U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Destroys Part of Ancient Road with her Convoy

http://www.assafir.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=538&EditionId=2378&ChannelId=57180

Here’s a story that’s only in the Arabic-language papers. The U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Maura Connelly, visited an ancient historical site near Tyre, and one of the SUVs in her motorcade crushed a small portion of ancient wall. (Or just some wall–the papers I’ve seen so far are not entirely clear). In any case, you can see from the photo that the path is not intended for vehicles.

An English version of the story here: http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=81959&frid=23&seccatid=14&cid=23&fromval=1

Photobomb

This sassy lady in black charmed me.

Saudi Gangnam Style

Found here: http://riyadhbureau.com/2012/11/saudi-gangnam-style, at Riyadh Bureau.

Man Talks to Turkeys: Video

This video is good for an infectious laugh. Saturday morning and I already guffawed, so you know it’s good stuff.

The meta humor is that the Arabic title is “Important: Leaked Speech of Bashar al-Assad at the Funeral of Assef Shawkat.”

Bashar is somewhat turkey-like. I’m sure you see it.

Palestine’s Female Olympic Athletes

Woroud Sawalha

Palestine has two female athletes in the 2012 games. Swimmer Sabine Hazboun and runner Woroud Sawalha. I’d love to see their events.

Romney Describes Arab Spring as a “Problem”

Mitt Romney on Saturday explicitly sought for the first time to turn the Arab Spring into an issue in the United States presidential race. In an interview with an Israeli newspaper to set up his visit to Israel this weekend, Mr. Romney made several provocative statements distinguishing himself from President Obama.

Mr. Romney discussed the Arab Spring revolts as a problem rather than progress. He asserted against some evidence that the Obama administration had abandoned an agenda of pushing for democratic reform pursued by George W. Bush, and he characterized even the most moderate and Western-friendly Islamists – those in the political parties leading legislatures in Tunisia and Morocco – as political opponents.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/28/in-interview-romney-brings-arab-spring-into-presidential-race/

An actual Romney Olympics pin

Billions Wasted/Lost in Iraq

In unsurprising news: http://news.yahoo.com/auditors-billions-likely-wasted-iraq-174443860.html

 

“The precise amount lost to fraud and waste can never be known,” the report said.

The auditors found huge problems accounting for the huge sums, but one small example of failure stood out: A contractor got away with charging $80 for a pipe fitting that its competitor was selling for $1.41. Why? The company’s billing documents were reviewed sloppily by U.S. contracting officers or were not reviewed at all.

With dry understatement, the inspector general said that while he couldn’t pinpoint the amount wasted, it “could be substantial.”

Also, I highly recommend the book We Meant Well; How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People by Peter Van Buren. It’s entertaining as well as informative. Man can write.

Israel Imprisoned Palestinian Soccer Player for 3 Years with No Charges

Israel just released Mahmoud Sarsak after holding him for three years with no charges, because Israel can do that.

Iraq Defeats Egypt – Arab Cup

Congrats, Lions of Mesopotamia! 2-1 over Egypt’s Pharoahs. June 27th 2012.

GoRemy – Hey There, Khalilah

A friend introduced me to GoRemy’s Youtube channel. I particularly like this one, Hey There Khalilah.