Khaled Abu Toameh

While a large portion- if not majority- of Arab-Israelis are hostile time bombs just waiting to explode, there's always an exception to the rule. Khaled Abu Toameh is a Palestinian Muslim Arab-Israeli journalist who used to write for the PLO, and surprisingly he's one of the most respected voices on the Mid-East conflict. For good reason.

This is an article Toameh recently wrote. I had the fortune to see him speak at our campus. The man is to be commended for his open-mindedness; he brings a healthy and refreshing moderate and unbiased view of the conflict to the table. He focuses not so much on the conflict but more on how Yasser Arafat and the PLO are primarily responsible for the Palestinians' current predicament. His personal experiences in Israel and the Palestinian territories has brought out in him a very unique persepctive on the conflict.

Palestinians Play Music for Holocaust Survivors

Quick news update before we get back into the swing of things around here: a lovely Israeli Arab woman by the name of Wafa Younis from Jenin gathered some Palestinian youths to play at a concert for Holocaust survivors. Granted, the kids didn't know who they were playing for or why, but it was a wonderful gesture on Younis's part.

The Palestinian Authority has consequently fired her, disbanded the youth group, and kicked her out of her house. Clearly, the PA in the West Bank is someone to look forward to achieving peace with.

Oh wait. Don't they demand the annihilation of Israel in their charter, just like Hamas? Never mind.

Islamists Boycott Starbucks On Grounds of "Jewish" Logo

The face of terrorism

So check it: Islamists boycotting Starbucks because they think the mermaid logo is really the Jewish Queen Esther.

Jewish Breaking News reports:

(IsraelNN.com) Starbuck Coffee, whose products and stores are known internationally, said it is “disheartened” at boycotts and violence based on false accusations that it is pro-Israel and even helps finance the Israel Defense Forces. An Egyptian cleric recently said on television that the company’s logo, a simple drawing of a woman with a crown on her head and adorned by a five-pointed star, actually is the Jewish Queen Esther mentioned on the Book of Esther in the Bible.

“This is totally inaccurate – the Starbucks logo does not represent Esther,” according to the company. “This myth has been brought about by the similarity in looks on the cover of a children’s book about Esther to the Starbucks logo.”

Just another message of tolerance from the religion of peace. Never mind how inane and moronic the claim is; it's outright anti-Semitism. Boycotting a business just because they think the logo has something to do with Judaism? As the JIDF puts it, the Jews should boycott McDonald's in return because of Ronald McDonald's "M" logo- M for Muhammed. Clearly, McDonald's is helping to finance Islamic terror cells.

Ban-Ki Moon: United States is "Deadbeat" Nation

If you had any doubt as to the relationship between UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon and the terrorist organization Hamas, it looks like Ban has finally taken a page out of their book (no, not that book); biting the hand that feeds him.

Breitbart reports:

The White House objected Thursday to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's description of the United States as a "deadbeat" donor to the world body.

Ban used the phrase Wednesday during a private meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol, one day after he met with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Ban's "word choice was unfortunate," given that the U.S. is the largest contributor to the United Nations.

The United States pays 22 percent of the organization's nearly $5 billion operating budget but is perennially late paying its dues.

Asked whether Ban should retract his comment, Gibbs said some recognition by Ban of the U.S. role would be appropriate.

"I think given the contribution that the American taxpayer makes, I do think it would be appropriate to acknowledge that role," Gibbs told reporters at his daily briefing.

Ban, apparently concerned about his choice of words, issued a statement late Wednesday saying the U.S. "generously supports the work of the U.N., both in assessed and voluntary contributions." Ban also said he enjoys "an excellent working relationship with the United States and appreciates the many ways that it supports the United Nations."

At least he had the decency to acknowledge the fact that out of 192 UN member nations, the US is the main country keeping his useless club of bigots from tanking. Unfortunately, takesies-backsies doesn't work in the international community.

The US isn't handing Ban billions of dollars a year so that he has people to tell how lousy he thinks our country is. Then again, Israel and the US do the same exact thing for the Palestinians (because every cent, shekel, pound, etc. that enters Gaza and the West Bank winds up in the trigger-happy hands of Hamas, dontchaknow).

