YouTubers debate Obama's peace plan and who works hardest: Jews, Muslims or Spanish

On Monday President Barack Obama gave his first interview to an Arab TV station, al-Jazeera rival al-Arabiya. [Full transcript here.] The chat is already must-see TV on YouTube, but as usual the comments are a must-read. Highlights:

larissan04:

obama is as green as a they come. lol! what did he actually say in this interview anyway? nothing.

CrunkWithASkunk:

What the hell are you talking about that's EXACTLY what he was doing...this man is a Godsend US ambassador to the Muslim World! He actually displays a little thoughtful INSIGHT into the affairs of the contemporary Muslim world and all of a sudden you're freaked out? That's why he is the president and you are not (thank God).

larissan04:

a godsend to the muslim world? lol! really? and your perspective and authority on the subject is what? mtv? or are you into obama because matt damon likes him? because your depth of understanding of foreign policy is about as deep as a mud puddle and just as murky.

CrunkWithASkunk:

My "perspective" and "authority" is based on the fact that I belong to the Muslim faith, was born lived in a predominantly Muslim nation for several years, and have independent studied the diverse history and cultures of both Asia and the greater Muslim World for a decade before majoring in political science at Vanderbilt. What makes you so noxiously hostile towards a President before he has even completed his "100 days?" Likely because blind cynicism is simply the adolescent "cool thing" to do.

abbienetvision:

What crap...what factors are there to listen to? Israel is under constant threat of terror from the Muslims. If Israel gives up territory, the reponse is terrorism. If Israel talks about peace, the response is terrorism. If borders are opened Israelis are killed, like today..3 Israelis killed at the Gaza border crossing. The envoy is a lebanese and will be very unfair to Israel, since he basicially supports terrorism and hezbollah is probably his blood family. Muslims are jealous of usa!!

MoDa87:

yeah right, if muslims were jealous of america would they not just copy your bill of rights and constitution? You obviously do not understand the conflict one bit. Israel needs to go back behin the borders from 1967, befor that time the region was very peacefull and acording to both my parents one of the niced places to be. The israelis are bullies. Hamas are criminals and need to be stoped but the same goes for the current israeli government.

abbienetvision:

Why is it that nothing ever comes out of any of the Muslim countries, aside from terrorism. Maybe praying with your brain to the floor 5 times a day, is counterproductive to creating ideas to better mankind. How long do you work, if you have to go pray and clean your feet 5 times a day? Then a lunch break. We are working 9 hour days with short breaks,and Muslims work about an hour in a nine hour day? Let's just send all our hard earned money to all countries where they pray rather than work.

MoDa87:

shows how much you know about the muslim world, and that is exactly the problem. If you do not understand the country you are in conflict with you can not find a solution. A preyer only takes 5 min and muslim people are as hard working as most people i know. I would say they work more than the spanish do. Educate yourself a bit.

Bigot sues military for right to hate Islam, cites Bush as precedent

Bigot Jesse Nieto, whose son was among the 17 U.S. soldiers killed in the attack on the U.S.S. Cole in Aden, Yemen in 2000, is suing for the right to display hate speech on his car.

The man's license plate reads "USS-COLE" but the offensive decals on his windows exclaim "Islam = Terrorism," "We died, they rejoiced," and "Disgrace my flag and I will sh*t on your Koran."

Nieto is suing the U.S. military because it has asked him to remove the decals when he's on military property, such as at Camp Lejeune where he works as a civilian contractor, and at Arlington National Cemetery where his son is buried. The U.S. military is apparently against treating Islam with disrespect.

In his lawsuit, Nieto actually claims that "the Commander in Chief, President George W. Bush, himself used the terms inscribed on the offending decals, including 'Islamic terrorists' and 'Islamic militants' and that therefore Nieto has the right to express the same sentiment."

Quote of the day, courtesy of CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper, conceding the bigot's right to free speech: "I don’t think anyone is saying he can’t be an anti-Muslim bigot in public, but [just not on] military sites."

