Shati' tea and falafel shop "67 borders with swaps" Obama, Tom Sawyer, and Hemmingway

Swaps, what do the Palestinians have left to swap?

But the mere fact that Obama went back that far in history, shows the effect of the Egyptian revolution, which has opened the Gaza crossing, and persuaded Hamas and Fateh to form a government of unity. It has got Obama to get out of his rocking chair in the White House and go off to Europe to talk and give speeches about the Arab Spring...all this to cover for the upcoming vote in the General Assembly for an independent state in what's left of what Israel took in 1967--the west bank of the Jordan river. Even though he's already saying that the US delegation in the Security council will veto the General Assembly decision creating a west bank Palestinian state, Obama is giving speech after speech in Europe about how much he supports the Arab spring. Even Natanyahu came to preach his repertoire of historical lies to the US House of Representatives, leaving his secure rocking chair in Israel for a moment.

But I call this blog from Shate'i tea and falafel shop, Gaza, my cultural blog. This is because of Obama's curious use of the word, "swaps". It sounds like something right out of Tom Sawyer. He likes to be "real American" these days; so I guess the Tom Sawyer allusion makes him seem really American, as opposed to "Israeli" which it is.

Nice festival in Cuba, though for the Hemingway fishing competition. I bought the old man and the sea, Al-Shaikh wa Al-Bahr, in Arabic tonight at Jariir.

Café de Flore

Flore, Fishawi, Shati, McNamara
All accounts of gallantry, pleasure, and entertainment, shall be under the article of
Café Flore, Paris; poetry, under that of Fishawi, Jeddah or Cairo; learning under the title of the Shati Tea-and-Falafel-shop, Gaza; foreign and domestic news, you will have from McNamara Ground Ops Lunchroom, Detroit; and what else I shall on any other subject offer, shall be dated from my own apartment.

This is certainly an account of gallantry gone wrong: NY police used its superspy contacts with Homeland Security and ICE to take to court the 21st century head of the IMF, Dominique Straus Khan (DSK), the heritage of my mother's work at the Bretton Woods Conference helping Mendes France represent the French resistance, then in 1944 post-war collaboration with the US's European strike smashing(especially in Italy) and the setting of the US dollar as the standard in war-torn Europe. What would George Washington have said to see a French leader framed up by New York hotel MBA's, lawyers and managers, denied his right to travel, and put in a New York prison cell to await his chance to prove his innocence. As the competition between Europe and the US tightens during the banking and lending crisis today, we can expect to see more of such jousting at France by the US, even though the first American revolution owed so much to General Lafayette and the French.

What a long sentence that was! And the US president, fresh from his speech touting the "justice" of America's assassination of an old man in pajamas in far away Pakistan, and saying nary a thank-you to Britain, which split off Pakistan from their colony of India and made all the sectarian divisions in Central Asia--sectarian divisions, which the US now benefits from in its policy of holding Central Asia in underdevelopment and opium trade--nary a thank you to Britain for all her soldiers who died in Afghanistan; and now this same ungrateful president doesn't even bother to visit Dominique Straus Khan in Prison. He chit chats in the oval office with the King of Jordan, who has a much more beautiful wife than DSK, and doesn't lift a finger to freeze Bashar Al-Asad's assets (whose wife is also quite beautiful), although other leaders of the Syrian army's attacks on Syrian youth protester have had their Swiss assets sequestered.

There's gallantry for you.

Prisons are terrible things, especially US ones, which have the highest percentage of citizens behind bars of any country in the world. Dominique Strauss Khan should not be humiliated in this way. He is an elegant, convivial man, well known as a good conversationalist with women. He could not have molested any woman working at the Sofitel. The Americans must really hate the French, or perhaps it is just the New York police relishing the recent vist by President Obama to New York, and feeling they can do anything now that this presidential assassin of the man in pajamas in Pakistan(Ben Ladin) has graced New York with his presence. Will he have the courtesy to intervene in Dominique Strauss Khan's frame-up? Doubtful that he will. Could it be that the New York police are so stupid that they thought Khan was Pakistani?

Macnamara Ground Ops Coffee Machine the Palestinians begin to move!

Oui, aujourd'hui les palestiniens ont commencé leur printemps arabe, pendant que l'armée syrienne était préoccupée à tuer les gens de Homs fuyant les chars syriens par le village de Tel Kalakh vers la frontière libanaise.

