LoonWatch explains the prevalence of suicide bombing

Today the LoonWatch blog, the scourge of Islamophobes everywhere, explains something I had been wondering about:

Some Americans wonder why there are so many Muslim suicide bombers. Well, they don’t have drones, which are the American equivalent of suicide bombers. Drones have the added benefit that they can be operated without fear of any personal harm.

Hmmm, drones are "the American equivalent of suicide bombers." "Equivalent" in what way? Don't ask me, but I will say this: this little comparison doesn't seem to place much emphasis, at any rate, on the suicide part of suicide bombing. Keep working on this one, guys.

Dr. Ismail Zayid tells Kim Peterson "who the Palestinians are"

More Gingrich fallout: According to Peterson, "Dr. Ismail Zayid, who was born in Palestine, responded to me a few years ago on the topic of who the Palestinians are":

The Palestinian people of today are the direct descendents of the Canaanites, the Philistines, the Jebusites and other Arab tribes that lived in this land, of historic Palestine, since history began . . .

The Israelis are not the original inhabitants of Palestine. They came as invaders. The land of Palestine, because of its geographic location, was exposed, throughout history, to a variety of invaders including the Hebrew tribes, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Crusaders, the Turks and the British and finally the Israelis of today. The Hebrew tribes [The Israelites], as invaders have no more legitimate claim to this land than the Greeks, Romans, Turks etc. If conquering invaders, in occupation for a period of time, have any legitimate claim to a territory or country, then the Romans should claim England as their land, and the Arabs should claim Spain as their land, and so on. [...]

Is that a claim that "the Canaanites, the Philistines, the Jebusites" were all Arab? And who does he think got invaded by the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans?

"Message from Iran: Tell All Americans We Love Them" (LoonWatch)

LoonWatch is a website with a mission: to expose Islamophobia. A current post tries to combat the image of Iran promoted by the "corporate media":

Iran is portrayed in the Western media as a country run by fanatical, bloodthirsty Mullahs, ruling in concert with the often outrageous President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As for the Iranian people, angry mobs are often shown in the streets, burning American flags and shouting “Death to America!”

No wonder it is easy to convince Americans that Iranians are consumed by hatred . . .

The "fanatical, bloodthirsty Mullahs" are presented merely as a projection of "Western Media" and the only thing admitted to be "often outrageous" is Ahmadinjad himself--and not only that, we've transitioned to whole new topic: how ordinary Iranians feel about Americans. They "adore" them, we learn, and this post has the anecdotes to back up that generalization.

OK, but what about those Mullahs? What are they really like, anyway? We learn later

. . .the late Ayatollah Khomeini dubbed America the Great Satan, a term that has been co-opted ever since by Islamophobes determined to portray Iranian leaders as hateful and irrational.

Wait a minute--they aren't "hateful and irrational"? Pay no attention to all those loony and hostile articles at IRIB, ISNA, PressTV, Fars News, and Mehr News? Well, for some reason, we learn that Iranians hate their government anyway. But we shouldn't get carried away:

As much as Iranians despise their current regime and adore Americans on a personal level, they are united in the opposition to foreign intervention. If the US attacks Iran, Iranians will rally around the flag.

And how do the good folks at LoonWatch know this? All that appears necessary to establish the imperative of using nothing but diplomacy on Iran is a Nicholas Kristof editorial. Ah, I thought I saw that "friendly Iranian" meme somewhere before! The folks at LoonWatch appear to be very prolific. By the time you follow the link and look at the rest of this little masterpiece, it will be buried under a whole slew of new posts. Watch out, Loons of the world: you're being watched.

"Muslim Brotherhood to review Camp David treaty" (IRIB-Iran)

Iran is happy and the image accompanying the article somehow conveys their feelings perfectly. Even we imperialist world-arrogance types can appreciate the fact that the tear goes right through the image of Jimmy Carter:

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said that the country's peace treaty with the Zionist regime needs re-evaluation by the country's new parliament, in press remarks by a senior member of the group published Friday.

