad app. Then, last February, when the iPad app hit the App Store, I had a choice on how to move forward with the rest of the project. Knowing that most publishers--along with a good number of agents--felt uncomfortable with allowing a third party to own the digital rights for Book I, I felt an opportunity to start my own publishing house, staying in line with the deal I made with my iPad publisher in co-owning the rights for my work.

Indeed. Casbah Publishing was born to own Surfing the Middle East, empowering me, the author, to make artistic decisions, run the marketing how I wanted to, and most important to me, control what I wrote about . . . because after all, I was the guy who surfed from Israel to Lebanon, and I wanted to tell the story in a way that felt true to the experience.

And so, it is with a few butterflies in my stomach that I'm finally posting the official Casbah Publishing Loan Request, detailing business elements and mission statement of my work. For some time I've debated about sharing the numbers, but decided against it, as the investors of Casbah Publishing just wouldn't have it.

Bottom line: I want to create a model for authors and entertainers alike, showing that owning your own work can be highly profitable if its done in a logistical way that finds the target market. And Sweet Jesus, if big-time rappers and Hollywood types can do it, why not adventure-crazed journalists?

Casbah Publishing Loan Request

The Business

Casbah Publishing is the fictitious business name for Surfing the Casbah LLC that will maintain artistic and executive control for the work of Jesse Aizenstat. In December 2011, Casbah Publishing will bring all products of Surfing the Middle East to market.

To date, Phase I. of the product line has been released as an enhanced media iPad app. Phase II will include an iPhone app, four individual versions of ebooks, and a hardcover book with a produced color insert. Other products include Jesse Aizenstat speaking on issues of adventure-journalism, the revolution in content-delivery, and the bleak employment opportunities of today’s college-educated Americans. Entrepreneurism blended with every topic.

Beyond retaining creative control, the mission of Casbah Publishing is to create a “digital distribution” model that utilizes cutting-edge technology, sophisticated branding, and ownership of the work to maximize profits in the highly competitive free market. Casbah Publishing seeks to become a model for authors and entertainers to follow.

Proven Markets & Competition

With a wholly unique narrative, Surfing the Middle East has captured the attention of the Santa Barbara Independent with a featured cover story. Published on March 3^rd, 2011, The Santa Barbara Independent ran an overview of the Surfing the Middle East iPad app, along with a three-chapter excerpt from the text. To date, the response has been overwhelmingly. Other marketing efforts are being developed and will be activated when Phase II of Surfing the Middle East comes to market. Other excerpts have been published by the Ma’an news agency, which receives over 3 million unique online hits per month.

Digital Distribution Model

With the decline of major bookstores, Casbah Publishing operates on the premise that consumer markets are more fragmented than ever before. Proven markets exist within apps, conventional hardcover books, and ebooks alike. The following descriptions of Surfing the Middle East indicate how the versions differ in content, and consumers will find them in their respective markets:

iPad app: The iPad app is “Book I” of the full narrative and was produced by Surfing the Casbah LLC and Zentro Media, a major Hollywood studio. This app features both a “reader mode” and a “gallery mode” that has slideshows, videos, graphics, art, military histories, maps, original documents, and related links all across the web. What the app does not have is Book II and III of the narrative, continuing the journey from Israel to Lebanon. Currently it can only be viewed on the iPad, and its price will fluctuate below $4.99.

Ebooks: The ebook library will start on the Amazon Kindle platform and will expand as other markets develop. Furthermore, the text will be broken down in increments of books, one through three. They will be sold separately for $2.99, with a full ebook version of the text for $9.99. The Ebook platform does not allow for multimedia enhancement, however it can be purchased with any hardware that hosts the Kindle application. This will be the least expensive way for consumers to own the narrative. There is no shipping cost and Book I will often be given away for free with promotional deals.

Hardcover: The hardcover book will include the full narrative and feature a 16-page color insert with pictures and in-app shots from the iPad app. The book will be distributed through an Amazon Storefront that will serve as its own outlet for Casbah Publishing. The hardcover will be priced at $24.95 with a total sum of 2,000 copies ordered in the first printing. It takes 3-4 weeks to reprint an additional 2,000.

iPhone app: The iPhone app shall be a free promotional tool that will host additional content for prospective consumers and fans alike. The buttons within the app include an RSS feed to Blogging the Casbah, access to a full YouTube channel with never-before-seen footage, published excerpts from the text, daily surf reports, in-app screenshots from the iPad app, and a Buy the Book option to connect the consumer to the online stores to purchase the products. This app will include Book I for free, and will also host surf pictures from both the trip and from professional photographers in California. While targeting the iPhones specifically, this app will be compatible across tablet and Android markets. The overall purpose of this app is to keep Surfing the Middle East as an active brand and connect consumers to direct online stores. It is a co-production of Casbah Publishing and Shiva Media, and will be hosted by Shiva Media.

Marketing

Casbah Publishing is collecting bids from PR firms for an approximant four month, $20,000 national media campaign. This will be a “top down” approach that will target TV, radio, blogs, and book reviewers. In addition, the model of Casbah Publishing will also be pitched as a means for author-controlled publishing that seeks to maximize the most profit.

Enhancing this approach, a “bottom up” strategy will be carried out by a small, hand selected team to reach out to friends, bloggers, mailing lists, and employ like-tactics of leaving well-placed comments in related online articles. This will also specifically target The Santa Barbara Independent, and other papers within California that are familiar with the author and the work.

Loan Request

Casbah Publishing requests a $65,000 loan. The main expenses will include hardcover book production and distribution, employee salaries, and marketing all forms of the product line.

UPDATE: The loan has been secured and my hardcover book, ebook and iPad app will all be out and marketed by March 1st.

From Book II: Surfing the Middle East - walking through Jerusalem

2011-09-10T11:59:00.001-07:00

I'm editing Surfing the Middle East this fine weekend, and I came across a paragraph in Book II (the second part of my surfing saga, from Israel to Lebanon) that I found particularly amusing. At this point in the story, I've surfed in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, and now am on my way around the closed border with Lebanon . . . walking through Jaffa Street in Jerusalem. (I'll attach a map below so everyone can see the route I took.)

From Book II:

When walking down Jaffa Street, the biggest rush for the foreigner is when he (or she) makes the abrupt left turn at the end of the street and the Ottoman parapets of the Old City come into focus. The gradual downhill slope, next to the grassy lawn, makes for an easy finish at the Damascus Gate. The walls of the Old City are most amazing here. The sand color stones gleam high in the sun and its jagged edges hint back to an earlier time for humanity, when you had to actually layer your defenses so that drunks with arrows could shoot at whatever infidel seemed to be invading. Now, everyone has fighter jets and whatever the hell Saddam used, and thus the gradual decline from Jaffa Street to the Damascus Gate is now better known for great pictures, the entrance to the Old City and the best place to catch a taxi to Bethlehem.

The Amazon Tablet

2011-09-08T13:54:00.000-07:00

OK. I completely understand that blogging the casbah is about love, travel, lust, fun, Ford Bronco's, surfing, the Middle East, Israel, Lebanon, Islamists, making fun of Islamists, comedy, fiction (and non-fiction), and everything else that is newsworthy . . . however, I should say that I have expertise in three areas:

iPad Apps; Middle East journalism; and self-publishing.

So I'd like to weigh in on Amazon's potential for making a tablet . . . and how it could very well could make them money.

Simply, Amazon has what others do not. They have content, users credit cards and trust. They also have their accounts, and the magical ability to make sales within 1 click of the purchase.

With this combination, Amazon could be very well positioned to be competitive for Apple's tablet market share. They'll have the ability, like Apple, to sell tablets and sell from their stores under their rules . . . Because at the end of the day it's about content, and how easy it is to buy it.