Tel Kalakh, n'est-il pas un site archéologique? Ugarit?

Al-Shati' Tea and Falafel shop, Gaza Jaffa orange season

I bought some beautiful Jaffa oranges at the university coop store the day before yesterday, and today saw that they had sold out all the boxes of Shammouti oranges. This is the season of the Jaffa oranges, May. The photo was taken the 26 of March, 2010; so I guess one could say the season is late March to late May.

Macnamara Ground Ops Coffee Machine, extrait du Monde pendant qu' Obama vistie Ground Zero

Fidel Castro juge "odieux" l'assassinat de Ben Laden
LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | 05.05.11 | 18h12 • Mis à jour le 05.05.11 | 18h13

Dans l'une de ses "réflexions" régulièrement publiées par la presse officielle cubaine, l'ex-président Fidel Castro a estimé jeudi 5 mai que "l'odieux assassinat" d'Oussama Ben Laden allait "multiplier les sentiments de haine et de vengeance" contre le peuple des Etats-Unis au lieu de le protéger.

"Quels que soient les actes attribués à Ben Laden, l'assassinat d'un être humain désarmé et entouré de sa famille constitue un acte odieux", estime le père de la révolution cubaine, déplorant qu'"apparemment c'est ce qu'a fait le gouvernement de la nation la plus puissante qui ait jamais existé". Le président Barack "Obama n'a pas les moyens de cacher qu'Oussama a été tué en présence de ses enfants et de ses épouses" au Pakistan, pays "dont les lois ont été violées, la dignité nationale offensée et les traditions religieuses outragées".

"CRAINTE ET INSÉCURITÉ"

"Comment va-t-il empêcher maintenant que les épouses et les enfants de la personne exécutée en dehors de toute loi expliquent ce qui s'est passé et que ces images soient transmises dans le monde entier ? s'interroge Fidel Castro, 84 ans, qui a abandonné le pouvoir en 2006 pour des raisons de santé. Assassiner (Ben Laden) et le jeter dans les profondeurs de la mer démontre crainte et insécurité et le transforme en un personnage encore plus dangereux."

Rappelant aussi la référence faite par Obama aux victimes du 11-Septembre, Fidel Castro rappelle "les millions" de victimes des "guerres injustes déclenchées par les Etats-Unis en Irak, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodge, Cuba et de nombreux autres pays". "Le terrorisme international ne se résoudra jamais par la violence et la guerre", conclut l'ancien leader révolutionnaire.

Macnamara Ground Ops Coffee Machine, Romulus "le Cid-القائد

Toute commentaire politique sera du lieu de travaille a l'aeroport de Detroit, devant la machinea café du cafeteria. Dom Rodrique es devenu le cid, le qaa'id, à la fin de la piece de Corneille.

Voila ma commentaire politique le jour le nouveau président americain, Obama, continue à mal prononcer qa'ida, en disant qaida, comme Bush, ce dont nous autres, les profs d'angais, se servent pour expliquer le present continuous: 'en train de,' "qaida al hiyat". Nous devons faire attention en le faisant, de risque que le nouveau chef du service d'espionnage americain, le cheri du congress, Petreus, pense que nous autres les profs d'anglais organisent leur qaida. Mais tous ce que nous faisons, c'est d'enseigner l'anglais.


LE COMTE
Jeune présomtueux.
D. RODRIGUE
Parle sans t'émouvoir.
Je suis jeune, il est vrai; mais aux ames bien nées
La valeur n'attend point le nombre des années.
LECOMTE
Te mesurer à moi! qui t'a rendu si vain,
Toi, qu'on n'a jamais vu les armes à la main?
D.RODRIGUE
Mes pareils à deux fois ne se font point connaitre,
Et pour leurs coups d'essai veulent des coups de maitre.
LE COMTE
Sais-tu bien qui je suis?
D. RODRIGUE
Oui; tout autre que moi
Au seul bruit de ton nom pourroit trembler d'effroi.
Les palmes dont je vois ta tete si couverte
Sembloent porter ecrit le destin de ma perte.
J'attaque en témréraire un bras toujous vainqueur;
Mais j'aurai trop de force ayant assez de coeur.
A qui venge son pere il n'est rien d'impossible.
Ton bras est invaince, mais n'est pas invincible.

