Where's Aysar???

Where's Aysar? - If you're reading this my lovely Yasser Arafat lookalike - get in touch with me!

Now apart from that several things are going on in this world. Iraq continues to teeter on the edge of civil war. Which is really sad because these people have suffered so much for 30 years now. The Guardian reports that as many as 1,300 civilians may have died in the violence following the attack on the Shi'a mosque in Samara.

Boy this world is going insane.

On a lighter note, Leilouta has posted a funny set of lookalikes of Middle East dictators. Loved the first one of Nasrallah.

Life in Damascus is just getting better and better. The sun is really getting strong now and living some way up (Muhajireen) the mountain that overlooks (Jebel Qasiyoon for those who know) Damascus we're really getting the cream of the crop of sunny views. Having two balconies makes it even better of course.

At first it's hilarious... then it's just wrong

A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his "wife", after he was caught having sex with the animal.

(BBC News)

"We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr Alifi said.

hahaha

Which leads me to the questions:

- How can you have an erection over a goat?
- Are there no prostitutes in Sudan?
- They're still together, what on earth are they doing?

[Sorry, some of you should already know how barmy I am]

A very sad day for Iraq and human rights

Yesterday terrorists attacked and destroyed an important Shia Mosque in Samarra, North of Baghdad. Consistent with the unabating cycle of violence the response was equally appalling. Sunni Mosques were attacked. Around 50 were found dead. In addition the bodies of three Al-Arabiyya news station reporters. Including Atwar Bahjat the excellent female reporter who seemed to embody what a future Iraq deserves to be.

Sadly this metaphor has been turned on its head with ominous signs for the future.

FC Barcelona take Chelsea apart in London

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

Barcelona win 1-2 away to Chelsea in the second round of the Champions League (last 16)

Let me just explain the significance of this game my children. This time last year Barcelona faced Chelsea at exactly the same stage in the champions league. Barcelona were favourites to win the CL and Chelsea second, thus it seemed somewhat a shame that the two would meet so early on in the competition. In the first game, in Barcelona, Barcelona won 2-1. In the return game, Chelsea scored 3 goals in the first 20 mins, for some reason we just collapsed at the beginning of the game. Ronaldinho, being the footballing God that he is, pulled two back with phenomenal goals, some of you might recall. So Barcelona were winning on the away goal. Then, in the dying minutes, Chelsea get a corner. Ricardo Carvalho (how many times has he done this?) holds back our goalie and John Terry scores. Clearly a foul. Thus we would have won that game.

So yesterday, with my heart in my mouth, from the beginning of the game (I even had a dream about it the night before)... Chelsea score first. Absolute fluke. We score an own goal because our pathetic goalkeeper (nobody seems to realise that he needs to go) fails to communicate properly with Motta. Then Barcelona step up the pace and score. Then we absolutely lay seige to their goal with some of the most scintillating attacking display you'll ever see. Finally we get another goal. Justice would have made it 1-3 to us (Barcelona). Probably even more because we were not awarded two deserved penalties. And those that moan about Chelsea being taken down to 10 men should realise that Del Horno's attack on Messi was at least deserved of a yellow, and if you add that to the earlier incident where he stamped on Messi's leg then you'll realise he deserved it! But nevertheless we've one more leg to play against them and we've got a big advantage. Two weeks on tuesday.


If we get through this the Champions League is ours.

Sharia law in Britain? Hell no!

I might not be a scholar on this issue on indeed know very much but 40% of UK Muslims wanting Sharia law to be applied to certain communities? Hell no! From what I know about this ghastly set of rules is that subjugation and sexism are widespread, not to mention what seems to me as medieval punishments too.

Of course, as ever, i'm open to be convinced otherwise, so do use that comment section to tell me what i'm missing!

In the mean time, I leave you with an interesting article...


Sharia law? Don't even think about it

Marcel Berlins
Monday February 20, 2006
The Guardian

Forty percent of British Muslims are in favour of applyinhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1713628,00.htmlg sharia law in "predominantly Muslim" areas of the country, according to an ICM poll in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph. If taken at face value, this is a worrying figure. I do not believe that it should be taken too seriously at this stage, but it is a warning that should not be ignored.