Even the Obama peaceniks had a word of disapproval for Ban's choice of words, and this is from the administration that wants peace with terrorists.

Darfur Aid Workers Kidnapped; Sudanese Gov't Suspected

Now that Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir finally has an arrest warrant out for him, he's taken it upon himself to make life for Darfurians as miserable as possible. Of course, the Sudanese government denied any involvement in the plot, but everybody knows they had a hand in it if not orchestrated the entire thing. al-Bashir recently recalled all Sudanese aid from Darfur once he received the arrest warrant.

What a swell guy, eh? I can't understand how this jerkoff has any supporters at all, but then again, I'm not sufficiently educated as to what's going on in Sudan and Darfur.

Anyways, Yahoo! News reports:
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Armed men burst into an aid agency compound in Darfur and kidnapped three Westerners, heightening fears that foreigners will be targeted in the backlash over the international arrest warrant for Sudan's president.

The three workers for Doctors Without Borders were kidnapped late Wednesday in a government-controlled area in northern Darfur, close to a stronghold of government-allied Arab militiamen known as janjaweed.

The Sudanese government condemned the attack and denied any involvement. But officials quickly blamed the arrest warrant issued last week by the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court accusing President Omar al-Bashir of war crimes in Darfur.

"Anything that goes wrong (since the warrant) onwards I personally attribute to the ICC decision," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Youssef said.

Ali Sadiq, another Foreign Ministry official, told Al-Jazeera television that his ministry had warned that the warrant "encourages lawlessness and armed groups to target aid groups and their workers."

Late Thursday, a state-linked media organization said the kidnappers had demanded a ransom. Quoting the governor of North Darfur, the Sudan Media Center said local government officials had begun negotiations.

"The kidnappers asked for a ransom and they reassured us that they don't want violence," Gov. Osman Kebir was quoted as saying. The report did not say how much money was demanded.

Kebir said he had phoned the kidnappers at a number sent to him by the abductors and also had spoken with the captives, who said they were in good condition, according to the report.

Al-Bashir's government has been warning since even before the warrant was issued March 4 that the case could lead to revenge attacks by Sudanese, though it said it would try to protect aid workers, peacekeepers and other foreigners.

Sudan has vehemently denounced the warrant as a "colonialist" attempt to destabilize the country. After it was announced, Khartoum retaliated by expelling the 13 biggest aid groups working in Darfur, accusing them of helping the court.

The expulsion has sparked fears of a humanitarian crisis in the region, where the government and rebels have been fighting for six years and several million people rely on international agencies for food, shelter and water.

The Dutch and French branches of Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF, were among the expelled aid groups. But the abducted staffers belonged to its Belgian branch, which was allowed to remain along with the Spanish and Swiss branches and dozens of other smaller aid groups.

MSF said Thursday that because of safety concerns all its branches would move their personnel out of Darfur to Khartoum — except for a small number working for the abducted staffers' release.

"Evacuation will mean an interruption to many of MSF's essential medical services in Darfur. MSF is extremely worried both for our abducted colleagues and for the populations that MSF teams had been providing medical aid to," the group said in a statement.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum authorized the departure of nonessential staff, saying the security situation was "uncertain."

Several Islamic fundamentalist groups and a militia in Darfur have made public threats to attack ICC supporters in Sudan. The threat was dismissed by Sudanese officials as an expression of "political support" for al-Bashir.

In the Wednesday evening attack, gunmen entered the compound where the MSF-Belgium staffers lived and worked in the rural town of Saraf Umra, 230 kilometers (125 miles) west of the regional capital El Fasher, said Susan Sandars, an MSF spokeswoman in Nairobi, Kenya. The clinic provides vaccinations, treatment for malnutrition and prenatal care.

The gunmen seized a Canadian nurse, an Italian doctor and a French coordinator, along with two Sudanese guards who were released several hours later, Sandars said. It was not clear if violence was used in the abduction.