Shati' tea and falafel shop Nabdat Ali dates

All discussion of culture shall be from Shati' Tea and Falafel Shop, Gaza

The Nabdat Ali date, "plant of Ali" has a taste of the hot morning of the spring desert, with a slight hit of better-sweet, grassy smell of desert daisies. There is a mixture of sweetness, of course like a chewy cinnamon stick mixed with raw sugar cane, and the desert hyacinth.

McNamara Airport Ground Operations - Coffee Machine

«Vive la Commune! »
la Commune de Paris a 140ans. Pour I'occasion, I'Hotelde Ville de Paris presente des documents, affiches et manuscrits originaux dans le cadre de I'exposition« La Commune, 1871, Paris, capitale insurgee». Cette retrospective pennet de tout comprendre de !'insurrection du printemps 1871. « La commune: une histoire moderne», sur le site des Cordeliers (Paris, 6'), rappelle les grands chantiers ouverts par la revolte (separation de l'Eglise et de I'Etat, abolition de la peine de mort, emancipation des femmes). D'autres expositions et animations se tiennent dans les mairies d'arrondissement. Celie du 11', dernier lieu de reunion des Communards, est bien sur de la fete. Partout en France, on celebre aussi le soulevement: en region parisienne, a Narbonne (Aude), Chateauroux (Indre), Woippy (Moselle) et Baugy (Cher), ville natale de Gabriel Ranvier, qui proclama « Vive la commune!» le 28 mars, sur la place de I'Hotel de Ville de Paris. Jusqu'a l'abbaye de Neuminster, au Luxembourg_ • Melina Gazsi (PHOTOS BHVP-ROGER VIOLLET) « « La Commune. 1871, Paris, capitaIe insurgee», Hotel de Ville de Paris, 29, rue de Rivoli. Paris 4" Jusqu'au 28 mai Entree gratuite. Tel . 01-42-76-5153. «La Commune: une histoire moderne». les Cordeliers.15, rue de l'Ecolede-Medecine, Paris 6'. du 28 mai au 19 juin Commune 1871org
Photos en pdf

Paris, Café de Flore...Fetes Gallantes de Verlaine

Rimbaud, qui a ecrit le bateau ivre peut-etre pour Verlaine? Tous les deux ont vecu la commune.

Dunkin' Donuts Coffee Shop, Dhahran, sa where oil was discovered first

Et maintenent les émeutes commencent en Syrie. Hier la police syrienne a tué une centaine de gens a Der'a. Al-Arabiyya avait un lien directe au telephone de quelqu'un qui était temoin. Il répétait, "Aidez nous! Ou sont les droits humains!"

C'est normale d'écrire au sujet de la police d'un café "Dunkin' Donuts," puisque dans le pays du TOEFL, c'est dans ces cafés-la que les agents de police s'arettent la nuit pour un moment de repos dans leur nuits de harcellement des opprimés.

C'est plus souvent la politique napolénienne française qui parle des droits humains --plus souvent que la politique TOEFLiènne des EU--et la politique des droits humains se trouve meme encore plus souvent dans les pays sous devellopées comme la Syrie ou l'arabie saoudite. En voici un article en arabe sur les droits humains dans le monde arabe, écrit par un éleve du college des maitres de Jeddah qui est maintenant le département pour obtenir un certificat dite "d'education."

mes excuses pour l'alignement gauche de l'arabe

التربية على حقوق الإنسان

بقلم : نزار حربي

تعتبر التربية على حقوق الإنسان موضوعا حديثا نسبيا في العالم العربي. ومن الواضح لدينا أن هناك اهتماما كبيرا في الأقطار العربية كافة للعمل على نشر التربية على حقوق الإنسان بين فئات المجتمع العربي. وهناك اتجاه حديث لدمج التربية على حقوق الإنسان في المناهج الدراسية الحديثة ، وذلك انطلاقا من توصيات الأمم المتحدة وخاصة برنامج عمل فيينا الذي نص على ما يلي:

" يؤكد المؤتمر العالمي لحقوق الإنسان من جديد أن الواجب يحتم على الدول... أن تضمن أن يكون التعليم مستهدِفا تقوية احترام حقوق الإنسان والحريات الأساسية . ويؤكد المؤتمر... أهمية إدراج موضوع حقوق الإنسان في برامج التعليم ، ويطلب إلى الدول القيام بذلك ".