"A long time has passed since the Camp David accord was signed, and like the other agreements it needs to be reviewed, and this is in the hands of the parliament," said Mahmoud Hussein, the group's secretary-general, according to DPA.

He denied a report saying that the Muslim Brotherhood had reached an understanding with the United States and the Zionist regime on "the importance of safeguarding the peace treaty with Israel." [...]

Another ideologically flawless performance

Where else but North Korea?

Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission, enjoyed a performance given by the art squad of KPA Large Combined Unit 324.

Put on the stage were colorful numbers of diverse genres including female quintet "Glory to Our Great Party", male solo "Tell, the Road of Songun," guitar quintet "At a Breath," drama and chorus "They Are Looking at Us," mixed chorus "Our Army, Our People", female solo "Arirang on Jiansanfeng" and chorus "Song of Defending Country".

The performers represented the invincible might of the powerful revolutionary army of Mt. Paektu which has grown to be a matchless army and the loyalty of the servicepersons of the People's Army serving it with yearning for the Supreme Commander.

They also reflected the ideological and moral traits of the servicepersons of the large combined unit spending days and nights with combat preparations, following the enemies' provocative moves with vigilance.

He expressed great satisfaction over the splendid performance rich in ideological contents and high in artistry with numbers of great cognitional and educational value as they truthfully reflect the inexhaustible mental power and noble moral traits of the KPA dynamically advancing full of optimism and enthusiasm, equipped with transparent outlook on the leader and the revolution. He highly appreciated their successful performance.

He repeatedly praised the performers for their successful presentation, saying he watched the performances of the art squad of the large combined units several times and the one given by it this time was the best. He extended a warm salute to creators and artistes.

He noted the members of the art squad are high in artistic skills and the numbers staged by them are firm in their ideological stand and their contents are good as they are firmly based on the service of the soldiers.

He expressed expectation and conviction that the members of the art squad of the large combined unit would conduct dynamic revolutionary and militant art agitation in the future, too.

So I'm assured of endless blogfodder.

Juan Cole: Palestinians "were mentioned by the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians"

Was Gingrich's statement that Palestinians are "invented" actually a clever ruse to make leftists and Palestinians spout nonsense? Here is Juan Cole on the ancient roots of the Palestinians:

Gingrich said that there had never been a Palestinian state in history. If you want to play the romantic nationalist game of finding ancient forebears for modern nations, it would be easy in the case of the Palestinians, who were mentioned by the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians. But today’s Palestinians are equally descended from the ancient Canaanites and as well as from the ancient Jews.

The bit about the "Egyptians and Assyrians" involves a trick I've noted before: conflating the modern-day Palestinians with the people who are usually referred to in English as the Philistines. Do the Palestinians really want to be identified with polytheistic enemies of the monotheistic ancient Hebrews? And what is the evidence for the assertion in the sentence about the "ancient Canaanites" and "ancient Hebrews"? Need something to blog about? See the rest of Juan's post for more half-truths and nonsense.

New Iranian computer game--"Attack on Tel Aviv"

It doesn't actually exist yet if I am following this correctly:

Iranian computer game programmers will soon release "Attack on Tel Aviv" in a retaliatory move against "Battlefield 3" videogame which depicts a US assault on Tehran.

Speaking to FNA on Saturday, Executive-Manager of Iran's National Foundation of Computer Games Behrooz Minaei told FNA that the foundation will fund the project, and announced that many Iranian computer game programmers have voiced preparedness to contribute a role in the project.

Minaei said that Battlefield 3 has many technical and video faults, adding that the location of the game in Tehran is "unacceptable".

He said that Iran has sent letters to the US videogame company, Electronic Arts (EA), and voiced its protest at the latest version of Battlefield, but the opposite side has not yet responded to the letter.

In November, Iran banned the computer game, depicting US amour and aircraft launching an assault on Tehran.

