Best of Latma Part 1
Against All Saidists... and in Defence of the West
Orientalism, however, is an accusatory and deeply reactionary text, the catastrophic effects of which continue to be felt in both Occident and Orient. Demonstrably ahistorical and flawed though its arguments are, large parts of Western academia (perhaps encouraged by Gulf funding) and Western culture in general have internalised them to such a degree, they are convinced that universalist value judgements about Islamic culture are simply a projection of their own inescapable racism. Consequently, they have fallen silent about human rights abuses committed by anyone but the West (and, naturally, Israel).Palestine: History of a Name
Meanwhile, in the Muslim world, religious fundamentalists have been adept at weaponising the bitter mindset of conspiracism, victimhood and vengeful grievance that Said encouraged, and directing it towards the West and the Jewish State. There remains a stubborn tendency to blame European Imperialism, American neo-Imperialism, Western cultural imperialism and 'colonial feminism', 'Orientalism', Zionism and sundry other -isms for the parlous state of their societies, rather than the regressive cultural and religious values that inhibit personal emancipation and retard learning, research and political/economic development. (h/t EOZ)
I’ve recently condemned the focus on Reza Aslan’s religion – Islam – when talking about his new book about Jesus, “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth”. I think there is no room for propaganda when reviewing history. No one is objective. But we can try to be truthful.Douglas Murray: Pretenses the West Goes On Pretending
Putting aside the thesis of his book i.e., that Jesus was an anti-Roman Jewish revolutionary, in all his interviews, Aslan goes out of his way to refer to Jesus’ Judea i.e., the land of the Jews, as “Palestine”. For all I care, he can call it “Nebraska”, as long as he doesn’t give the impression that this is really what it was called by the inhabitants of Judea in Jesus’ time. But Aslan wraps this “Palestine” name with a veneer of history. When challenged on his use of the name “Palestine” for ancient “Judea”, his answer is that he’s using the “Roman designation” for the area. According to Aslan, this designation was “Syria Palestine”. This is absolutely wrong. More than this, it demonstrates a certain cynicism when manipulating history for the purpose of ideology. Let’s look at this word “Palestine”. Where does it come from?
"Hear no evil, see no evil," the old saying goes. And so the new presidency of Iran continues as the old one intended to go on. And the West continues the pretense that it wishes to go on pretending. For with Rouhani, as with Ahmadinejad, there will always be those – officials, semi-officials, non-officials – who will claim that the leader has been misrepresented or mistranslated, and then the rest will all go away. Won't it? Or was the very presence of Rouhani at al-Quds day, like that of the North Korean officials at the swearing-in and the promise of greater cooperation between these rogue regimes against the US and its allies, all just misspeak too?Iran's new defense minister orchestrated attacks on US, Israeli forces
The root of the problem with our relations with Iran is not a problem of mishearing or mis-speaking. It is a problem of our not listening. Not listening to the words that have repeatedly come from their mouths. And not recognizing that the whirring noise in the background is not the noise of their subtle brains working overtime, but of their centrifuges performing that very task.
Iran's new president, Hasan Rouhani, has appointed Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan as the new defense minister in place of Brig. Gen. Ahmad Wahidid. Dehgan, according to a report by Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Dr. Shimon Shapira, a senior research associate at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, was responsible for attacks against U.S. and Israeli forces in Lebanon in the 1980s.Washington Post: Iran Luring Latin American Students to Tehran for Indoctrination, Program Headed by AMIA Bombing Suspect
The appointment will become official once it is approved by the Iranian parliament.
Dehgan has reportedly served in the Revolutionary Guard his entire military career, since the Islamic revolution in 1979. According to Shapira's report, after Israel's invasion of Lebanon in the summer of 1982, Dehghan was sent to Lebanon. He served as commander of the training corps of the Revolutionary Guard, first in Syria and soon after in Lebanon. In this role he was responsible for building up military force of Hezbollah, which was also established at that time.
The article cited a report issued in May by an Argentine prosecutor who found evidence of “local clandestine intelligence networks” created by Iran in Latin America aimed at developing a “capability to provide logistic, economic and operative support to terrorist attacks decided by the Islamic regime.”Russia set to build a new nuclear plant for Iran
The program is supervised by Iranian cleric and government official Mohsen Rabbani who is wanted internationally on terrorism charges, the Washington Post said. As cultural attache in Buenos Aires, Rabbani was accused by Argentina of aiding the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center that killed 85 people, the country’s deadliest terrorist attack.
According to a report from the Russian news site RiaNovosti, citing the semi-official Iranian news agency Mehr, Salehi said that negotiations on the planned site were nearing a conclusion.’Moderate’ Rouhani Misled West, Sneaked in Centrifuges? The reactor is to be brought online in 2014, according to Iran’s projection.