وواضح تماما من هذا النص أن جميع دول العالم مطالبة بالعمل على الربط بين المناهج التعليمية من جهة وبين حقوق الإنسان من جهة أخرى.

ويمكن القول أن موضوع حقوق الإنسان هو موضوع جديد نسبيا . وهناك حذر ملحوظ في تناول هذا الموضوع أو معالجته بحجة أنه يمثل الفكر الغربي الحديث والثقافة الغربية الحديثة . وهذا الكلام غير صحيح إطلاقا. والسبب في ذلك أن الإسلام هذا الدين العظيم قد أقام حقوق الإنسان في أرجا المعمورة قبل أربعة عشر قرنا . وقد سبق لذلك الفكر التربوي الغربي الحديث ، وحقوق الإنسان بمفهومها الغربي الأوروبي الأمريكي . يقول تعالى:

﴿ ولقد كرمنا بني آدم في البر والبحر ورزقناهم من الطيبات وفضلناهم على كثير مما خلقنا تفضيلا ﴾.

وقد بلغت حقوق الإنسان قمتها في الإسلام حينما قال المصطفى عليه أفضل الصلاة والسلام:

أيها الناس إن ربكم واحد وإن أباكم واحد كلكم لآدم وآدم من تراب... ليس لعربي على عجمي ولا لعجمي على عربي ولا لأحمر على أبيض ولا لأبيض على أحمر فضل إلا بالتقوى.

وحول احترام الإسلام لحقوق الإنسان يقول العلامة خفاجي ما يلي:

إن مفاخر الإسلام في احترامه لحقوق الإنسان وتأييده وحمايته لها وفي وضعه لأصول التقدم الأدبي والروحي والاجتماعي ، وفي إيقاظه الروح الإنساني العام ، لهي مفاخر جديرة بالإشادة والتقدير: حرية بأن نفهمها ونتدبر معانيها ونقتبس من أصولها ما يحيي الروح ويوقظ العزيمة وينبه راقد الفكر في شتى أرجاء العالم الإسلامي. وإن الخير كل الخير في أن ينتبه الشرق ... إلى أصول دعوة الإسلام التي جهلها وتناسها وتركها. وإنه لحري بالمسلمين جميعا أن يأخذوا بتعاليم الرسول محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم بغير تنقيح أو تعديل وأن تطبق تطبيقا صحيحا ليسعد الناس وتستقر الجماعات وتهدأ الفتن (محمد عبدالمنعم خفاجي، الإسلام والحضارة الإنسانية، بيروت ، دار الكتاب اللبناني، ص24).

وفي هذا الصدد ينوه بعض الباحثين بإقامة الإسلام للمجتمع الفاضل . يقول الغامدي:

" ولكي يعيش الإنسان بأمان فإن الإسلام عمد إلى إقامة مجتمع فاضل يقوم أساسا على التكافل العائلي والاجتماعي والاقتصادي المفضي إلى التوازن الاجتماعي فتكون محصلة ذلك جميعه العدالة الاجتماعية . إذ في سد حاجات الفرد الأساسية بالطرق المشروعة وصيانة حقه وحريته وتوفير الضمانات لذلك كله يرى أنه غير مغبون . وفي هذا المناخ الاجتماعي الصالح يكون الإنسان الصالح" . (انظر : عبداللطيف بن سعيد الغامدي، حقوق الإنسان في الإسلام ، الرياض، 2000، ص89).

ومن الواضح لدينا أن الإنسانية بعامة قد وجدت : " ضالتها المنشودة في الإسلام فاجتمع في الإسلام صهيب الرومي وسلمان الفارسي وبلال الحبشي ... آخى بينهم الإسلام وانصهروا في بوتقته ... وإن فتح الإسلام لكثير من البلاد والأمصار لم يكن مسوغا بأية حال من الأحوال لاستعبادهم وإذلالهم وإنما كان يحفظ لهم حريتهم ويصون لهم كرامتهم . ولا يفرض عليهم الإيمان به دون ما اقتناع . وإنما كان هناك الخيار لهم" ( انظر: ماهر خليل، نظريات الغرب وحضارته في ميزان الإسلام، القاهرة الهيئة العامة المطابع الأميرية، 1986، ص56).