"All computer stores are prohibited from selling this illegal game," Iran's deputy police chief said.

A Tehran-based IT union warned all shops to abide by the ban. [...]

No matter who offends them, the "retaliation" is always against Israel.

PA spokesman lectures Newt Gingrich about "basic historical facts" while spouting ahistorical nonsense

Gingrich, as you may have heard, referred to the Palestinians as "invented." I try to avoid that sort of rhetoric myself, but this reponse features some nice unintended irony:

"The Palestinian people descended from the Canaanite tribe of the Jebusites that inhabited the ancient site of Jerusalem as early as 3200 B.C.E.," [Fatah Revolutionary Council member Dimitri] Diliani said. The "Gingrich remarks are ignorant of the basic historical facts of the Middle East."

Great News! "Hamas sets up rocket production line in Sinai"

That didn't take long. From J-Post:

Hamas has established forward bases and rocket production facilities in the Sinai Peninsula in an effort to protect them from Israeli air strikes, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

By establishing the facilities in Egypt, Hamas aims to protect its assets since it believes Israel will not strike targets inside Egypt due to the affect it would have on bilateral relations. [...]

"If the United States' spy drone . . . had been a jet fighter, we would have hit all the US military bases throughout the world" (Fars News-Iran)

But next time, however, "If another US spy plane violates the Iranian airspace, we will give a frightening response to the Americans." There is a bit of bluster to Iran's military rhetoric, isn't there?

If the United States' spy drone that was recently downed by the Iranian Armed Forces in the Eastern parts of the country had been a jet fighter, we would have hit all the US military bases throughout the world, a senior Iranian lawmaker warned on Friday.

"If this had been a fighter jet, the conditions would have been different now as we would have pounded all the US military bases on the planet," Vice-Chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Esmayeel Kowsari told FNA.

"We have repeatedly said and we caution again that in case our country's borders are violated, we will not confine our response to geographical borders," he added.

Iran has repeatedly warned that it would target Israel and its worldwide interests in case it comes under attack by the Tel Aviv. It has also warned that in case of an attack by either the US or Israel, it will target 32 American bases in the Middle East and close the strategic Strait of Hormoz.

The MP further said that Iran proved to the world that the US is not an invincible power after it downed the highly sophisticated drone through hacking its systems.

The legislator rapped the international bodies for their silence on the case, and warned, "If another US spy plane violates the Iranian airspace, we will give a frightening response to the Americans."

Iran announced on Sunday that its defense forces had downed the aircraft through a sophisticated cyber attack.

The drone is the first such loss by the US. US officials have described the loss of the aircraft in Iran as a setback and a fatal blow to the stealth drone program. [...]

"Fatal"? So there won't be a "stealth drone program" any more?

"Iran: Britain will atone for its inappropriate behavior" (ISNA-Iran)

And, we learn, it has a century of imappropriate behavior to atone for:

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Saturday Britain would atone for its inappropriate behavior towards Iranian nation over last century.

He made the remarks at Tehran international Mehrabad Airport where he was joining the welcoming ceremony for staffs of Iranian embassy in Britain who heft the European country Friday night.

"British officials felt humiliation after Iranian Parliament passed a bill to downgrade relations, so they took a hasty measure to overshadow the bill," he told reporters.

"They want to represent Iran as a threat. They claim that Iran is the element of instability and insecurity in the region. They accuse Iran of terrorist actions."

They prepared the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Chief on Iranian nuclear issue in such a way which raises concerns over Iranian nuclear issue. They are seeking discord between us and other regional countries."

Also deputy ambassador of Iranian embassy in the UK, said, "Iranian embassy staffs left Britain with official British officials' send-off despite all pressures." [...]