So will Amazon's attempt to get into the tablet market work? Maybe. It's complicated. But I'm more interested in why other tablet makers, such as Samsung, have failed? Because they haven't had their own app stores and controlled everything? Because they haven't been within 1 click of the sale? Or maybe because tablets are so new that the apps weren't mainstream enough to survive outside of Apple's control?

What do you think?

Writing tip: make time for breaks, vagabonding, and Baja surf trips

2011-09-07T09:14:00.000-07:00

Hola amigos, just got back from a little Baja surf adventure to clear the mind. Indeed. That's one thing I've learned about writing a book: you can't force yourself to the point maximum mental exhaustion, because if you do, you'll spend more time having to go back over it and fix it than if you just hammered out some fine text to begin with.

How bout that, eh?

Anyway, as part of my policy in keeping my vagabonding spirit alive while putting the finishing touches on my book, Surfing the Middle East (a story about surfing from Israel to Lebanon), I decided to spend Labor Day weekend with a few friends on a surf trip to the rugged frontier of Baja, California. The following is from that menace:

I'm outta here!

2011-09-02T00:05:00.000-07:00

So I sent another draft of Surfing the Middle East to my editor and spent the afternoon looking at the mammoth swell that is hitting North San Diego County, RIGHT NOW. Simply, it's HUGE.

And so, I was having a beer with a few friends this fine eve, when I blurted (like an instinctual fool), LETS GO TO BAJA!

Indeed. This blog will be on vacation, as I load my 91 Ford Bronco and pile in 5 surfboards, cast-iron grill set, a bottle of whiskey, food, water, gear, and everything else, for a 4-day Baja jam down to . . . Ahh! Careful, careful! I'll post picture when I come back. Until then, here are some blasts from the past.

(I should also say that Baja surf trips are as soulful to me as surfing from Israel to Lebanon was: they are both Those Things that I'll look back on in old age, feeling that I did what I could in my youth . . . and for that, I'm most grateful. Pictures soon. Take care guys.)

Ashoura in Nabatieh, South Lebanon

2011-08-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

A true comrade of mine and scholar-to-watch, Nicholas Alexander Heras, has been in Lebanon for an extended bit now . . . and that lucky dude happened to be in the mostly Shia South for Ashoura. I'll let ole Nicholas sound off with his wisdom below, but the meat of the matter--the non-expert grit that'll make you twitch in your seat--is the forehead cutting and bloody rags.

Yep! I've said enough. (I'll leak the rest of the videos over the next few days.)

These videos capture some of the sheer emotional power that Ashoura has upon Shi'a Muslims of all ages. Ashoura commemorates the martyrdom of Hussein, his kinsmen, and his close followers in Karbala in what is now modern-day Iraq. Hussein was the son of Ali ibn Abu Talib, the son-in-law and cousin of the Prophet Mohammad who is considered by Shi'a Muslims to have been the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad. Hussein was the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, and he championed his family's ability to rule the faithful, in opposition to Caliph of the Islamic Empire in Damascus, Yazid. Yazid's forces hunted Hussein and his companions down to the the dry earth of Karbala where they massacred him and his kinsmen, save for some women companions, most notably his sister Zainab, and his youngest son, and eventual Shi'a Imam, Ali.

Every year on the 10th day of the Islamic month of Muharram, Shi'a Muslims remember the sacrifice of Hussein and his companions at Karbala during Ashoura (the "10th day"). Commemoration of Ashoura can be both personal and public. Ashoura is a distinguishing day, a festival that emphasizes distinctly the seemingly irreconcilable philosophical differences between the Sunni and Shi currents in Islam. It is on Ashoura that the rank-and-file member of the Shi'a Musim community reaffirms their intellectual and emotional affinity for Hussein and his companions, and asserts their belief that the Family of the Prophet Muhammad were the best capable to guide the spirits of the Muslim community.

The most famous, and perhaps infamous, rituals for commemorating Ashoura are the latam, in which the person participating makes small cuts along their body (usually on the forehead) with a razor, and then proceeds over the course of the day to beat the wound with their hand or a blunt sword. The bleeding that this causes is a reminder of the wounds suffered by Hussein and his companions at Karbala. Latam is an extremely controversial practice that has been outlawed by several Shi'a Muslim clergymen, including the recently deceased Lebanese Shi'a cleric Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, the Iraqi Shi'a cleric Ali Al-Sistani, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the source of religious authority for Hezbollah. The two strongest Shi'a Muslim political parties in Lebanon, Hezbollah and Haraket Amal, both dissuade the practice of latam. These videos demonstrate several instances of latam and the honest emotional frenzy of the individual and the collective latam during the course of the day during Ashoura.

The scenes depicted in these videos were recorded on December 16, 2010, in Nabatieh, Lebanon. Nabatieh is a a significant market town nestled in the Amel Mountains in south-central Lebanon. It is host to a large Ashoura commemoration that is noted for the intensity of its emotion and for the widespread practice of latam. In Lebanon and elsewhere in the world where Ashoura is practiced publicly, latam is looked down upon. In contrast to Nabatieh, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Hezbollah organizes Ashoura processions that take on the pomp and pageantry of military parades, without the latam.

Ashoura in Nabatieh is part somber religious ceremony and part carnival. Participants in the Nabatieh latam are of all ages, male and female, and they remember the example of Hussein and his companions in political party organized groups (especially under the direction of Haraket Amal), by non-aligned civil society associations, by extended family, or by the nuclear family. There are many small latam groups that consisted of a father, a few children, and a mother who was energetically and enthusiastically recording her family's commemoration with a cell phone video camera. Throughout the city there is a palpable energy of both sorrow at the martyrdom of Hussein and a confidence that the future will see the victory of the ideas of the Family of the Prophet over the unrighteous and the oppressors of the world.

Tel Aviv, as described by Jan Morris

2011-08-24T11:55:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the best "travel writer" today is Jan Morris. She is an incredible story teller, and her eye for subtle drama is something that creeps up on you in a surprisingly powerful way. Her collective of shorts, The World, is a most incredible work of published goods.

And in The World, Morris writes about Tel Aviv, Israel. She writes that it is a city that looks familiar, like you might recognize someone you know there . . . but not! You're on the Eastern Mediterranean, not New York, Berlin, or Paris. She writes that Tel Aviv is a unique entity of its own, with a look of the West with a soul from the East, mixed and mashed with culture from Jews (from all over) and a Palestinian population that is a wholly different shade altogether.

I recommend buying T he World, and taking a look at it . . . but I bring it up because this video (and things that look like it) always seem to remind me of how Morris writes about the Israeli cultural capital: Tel Aviv.

Israel. Part IV. Tel Aviv. Night from dmytriy_golumbevskiy on Vimeo.

Thoughts from Huntington Beach

2011-08-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

Did a little Orange Country exploring last weekend, trying to get a handle on what the hell it is they do in that greater snake pit of Los Angels. And, well, here are a few clips from that:

And we thought we knew Jerusalem . . .

2011-08-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

Just wow. That's it. Check out this unreal Imax 3D clip. Simply beautiful. It really puts the "holy" back into the Holy Land . . . does it not?

Jerusalem | Filmed in Imax 3D from JerusalemGiantScreen on Vimeo.

Poem of the Sea

2011-08-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a Poem I wrote that will appear in Surfing the Middle East: Deviant Journalism from the Lost Generation. Other than that, you'll have to wait for the rest . . . should be out in less than three months.

Poem of The Sea

“Anywhere there’s energy in motion there are waves,

from the farthest corners of the universe

down to the cells in your eyeball.”