وعودة إلى حقوق الإنسان والتربية على حقوق الإنسان في العالم العربي، فإن بعض الباحثين يذهبون إلى القول بأن للتربية على حقوق الإنسان تأثيرات تعمل لصالح المجتمع. يقرر غانم، والشحام: " أن انتشار التربية على حقوق الإنسان في العالم العربي سوف يعني – بالضرورة – تمتع المواطنين العرب بالحقوق الأساسية المعروفة : العدل ، والمساواة ، وتكافؤ الفرص ، والبيئة النظيفة ، والإنترنت ، والتنمية" . ويضيفان إلى ذلك بروز أنماط جديدة من الفكر العقلاني هي :

1. التنشئة الديمقراطية المعتدلة.

2. التنمية السياسية .

3. خطاب الاعتدال ( غانم ، والشحام ، 2005 ، ص1 ) .

وهناك مبررات عدة لذلك أهمها : تزايد المشكلات ليس في بلدان العالم الثالث بل في العالم الغربي، وبروز العولمة بأفكارها التوسعية الرأس مالية العابرة للحدود والقارات ولا شك أن التربية على حقوق الإنسان هي إحدى أدوات الإنسان الحديث للعقلانية واحترام الذات.

كاتب المقال : نزار حربي

McNamara Ground Ops Coffee Maching, Detroit on events in Damascus tuday

Demonstrations in Damascus, Homs, Qamishli, Aleppo, and Homs Friday prayers.

from my appartment

Nawal Sa'dawi on CNN...amazing that "ms"| Amanpour let her get a few words in edgewise.

And the protesters in Wisconsin raise banner saying "Fight like an Egyptian!" these days

Attached are protesters in Lansing, Michigan, in solidarity with the protesters in Wisconsin. Nothing about that in the BBC and CNN--only Lybia.

McNamara Ground Ops Coffee Machine: Friday demos in Benghazi, Mosul and Cairo

Since the last post, February 15, the battles in the east of Libya began. We learn today that over 2,000 people died fighting Qaddafy's army in Benghazi(بنغازي). This afternoon, there were shootings in Tripoli against the people as the Qaddafy clique attempts to stay in power in a tiny area of Libya, in its capital, Tripoli. Popular committees in Benghazi meet and send arms to defend the people of Tripoli and bring down Qaddafi so as to establish a free Lybia. Today, there were huge prayer meetings thanking God that the people of Benghazi had liberated itself. Huge crowds celebrating.

...also demonstrations for better standard of living in Yemen, and Iraq today. As we wake up in the US, and as they go to sleep in the Mediterranean, the revolutionaries have taken over a small part of Tripoli from the Qaddafy army.

It is quite surprising that it took a whole week for the western powers to send in ships to evacuate their workers there. Only today did a Canadian plane arrive in Tripoli airport, only to turn around and go back empty because there were no Canadians waiting to get on.

Libya was a prison house of different minorities. In Libya state TV showing Qaddafi addressing Green square today, I see a banner of The Tuareg Youth, a desert tribe who speak Tamaziqa, and who were not allowed to speak it. I didn't even know the Tuareg were in Lybia. In an interview yesterday on Al-Arabiyya with a Tamazikht organizer in exile in London ...he said 50 Tamazikht officers had defected right from Qaddafy's army...or perhaps were killed It wasn't clear to me.

The Lybian ambassador in the UN, Abdurrahman Shalgham denounced Qaddafi's talk about "glory" right in the UN...he had heard the stupid rabble-rousing speech Qaddafy gave to his supporters today from a wall in Tripoli. Previously this rep had stalled, while his assistant rep denounced the regime. But today, he did, too. Curiously, even though China had to evacuate over 5,000 workers from Lybia today, in the Security Council, China is not supporting France's suggestion that the bank accounts of 25 Lybians(Qaddafi-ites) be frozen.

I wish I had recorded the Lybian ambassador's (Abdurrahman Shalgham) emotional rejection of Qaddafi's killing of the Lybian people.