"The Jews are the ideas that now prevails everywhere": Conspiracy Theories from the Muslim Brotherhood

The auto-translation is very garbled in places, but you get the idea. From Ikhwanonline.com:

Jewish conspiracy continues

Unfinished plots Judaism at an end attempts to assassinate the Prophet peace be upon him, but took Liedson and hatching in the dark; They were behind the murder plot Commander of the Faithful Omar ibn al-Khattab, and sedition overwhelming that broke out during the reign of the third Caliph Uthman ibn Affan at the hands of Abdullah Ibn Saba the Jew, and then followed it up to broadcast the seeds of strife and discord and conflict, and divide the nation into warring groups; Shias and the Kharijites and Qaramita and others.

Continued Jewish conspiracy in the black covert action through their associations suspicious, all lead to one goal, is to renounce religion and put and call to non-religious; Kalasmaeilih and the Ahmadiyya and the esoteric.

Today causing a treachery by secret societies to undermine Islam; Balmasonah and Rotary Clubs and the Baha'i .. Prof. Dr. Mohamed Mohamed Hussein: "The invitations destructive was wearing a dress of humanity and compassion and love of peace and harmony, they are many; Kalmasonah and communism, spiritual, and call for reconciliation between religions and between Islam and Christianity in particular," they went out to the world slogans glamorous; all lead to the destruction of Islam and destroy it.

And confirms the Sheikh Mohammed Abu Zahra (may Allah have mercy on him) their deception today, saying: "What I thought - as well as more Almason - that their association puppet Zionist purely not only Jewish, seeks the Jews by their influence to restore the glory of Zion, and the meaning of the glory of Zion disarmament of Palestine and its Judaization, a king to the Arabs for three centuries and a half. "

We will not forget their destructive

We will not forget the Jews subversive role in toppling the Islamic Caliphate, and they take off the Sultan Abdul Hamid, was demonstrated on the dimensions of the plot through the recently published diary of Sultan Abdul Hamid, and the emergence of a lot of historical documents and books that show the facts in this conspiracy .. Dr. Mustafa Hilmi: "The collapse of the heralds of which appeared in the last century, and before the announcement of its fall by the movement of the coup members of the Union and Progress (Masonic), and proved that they do not belong to the strain in Turkish, but a mixture of races, religions and nationalities, and staged a coup against the Sultan Abdul Hamid, for refusing to allow the Jews to buy land in Palestine.

Will not forget the destructive role of Jews in the Holy Temple .. Came in an appeal of Ansar al-Palestine Holy directed to the Muslim world to save Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1938: "The Jews demanded that the Grand Mufti to the Holy Land officially hand over Al-Aqsa Mosque and it is permissible for them to transform it a synagogue they live their faith," In the book (the Temple of Solomon) to Joseph Haj states: "The Jews demanding demolition of Al-Aqsa Mosque and build the Temple of Solomon and the Wailing Wall, as claimed by the Jews is the wall the rest of the Temple of Solomon, and if we know that this wall is the western wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque destructive realized the seriousness of their plans.

Will not forget the Jews their subversive today in the fight against Islam on the international level; in the political, economic, social, and dissemination of dissolution to break the immunity of Muslim societies, and was Raúdhm the Jewish Freud; the demolition of ethics such as the demolition of thought and religion, both Jewish Darwin and Marx, then Otbahma Jewish Durkheim; who said that the original communist women, the need for the family!.

And became the Jews do not publish these views in the forums and publishing houses, but possessed direction applied to them; from the exploitation of art, and used as a tool for the pleasures of besmirched, and desires, and become Jews today are running nightclubs and dance halls and brothels, even turning the world into a brothel full of corruption, not to mention Jewish women and their use as wives or mistresses of the leaders of nations and well-known; to know the secrets and racketeering.

The record here, "Jack Whitney," U.S. Senator cries of the facts about what he sees in his country, America; says:

* There is a fear that a converted Jew in America a hundred years, and are more than dreams of Marx.

The Jews are the ideas that now prevails everywhere, and the occupation of Palestine and the establishment of the State of Israel is a sign of the beginning of the era of non-religious Jews.