The Wave, Susan Casey

. . . Eastern Mediterranean, millions of years and tears before ten toes two arms and a cranium came to it, there were waves . . . they ran across not the biggest pooling of water on the planet but a fascinating one that would hold a mystical gravity for its dwellers so profound that they would die over it again and again . . . and no presence has been more constant there than Waves—nothing more poetic and seamless than a storm from the West, strengthened by winds and pushing out swell that peeled across the top of the sea, eagerly looking for a far away reef to bond with . . . The Wave—no point is more magical than this . . . Everything! is the feeling, when paddling and crawling one’s body into this energy that has forced this force to pounce upward and sideways and exploding over your head, transcending its brilliance and ancient mirth that lurks along this shore upon your body . . . and so it is, was, and so it shall continue to be: a power and might so brilliant that it allowed a look into the modern-day toils of the region, a way through, a maritime hump that will continue to break—noticed or unnoticed—for all who wish to partake . . . a burst of juice, like a gleaming bolt of Greek-god thunder, still sitting there, waiting for the next time, whenever that glory may be . . .

NEW COPY for iPad App!

2011-08-08T21:47:00.000-07:00

Just got some new copy up on the Surfing the Middle East iTunes App page. Also, new update to come soon . . . which also means new "free codes" to give out! Shoot me an email . . . and I'll send ya one!

Description:

"Enhanced" hardly does justice to this myth-crushing book. Rogue journalist and self-admitted wave junky Jesse Aizenstat combines his two passions--Middle East politics and surfing--into an eye-popping, jaw-dropping journey that is part insane surf trip, part guerilla journalism, and part political travelogue.

With a goal of carving waves from Israel to Lebanon, this dyslexic board maven soon finds out that you can't just surf there. You've got to go over an inland desert. Through bloody Syria! From night patrols and rocket craters to the swell-kissed shorelines of these ancient worlds, he takes us on a dangerous, dualistic and frequently debaucherous ride through the absurd ironies that make up the Middle East.

Aizenstat’s Surfing the Middle East application has no peers. It's adventure journalism living and moving with your fingertips. Its innovations include seamless blending of savage text and slick graphics, a fully narrated chapter, PDF build-outs on everything from military histories to dyslexia, great video segments, slide shows, maps, and links to streaming documentaries.

Reviews:

“Aizenstat’s Surfing the Middle East application for the Apple iPad is unlike anything you’ve ever seen."
Matt Kettmann, Senior Editor, The Santa Barbara Independent, and contributor to Time, Smithsonian, Wine Spectator, Sunset, and other magazines.

“Watch out! Here comes a college graduate who will take you to places in the Middle East you don't hear about on CNN. He’s witty, funny, outrageous, and has Mark Twain in his blood. Never has such a journalistic stunt (with surfing!) produced such influential insights into ‘the worlds most combustible region.’ The only question for young Aizenstat is what’s next?”
Linda Buzzell, career consultant, author and blogger for The Huffington Post

“Buy the ticket and take the ride: you'll never think of the Middle East in the same way again.”
Scott Hulet, Editor, The Surfer's Journal

Features:

•Groundbreaking multi-touch interface
•Over 100 fully interactive pages
•Reader mode and gallery mode
•Visual table of contents and pop up navigation bar
•Imbedded PDFs articles, original documents, maps, audio, pictures, and videos
•Author-narrated chapter
•Documentary footage

Syrian Ministry of Defense website . . . HACKED!

2011-08-07T21:40:00.000-07:00

HACKED!

"Anonymous:"

Has hacked the Syrian Ministry of Defense website . . . and who knows how long it will take that mysterious warehouse of mustached Muhabberat to take down the thing. To view the page,

Click Here

If you don't see it in time, it looks like this:

And reads:

"To the Syrian people: The world stands with you against the brutal regime of Bashar Al-Assad. Know that time and history are on your side - tyrants use violence because they have nothing else, and the more violent they are, the more fragile they become. We salute your determination to be non-violent in the face of the regime's brutality, and admire your willingness to pursue justice, not mere revenge. All tyrants will fall, and thanks to your bravery Bashar Al-Assad is next. To the Syrian military: You are responsible for protecting the Syrian people, and anyone who orders you to kill women, children, and the elderly deserves to be tried for treason. No outside enemy could do as much damage to Syria as Bashar Al-Assad has done. Defend your country - rise up against the regime!" - Anonymous

PS - I may be blacklisted from entering Syria by this post . . . but that's only if As'ad stays. Now that's a thought . . .

Preview: Surfing the Middle East (from Book II)

2011-08-03T10:17:00.001-07:00

Editing again today guys, and I just saw these two paragraphs and knew that I'd have to put 'em and the following to pictures up on the blog. This is how Book II starts . . . and you can see on the map below where, exactly, I was . . . Oh, what the hell? I WAS IN JERUSALEM! Making my way around the closed Israeli-Lebanese border, surfing from Israel to Lebanon, through the surfless inland desert.

Traditionally, empires ruled the Middle East. They would rise like a wave from the depths of the horizon, building to a crest so powerful its explosion would take everything that lay in its path. But like all waves, these empires eventually rolled back, leaving only a wet shore as proof of their past existence. And that is Jerusalem—a withered maze of ancient empires, built literally atop one another.

If Haifa was the city of Arabs and Jews, then Jerusalem was the reef that caused it all to break. Yet Jerusalem would be a sort of strange detour for me—the place to go because I couldn’t cross the closed Israeli-Lebanese border to Beirut, not more than twenty miles from the Haifa surf crew and Carmel Beach. And so the Holy City would be a sort of portal for me. The place I’d walk out of Jewish culture and take my first steps into the Arab world. No fine lines of transition. Just a barrage history and myth that makes Jerusalem the prized shore of nearly every cresting empire . . . and the crossing of the best medieval costume party on Earth.

(Note: Both these pictures will be featured in the insert of the hardcover book.)

Second Draft of Surfing the Middle East

2011-08-02T13:03:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I'm back from my motorcycle trip--from San Diego to San Fran (on HWY1).

I'm editing Surfing the Middle East, the second draft, and I came across this paragraph . . . and wanted to share it, before publication. Book to be out soon!

When traveling, it has been my experience that the best pay offs come from suspending judgment and staying open enough to detect what previously locked door decided to unlock itself. You never know what will happen unless you put yourself into play in this world, and you’ll never know your full potential until you tune your most of sensitive senses to the lurking wave on the horizon. But you have to be proactive about it. All waves are hard to see when you’re just having a beer on shore.

Cutting a deal with some Baathist general may have been the call

2011-07-29T12:59:00.000-07:00

Hey! Look what's going on in Egypt right now: tens of thousands of Islamists are organizing (peacefully) in Tahrir square in Cairo. More importantly, they are getting ready for a democratic election, and are showing their support and unity and face to the public.

Now . . . remember Iraq. Just think if we (the US and Brittan) cut a deal with some Baathist general and kept the Iraqi military apparatus together. Could we have seen a similar thing in Iraq as we see in Egypt today: the old regimes military providing general security, while elections are held, promoting slow change, the return of exiles, and a chance for political parties to compete with ideas, not guns?

Maybe I'm just out to lunch here.

Rory Stewart: "What are we doing in Afghanistan?"

2011-07-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know about the TED talks, well, they are really great. It's perhaps one of those small things that breed public intellectualism in the good old US of A. And why not? Ideas are something that is healthy for a democracy . . . especially one as powerful as this one: America.

So check out Rory Stewart. I should also say that Stewart and his book, The Places In Between, was highly influential in my thinking about surfing from Israel to Lebanon. He popularized the notion of going into the world, not as some adventure-junky stunt, but from intellectual curiosity, and the desire to see things for yourself. Stewart walked across Afghanistan just after the Taliban fell.