Banditry, break-ins and carjackings against aid organizations have long been common in Darfur, usually blamed on the many armed groups operating in the region. Worsening lawlessness in the past year forced many aid workers to travel only by helicopter to avoid high-risk roads.

Sudanese aid workers have been killed in such attacks. Others have been held by attackers, with most quickly freed after being stripped of their vehicles, equipment or cash.

The latest attack was different. "Deliberately going to some place with the intention of taking people away" has not been seen before, said Kemal Saiki, communication director for the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur.

The attackers likely faced little or no resistance since security around such compounds is often not strong, Saiki said.

The three captives were allowed by the kidnappers to call MSF colleagues to assure them they are in good health, said Hassabo Abdel-Rahman of Sudan's government humanitarian affairs office. The captives said that "they are eating and drinking and are OK," he told reporters.

The two released Sudanese guards were questioned by police but could not identify their abductors, Abdel-Rahman said.

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I really can't wait to see al-Bashir get his political skull kicked in for what he's putting these Darfurians through.

Tea & Sophistry

I really like Cox and Forkum. They have a lot of great political cartoons, many of which have made me laugh out loud. They're like a political Far Side. Give them a look if you have some time to kill.

Good Times

Someone brought this video of Iranian punishments to my attention. It's a good- if horrifying- example of the dangers of a Muslim theocracy. This news of Israel blocking Jewish Israelis off from accessing certain parts of Jerusalem isn't any more comforting.

The World Doesn't Revolve Around Gaza...

...it revolves around Africa. In the realm of death tolls, anyway. Next time some ignorant jerkoff pulls out the "there's a holocaust going on in Gaza" card, show them this chart comparing the total death toll of the conflict to the death toll of the genocides in Darfur, Sudan, and the violence in the Congo. It'll shut them up in a hurry.

It also looks like the UN is either suffering a world-class case of denial or has been hijacked by the Islamic states. This draconian resolution criminalizing all criticism of Islam should certainly arouse criticism throughout the international community, but I'm not holding my breath.

I've also been making a lot of posts over at the UC system-wide online newspaper CollegeTimes. If you want to hear more from yours truly, just pop on over and search for articles with my name as the author (that's Tinct, folks).

Hurt Me Good, Infidel

If Hamas and Israel were a couple, they'd have a BDSM sex life. And I'm not sure which one is the glutton for pain.

World War IV Will Be Fought With Rocks and Sticks...

My eyes will be following Netenyahu a lot in the months to come, perhaps more than others. Now that Iran has enough uranium to build a nuke, as reported by the UN and the US military, I want to know what Israel, who (should) understands what a nuke in the hands of a radical Islamic regime means far too well, plans to do about it. And everyone knows the whole point of their nuclear program is to obtain a nuclear bomb.

The situation reminds me of the time Israel ran an air raid on Hussein's nuclear reactor; the world screamed bloody murder at them for so many years until Hussein invaded Kuwait. And then Israel was a hero. Unfortunately, Ahmadinejad has learned from Hussein's mistakes; the Tehran reactor is now underground, which makes an air raid almost ineffective. I wonder if the Israeli secret service has a secret program dedicated to training super soldiers in the art of espionage and sabotage? How does the moniker Metal Gear Mossad strike you folks?

Given what Ahmadinejad screams almost on a daily basis- death to America, death to Israel, death to Jews, yadda yadda- it really disturbs me that he's gotten this far with the reactor. Something's happened to today's world leaders. Somewhere in the last 20-some years, the words "backbone" and "moral fiber" disappeared from world leaders' vocabularies.

We all know what Obama's thinking about this; pay Ahmadinejad a visit, flash a peace sign, elicit a promise of no nukes from him, and the situation's handled. So like he's been in every other important situation of national security since January 20th, Obama will be useless and will probably make things even worse. Meanwhile, China and Russia are in bed with Iran, the entire Middle East (save Israel) doesn't have the balls/is happy about it, and the UK is swiftly becoming a mirror political image of the Middle East (save Israel). South America is either too poor or too busy praising Iran. So that leaves one go-to guy as far as I can see.

Netenyahu, it's all on you. Don't wuss out on us now; I never got to go to Paris.