* The influence of Jewish finance has been strengthened for ever; terrible strength in order to remain dominant throughout the world.

* If we searched and searched behind the scenes of world politics animated; We found the Zionist stand firm devoid of emotions, do not shake the conscience of him.

* The destruction of nations and destroy religions and atheism offer .. All of these tragedies giant steps on the road to realize the hope of Israel (Book of the false brothers).

The Jews will not forget their role today in the killing of innocent people in Gaza and southern Lebanon, and has shaken shohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifok the permanent slogan of resistance: "Khaybar Khaybar Jews, Muhammad's army .. started back."

The resistance to draw the nation's awakening after a setback, and awakening after a long sleep, in spite of Bush!!, And takes us back memory to the year 1948, was raped Palestine in the absence of Islam, and almost Brigades, the Muslim Brotherhood to remove the shame shameful, and inflicted terror in the hearts of the Jews nerveless; not for allies Jewish corruption of the people who kill Jews Kavúa Imam al-Banna in the February 12, 1949 AD.

Glad to hear "The influence of Jewish finance has been strengthened for ever." Hope that trickles down to me. (Hat Tip: EOZ)

Obama gets that Chanukkah business out of the way

Two weeks early. The Sufganyot were Pas Yisroel. (h/t: Israel Matzav) Obama expressed "our unshakeable support and commitment to the security of the nation of Israel." I'm not sure how many points this will gain him with Jewish voters, but it shows that Obama thinks ahead when organizing his calendar.

"China, Russia want to inspect downed U.S. drone" (Mehr News-Iran)

Hows that international isolation going that we've imposed on Iran?

An informed source in the Iranian military has said that Russian and Chinese officials have asked for permission to inspect the U.S. spy drone that was recently downed by the Iranian Armed Forces, Nasimonline.ir reported on Wednesday.

On Sunday, an unidentified Iranian military source said that the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic had downed an advanced RQ-170 unmanned U.S. spy plane, which had violated the country’s airspace along the eastern border.

There are unconfirmed reports that Iran may put the drone on public display.

According to the Washington Post, the RQ-170 drone has been used by the CIA for highly sensitive missions into other nations’ airspace, including months of surveillance of the compound in Pakistan in which Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was allegedly hiding before he was killed in an attack by Special Operations forces on May 1, 2011.

On Monday, U.S. military officials said that they are concerned that Tehran may now have an opportunity to acquire information about the classified surveillance drone program, AP reported. [...]

"Fear of Iran Makes US Abort Covert Plan to Retrieve Spy Drone " (Fars News-Iran)

The drone is dominating Iran's news sites at the moment. Here is one particularly gloating example:

US special forces intended to conduct a covert mission inside Iran to retrieve or destroy a very precious stealth drone that was downed by Iran on Sunday, but ultimately gave up the plan for their fear of Iran's tough response, Washington officials revealed on Thursday.

Iran announced on Sunday that its defense forces had downed the aircraft through a sophisticated cyberattack.

The drone is the first such loss by the US.

Initially, officials in Washington didn't believe Iran had detected and downed the drone, but they later admitted that they had lost it. White House officials first alleged that the drone was not anything special and belonged to the ISAF forces in Afghanistan, but later admitted that the unmanned surveillance plane was a stealth aircraft being used for top secret missions by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The US officials are now trying to convince the world that the aircraft and its systems are not among those technologies which shouldn't have been exposed to Iran, but the western media reported today that the aircraft is so important for the US that they have worked out three operations to retrieve or destroy it.

The RQ-170 has special coatings and a batwing shape designed to help it penetrate other nations' air defenses undetected. The existence of the aircraft, which is made by Lockheed Martin, has been known since 2009, when a model was photographed at the main US airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

US officials unveiled on Thursday that they considered various options for retrieving the RQ-170 Sentinel drone.

US officials considered both sending in a team of American commandos based in Afghanistan as well as using allied agents inside Iran to hunt down the downed aircraft.