Muslims & Jews in San Francisco - can a CIRCUMCISION BAN bring them together?

2011-07-26T16:09:00.000-07:00

I was just in San Francisco and ONLY in San Francisco can you find a public issue that brings the Muslims and Jews together . . . this: a proposed CIRCUMCISION BAN. Watch below:

What I'm doing now that my book is being edited . . .

2011-07-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

From the Surfing the Middle East Facebook Fan Page:

Just rode my KLR650 from San Diego to San Fransisco, stopping in Santa Barbara and Big Sur, taking HWY 1 over half the trip. What a coast we have here in California. What a coast.

I should also say that I've just arrived in San Francisco . . . here for an art show, a few meetings, a few friends, and of course, see what new apps are out there! (Note: I did see some great surf along HWY 1 today, but no surfboard on the KLR650! Tho I'd be open to a rack . . . ideas anyone?)

A model for work & life, by Paul Orfalea

2011-07-18T15:11:00.000-07:00

My dear friend and former roommate from China called me today. His name? Drago.

We talked about a lot of things, mostly what he's going to do when he moves to New Zealand with his girlfriend for nine months. (If anyone has any ideas, let us know!)

Anyway, he asked what was going on with me, and I told him about my publishing company, Casbah Publishing, and the "digital distribution" strategy I have for bringing my apps and books to market. Drago, in response, laughed with approval, and uttered something Paul Orfalea said about being successful:

In your twenties, try everything;
in your thirties, figure out what you're good at;
in your forties, make money;
in your fifties, do what you want.

I've been thinking about this for an hour now. I'm going to get back to editing the second draft of my book, so I can pack up my KLR 650 motorcycle 2mar0 and head from San Diego Country up to San Fransisco to visit Zack, the dude who designed the picture insert for Surfing the Middle East (the hardcover). But until then, think about what old Paul said, and if you think it'd be something you'd subscribe too. Because it seems great to me!

Made me smile today, thank you Hanan Ashrawi

2011-07-14T13:15:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in a Starbucks in San Diego country right now. I just sent out to two copies of the second draft of my book, Surfing the Middle East: Deviant Journalism from the Lost Generation, for testimonials. And then . . . I pulled up Al-Jazeera on my computer and started watching those wonderful videos they have at the bottom of their website. But the one I"m talking about is "Palestinians' UN bid gets a boost."

And what made me smile was Hanan Ashrawi. The fierce, secular, Palestinian grandmother and member of the Legislative Council. Her whit, ability to have absolute command on history and the facts, and her non-emotional skill in this debate-style interview really gave me a glimmer of hope. It was sort of a reminder that there are plenty of seemingly capable, non-Islamists lunatics who are ready to take over IF AND WHEN the Palestinians actually get a state. It would be Israel's best security interest to give them one . . . putting people like Hanan in charge. I also just love how you can hear the call to prayer in the background during the last seconds of the interview . . . takes me back!

Surfing in Israel, the movie

2011-07-14T10:56:00.000-07:00

This video represents everything cool and alluring about surfing in Israel. I highly endorse giving it a watch, and think that the main dude, Hani, is surfing in Jaffa, just below Tel Aviv. (Note that I mostly stayed up in the Haifa area, north of that.) I also really like the filter they used on this video too . . . very "new Middle East."

Hani Surfboards from Russell Brownley on Vimeo.

Why self-publishing Surfing the Middle East is BETTER

2011-07-10T21:05:00.000-07:00

OK guys, so I've taken some time to write about the entrepreneurial spirit of how I'm bringing my hardcover book and apps to market--and I'm very close to leaking my publishing company's Executive Summary on this blog--but before I do, let me share a theory and tactic that makes my model for self-publishing better than traditional publishing.

Simply, it's believing in the visual aspect of the project. In doing so, Zentro Media and I created the Surfing the Middle East iPad app. Additionally, I've found a wonderful graphics dude (straight out of college and couldn't find a job, like me) who I've hired, and we are drafting a 16-page, color insert that will go in the middle of my hardcover book.

I mean, you wanna see the trip, right? You wanna see pictures from the places I describe in my journy of surfing from Israel to Lebanon, right?" Here is a draft of what we've done thus far:

For published excerpts of Surfing the Middle East, CLICK HERE.

Bullfight in Tijuana (Fouth of July)

2011-07-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

Well . . . my Black Laptop finally uploaded the videos from the Tijuana bullfight. And yes, that is how we celebrated the Fourth of July weekend here in sunny San Diego, CA.

Frankly, it was a bad week. First, I got worse food poisoning than anything I got in the Middle East. Second, I went to visit my younger brother in the hospital after a malicious surfing accident. Then, I got stung by a stingray, and the IRS messed up my taxes and sent a few nasty letters threatening to foreclose on some of my vital organs.

So, one might ask in a similar situation, what does one do? Nothing like a Tijuana bullfight to ease the bummer. And honestly, guys, it's not some savage, sick-joy kind of thing. It's very cultural. Taking you back a few hundred years to an event that isn't Indian-Mexican, but Spanish-Mexican . . . and yes, for you gringos out there, there is a difference. Below are the videos from the Fourth of July weekend in Playas de Tijuana and the old Spanish days of Mexican's roots.

And just in case any of that isn't over-the-top enough for you, here is my friend Kasey and I "honoring a sick chicken:"

Tijuana Bullfights and Terry Rossio

2011-07-06T11:42:00.001-07:00

OK guys, what I'm doing right now is sitting on the couch working on the final edits for Surfing the Middle East. When I'm doing in the other room is uploading YouTube videos from the Fourth of July weekend here in North Country San Diego . . . where my cohorts and I went to a Tijuana bullfight.

And I know what you're thinking . . . so savage man, why kill a bull?

My response? Well, it's a lot more than that. It's actually the kind of thing that takes you back to the Old Spanish Days, spiting the difference for us gringos between Indian-Mexican Things & Spanish-Mexican Things. Of course none of this was an issue 500 years ago . . . No Spanish. Yet.

So while I'm uploading, I thought I'd 1) share a picture of my twin black laptop work station where I separate media from book writing, and 2) share one of the best things I've ever read on writing, sent to me by my friend and editor, Donna Beech.

Screenwriter Terry Rossio is being interviewed by John Robert Marlow. Click here for his blog and the full interview.

JRM: It’s been said that nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. So other than the obviousan abundance of talentwhat do you believe makes you different from other writers?

Terry Rossio: Ah, great question. I don’t know the answer to that right off. But you’ve made another questionable presumption. I do believe there are writers with “an abundance of talent” … that would be Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, David E. Kelley, Theodore Sturgeon, Rod Serling, etc. Their first drafts are brilliant and they have a high level of output. Let me tell you, I do not belong in that category.

I’m just an average writer. But I’ve learned the trick of applying what talent I possess many times over to a project, elevating it a little each time. What you do is create from a personal, subjective viewpoint, and then assess what you’ve done from an objective, audience viewpoint, and then switch back to creating, and then back to assessing, etc. Essentially, I am an abundantly talented editor.

* * *
JRM: What goes through your head when you sit down to write? What are you thinking?

Terry Rossio: Well, okay. Starting from the beginning …

The first issue to me, and most important, is whether the concept is intrinsically compelling. I like to feel with absolute certainty that the fundamental idea is, without a doubt, an exceptional premise, without question.

Next, I would ponder exactly WHY the concept is compelling.

This is kind of like examining a diamond from every angle under different lighting, against different backdrops. Yes, you know it’s pretty, but what makes it so? And how does it achieve its beauty, and could it be enhanced even more?