1:19am Feb. 26, 2011..still the 25th at the UN in New York

Café de Flore, Paris

Je suppose que c'est de la galanterie de parler enthousiaste des femmes du mouvement 25 janvier qui ont parle courageusement a la télévision égyptienne ce soir. Pendant que le New York Times parlent de la haute bourgeoisie--Baradei et autres--qui veulent que le transition vers un gouvernement parlementaire aille lentement, ces jeunes la disaient "non..maintenant...vite, dissoudre les appareils, la police, etc., et laisser le peuple faire ce qu'il doit faire! Vraiment quel courage de dire ça au télévision. Elles sentaient intuitivement la puissance des grèves qui continue et que le général Tantawi continue a dire quand il est au télévision que tout le monde doit retourner a la production. C'est vraiment de beaux temps pour l'Egypte ces jours ci.

Une autre dame, un peu plus vieille, mais non moins forte a parler, disaient que l'argent des corrompus es en train de s'en aller ailleurs. Nous sommes témoins donc a un situation révolutionnaire ou la bourgeoisie n'a plus confiance et commence a s'enfuir avec tous ce qu'ils ont. Est-ce qu'il y a, ou est-ce qu'il va émerger, un Fidel Castro ou un parti bolchevique pour saisir les banques et commencer une distribution des plantation aux agriculteurs? Avec l'armée en charge, c'est presque comme le "bon vieux temps" du roi Farouk et les Anglais dirigeant le pays avec leur troupes.

Si je n'étais pas si vieux, je serai la en vendant le manifeste communiste en Arabe et en parlant de Malcolm X et Fidèle.

Dommage que je n'ai pas enregistre ces femmes du mouvement 25 janvier.










All accounts of gallantry, pleasure, and entertainment, shall be under the article of
Café Flore, Paris; poetry, under that of Fishawi, Jeddah or Cairo; learning under the title of the Shati Tea-and-Falafel-shop, Gaza; foreign and domestic news, you will have from
McNamara Ground Ops Lunchroom, Detroit; and what else I shall on any other subject offer, shall be dated from my own apartment.

Egypt News: McNamara Ground Ops Lunchroom, Detroit

After the occupation of Maidan Tahrir on January 25th and the resigning of Mubarak on February 11th in the face of mounting protests, including strikes in Textile and Steel, and the formation of neighborhood committees, Egypt is open to a wide debate on the future goverment for the first time. As apparently directed by the Pentagon, the Egyptian Armed Forces are letting people vent their steam, hoping to keep a bourgeois government and the private sector strong, corrupt, and wealthy, while the country suffers from poverty and impossibility to export and produce because of the Israeli blocade--the Israeli Navy, and the very existence of the state blocking normal land travel between Egypt and the rest of the Arab World and Europe.

Although the Army and Police, by saying they are now "with the people" have got cars moving through Tahrir, women in large numbers are protesting in front of various ministries and the Egyptian TV does phone interviews with what seem to be commettees of self defense in Arish, with arms, which have not yet submitted to the be coordinated by the Army "calming" forces.

General Tantawi, the Army head of Command, on Egyptian TV,calls for all strikes to cease and production to return to normal so that the country can eventually hold democratic elections. It is strange to see the Army so overtly in control. The TV is quite sophisticated in showing outspoken demonstrations and demonstrators, and at the same time, giving the biographies of the Generals and broadcasting the commanding voice of Tantawi. Doubtless the Pentagon and Obama are watching how they do this, taking notes from the Egyptians on how to do it when Americans start resisting the cut-backs, unemployment, high cost of food and poverty here. There is no mention of the outside world, just Egypt and the "wonderful" Army. That is how the US ruling class will do it too. "We're all Americans, rebuilding real democracy" under an Army Command--the command and the Army and Police that saved us from the makers of Baluch rugs in Afghanistan, who were going to "get us" with their flying carpets, I suppose--?












All accounts of gallantry, pleasure, and entertainment, shall be under the article of
Café Flore, Paris; poetry, under that of Fishawi, Jeddah or Cairo; learning under the title of the Shati Tea-and-Falafel-shop, Gaza; foreign and domestic news, you will have from
McNamara Ground Ops Lunchroom, Detroit; and what else I shall on any other subject offer, shall be dated from my own apartment.

Fishawi tea shop, Khan al-Khalili, Cairo

Il n'y avait que les vieux et les touristes hier dans les allées du Café Fishawi. Tout le monde étaient dans Maidan Tahrir pour manifester contre le gouvernement. Peut-etre ces assemblées étaient les plus grandes depuis les funérailles pour la mort de Gamal Abd An-Naser en 1970. Une trentaine de morts (ou blessés) par la police, mais il n'y avait pas beaucoup que la police a pu faire. L'Egypte, quand ca bouge, c'est comme aux Etats Unis: ca bouge vite.