Another option would have had a team sneak in to blow up the drone. A third option would have been to destroy the highly sophisticated aircraft with an airstrike.

However, the officials worried that any option for retrieving or destroying the drone would have risked a tough reaction by Iran.

"No one warmed up to the option of recovering it or destroying it because of the potential it could become a larger incident," the US official said according to Wall Street Journal.

If an assault team entered the country to recover or destroy the drone, the official said, the US "could be accused of an act of war" by the Iranian government.

Meantime, the US media are trying to convince the world that the drone has been badly damaged and is not of much use to Tehran, but Iran on Thursday evening released the first images along with thorough explanations about its systems, specifications and the way it was downed by military forces in Eastern Iran. The images and the footages aired by the Iranian state-run TV showed that the stealth aircraft is almost intact and without any major damage.

The Thursday evening images, footage and explanations are available on FNA website (the footage is, of course, only available on our Persian website).

Iranian officials had earlier informed the media that the craft sustained only minor damage.

US intelligence and military officials declined to comment on the specific mission the drone was flying when it was brought down by Iran.

George Little, the Pentagon press secretary, declined to comment on the discussions over options to recover the drone.

US officials claimed that analyzing the materials that contribute to the craft's stealth qualities wouldn't tell Iranian scientists how to manufacture the necessary coatings, but Iran does not need this information as it manufactured a radar evading spy drone with both surveillance and bombing capabilities almost two years ago.

They have already mastered all technology . . .

Assad interviewed by Barbara Walters

This offers the same propaganda that you can read on his news agency's site, but I suppose there is some morbid curiosity gratification in hearing this played out in an actual conversation with Barbara.

"Berkeley’s Jewish student union says ‘no’ to J Street U" (jweekly.com)

Good news although much of the article reads like a sympathetic interview with the J-Street types.

"Kim Jong Il's Songun Leadership Feats Praised by British Organization" (Korean News)

Funny how this sounds exactly like everything else at Korean News, isn't it?

The British Association for the Study of Songun Policy on Nov. 19 posted on its Internet homepage article titled "Defending world peace with outstanding Songun leadership" with a photo of leader Kim Jong Il.

World people are praising him as the "great defender of the socialist cause" and "symbol of human cause of peace", the article said, and went on:

The imperialists have resorted to vicious moves such as political and diplomatic pressure, economic blockade and armed blackmail to harm the DPRK.

Tricksters of the U.S. Department of Defense made a Korean war a fait accompli and worked out an operation scenario.

Another war might break out on the Korean Peninsula any moment.

The international community closely watched the DPRK with deep concern.

But for the Songun politics, a war would have broken out long ago on the Korean Peninsula by the imperialist aggressors and humankind would have been plunged into disastrous calamities of world war again.

Kim Jong Il conducted the energetic external activities to defend socialism and world peace.

He visited Russia and China several times in the new century alone. He also met with foreigners who visited the DPRK and gave clear answers to the questions for world peace and security.

It was thanks to his outstanding Songun revolutionary leadership and energetic external activities that all the moves of the imperialists against independence and peace have been checked and frustrated.

Justice and peace are being protected in the international arena and the human cause of independence is dynamically advancing thanks to the peerless Songun brilliant commander.

"Analysts Warn of Astronomical Prices for Oil if West Takes Action against Iran" (Fars News-Iran)

This doesn't seem to have actually been produced by Fars News. It looks as if they just lifted it from somewhere:

Pimco warned investors that any military action against Iran over its nuclear program could lead to sudden "all-time high" oil prices.

Greg Sharenow, portfolio manager at the group, said markets are more vulnerable to significant price spikes should a new supply disruption occur than during the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait or the 1980 Iraqi imposed war on Iran.

The price of Brent crude oil already hit year-to-date highs of more than $120 per barrel in April before falling to roughly $100 by October. However, in October and November it gained roughly 8 per cent and as at December 1 was up to $110.