... Right away [my writing partner] Ted and I start to see key images. There is nearly always a series of filmic images naturally associated with every good film idea. As those images come we try to think of ways to link them or group them, to write toward them and away from them … a plot starts to form.
(It’s sad when-much later on-one of the early, key images drops out, or falls away from the spine of the eventual storyline.)

Next I spend time thinking about the All-Important SECOND IDEA.

Since I fear working on something that isn’t great or compelling from the start, I want to stack the deck in our favour by taking the first inspiration and going past it, add to it with a second inspiration.

This is hard to describe because it could be ‘adding’ or ‘merging’ the first concept with another concept or it could be coming up with some twist that derives from the original idea and pushes it further. At all times we keep thinking, ‘how can we push this’ more than what we have already? Can we do the entire concept in the first thirty pages, and then go from there, and really blow the audience away? Again, this is all fear-based … is it good enough? No, not yet, it can get better, we can do more …

Then I shouldn’t go too far without starting to think about the main character relationship or relationships. (Note, not the main character, or characters, their histories and such. That’s not so important. To me, the relationship between characters is what needs to be defined, those are the moments audiences want to watch, and the actual characters can be adjusted to make the main relationship or relationships the most interesting). That leads to thinking about what kind of character, and character situation, is best to mine the concept, or take best advantage of the concept or tell the story.

Next. As always, I would try to think of ways to push the characters into extremes.

Because this is my personal weak point, I worry that my characters are too timid, or bland; too much a reflection of myself ... meaning my actual self or the self I wish to present to the world ... Not enough a reflection of my hidden self, my fears, experiences, dreams, wishful thinking, intuition, hang-ups and psychoses.

Or at the least, not compelling or unique enough [compared to others], like the world’s greatest detective (Sherlock Holmes) or a man ages backward from birth (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) or a man who lives 2000 years (Lazarus Long); etc.

Next, I start to explore umbrella situations (overall themes that are simple and so allow for complex exploration) as well as interesting sub-situations.

My goal from page one is to present whatever the story is in a series of ‘characters in situations’ where the information and issues appear as a side effect of people dealing with immediate problems--with no relief.

Then I ask myself: Have you made the mistake of making the secondary characters more interesting than the leads?

Early in the process I want to focus on the ending. Nothing else matters, nothing will happen, no project will be begun or get anywhere or make any progress at all until the ending is known. If there is no satisfying ending, or at least the glimmer of one, then the idea will sit on the shelf.

Good endings are hard. But once you have it, then everything else derives from the ending, because it’s all about setting up that final twist, or emotion, or feeling, or thematic statement, or rush of excitement, or chill, or brilliant payoff, or sublime wisdom, or whatever.

.... It’s almost impossible to have the makings of a story without a theme implied, but next you ask: Is the theme trite? Is the opposite of the obvious theme more interesting? Or is there an entirely different theme that is actually better, more sublime, more compelling?

Then ... What is a compelling opening image?

At some point, after having a few scenes and images in mind, some characters, I would start to wonder: What is the point of view?

It usually starts off flying all over the place to explore the story, but is there some way to limit the point of view that would actually enhance the telling of the story? (What if we revealed stuff from this character instead, how does that change the emphasis, how does that change the unfolding narrative from the audience’s point of view?)

At some point I would also double check:
Is the setting right?
What if I changed the gender of my lead, would it matter?
What if I opened at the end instead of the beginning?
Would the whole thing be better if the leads were ten years old?
These are just routine questions used to double check the whole creative process, shake things up, and make sure I’m fully exploring all options.

I might ask: Is this all really best suited as a screenplay … is it really a novel, a short story, or a play, or a comic book or a television series just masquerading as a feature screenplay?

I would also double check: Have I fulfilled, but also exceeded, the genre? If it’s a horror film is it actually scary, if it’s a romance is it actually romantic? What are the reference films (and books) the audience will bring to this to measure it by?

I would wonder: Does it require a character as villain or is it not that type of film? Is the conflict imbedded in one person? ... What if the villain turned out to be the hero? What if we told the story from the point of view of the villain?

Again, these are just questions I would ask to assure myself I’m not missing some obvious opportunity.

Hopefully then I’d have enough answers to start getting into the story problem solving.

Then I would start to generate ongoing patterns: Character relationships. Setting up reversals. I would want to build in Surprises.

I play around a lot with the lines of force which just means tracking each character through the story, understanding that each would continue toward the path of what they want, unless their wants change. But all their actions are a result of intent and intent comes from desire. If I want the plot to work, the character’s desires have to be designed as such...

Over and again, I ask: What’s cool? What’s a cool sequence? Cool character? A cool line of dialogue? A cool set, a cool exchange, a cool sequence? A cool relationship? What’s a cool demise? What’s a cool fight sequence, a cool visual? A cool opening image?

Repeat this whole process several times, as needed, until in an excruciatingly slow process, each solution asserts itself and declares itself, ‘good’ and finally, when everything is good ... or you run out of time ... it’s done.

THEN you can start writing.

QR Codes & digital distribution

2011-07-02T14:33:00.001-07:00

Part of my "digital distribution" philosophy with Surfing the Middle East is to integrate my hardcover book with my digital products . . . mainly, the iPad & iPhone app.

One way to do that is with QR codes. What is a QR code? View below:

Simply, QR codes allow you to take out your smartphone and snap a picture, effectively scanning it, redirecting you to the App Store or mobile website. Think of it like scanning something at a grocery store, but with your phone.

Inside the dust jacket flaps of my book there will be two of these funny-looking codes. And when people scan them, they'll connect people to the iPad app and promotional iPhone app that I have yet to dive into on this blog. Though that will be soon!

So there it is, just another tool within the concept of digital distribution. And for those new to the site, "digital distribution" is the term I'm using for selling my paper books and apps for Surfing the Middle East online. NO BOOKSTORES NEEDED. Putting prospective buys within a click of buying. A new model for authors.

Wall near West Bank village moves? (small excerpt)

2011-06-27T20:20:00.000-07:00

In my book, the chapter The Battle of Bil'in, is about this very place . . . again making international media. But this time, however, the story has changed. The Wall is moving. Is this a good thing?

(Taken in the summer of 2007, while covering the battle of Bil'in)

From Surfing the Middle East:

“Filistine Arabya! Flilstine Arabya!” continued the crowd. And I finally left my nook behind the wall and darted along the side of the protest to where Jared and As-Salibi were waiting. They were stopped, right under one of the larger olive tress, adjacent to where the “PRESS REUTERS” Chevy was now parked.

Quivering like a fiend, I kept adjusting my elevation near the wall. I was trying to figure out exactly how low—or how high—I should squat as the Bil’in mob approached. The left knee of my worn blue jeans tore when I ducked down too fast. Fuck it! I’ll switch my camera to video and let this crazed mob pass. And slowly, they did: old Palestinian men in bland suits and white checkered kuffyias, middle-aged men with Palestinian flags attached to broomsticks (one carrying the shield of his fallen comrade), kids whose mothers had wrapped their faces with scarves. And there where the Westerners. One guy, about my age wearing surf sandals, shorts and some kind of ridiculous name brand sunglasses, like he was headed to a drunken beach bash in California. I recognized him from the gruff Palestinian man’s apartment.

Surfing the Middle East: Deviant Journalism from the Lost Generation

2011-06-25T23:34:00.001-07:00

Over the years, Blogging the Casbah has been a number of things. And soon, it shall morph again . . . into a daily/weekly account of something that I'm calling "digital distribution", a strategy for self-publishing, giving the author full control, doing all the business, and keeping the entire margin with the exception of fulfillment. More on that soon. But until then, I'd like to share the hardcover graphic our team came up with for the Surfing the Middle East paper book.

Do you like it?

