It is not easy to write about certain things. The capital city is easy, and so are funny stories about flights in small aircraft and descriptions of tiny but widespread towns in the middle of nowhere. Even slavery, after the fact, is a lighter subject than some. And so it took me a long time before I could write this. This is what I also saw. Read more: http://www.desertpenguin.org/south-sudan/patience.html  

I met four former slaves. One of the reasons I wanted to see South Sudan was that I wanted to speak with locals liberated from North Sudanese slavery. Christian Solidarity International arranged for me to interview former slaves. They also provided an interpreter. The subject of slavery fascinated me all my life. I could tell you the usual story of the sophisticated European liberal who obviously opposes all forms of slavery but the truth is most sophisticated European liberals don'...

I have read western news reports about Egypt and noticed the lack of similar reports about Iran. The media have chosen sides again, as did our politicians who called on Mubarak to step down but won't openly point out the complete illegitimacy of the Iranian regime. Here is some information on current events that everyone might find useful. My sources are this poll:  washingtoninstitute.org…pollock-Egyptpoll.pdf  and friends and acquaintances that could confirm the poll and te...

We will hear more from them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sXYiY6KZ6Q&feature=player_embedded  

1. Jerusalem remains Jewish, with special rights for an Arab state to the Temple Mount. 2. Hevron becomes part of an Arab state, which special rights for Israel to the Cave of the Patriarchs. 3. Jewish towns in the West-Bank get annexed to Israel. 4. Arab towns in Israel get annexed to an Arab state. 5. Alternatively to or in conjunction with points 3. and 4., Israel and the Arab state (possibly Jordan) form a EU-like federation where citizens of both countries have the ...

My favourite Palestinian blogger has written a surprising article again, quoting an interview from the Arab Gulf: Interviewee: I have my own personal opinion on the Palestine conflict. In my opinion I have no problems with Palestine belonging to both Jews and Muslims. Moreover, it was originally a Christian state.  Interviewer: Why for both the Jews and Muslims? Interviewee: The origin of the name (Israel).. The people of Israel who were in Egypt migrated back to Pale...

Khomeini wrote a book. Really. Here's a quote: Having sex with the wife is illegal before reaching nine years, be it a permanent or a timed [timed marriage in shia], but the rest of acts like foreplaying [touching for sexual pleasure], hugging and Tafkhid is legal even with a baby. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahrir_al-Wasilah Men suspected of homosexuality and women suspected of adultery have to be executed though.  

Two of the most common arguments for Israel are the Holocaust and the need to reward victims with their own country and the Biblical argument that G-d gave the holy land to the people of Israel. Both arguments are good and true. The Holocaust indeed showed that a Jewish state was necessary and the Bible (and the Quran) indeed claim that G-d gave the holy land to the Jews. However, the odd part about the arguments is not that they are made but by whom and why. They always come up in discuss...

I found this article on a German news site: http://www.n-tv.de/politik/Terrorgefahr-in-Frankreich-article1283981.html Frankreich ist während der Ferienzeit wegen möglicher Terroranschläge in besonderer Alarmbereitschaft. Da "die islamistische Bedrohung" sich ausweite, gelte erhöhter Alarm innerhalb der zweithöchsten Stufe des Terrorwarnsystems, teilte die französische Regierung mit. Die Gefahr eines radikalislamischen Anschlags bestehe für Franzosen u...

Irish national hero Daniel O’Connell said in 1846: Ireland has claims on your ancient race, it is the only country that I know of unsullied by any one act of persecution of the Jews. What is left of Daniel O’Connell? During the Great Potato Famine in the mid-19th century, the Rothschild family were among the biggest contributors to food and other aid. It certainly seemed prudent of the Rothschild bankers to support a country and a nation that was so friendly towards Jew...

Most Americans probably imagine Iran as a whole as it is today, paired with a vague recollection that once it was more like the comparatively liberal Arab sheikhdoms around the Gulf. But before the revolution, under the Shah's rule, Iran was quite different from what we think of as a middle-eastern country, and actually looked and felt pretty much like a western country. This was not because the west had so heavily influenced Iran that Iranians forgot their own culture and heritage. Rather...

Female soldiers are not rare in Israel. Even female combat soldiers are becoming normal. Arab solders and combat soldiers are not rare either with entire clans of Druze and Bedouin controlling the most decorated front units. But a Christian Arab female combat soldier is new: Cpl. Elinor Joseph was born and raised in an integrated neighborhood of Jews and Arabs in Haifa, but attended a school in which all her classmates were Arab. She later moved to Wadi Nisnas, an Arab neighborhood wh...

Mubarak, who has seven brothers and sisters, has never set foot outside the village where he was born into a family which was inherited as slaves by their local master. Sheikh Mohammed Badawi's father had bought Mubarak's parents 50 years ago, shortly before Yemen's 1962 revolution which abolished slavery. Mubarak has known no other life except that of a slave. http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/07/21/114451.html Isn't it great how excellent human rights are respected in...

I first read about it on a German news site: http://www.n-tv.de/politik/Lieberman-bastelt-an-politischer-Bombe-article1074416.html Lieberman works on political bomb. I found an English article: FM presents: 2nd disengagement from Gaza Five years after Israel's unilateral disengagement  from Gaza, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has proposed a new plan aimed at ridding Israel of any responsibility for the coastal enclave, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported Frid...

If you are a left-winger or "peace activist", you may ignore this post. You don't believe that weapons of mass destruction have ever been owned or used by anyone other than Israel. But if you are normal (or a right-winger) this might interest you. Apparently Saddam's WMDs ended up in the hands of our friend and partner Turkey, EU candidate and winner of the peace activist of the year award for losing nine people in a blockade run which for Turkey was the equivalent of 911. Chemical an...