Today the sun is shining and the temperature has risen. Being outside is a real pleasure because the weather is almost perfect.
Getting back to Rafiq Hariri, Syria was blamed for his assassination. Bashar-al-Alsad allegedly threatened Hariri. There were huge anti-Syria demonstrations and the last of Syria's soldiers withdrew from Lebanon by the end of April 2005. Critics of Syria continued to be assassinated. One of the victims was journalist Samir Kassir who wrote with regret about the nahda, a time during the 19th C when secular modern Arab culture was blossoming. Kassir blames Arab stagnation and frustration as having caused the lean towards the Islamists.
Rogan talks about the dissembling of Western powers when explaining their intentions towards the Arab world. Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1878 under the guise of liberating the people rather than putting one over the British strategically.
Lieutenant General Sir Stanley Maude said the same thing (more or less) when he entered Baghdad in March 1917 at the height of WWI. Iraq was placed under direct British rule from 1920, following the brutal suppression of The Iraqi Revolt.
By the time George W. Bush arrived in iraq in 2003, they'd heard it all before. Rogan says 'It is bad enough to invade people without insult their intelligence'.
Modern Arab history begins with the gunpowder fuelled Ottoman onquests of 1516-1517.
Getting back to Rafiq Hariri, Syria was blamed for his assassination. Bashar-al-Alsad allegedly threatened Hariri. There were huge anti-Syria demonstrations and the last of Syria's soldiers withdrew from Lebanon by the end of April 2005. Critics of Syria continued to be assassinated. One of the victims was journalist Samir Kassir who wrote with regret about the nahda, a time during the 19th C when secular modern Arab culture was blossoming. Kassir blames Arab stagnation and frustration as having caused the lean towards the Islamists.
Rogan talks about the dissembling of Western powers when explaining their intentions towards the Arab world. Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1878 under the guise of liberating the people rather than putting one over the British strategically.
Lieutenant General Sir Stanley Maude said the same thing (more or less) when he entered Baghdad in March 1917 at the height of WWI. Iraq was placed under direct British rule from 1920, following the brutal suppression of The Iraqi Revolt.
By the time George W. Bush arrived in iraq in 2003, they'd heard it all before. Rogan says 'It is bad enough to invade people without insult their intelligence'.
Modern Arab history begins with the gunpowder fuelled Ottoman onquests of 1516-1517.
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| Jerusalem Under Ottoman Caliphate. |
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