Tabsir Redux: Earth-shaking cleavage

Gender and Sexuality, Iran, Journalism and Media

Violence, scandal and sex: the media feed us a daily diet and we lap it up like faithful mutts willing to chase any sensationalized bone thrown our way. So when an Iranian cleric says something ludicrous to our sectarian ears, it is all the more newsworthy because it is so entertaining. But after the recent loss of life in Haiti, Chile and China, is it really a laughing matter when a far-off cleric blames natural disasters on God’s wrath over human behavior? Consider an AP story which broke on April 19 and was submitted, ironically, by a reporter with the first name of Scheherezade (her namesake could spin a tale almost to death). Here is the bait:

Iranian cleric: Promiscuous women cause quakes

By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI (AP) – Apr 19, 2010

BEIRUT — A senior Iranian cleric says women who wear revealing clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes.

Iran is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, and the cleric’s unusual explanation for why the earth shakes follows a prediction by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that a quake is certain to hit Tehran and that many of its 12 million inhabitants should relocate.

“Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes,” Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. Continue reading Tabsir Redux: Earth-shaking cleavage →

Which man will you buy a “Used” plot from?

Iran, Obama Administration, Terrorism Issue


The “very scary” Iranian Terror plot
by Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com, October 12, 2011

The most difficult challenge in writing about the Iranian Terror Plot unveiled yesterday is to take it seriously enough to analyze it. Iranian Muslims in the Quds Force sending marauding bands of Mexican drug cartel assassins onto sacred American soil to commit Terrorism — against Saudi Arabia and possibly Israel — is what Bill Kristol and John Bolton would feverishly dream up while dropping acid and madly cackling at the possibility that they could get someone to believe it. But since the U.S. Government rolled out its Most Serious Officials with Very Serious Faces to make these accusations, many people (therefore) do believe it; after all, U.S. government accusations = Truth. All Serious people know that. And in the ensuing reaction one finds virtually every dynamic typically shaping discussions of Terrorism and U.S. foreign policy.

To begin with, this episode continues the FBI’s record-setting undefeated streak of heroically saving us from the plots they enable. From all appearances, this is, at best, yet another spectacular “plot” hatched by some hapless loser with delusions of grandeur but without any means to put it into action except with the able assistance of the FBI, which yet again provided it through its own (paid, criminal) sources posing as Terrorist enablers. The Terrorist Mastermind at the center of the plot is a failed used car salesman in Texas with a history of pedestrian money problems. Dive under your bed. “For the entire operation, the government’s confidential sources were monitored and guided by federal law enforcement agents,” explained U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, and “no explosives were actually ever placed anywhere and no one was actually ever in any danger.’”
Continue reading Which man will you buy a “Used” plot from? →

Plot of the day

"Arab Spring", Iran, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism Issue


The Saudi ambassador to the US Adel al-Jubeir speaks during Middle East peace conference in Maryland in 2007

The news dominating coverage of the Middle East today catapults Iran and the Palestinians over the ongoing Arab Spring. Even the fact that tens of thousands of Syrians turned out in Damascus to support the Asad regime pales in relation to the James Bond scenario of Iranians, drinking tequila with Mexican drug runners in order to set up the assassination of the Saudi ambassador in Washington. It sounds like a movie plot, but then so does the whole Arab spring since February. American officials are acting as though they have slam-dunk proof, which is a dangerous sign when no one has seen even an iota of that proof apart from the allegations given by Attorney General Holder. And it seems the culprit has confessed, so what more needs to be said? The plot is plausible to most Americans, I suspect, because one expects Iran to engage in terrorism and the government officials in Iran despise the Saudis as much as they do the United States. It sure makes Eric Holder, who has come under blistering attack by Republican hawks, smell like a rose.

