Hamas: Who are the People Behind It?

"Though the leaders of the military wing of Hamas, responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks against Israelis, stay underground and out of sight, the group's local political figures will be prominent in the new Palestinian Parliament, while its overall leadership is in Syria".

So begins an article in the IHT. Read the complete article here - detailing who the people actually "behind" Hamas actually are.

Whilst the world is surprised about the outcome of the Palestinian election - had people not read and followed what Hamas was doing and saying in Gaza and the West Bank let alone appreciated the corruption of the Fatah Movement? - it comes as no surprise to me that Hamas did as well as it did. What was in it for Palestinians to vote for Fatah?

How things now play out in the Middle East will be interesting to follow. The dymanics have certainly changed. Whether for the better or the worse remains to be seen!

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Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives? In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t

The NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) goes on hold.....because of one non-Treaty member (Israel)

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#1 Prize for a bizarre story.....and lying!

No comment called for in this piece from CommonDreams: Another young black man: The strange sad case of 21-year-old Chavis Carter. Police in Jonesboro, Arkansas stopped him and two friends, found some marijuana, searched put Carter, then put him handcuffed behind his back into their patrol car, where they say he shot himself in the head with a gun they failed to find. The FBI is investigating. Police Chief Michael Yates, who stands behind his officers' story, says in an interview that the death is "definitely bizarre and defies logic at first glance." You think?

Mahler's Prodigal Son

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