Les Etats Unis etait vite à annoncer qu'ils pensait que le gouvernement etait "stable."

Shati' Tea and Falafel Shop, Gaza...listening to Tunisia from the coast

Far away to the west of us, on the north african coast of the Mediterranean, people have risen up from their seats in the cafes and demonstrated for food and against unemployment in Tunisia. There are new voices in the debate over the crisis of the banks, a crisis which is being put on the backs of working people. This morning Al-Arabiyya tv interviewed the workers outside the headquarters of the Merchant Marine in Tunis. Last night an Egyptian Al-Arabiyya tv interviewer was in Sidi BouZid interviewing a man, who seemed to be FOR the old government staying a while, and a woman, Omaiz, who said the important thing was democracy and tackling the unemployment problem.

Below is the end of the interview, so that these Tunisian accents in good, clear--but slightly different from Palestinian--can be heard on this blog. Mr. Hussein, Mrs. Omaiyaz, and the moderator.
pro-and-conSidiBuZeed-Tunisia.mp3

Saint James Restaurant, London...Dunkin' Donuts, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

There was an interesting passage in the New Headway Academic Skills Reading Final yesterday that stated that most British students went to study at the University of Paris between the early days of Oxford in the 1000's up to 1169, when Henry the Second forbade students to study in Paris.

Here I am at Dunkin Donuts where the only reference to those wonderful London kindney pies at St James Restaurant (or coffee shop, with white linens) is the fact that I have to get back to my room to relieve myself...must go now because there is a man smoking a cigarette. Ugh


Je suis venu pour essayer le WiFi à Dunkin donuts, qui est juste devant Jarir Plaza à Dhahran, près de l'université.

Pas aussi "athletique" que d'aller à Starbucks à Doha, mais j'étais au Starbucks hier et il n'y avait pas de réseau. Ici il y un réseau Wifi avec Quiznos Subs à coté. Il faut que je mets mon clavier français sur ce netbook.

Je l'ai fait. Maintenant

A bientot des salonsde cafe au moyen orient.

Café de Flore, Paris

Continuing our coffee qnd dqte tasting series, here in Saint Germain des Pres, with the finest of service, well dressed waiters in their long white aprons and black vest coats, with the perfectly white napkins replaced by the yellow paper napkins now at Les Deux Magots, ... we continue.

Rashudiyya. these long, brown dates have a bamboo-like, cane suger-like taste. The smells are like the dry surface plants of the desert, and the surface of the date is a bit flakey. Inside, the date is soft and has a little hint of bitterness in its taste. It is sweet, yet bitter at the same time. It is like eating dark chocolate with minimal suger, although one is sure there is plenty of natural sugar in Rashudiyya dates. Interestingly, the root verb ra-sha-da, in Arabic is the word for guide, and gives us the name for the first four "good" or "righteous" caliphs, khulafa' al-Rashidiin, Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali-. The plural of rashiid (رشيد), which means "rightly guided," "having the true faith," reasonable, intelligent, discriminating, mature (in Hans Wehr); ---the plural of rashiid is rushada' (رشداء), meaning "full legal age," mature (in Hans Wehr), is also the name of the famous North Egyptian town in the Delta, Rosetta, where the "Rosetta stone" was found. The Rosette Stone gave the key to Champollion to decipher Pharaonic Hieroglyphs.

Café de Flore, Paris

Coffee and date tasting at Café de Flore, continued tonight past midnight on my birthday.

Khudrii, which means "greengrocer" in Hans Wehr, but comes from the root verb "green"--خضري-- in Arabic. These dates are somewhat dry and hard, once they are demi-sec, one might say, like a fine red wine. Fine Khadri --خضري فاخر--are less expensive than fine 'ajwa or Rashudiya, and they are perhaps more of the common man's date. But, being somewhat more dry than the sticky dates, the pit comes out easily from your mouth and your fingers don't get sticky

The taste is less sweet, and more like a fiber cereal than other, more expensive dates. Khadri have a slightly muddy, kind of starchy, dry, earthy taste. This is really a fine woody taste (like the fine woods for making perfume in Arabia, i.e. 'oud--عود) with a hint of far-away Michigan oak-tree and acorn nut tannins and an easily identifiable fresh ginger taste.