Old Damascus, light on coke, gets high on hotels

Coca-Cola is banned, but apparently Holiday Inn is okay in Syria.

According to a story from Al-Arabiya, the Syrian minister of tourism Saadallah Agha al-Qalaa has just laid the ceremonial foundation stone on a new $35-million five-star luxury hotel to be built (egad!) inside the old city walls of Damascus - right in the neighbourhood of that most historic and beautiful of souqs, al-Hamidiyeh. (Quite near the Umayyad Mosque, pictured.)

Why oh why? Ya salaam, there's plenty of open space in Syria. Hell they just found a church in the desert that no one had seen for 1200 years.

We can only hope that the hotel's design, when the structure is finally completed in 2011, ranks somewhere better on the Eyesore Rankings than the McDonald's on the Champs Elysees, the Hard Rock Cafe in Beirut, the new AGO in Toronto, Starbucks (in general), or these pointy things in Kuwait.

[Okay, that was an unfair dig at the AGO, Toronto's new Frank Gehry thing. We like the new AGO, we just don't like where it is. You can imagine the artist's rendering of the corner of Dundas & McCaul streets all you want, but the area really looks like this. If you're going to build a monstrosity, have the courtesy to do as they do in Doha: put it on a fake island.]

Hezbollah lines up new leadership (in Israel's crosshairs)

The application process for the job of Hezbollah deputy leader/corpse-in-waiting is now closed. The job description includes: Running guns across borders; bribing Syrian officials; must be camera shy; bushy salt-and-pepper beard recommended; Farsi-speaker preferred; Sunnis need not apply.

Seriously, though. Amid reports that both Iran and Syria are gently tugging its reins, and facing the omnipresent threat of Israel's targeted assassinations, the radical Shi'ite redemptive social movement/political party/terrorist group (take your pick) is getting its leadership affairs in order.

Mohammed Rida Zahidi is now Hezbollah's "Number Two," replacing Imad Mughniyah [pictured above], who was killed in a massive car bomb in February in Damascus that was almost indisputably attributed to Israel's Mossad spy agency. Taking over for Mughniyah means Zahidi will be in charge of running weapons and munitions from Syria into Hezbollah's strongholds in Lebanon, and liaising with the Iranians who, it is said, supply those weapons. Oh, it might be worth mentioning that Zahidi [no photo is available] is Iranian.

In related news, Hezbollah supreme leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah [also pictured] has appointed his cousin, Hashim Safi al-Din [also not pictured], as chairman of the group's Executive Council, which effectively means that al-Din would succeed Nasrallah should the latter meet the wrong end of an Israeli missile.

Nasrallah was formerly the chairman of the Executive Council. He moved up to become Hezbollah's supreme leader when his predecessor, Sheikh Abbas al-Mousawi, met the wrong end of an Israeli missile in February, 1992.

In al-Arabiya's coverage of Who Killed Mughniyah?, is it noted that after Israel took out al-Mousawi in 1992, Hezbollah responded by blowing up the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 29. The world has been bracing for Hezbollah's response to Mughniyah's death (so far there's been nothing that we know of).

The Tuque Souq wonders: Who's next?

Update: Somali Pirates vs Ukranian Arms Ship

This photograph more than underpins the David v. Goliath metaphor for the Somalia pirates versus the world's shipping - in this case, the ongoing saga of the Ukrainian arms vessel MV Faina whose ransom is currently being negotiated in the $8m-$20m range.

[Photograph from Al-Arabiya, with an article about the UN debate on combating Somali piracy.]

In related news, Voice of America radio has a good report on how two rival pirate groups may have seized the MV Faina - loaded with military weaponry bound for Kenya or possibly separatists in southern Sudan - and then got into a gun fight with each other. [Download MP3]

And we enjoyed this article from the BBC on the port of Eyl in Somalia's Puntland region, the local Tortuga-like pirate haven.

As always, keep up with the Tuque's Souq's Somali Piracy watch here.