Block all IR/MENA/Islam blogs show up on radar. I’ve been around ever since this clique started and there are ones I don’t follow means I know what they are doing and I don’t follow. This recommendation system is pointless as keep recommending something your customer already declined many times to purchase.

It’s been this way now over more than a year.

Someone needs to use brain a bit.

There are many other ways to say this - but why Israelis pick right-leaning candidates/party - looking at those reasons straight - is hard for Israeli left - because that’s exact same reasons why they are so isolated from Israeli society. It’s hard to stare that straight. 

Another thing is like - okay, so if 972 is not just another Electronic Intifada - where is the coverage on today’s killing in Bulgaria? I expected one - at least and didn’t find it. 

That means 972 is not serious at thinking through Israel’s future - at all. And I know that sort of type gathers and create ‘critical’ cliques against Israel and Israelis. 

It shouldn’t be difficult to see then, how those cliques look like from Israelis’ eyes.

—

It’s a place people sort of share the stories of life and death

The place is based on the story of life and death of immediate relatives and close generations. 

People have that sense and reflex. 

and even probably novice or just-started type of USA govt, state dept assistants etc would know this, and use this knowledge when they just hear that news of bombing in Bulgaria - 

Israeli people’s reflex will act up - and we have to interface with them accordingly. 

If you really want different future - I thought - someone at 972 will cover this topic within today. Will try. I know it’s a harder and not easy subject - but - 

but how are you going to make sense if you give up on what your people collectively have as the basis of unity and identity - and meaning of the place? 

yourhijabi:

akio:

yourhijabi:

akio replied to your post: akio replied to your post: akio replied to your…

D: I see. Makes sense. Foreign stuff perceived as ‘exotic’ or ‘different’ … (but it’s just full of chemicals and tricks… industrial foods.)

:( yeah-actually McDonald is consider exotic sometimes.
I guess people just find very foreign things exotic etc..actually it is scary because the rise in obesity among children in the UAE is sky rocketing-people blame these food chains that are benefiting welp.
Arab restaurants etc aren’t as much in malls, like you probably will see one or two and only older people go there.
Maybe a few asian (usually thai or chiniese) stuff at the food courts but in reality it is getting more and more less in huge malls.
U__U
Dubai mall actually is okay compared to more local malls near me.
Farooj is arab owned yet a fast food place-but still serves Lebanese stuff(oh and also shawerma yay)
But if people ever want to taste real cultural food-they’d have to stay clear of central places like the mall (lol many (tourists) people think if they go to the mall they are gonna taste emirati culture LOL)

You know.

We Japanese people do consider American fastfoods etc as ‘genuine crap’. 

• It’s full of chemicals
• destroys your sensitivity about food
• disconnect your appetite from your body
• destroys your health very quickly
• you lose your invaluable (local) cooking culture, local tradition -
• and even local markets etc. (You can lose your souks - all can turn into built up giant malls or so called strip malls.) 

American food chains, and their local copies can actually destroy hundreds-years old local markets and their restaurants and desert makers - in like few years. 

Thing is we Japanese are aware of all this ‘destructive power’ of American fastfood and industrial food. (Though there are degrading changes happening in Japan too) 

We do have McDonalds, Subway, KFC, now Starbucks etc too.

But not to the level of threatening our traditional stuff. 

*Thing is our stomach is very weak.

We can’t keep eating American salty greasy food all the time. Japanese ppl usually can’t eat McDonalds twice a day. (Once a day is more than enough and risky for us.) 

We also become sick if we eat McDonalds as lunch and then have pizza etc for dinner. Japanese body can’t take in that much meat and cheese etc, fall sick instantly. :) 

/much meat/oh god Somalis eat so much meat and depending on the region-fish too.
I don’t eat McDonalds and i was raised to never eat fast food stuff-would have it rarely (even when i lived in the US)-i grew up on Somali food mostly..never had what my parents called ‘american’ food-unless i was taking hotdogs to school-even that is considered disgusting~lol
The thing is it is destroying the local culture and market-the only people that will bother are tourists but people living in the UAE won’t actually bother..lol.
Unless you count the sort of growing local teen culture of going to Yemeni restaurants on fridays after soccer etc.
Hmm i usually have Lebanese, Turkish, Somali, Yemeni, Indian food but the rising ‘American’ brands are something i barely go to unless i am on campus-no choice really…
My campus serves some Emirati local dishes-but it is close to what i have usually lol (somali stuff) 
As for cheese-love it but not the silly ones ugh in packets and stuff-the cool thing is they sell real good cheese here like fresh cheese and labna at the local grocery but most (argh) people don’t want that anymore…actually most commercials on TV are more Cheese related~lol but ew mostly Philadelphia, Puck, Kraft brands-the Arab brands are sometimes ignored-but the Arab ones taste better anyways.
People don’t go to the very old souqs as much anymore-culture is going to die out :( sometimes only tourists are to be found in some old souqs-sadly not many residents bother to go to them~the mall replaced many places.. 

