Category: The Middle East

David Barton

The following was adapted from an e-mail conversation with my pastor, following a December 12, 2010 front-page article in the Sentinel Record describing how David Barton was “brought” to Hot Springs by another pastor (who just happens to be the new mayor’s husband) for a rah-rah rally/revival to “energize and educate” Tea Party Republicans who recently routed …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2010/12/22/david-barton/

The way to Bethlehem

Adapted from the December 5, 2010 sermon “Whose peace?” by Rev. Rich Lang, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Seattle. The way to Bethlehem is not an easy path. It is not a safe journey. Luke’s account of the Advent tells us that the child in Mary’s womb would be a threat to the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2010/12/21/the-way-to-bethlehem/

Shades of gray

U.S. Illusions in Lebanon By Roger Cohen, New York Times op-ed columnist Published: December 13, 2010 BEIRUT — Once upon a time a U.S. secretary of state spoke of the “birth pangs of a new Middle East.” That’s now the most laughed-at phrase in gravity-defying Lebanon, a country with two armies, a “unity” government too …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2010/12/14/shades-of-gray/

Breaking the silence

By Donald Macintyre, Sunday, 12 December 2010 In pictures:  Soldiers’ testimonies … For anyone who has covered Israel, the West Bank and Gaza over the past few years, reading Occupation of the Territories, the new book from the Israeli ex-soldiers organisation Breaking the Silence, can be an eerily evocative experience. A conscript from the Givati …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2010/12/12/breaking-the-silence-2/

Burhan Zahrai

C100 Valley-Search The steed of this Valley is patience; without patience the wayfarer on this journey will reach nowhere and attain, no goal…  Baha’u’llah (Persian) C101Valley-Love …The steed of this Valley is pain; and if there be no pain this journey will never end…  Baha’u’llah (Persian) C102Valley-Knowledge …in the ocean he findeth a drop, in …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2010/11/29/burhan-zahrai/

A place of ghosts

Lebanon, my Lebanon: A stirring new photography book sparks Robert Fisk’s memories From ancient groves where he once dodged bullets to peaceful mountain ranges, from embattled politicians to wise-cracking locals, Robert Fisk, the Independent’s Middle East correspondent, finds his memories of 34 years living in Lebanon brought into poignant relief by a monumental new photography …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2010/11/20/a-place-of-ghosts/

Today’s YB! award…

From:  Monsieur d’Nalgar To:  Sam Stein Subject: Today’s award… Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2010 11:51:44 -0700 It’s been a while since I awarded a “You Bastard!” prize for overt nincompoopery by one of the morning-show bobble-heads, one of the screeching castrati remnants of our once-vaunted Fourth Estate. Your comments this morning about the efficiency and …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2010/11/19/todays-yb-award/