Sharenow said in a note, "Any event could pose a formidable risk to the global economy, e.g. a real supply disruption scenario would require higher prices to lower demand in order to balance the market. This could come at a time when the global economy, or at least the developed world, is facing fiscal headwinds and limits on monetary policy."

The manager said he was also concerned about supply disruption as there is currently less of a surplus than normal, with inventories falling below the five-year average for the first time since 2008. "While Saudi Arabia will likely respond by boosting output, we estimate excess capacity is unlikely to be much higher than 1.5m barrels a day," he said.

Sharenow said potential scenarios for an oil price surge range from exports being minimally disrupted, with oil spiking to $130-$140 per barrel, through to Iranian exports being lost for half a year, leading prices to rally and average $150 for the six months with "notable spikes" above that level.

Yet, market analysts and traders are seeing a shocking $200 to $300 per barrel for first few weeks of military action against Iran and a complete disruption of Iranian oil.

Robert Jukes, global strategist for Collins Stewart Wealth Management, said he was focusing more on the macroeconomic environment, including the ongoing debt crisis in Europe.

He said, "Ultimately short term spikes are possible as the situation is volatile and the oil price has been bubbling up on these tensions. But the bigger picture is the macro backdrop, which is deflationary."

"Hamas didn't fail" (ABNA-Iran)

I'm sure you would never dare to think that Hamas could "fail," but you should enjoy this explanation of why it didn't:

In a recent interview with a Kuwaiti newspaper, Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas claimed that Hamas failed in its "experiment of governance."

Well, it is really hard to swallow Abbas's remarks. His standards of success and failure must be totally unrealistic and irrational.

We know that in life, achievements, whether by individuals or nations, are measured in proportion to the availability of means, circumstances, challenges as well as the nature of goals pursued.

Hamas, a resistance movement fighting the octopus of international Zionism which controls big governments, including the government of the United States, the world's only remaining though declining superpower and Israel's guardian-ally, never pretended to be a super power that would liberate occupied Palestine from the Mediterranean Sea to the River Jordan.

Indeed, those Palestinians who elected Hamas in 2006 did so not because they thought that Hamas would soon deliver Safad and Jaffa from the clutches of evil Zionism.

They did so because they thought, rather correctly, that Hamas was a clean, honest and corruption-free movement, unlike the notoriously corrupt Palestinian Authority whose very name is synonymous with corruption, graft, nepotism, cronyism, misappropriation of wealth, embezzlement of public money and other forms of corruption and misgovernment.

And from the very moment Hamas was elected, a real world war was declared on the small movement, including a hermetic global financial war, a harsh travel ban, and tight sea blockade on Gaza as well as the closure of all Islamic charities throughout the West Bank.

This is added the Nazi-like witch-hunting campaign targeting every elected or unelected Islamist official in the occupied territories, including virtually all Islamist MPs, most of whom were totally innocent people.

Indeed, five years after the elections, some of these MPs are still languishing in Jewish dungeons and bastilles on no other ground than to satiate the sadistic Zionist desire to see Palestinians suffer and wallow in pain.

But Israel was not the only villain in this orgy of oppression. Abbas's Palestinian Authority itself, which viewed security coordination with Israel as constituting political success, actively conspired and connived with Israel, secretly and publicly, in order to decapitate Hamas once and for all. The facts in this regard are too ignominious to recall.

Similarly, American puppet governments in the region did everything Israel asked for in order to throttle Hamas and its supporters. The ultimate goal was to force the Islamist movement to surrender and submit to Jewish Nazism.

And when Hamas proved too tenacious and virtually undefeatable, mainly because you can't defeat an idea by bullets and conspiracies, Israel launched an all-out war on the thoroughly blockaded and thoroughly starved Gaza Strip for the purpose of eradicating Hamas from the face of earth. The all-out onslaught resembled to a large degree the allies' bombing of Dresden during WWII. [...]

There's more if you can stomach it.