A big problem (locals being very quick to abandon their traditions - and say ‘get Americanized’ ) - I kind of know - and we all probably know - 

but if keeping old souks and old market might be the way to save this world - ”International Relations” field can become bit more interesting and hopeful? 

Very essential subject though. 

In short, now American Muslims are getting

‘Jersey Shore-d’? 

Well, looks like I have to watch the show but also, sounds like nothing that worthy … (also wasn’t there kind of similar TV show before?)

[My experience of Muslim community started with people living in extreme poverty and segregation in UK - and in Brooklyn, I only know Muslims who work as

• 24 hr taxi driver
• car mechanic
• 24 hr curry cooks
• 24 hr cheap grocery store owner/worker

I only know middle class Muslim ppl via Tumblr.] 

akio:

Following Michael Rubin, Max Boot says: “Moroccan Model”, Gradual Liberal Reform Preferable Than Upheavals

Michael Rubin makes a good point about the attractiveness of the Moroccan model–meaning gradual liberal reform in the direction of democracy. That is certainly preferable to the kind of upheavals that have rocked the Arab world this year. Even successful revolutions (as in Egypt) can go off in uncertain directions.

In the case of Egypt, civil liberties remain restricted, anti-Israel sentiment is running rampant, and the  Muslim Brotherhood  appears poised to gain a disproportionate share of power because it is better organized than liberal groups.

Some of this was no doubt unavoidable in any post-Mubarak regime (any Egyptian government that reflects popular sentiment will be anti-Israel to some degree) but the chaotic conditions which have prevailed since Mubarak’s abrupt removal from power have exacerbated the situation.

It was precisely to ward off such an explosion that some of us had been arguing for years the U.S. needed to do more to pressure  Hosni Mubarak  to open up the political system—for instance, by conditioning U.S aid on reform. Instead, one administration after another gave this strongman a blank check even though it was perfectly clear he could not last forever.

Unfortunately, the U.S. appears to be repeating that mistake in Bahrain. This tiny Gulf kingdom, where a Sunni royal family rules over a predominantly Shiite population, managed to repress calls for change by using force earlier this year; it even got assistance from the Saudi security forces. The royals also promised all sorts of political changes which have not materialized. The National Dialogue which they convened to assuage calls for change has turned out to be a joke. Repression remains the order of the day. But as in Syria, even the willingness of the security forces to shed blood has not kept protesters off the streets. As the  New York Times  notes, clashes between demonstrators and head-cracking riot police still occur almost every night.

Where, one wonders, is the U.S? We have a large say in Bahrain, which is the headquarters of our Fifth Fleet and is heavily dependent on American protection.

“But,” as the Washington Post editorialists note, “the Obama administration has been timid here as elsewhere during the Arab Spring. In May, President Obama made a strong statement about Bahrain during a speech on the Middle East in which he promised to support the cause of democratic change across the region. But there has been no follow-up; no senior U.S. officials have visited Bahrain in months, and the administration has had nothing to say about the deteriorating situation. This is shortsighted: If Bahrain blows up, vital U.S. interests will be at risk. The administration should use its influence now —before the crisis resumes.”

The Post is exactly right: Now—before the next revolution–is the time to affect positive political change in Bahrain, and also in other American allies such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The U.S. needs to use what leverage it has to push for liberal change a la Morocco.

Failure to do so is not only a moral failing, but more important, a strategic failing that risks another explosion toppling another American ally.

Yeah but this reasoning is not taking these into consideration:

• Saudi governs Bahrain
• How much Saudi would yield to reform in Bahrain then? (Answer: Zilch?)
• Also Saudi is pulling Morocco and Jordan into GCC, emphasis on Collective Security (and rewarding them with oil and money, projects etc.)
• It’s about Saudi’s position and
• Sunni-Shiite rivalry 
• (What’s Morocco’s recent take on repressing Shiites?)

So it’s natural to assume Saudis would say:  ’No need for any democratic or constitutional reform. Substantial carrots and sticks are sufficient (than mere promises or words).’

And other points are like:

• How ‘reform’ really works in the region? 

Stiglitz was attending a conference in Tunisia about the regions’ reform. Speed, efficacy. He said basically, agendas get set okay but actual reform/implementation gets slow or blocked. Blocked by mid-lower rank officials and bureaucrats. 

I heard similar thing about Egypt too. Ideas or agendas have been there or set. But when even the top signals reform, their hands and feet don’t follow the command. 

Resistance. Or culture. Hard to change. 

Need to look into this aspect too. Syria said to be has been doing it. (Also Jordan?)