Also headlining the news today is the agreement between Israel and Hamas in which some 1,027 Palestinians being held in Israel jails will be exchanged for one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, captured some five years ago. And the plot thickens, because the exchange of 1000/1 is taken as a victory by both sides. The dark side is that such a deal reinforces the notion that Israel lives are more valuable than Palestinian lives at the same time as individuals are being freed rather than blown up. Given previous hard-line rhetoric of Netanyahu, the idea of such a trade also seems something dreamed up in a novel.

There are serious plots in which people die every day, such as more bombs in Iraq. And there are, in biblical terms, rumors of plots. These two events today would be earth-shaking on any day, but are especially ripe for punditry at this juncture in the region. What will the impact of this release mean on the Palestinian quest for statehood in the U.N.? What new sanctions can be brought out against Iran? And if the Saudi ambassador had been killed, along with a number of Americans, what would have been the response of the Obama administration? I can only imagine the re-election landslide if Obama and the Israelis were to successfully launch an attack to destroy Iran’s nuclear plant. He would be drinking tea all the way to a second term in the White House.

Let’s see what new plot unfolds tomorrow…

Lane’s Lexicon Online

CyberOrient, Languages

The indispensable, even though incomplete, Arabic-English lexicon of Edward Lane is available several places online. You can download online here. Or check out http://www.tyndalearchive.com/tabs/lane/ and http://www.studyquran.co.uk/LLhome.htm

I find it unfortunate that this Victorian era lexicon, valuable as it is, has never been completed in English. Many of the meanings that Lane provides are somewhat archaic and he is also quite arbitrary in what he chooses to record. So it is always advisable to use his text more as an index and then go to Lisan al-Arab, Taj al-Arus or one of his other important sources to see what the original says. The French variant by Kazimirski is also 19th century but at least is complete. Lisan al-Arab and several other lexicons are available and searchable online at http://www.baheth.info/ There are also several earlier Arabic-English lexicons available in pdf at archive.org. But the mother of all Arabic dictionaries, al-Zabidi’s Taj al-Arus is available either online or in pdf for the valuable Kuwait edition at http://www.archive.org/details/alhelawy09

Tea break

Food and Drink, Photography, Turkey


“Tea, made up from the blossoms of this fragrant tree [Linden] serves as an alternative to the caffeinated regular stuff. It’s supposed to be good for you, especially if you’re sick. Here, at this fancy cafe near Istiklal, it is served up in style.” Photo by Deniz.

Looking daily at the news about the Middle East has become frustrating because there is simply too much to digest. Take today, for example. Will more Copts be killed in riots in Egypt? Is Salih leaving Yemen or not? What about the young protester shot in Bahrain? Will Qaddafi be found in a bunker in Sirte? How many Syrians were arrested and will never be seen again? Is Palestine really going to be a state? And Tunis? Iran? And I have yet to mention Iraq, not to mention Afghanistan or Pakistan. There are times when it is nice to sit down with a calming cup of tea. The photo above is from a splendid website by the Turkish photographer Deniz. Enjoy.

Salih and Groucho: “Hello, I must be going”

"Arab Spring", Ali Abdullah Salih, Yemen, YouTube Watch


Get ready to roll the dice again. The almost off-again, persistently on-again Ali Abdullah Salih has once again signaled his stage exit. After some seven months of his citizens shouting “Irhal, ya Ali,” the embattled president of Yemen is once again on the ropes. When he announced yesterday that he would be handing over power, most Yemenis were somewhat skeptical. The old phrase “three times and you are out” rings true in American baseball but hardly in contemporary Yemeni politics. Nor does “the third time’s the charm” charm the majority of Yemenis who want a major change at the top. Does he mean it this time?

There is something about the roller coaster politics in Yemen this year that makes a perfect Marx Brothers (and I don’t include Karl in this family) movie. When I heard Salih’s latest swan song, I could not help but think of the classic song by Groucho Marx as Captain Spaulding: “Hello, I must be going”:

Hello, I must be going.
I cannot stay,
I came to say
I must be going.
I’m glad I came
but just the same
I must be going. Continue reading Salih and Groucho: “Hello, I must be going” →