The Scoop on Mark Zuckerberg & Facebook

2011-06-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

Speaking of Facebook, I was reading today why Mark Zuckerberg didn't sell it. Apparently he was offered 1.5 billion for it from Michael J. Wolf, former CEO of MTV Networks, and kindly refused. Why? Here it is from Michael's own words:

Mark had taken me on a walk around Palo Alto and shown me his apartment. And afterwards we sat down for lunch and I told him we’d be willing to pay as much as a billion-and-a-half dollars to buy Facebook outright. His answer was I think it’s worth a lot more, and besides, you’ve seen my apartment, I don’t really need that kind of money, and at the same time, I may never have an idea as good as this one, so I’m not that interested in selling.

Presently, Facebook is worth far more than a billion and a half dollars, with some of the latest valuations putting it at over $100 billion.

The Surfing the Middle East Facebook fan page

2011-06-20T14:45:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I'm having the time of my life updating my Facebook fan page with cool videos, project updates, and general smartassery. Such statements include:

Jesse Aizenstat: I'm sure going to miss this page . . . off to Mexico to buy a guitar:

Jewish past found in Libya

2011-06-18T22:56:00.000-07:00

From the Lebanese Daily Star (and thank god for their new non-glitchy website):

TRIPOLI, Libya: What was once the most beautiful synagogue in Libya's capital city can now be entered only by sneaking through a hole smashed in a back wall, climbing over dusty trash and crossing a stairwell strewn with abandoned shoes to a space occupied by cooing pigeons.

The synagogue, Dar al-Bishi, was once the center of a prosperous Jewish community, one whose last remnants were expelled decades ago in the early days of Moammar Gadhafi's regime.

10 crazy-cool places that people no longer live in

2011-06-15T23:48:00.000-07:00

I know this has nothing to do with technology, ebooks, iPads, surfing, the Middle East, or literary craft, but this is really cool:

Top 10 Abandoned Places

Ma'an also thinks Hezbollah is the story

2011-06-14T23:08:00.001-07:00

I was reading an online article at my beloved Bethlehem-based news wire, the Ma'an news agency, an saw a headline that mimicked the New York Times . . . and also mimicked its error.

The title of the NYT piece: In Lebanon, New Cabinet Is Influenced by Hezbollah
The title of the Ma'an piece: Hezbollah dominates new Lebanon govt

The story of the Lebanese bypass in forming a government is not about Hezbollah. As a comment on the Ma'an article asks,

"why do you at ma'aan always parrot the western news.?? hizbullah are only the 3rd or 4th largest of about 13 parties in the bloc they are part of."

Another comment:

"This story is complete non sense. The biggest winner by far in the new cabinet is the Free Patriotic Movement with 10 cabinet posts - the FPM is an overwhelmingly Maronite Catholic party, with significant Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic, and Armenian; The second biggest bloc in Cabinet is Progressive Socialist Party, sister party to British Labour Party, Australia Labor Party - Hizbullah has 2 Ministers (TWO out of 30)"

I still hold firm that the story here is Syria and its new-found desire for Lebanese stability. And just to see what's going on in Syria right now, here is good old #JoshuaLandis on the situation. Sound off in the comments if you disagree.

Update: I think the most interesting thing Dr. Landis says is that there seems to be model that either the military has to break loyalty or a foreign force has to come into play. So what's next?

Lebanon forms a government

2011-06-14T00:17:00.000-07:00

Yes, after five months of waiting, Lebanon has finally formed a government. And according to the New York Times, the big story here is that Hezbollah is going to be a big part of it. But I don't see it that way. The bigger deal is why Lebanon has a government NOW.

The reason?

Because Syria is in chaos and the Assad government needs to focus everything it has inside Syria. Ever since Syrian refugees were overflowed into Lebanon to escape political violence last week, things have changed, and lining up some Lebanese thugs (politicians) to run the place seems more attractive than ever.

Funny how fast a government can be stitched together in Beirut when Syria is for it. Also funny: how much longer it takes when the West tries to do the very same thing.

Pic of the day from Egypt

2011-06-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

Thank you As-Salibi (a staring character in Surfing the Middle East) for posting this on Facebook and sharing.

Future/Canvas iPad Art Show in San Francisco

2011-06-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

So I took the time to make a San Fransisco trip last weekend . . . and it proved to be well worth my while as an author with an enhanced media iPad app. Yes, there were people from all over. Most of all, there were artists from across the digital art spectrum; folks that actually make art on those touch screen tablets . . . the iPad.

Future/Canvas was very, very cool.

Social Media

2011-06-08T21:09:00.000-07:00

Social Media.

Whoa. There it is again! Like Jesus invented it or something . . . but seriously, that's what it seems like these days. Whenever I go to events, people talk about this loose alliance of mostly free websites that link each other as if they actually changed the world. Even Qifa Nabki has alluded to it. (Or maybe not?) Click here for his post.

Bottom line: If I may be so subjective, social media is only as effective as the people using it. It has not been this so-called linchpin that caused unrest across the Middle East, but it certainly has helped get the word out, via #hashtags and other tools.

Here's a secret: Nobody liked Ben Ali of Tunisia anyway, and when that despot fell, Egyptians (and everyone else) started to belive that their populous revolts could actually bring change.

Social media is that a ripple in the sea. It didn't invent it.

UPDATE: Interesting blog post on "free ebook theory".

Free iPad codes for Surfing the Middle East

2011-06-06T09:21:00.000-07:00

Today . . . yes, today. Today I am going to the Future/Canvas iPad art show in San Francisco. There will be a lot of apps & art featured; one of which will be the Magic Window app, which might be the best use for a spare buck I've seen in awhile.

I'm also going to be showing off some of the in-app art for Surfing the Middle East at the event--and in anticipation for going, my publisher, Zentro Media, has given me a bunch of free codes for downloading the app. If you want one, send me an email. I'd also appreciate it if you would review the app in the Apple Store in exchange.

As of now, thirty are left . . . get 'em while I have 'em!

Moving through Jerusalem with a surfboard (from Israel to Lebanon)

2011-05-28T11:14:00.000-07:00

Well gang, I've been showing up to a number of events lately (#StartupSB) and people have been asking, "So literally, how do you travel with a surfboard in the Middle East." And I reply . . . it's exactly how you think.

This is a media excerpt from the Surfing the Middle East iPad App:

The Generation of Broken Dreams (TV show?)

2011-05-24T07:43:00.000-07:00

The Generation of Broken Dreams

By Jesse Aizenstat

Since the Great Depression Americans have looked forward to a better standard of living than their parents. A better job market. A better way of life. It has been known around the world as something “distinctly American.” Now, times have changed.

The Generation of Broken Dreams dives into the gritty personal stories of young Americans who went to college, got a degree, and now face a job market that feels hopelessly crowded. Few options. But tough times for these bright young graduates doesn’t necessarily mean bad times. For these young Americans, it is the very prospect of NOT getting a job after college that pushed them to explore their entrepreneurial spirit (something that perhaps they never would have found otherwise).

Hosted by Jesse Aizenstat, author of Surfing the Middle East: “It’s like Maui with rockets”, The Generation of Broken Dreams is in itself a product of The Generation. Aizenstat’s work is truly the first attempt to examine these issues from the inside. He is as serious as he is entertaining, and he draws on humor to follow the same formula he used in Surfing the Middle East: “first entertain, then educate.”

The Generation of Broken Dreams will be packed with the looming danger of real-life issues such as no healthcare, college loans and the sheer terror of going bankrupt. The adrenaline of these characters will give the show a risk-taking, against-all-odds kind of feel. A real-life dose that isn’t afraid to spend time with a whiskey bottle—into the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Strange places, foreign places, all places—anywhere that these young Americans went to find their ingenuity will be explored and experienced.