“Iran has held consultations with the Russian side and soon an agreement of mutual understanding will be signed on the construction of a new nuclear power plant,” Salehi said.
Last week Russian parliament speaker Sergei Naryshkin attended newly elected Iranian President Hasan Rouhani’s inauguration in Tehran. Naryshkin said Russia and Iran may expand collaboration in civilian nuclear-power engineering after the Bushehr site becomes Iran’s first fully operational nuclear power plant this coming September.
There is a particularly interesting aspect to the video that has recently surfaced, in which Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, gloats over Iran’s success in coopting European negotiators to keep the Iranian nuclear program on track in the mid-2000s, in spite of pressure from the United States.Urge Swiss to Withdraw Nomination of Qaddafi Ally to UN Rights Post
The video clip, from an Iranian news-program interview of Rouhani in Farsi, was published by Reza Khalili. Ryan Mauro highlights it at the Clarion Project, tying it to a report from 31 July in which Mauro outlined Rouhani’s extensive history of using deception about the Iranian nuclear program back when he was the chief nuclear negotiator for Tehran.
We urge you to withdraw your government’s nomination of Jean Ziegler to the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, the election for which is scheduled for September 27, 2013.No perfect answers: My 2 years as an IDF spokesperson
If elected, Mr. Ziegler, who has written books advocating “reasonable hatred of the West,” would absurdly occupy one of only three seats allotted to Western countries. The official criteria for the position are expertise in human rights, high moral standing, independence and impartiality. An analysis of Mr. Ziegler’s record raises serious questions as to his satisfaction of these requirements.
Reflecting on the past two years representing the IDF in the West Bank, so many thoughts run through my mind – lessons learned, ideas discovered, emotions felt, and experiences had. For the past two weeks, I have tried to sum it all up, rather unsuccessfully. Overwhelmed with ideas, emotions and experiences, it has been difficult for me to write a comprehensive summary of all that I’ve seen, heard, felt, thought and learned. Nonetheless, this is my attempt at doing so, so that I can share with all of you – my friends, family, colleagues, and those who have joined me digitally – my final reflections before I leave my position as Spokesperson for the Judea and Samaria Division.Rapper Pitbull Arriving in Tel Aviv for Monday Performance, Hotel Stocking Bar
Whenever I brief on the situation in the West Bank, I am consistently struck by the complexities and intricacies of the IDF’s critical mission in the area. While I have spent the past two years explaining incidents that involve our troops, this past Tuesday (Aug. 6, 2013), I found myself in the midst of a security event that could have ended very badly.
Cuban-American rapper Pitbull – real name Armando Christian Pérez – will be arriving on Sunday night in Tel Aviv via private jet for a concert on Monday. Israel’s Channel 2 reports that his hotel is busy stocking up with the hard partying performer’s must-haves in anticipation of his arrival.A breakthrough in inhalation masks for infants
For his concert, which will feature seven other musicians and four dancers in Hall 1 of the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds, Pitbull has two full-time bodyguards, as well as a long list of requirements to make his short stay comfortable.
Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have made a breakthrough that could lead to radical changes in the design and effectiveness of inhalation masks for infants.Israeli tablet helps seize int'l crime ring
Until now, infants’ inhalation masks have been miniature versions of adult ones. Since very small children’s faces contain features that are different in their relative proportions from those of adults, the masks currently in use often fit poorly, with serious gaps between the mask and the infant’s face. This leads to treatment deficiencies, since dosages of medicine, when exposed to air, lose their therapeutic function. Ill-fitting masks also cause discomfort to the wearer.
A technology for the extraction and analysis of data from cellular phones, which was developed by Israeli company Cellebrite, helped expose a wide-scale crime ring in a recent operation which included the arrest of 46 members of an international crime organization and the confiscation of assets worth €13.75 million (about $18 million).Tel Aviv No. 2 city for tech startups
The crime organization was uncovered in a joint operation launched by the Belgian and Spanish police forces, with the help of the European Union's law enforcement and criminal intelligence agencies, Europol and Eurojust.
The Boston Globe, one of the most important newspapers in the United States, has named Tel Aviv the world's second best city for tech startups, after Silicon Valley in California.
Startup Genome, a resource for tracking and building startups, formed a list of the world's leading high-tech cities for startup entrepreneurs. Tel Aviv precedes New York, which only made it to the fifth place, Los Angeles (3) and London (7).
Eight factors were tracked to determine the ranking: Total activity of entrepreneurship in the region, amount of active and comprehensive risk capital, total performance and performance potential, how many risks founders took, ability to adopt new technologies, quality of support network, talent and differences between Silicon Valley. (h/t Jewess)