The graveyard of miracles!

So much for winning the hearts and minds. Afghans are flocking to the graves (mass graves, actually) of the Arabs who died in American attacks in 2001. The thousands, who come from as far as Pakistan, believe that drinking from the salty water nearby will cure diseases. Here's a translation, by my good friend Hashmat, of the original story from the BBC's Persian services:

Thousands of Muslim Arabs moved into Afghanistan after Taliban consolidate their gains on the major city in the south of Afghanistan. Qandahar city was one of the most desired cities for the Arab families. However, After the events of 9/11 ,an the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan, many of these Arab families lost their lives in the American carpet bombings. On the road to Qandahar, and on the road to Spinbuldak, are Arab villages which have been raised to the ground by the American Carpet Bombings. Many of these Arab families have been killed and are now buried in Kandahar’s main cemetery. Over the past few years these graves have become a place of visiting for thousands of locals who believe that these people are saints. The American-backed government of Afghanistan has tried to stop the people from visiting these graves, but the news of the graves have spread throughout the south, and even as far as Pakistan. Men and women flock to these graves for special prayers.

No peace deal in Annapolis but ...

Today begins the much hipped Annapolis Middle East conference meeting, widely attended but also widely expected to yield nothing but smiles and handshakes. The level of attendance is impressive; the Isrealis, Palestinians, Syrians and a host of other Arab and European diplomats will all be there. However the three main leaders who can really effect the outcome of this meeting, namely presidents Bush and Abbas and PM Olmert, are sitting ducks unable to take any giant steps towards peace (or anything else for that matter). By their admission, the Israelis and Palestinians haven't made any progress in the last few months towards resolving the major hurdles of settlements, right of return, borders and security. Therefore, there's nothing of substance to be expected from this meeting in terms of resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, except a committment to discuss these issues (as always).

There are however two important issues the meeting could help in resolving. The meeting can help is calming down the rising Syrian-Israeli tensions after Israel bombed sites in Syria few months ago. The Syrians have proved resilient in the face of American and Arab efforts to isolate them and they've played their cards right in Iraq and Lebanon. But Syria remains venerable. Syria has time and again reached out to the United states but their efforts weren't well received. Syria didn't want to be seen as desperate, so they demanded Golan heights to be included in the agenda as a condition to attend the meeting, and it was added. US, Israel (and Saudi) are keen on separating Syria from Iran, will they use this summit to do so? I doubt it but they just might.

The other major issue is the current crisis in Lebanon. America tried in the past few years to create a New Middle East and used Lebanon as an experiment. US supported the Sunni government against the pro-Syria camp but this move has backfired after the Shia pulled out of the government. US also supported Isreal's bombing of Lebanon last year which didn't sit well with most Lebanese. Now, America wants a pro-US president but it isn't going to get that, so the only way out of this crisis is to reach some type of comprise with Syria. Will this American administration finally change it's ways, of bullying, and reach a comprise with Syria?

Iraqis document humiliation

An Iraqi dentist writes about how he ended up jailed and humiliated, together with other Iraqis, when he went to Jordan for a vacation. Another Iraqi recorded the conditions of Iraqis(youtube) in the Jordanian airport. Watch Below:

It's sad to see that Iraqis are dealt this way in Arab countries, of all places.

US plans to sell sophisticated weapons to Arab states

This is a big development, US is planning to sell billions of dollars worth of sophisticated weapons to Arab countries to defend themselves against Iran, or so the argument goes. To assure Israel, US will give a $30 billion military aid for the next 10 years and 13 billion for Egypt.

This isn't about sending signals to Iran, it seems US administration has decided to attack Iran. If Iran is attacked they're likely to retaliate against US bases in Saudi, Qatar and elsewhere in the region. So arming these countries with sophisticated weaponry such as satellite guided missiles makes sense.

Condi and Gates will fly to Saudi next week to pressure Saudi to support the Iraqi government but also discussing other issues in the region; suppressing Hamas and the upcoming Lebanese presidential battle. Iraq war might have been only the begining.

MEMRI mistranslates Arab videos, nasty

Thankfully Angry Arab sheds light on MEMRI's mistranslation of "Hamas Mickey". I came across the video couple of days ago and I couldn't see what the fuss was about, there was nothing wrong in the Arabic version but the translation was of course different. I wasn't surprised that MEMRI was the culprit, one of those nasty Israeli hardline websites you come across on the internet. Of course as they wanted Fath wanted the video to be taken out and the story was later picked up Aljazeera among others.

But what really upsets me that MEMRI posts these nasty videos in Foreign Policy blog as a guest blogger, an otherwise informative blog that's now clearly branding itself as anti-Arab.

Update: Arabic Uder Fire writes Brian Whitaker, Guardian Middle East editor, in response to MEMRI's mistranslation.

Heaven and Hell in the Arab world

(hat tip: Mohamed)

How much a museum cost?

Gulf countries, with fat wallets from high oil prices, have taken to buying everything, from universities, athletes and even art. Dubai, the most superficial city I've ever seen, has everything outsourced and brought from somewhere including the necessary manpower, the local population is about 15% which means everything is run by the 85% expats. You can go for days without seeing a local. Qatar brought Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown ... instead of advancing its substandard Qatar University. Administrators of these universities talk, disbelievingly, of unlimited budgets.

Now Abu Dhabi went a step further, why not buy a whole museum. For $700 million, the Louvre will have a branch in Abu Dhabi:

The deal, to be signed in Abu Dhabi by Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres and Sheikh Sultan bin Tannoun, paves the way for a new "Louvre Abu Dhabi", due to open in 2013.

The architect will be French. Construction costs will be borne by the emirate.
Most controversially, the agreement will allow Abu Dhabi to lease works from the Louvre and other French museums for durations of up to two years.

The deal have generated a controversy in France and many French art-lovers are critical of the deal, this is what the BBC had to say:

A storm is raging in France over the government's decision to build a branch of the Louvre in Abu Dhabi - the first-ever foreign annex of the world-famous art gallery.

The controversy is not over public spending on culture - French taxpayers think nothing of subsidising films to the tune of 500m euros a year ($700m; £350m).

The row centres on the fact that France stands to make money from the deal, being signed on Tuesday.

A good deal of money, in fact. According to unofficial estimates, Abu Dhabi should pay about 700m euros over 20 years for the privilege of displaying works from French museums.

This, according to critics, amounts to using France's artistic heritage for basely commercial ends.

"Our museums are not for sale", proclaims an online petition signed by 4,700 people - including many curators, art historians, and archaeologists.

The French public might disapprove of the deal but I doubt Abu Dhabi residents are even aware of the controversy, let alone voice their disapproval. But I wonder if there's more to it, let say an anti-Arab feeling:

French museums will be deprived of major works, which will be displayed in a "random, unscientific" way in Abu Dhabi

Why does it have to be "random, unscientific" if it's in Abu Dhabi?