The American Dream is still out there… but only for those young Americans daring enough to dream it.

Update: Some of you folk have written in asking if "we" are making this TV show on The Generation of Broken Dreams. The answer, unfortunately, is NO . . . though I'm working on it.

Arianna Huffington's Address to Sarah Lawrence College's Class of 2011

2011-05-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

"There is, however, a silver lining to graduating in such tough economic times. Conventional wisdom says that today's graduates are going to be less likely to take chances, less likely to pass up the safe bird in the hand, but, in fact, there is now a higher premium on taking risks and following your dreams, creating your job instead of just looking for one."

--Arianna Huffington

What will unemployed young college grads do in the United States of America?

2011-05-21T11:56:00.001-07:00

When we talk about the reason I surfed from Israel to Lebanon, well, there is the clear-hell obvious question of "Why?" (in fact, I almost named the Preface in the book that). One of the main reasons was that the U.S. job market was in the worst shape since The Great Depression . . . and there were few options that May 2009, few places for America's college grads to go.

Part of what I'm "selling" in Surfing the Middle East is that these economic hard times have historically proven to be the golden era for artists and entrepreneurs alike . . . and on the production level, that has been Surfing the Middle East. (Don't know what I'm talking about? I've just started Casbah Publishing to own my work, and click here.)

I should also say that I've hired a graph designer to make a 16-page color insert in the Surfing the Middle East hardcover book that will incorporate pictures, maps and graphics from the entire trip . . . a sort of high-quality colleague of sorts . . . that is significantly more in depth than nearly any publishing house I've talked to--or know about--would do.

Both Arianna Huffington & The New York Times have produced articles this week on what I'm calling The Generation of Broken Dreams: the kids who went to college, put in the hours, and find themselves better off working the same two-bit service gig they had in high school.

From Arianna:

This actually isn't all that surprising, given the skyrocketing cost of tuition, which has been going up at an annual rate of 5 percent. According to a briefing paper by the Economic Policy Institute, in 2008-2009, the total cost of attending college on-campus was over $18,000 for those going to a public school, and over $38,000 for those at a private school. When you consider that over the same period the median household income in the U.S. was $49,777, it's not hard to see why even a public college is out of reach for so many American families, at least without going deeply into debt.

And the job market won't be doing the Class of 2011 any favors in helping to repay that debt. According to EPI, the unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 24 in 2010 was 18.4 percent, the highest it's been since the number has been tracked, going back 60 years. From April of last year until March of this year, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates hovered around 9.7 percent. In 2007, it was just over 5 percent. And while the fact that we're still clawing our way out of a recession affects those figures, at roughly the same point in the last two recessions -- 1992 and 2003 -- the unemployment rate for new grads was 6.9 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively.

And from the New York Times:

Now evidence is emerging that the damage wrought by the sour economy is more widespread than just a few careers led astray or postponed. Even for college graduates — the people who were most protected from the slings and arrows of recession — the outlook is rather bleak.
Employment rates for new college graduates have fallen sharply in the last two years, as have starting salaries for those who can find work. What’s more, only half of the jobs landed by these new graduates even require a college degree, reviving debates about whether higher education is “worth it” after all.
“I have friends with the same degree as me, from a worse school, but because of who they knew or when they happened to graduate, they’re in much better jobs,” said Kyle Bishop, 23, a 2009 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh who has spent the last two years waiting tables, delivering beer, working at a bookstore and entering data. “It’s more about luck than anything else.”

So it is out of This Picture that surfing from Israel to Lebanon--and trying to tell the story of the Middle East through surfing--seemed like a good idea. And sweet hell, why not?

Aluf Benn on Bibi from the Knesset

2011-05-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

Jeffery Goldberg has already taken the liberty of posting this "chilling" review of Bib's assessment of the Middle East of late. So, I'll do it again. And yes, "chilling" is the word to use.

Bibi's Knesset speech from Aluf Benn:

Netanyahu's situation assessment is chilling. The Middle East is in the throes of instability. Iran and its allies, Hezbollah and Hamas - "the new oppressor," as Netanyahu called them, using a word reserved for some of the greatest villains in Jewish history - seek to destroy Israel and the Jewish people. Israel has no Palestinian partner for negotiations and a peace agreement, and there will be no such partner in the years ahead.

In the pivotal portion of his speech, Netanyahu referred to the Palestinian girl at the Nakba Day demonstration in Bil'in who held a large key. "Every Palestinian understands what key this is. It is not the key to their homes in Bil'in or Nablus or Ramallah, it is the key to our homes in Jaffa, Acre, Haifa and Ramle." The message is clear: We are fighting for our homes. "They" want to get rid of us and establish Palestine on the ruins of Israel. Now is the time to dig in and and fight them.

Update: I'm sorry. That's too depressing to leave as a post. In other news, I was up in San Francisco this weekend, hangin' & drinkin' with some buddies and talking about things. Anyway, check out my friend Zack's art. King Hell Bastard quality, for sure. Very Ralph Steadman.

performance of military

2011-05-18T00:36:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed this part of Abu Muqawama's post today. I enjoyed the rest of it, too.

Note: There is a vocal segment of this blog's readership that gets all bent out of shape when I dispassionately write about the IDF in the same way I would any other military organization. (Because, you know, "Don't Forget Palestine!" etc.) There is another segment of this readership that gets bent out of shape when I dispassionately write about Hizballah or Hamas in the same way I would any other military organization. (Because, you know, Islam! 9/11! Terror! etc.) All of you need to chill. Trying to analyze and write about the performance of military organizations in as value-neutral a way as possible is part of my job.]

Aid in Africa, editorialized by Paul Theroux

2011-05-17T10:29:00.001-07:00

Well . . . according to my Facebook page for Surfing the Middle East, Rolf Potts, someone who I've got to know from emails and his wonderful book (Vagabonding), has interviewed another travel writer, Paul Theroux.

I remember reading some gibberish by Theroux in some college class, where Paul was on some bus in some African country, talking to some young idealistic women about some reason why she wanted to come to Africa. My teacher at the time sort of came down on Theroux for riding her ass about the concept of African aid, basically amounting to the fact that most do it for their own reasons, and in the process end up doing as much harm as good to the traditional societies they work in.

Anyway, I had completely forgotten about this little episode from my college days, but in reading Rolf's interview of grumpy old Paul, I remembered exactly. And to go further, perhaps old Paul has a point. I think he does. (Though he could have been nicer to that girl on the bus.)

From the interview in the Atlantic:

Speaking of books that contain an element of travel, Greg Mortenson's bestseller about Central Asia was in the news recently. Were you surprised by the allegations that Three Cups of Tea contained fabrications?

No, I wasn't. One of the things the Tao of Travel shows is how unforthcoming most travel writers are, how most travelers are. They don't tell you who they were traveling with, and they're not very reliable about things that happened to them. For example, everyone loved John Steinbeck's book Travels With Charley. Turns out he didn't travel alone, his wife kept meeting him, yet she was never mentioned in the book. Steinbeck didn't go to all the places he mentioned, nor did he meet all the people he said he met. In other words, Travels With Charley is fiction, or at least half-fiction. As for Three Cups of Tea, I think that philanthropists and humanitarians are even less forthcoming about what they do. I guess this guy did build a couple of schools in Afghanistan, but a self-promoting humanitarian is not someone I have a great deal of trust or belief in. I lived for six years in Africa and I've been to Africa numerous times since then. People build schools for their own reasons—not to improve a country.