This government has shown itself to be somewhat over-receptive to calls from ethnic and religious minorities to take their customs, traditions and sensitivities into account over a range of activities....... (continued)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1713628,00.html

So come and see me then...

Flights from London Heathrow to Damascus (return) inc taxes are now only 190 sterling! If you fly before the 28th February... otherwise it's usually cheap at about 280 return. Free accomodation with me of course ;)

SO get your arses in gear and come out and see me..

To get those tickets flights are with Syrian Air and their contact number/details are as follows:


U TRAVEL Ltd. / Ocean Map Ltd.

4th Floor (West)
17-18 Margaret Street
London W1W 8RP

Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7631 3511
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7436 7926

أفكار عن رسم النبي محمد بطريقة مسيئة

بصراحة لم أجد آراءً معتدلةً حتى الآن وهذة قد يكون لأن هذه القضية تتعلّق بموضوع مقدّس. و يجب على الأوروبيين الّذين يسمّون أنفسهم باللبرالية أن يعترفوا بعدم مناسبة الرسم الّذي أظهر النبي يلبس عمامة و فيها قنبلة و الّذي اشتهر خلال الأسبوع الماضي.

فعلاًً بوجهة نظريّ لا يوجد هدفٌ واضحٌ ما عدا الاساءة للنبي. فكذلك يجب على اللبراليين ألّا يكرّروا مقولة حرّيّة الصحافة لأنّها ليست تبريراً.

و طبعاً أتمتّع بحرّيّتي الّتي مصدرها سنوات عديدة من الجهاد ضدّ الدموكراتية و لكنّ حدوداً ضروريةً. لا أقصد أنّ القانون يجب أن يمنع أو يحدّد حرّيّة الكلام، بالعكس ضروريّ على المجتمع أن يراقب وسائل الأعلام و يحتجّ في الوقت المناسب.

أمّا إجابة عدد قليلاً من المسلمين خصوصاً الهجوم على السفارات في بيروت و دمشق فبالنسبة لي هو نفاقيّ لأنهم نفس الأشخاص المسلمين الّذين كانوا ساكتين عندما اُرتُكِبَ مجازراً ضدّ مسلمين في العراق و في دارفور في السودان مؤخّراً.

Muslim anger spreads... Danish Embassy in Lebanon destroyed

Following yesterdays destruction of the Danish, Norwegian and Chilean embassies in Damascus rioters in Lebanon hit the Danish Embassy in the capital Beirut.

Subsequently, today we've witnessed the resignation of the Lebanese Interior Minister. Doubt that'll be happening in Syria.

In an interesting snippet of an interview with one of the Foreign Ministers... she said the Danish gov't is particularly angry at their Syrian counterparts for the Syrian Police's virtual complicity in the attacks on their Embassy in Damascus. Although newspaper reports claim that Syrian police tried to resist storming of the Danish and Norwegian Embassies it was clear to eyewitness friends of mine (and indeed a friend who was watching from the next building) that the Syrian police were standing idly-by and in some cases participating in the riots.

I'll put a piece on this together sometime soon folks...

Oh my god, the threquel of the best cartoon ever made... released!!!

DEFENDER OF THE SUPERMART PART 3

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/supermart3

Ooops, trouble in Syria

Ok, so today the Danish and Norwegian embassies were burnt down in succession in central Damascus by an angry Islamic mob around midday today. Pictures here

First impressions to me are obvious. I know i've said this several times but those protesting against the caricatures are big hypocrites, they were nowhere to be found when/and now Muslim 'brothers' are butchered or tortured en masse (take Darfur for example). And responsibility for protecting the embassies in Syria (as elsewhere) rests woth the Syrian authorities... alot of people know that Syrian security services are one of the most efficient in the middle east, thus protecting the embassies is well within their scope (as they did with the US Embassy straight after). I'm saying that they let it happen.

Friends, especially my Danish and Norwegian ones, are particularly upset by this attack. The sentiment here is hostile towards Scandinavians. Good thing is, the average Syrian doesn't really know what a Scandinavian looks like.

(amateur photos to come)

My first impressions are that the Syrian regime should be hit hard by the EU for allowing this to happen... we shall see.