Category: History

Mangled pronunciations

Arabic, phlegm and the battle of Tarf al-Ghar By David Shariatmadari, Thursday 24 March 2011 11.00 GMT … Az Zawiyah. Sana’a. Benghazi. Over the last few months, western commentators have had to get to grips with an array of confusing new words. We can assume that pronunciation units have been working through the night to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/03/24/mangled-pronunciations/

Sorry means never

It’s Blair I feel really sorry for By Mark Steel, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 … Isn’t it marvellous that all these governments are determined to do “something” about Colonel Gaddafi? For example Hillary Clinton said she supported military action once the Arab League – made up of countries such as Bahrain, Syria, Yemen and Saudi …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/03/23/sorry-means-never/

Morocco to Mesopotamia

Right across the Arab world, freedom is now a prospect By Robert Fisk, Tuesday, 22 March 2011 … In the dying days of the Ottoman empire, American diplomats – US consuls in Beirut, Jerusalem, Cairo and other cities – NGOs across the region and thousands of American missionaries, pleaded with the State Department and with …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/03/22/morocco-to-mesopotamia/

Repertoires of revolt

The globalisation of revolution By Tarak Barkawi, 21 Mar 2011 14:41 … To listen to the hype about social networking websites and the Egyptian revolution, one would think it was Silicon Valley and not the Egyptian people who overthrew Mubarak. Via its technologies, the West imagines itself to have been the real agent in the uprising. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/03/21/repertoires-of-revolt/

Bats in a box

First it was Saddam. Then Gaddafi. Now there’s a vacancy for the West’s favourite crackpot tyrant By Robert Fisk, Saturday, 19 March 2011 … So we are going to take “all necessary measures” to protect the civilians of Libya, are we? Pity we didn’t think of that 42 years ago. Or 41 years ago. Or… …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/03/19/bats-in-a-box/

Obama as a crypto-Muslim

Sharia threat bandwagon just keeps rolling on By Sarah Posner, Wednesday 16 March 2011 16.26 GMT … When South Carolina Republican Jeff Duncan went on a tirade about sharia law threatening the constitution at Peter King’s hearing on “The Extent of Radicalisation in the Muslim Community” last week, he provided a telling window into the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/03/16/obama-as-a-crypto-muslim/

Price tag for blood

You can put a mask on the Palestinian wild beast, such as a speaker who speaks fluent English. You can put it in a three-piece suit and a silk tie. But once in a while – when the moon is born, when a raven defecates on the head of a howling jackal, or when the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/03/13/price-tag-for-blood/