The people I've known who've done great things of that type—you know, building hospitals, running schools—are very humble people. They give their lives to the project. Missionaries get a bad rap, but I've known missionaries in Africa who were very self-sacrificing and humble and who did great things. They ran schools, hospitals, libraries; they helped people. Some wrote dictionaries and translated languages that hadn't been written down. I saw a lot of missionaries in Africa that were doing that, and you would never know their names; they came and did their work, and now they're buried there.

Protests in Aleppo

2011-05-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

For a long time you didn't see protests in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. It was calm. And a while ago it was thought that the reason for this is that Syria's second most populous city didn't have an Alawite population, nearly all of whom receive absurd social handout. Thus, the population of Aleppo--mostly Armenian Christians and Sunni Muslims--lived in a sort of non-the-presidents-sect ignorance, as they couldn't see how uneven Syrian society actually was.

That was the theory. And while it may have some strong gravity to it, there now have been protests in Aleppo reported . . . so as to what's really going on there, I haven't a clue. (Hint: I don't think anyone does.)

Limmits of American democracy

2011-05-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

It's been a year and a half since I've been in the Middle East now--and it's funny how my mind starts to change about the place. I suppose you can't blame people who study a place they haven't been in for awhile. They fall into abstractness. That's one thing I'm always so impressed with when I arrive in Middle East, or for that mater anywhere else I study: I remember the general disconnect between my personal experience on the ground versus what it seemed like from afar.

I've always appreciated Michael Scheuer's views on the Middle East; he is as realistic as he is pragmatic and he seems unafraid of talking about the limits of American power.

Islamists in Jordan Mourn Bin Laden, Consider Him a Hero, and Distribute Sweets in Maan

2011-05-13T14:48:00.001-07:00

After events in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya, different constituencies in the Arab world are beginning to express themselves with increasing confidence. One such group and perhaps the most prominent of them is the Salafis, particularly Salafi-Jihadis.

We saw the Salafis come into the limelight even a few months prior to the Egyptian revolution with the whole Camelia Shehata ordeal. Then we saw the jihadists among them come out into the streets in Jordan following the protests there. What was scary was that they started chanting in support of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and also stabbed a bunch of policemen.

Egypt has always had a certain element of sectarian tension that plays into the Salafi-Jihadis' hands. In Jordan, however, I wasn't aware of the apparent appeal and spread of Salafi-Jihadism.

Below is an article I translated from Ammon News. Ammon carried the article, but it's initially from Al-Jazeera. It's the second in a translation series I hoped to do much more frequently....

Islamists in Jordan Mourn Bin Laden, Consider Him a Hero, and Distribute Sweets in Maan

Jordanian Salafi-Jihadi activitists congratulated the Ummah for “the martyrdom of Osama bin Laden,” whereas the Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood said that bin Laden “went down the path that he chose,” amidst of an official caution [from the Brotherhood] of dealing with the repercussions of the AQ leader.

The prominent Salafi-Jihadi activist Abu Quteba Al-Majali mentioned that members of the movement had not confirmed the truth of the news of Bin Laden’s death, except to say that “Bin Laden is a curse upon the Americans, the Jews, their allies, and those who support them everywhere.”

Al-Majali, who accompanied Bin Laden from 1986 to 1991 in Afghanistan, congratulated the Ummah for the “martyrdom of Bin Laden, who Allah dignified by taking him as a martyr while fighting the enemy.”

The Jihad Continues

Concerning the influence of Bin Laden’s departure on jihadi movements, Al-Majali expressed that “Jihad will last until judgment day as God showed us.”

Sources from the movement told Al-Jazeera that a number of activists distributed sweets in Maan (250 km south of Amman), celebrating “the martyrdom of Bin Laden. “

Another source said “Distiribution of sweets in some of Maan’s markets is what happens when the people receive news of their sons’ martyrdom in Iraq, and that’s [also] what happened with Osama bin Laden.”

Even more sources noted the closure of stores in Salt, west of Amman, and the flying of black banners mourning “the martyrdom of Osama bin Laden.”

Muslim Brotherhood

The offical speaker for the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, Jameel Abu Baker told Al-Jazeera that “Osama bin Laden, God have mercy on him, chose his path and he knew its end and the cost of confronting and resisting America and its dictator allies in the region.” He followed: “We differed with Osama Bin Laden in his methods, but he did hold on to his principles to the last moment, and stood strong in confronting a global power for ten years without any concessions on his beliefs.”

In the opinion of the Brotherhood leader, the phenomenon led by Bin Laden “will not die down with his killing or his martyrdom, and we believe that as long as there is oppression and aggression then there will be resistance, with a multiplicity of approaches to this resistance.”

He said that “the solution to stopping the violence is not to kill Bin Laden or other leaders of Al-Qaeda, but in stopping its causes, for example the aggression against Muslim countries and their resources and intervention in their affairs, and that [the movement] seeks to change their reality for the better by ending corruption and dictatorship and stopping the violence of American-backed regimes on their peoples.”

The Popularity of Bin Laden

In the opinion of Mohamad Abu Raman, a political analyst and expert in Islamist groups, Osama Bin Laden enjoys popularity in the Jordanian street when compared to Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi.

Raman said to Al-Jazeera “Polls showed that Bin Laden was popular even after the Amman bombings that Al-Zarqawi took credit for in 2005,” pointing to Bin Laden’s lack of connection to actions or statements against Jordan and the focus of his speeches on America, Jews, and Western powers.

As for the position of Jordan, who is a main ally of the United States in what it calls its war on terror, toward the killing of Bin Laden, Abu Raman expressed that Jordanian [government] interactions “will be careful with the fact that Bin Laden is not involved directly in operations or threats against Jordan as was the case with Al-Zarqawi.”

He added that “The Jordanian government’s official statement will be like that of other statements from governments allied with the United States,” but he signaled that Amman will take the killing of Bin Laden into consideration security-wise, where it will tighten procedures to prevent any revenge operations against American and Western interests in Jordan.

"Traditionally, empires ruled the Middle East...."

2011-05-10T13:26:00.001-07:00

One key difference between the Middle East and say, North America, is that there is a pre nation-state history that goes beyond the modern era. Syrians, for example, remember things prior to their French colonial days... in fact, they remember the French from a far earlier encounter:
The Crusades.

Anyway, I wanted to share this cool Flash video that shows a rough outline of Oriental empire hegemony. Rememer that this is only a "rough outline" and that there are plently of smaller empires and tribes that are left from the mix, but overall, these seem to be the ones we remember.

Israeli surf pic of the day!

2011-05-07T21:17:00.000-07:00

I really, really liked this one... I was going through the media archives today; so wonderful! Surfing the Med is truly and experience.

When art is free

2011-05-04T17:46:00.001-07:00

The News:

I've been busy pulling together all the elements that are required for truly self-publishing a book. And I say "truly" because many people go through one of the traditional "self-publishers" who end up taking ownership in your book, thus eliminating the entire point of self-publishing. So I've been busy building a team: 1 editor; 2 copy editors; a fact checker; a book producer; a book designer; a graphic designer who shall make the 12, glossy pages inside the book that has pictures of both the trip--from Israel to Lebanon--and the Book I portion that is the Surfing the Middle East iPad app. And that leaves out all the accounting; my lawyer; Surfing the Middle East producers & designers; and quotes and bids from PR firms, "brand marketers", and potential book distributors... oh, and the on-going hassling of high profile peeps to give testimonials.

Sound like a lot? It is. But worth it. Controlling the business of one's art has no price. Only then can the art be truly free.

In other news, I have little opinion on the assassination of Osama. Other than: Holy Jesus! He was about 40k outside Islamabad! Or in Surfing the Middle East terms, about the distance I surfed from northern Israel to southern Lebanon... and that, may I add, is not very far.

More soon guys, hang in there!