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Yet again, this cynical and unprincipled president shows how far he will go out of his way to appeal to voters and score political points.
George W. Bush — as horrible as he was at every level of policy and whose damage around the world will be felt for years to come — is probably the last principled US president. Obama belongs to the Clinton school of politics: where principles don’t exist — not that they count — and where declared positions can shift and switch depending on the political interests of a president.

The visit by an Egyptian delegation to Saudi Arabia was illustrative. It shows that not only Lebanese politicians excel at the art of prostration before the kings of oil and gas. The origin of the idea of the visit is contested: the Egyptian Parliament’s speaker claimed that the idea was his alone, while ambitious Egyptian liberal politician, Ayman Nour — a man desperate for a role at any cost — claimed that it was his idea.

I am late today because I wanted to write about letters from Osama bin Laden but waited until I was able to read all the released Arabic unclassified (or declassified) bin Laden documents before I commented on them.

For months during the Egyptian uprising, Thomas Friedman assured his (Zionist) readers that the Egyptian uprising has no foreign policy goals whatsoever. He probably was trying to allay the fears of Israelis. (Only recently, Thomas Friedman sneakily switched positions and said that the only issue that matters in the next presidential election in Egypt will be foreign policy and the state of relations with Israel).

There is a lot of noise coming out of different quarters about the “imminent collapse” of the UN observer mission in Syria. “Dead on arrival,” says one American commentator. “Failure to uphold truce,” accused the White House and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, pointing fingers at the Syrian government.

For all intents and purposes, Bahrain is forgotten. The people of Bahrain and their struggle will never get the attention and admiration of people and governments in the West.

Tel Aviv University was built on the ruins of the Palestinian village of Sheikh Muwannis. The university's faculty lounge is the village mukhtar's former home. At the corner of Arlosoroff and Ibn Gvirol streets, where the Century Tower skyscraper stands, a Palestinian village named Sommeil used to exist.

There are many interesting trends in the French presidential elections. The international media will focus on matters that are less of a concern to me. The New York Times and The Economist are aghast that the French socialist candidate, Francois Hollande, may expand government expenditures and services. The New York Times finds in his program an outrage to international – read American elite – financial consensus. There will be commentaries written about the career and the ultimate demise of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Item number five on UN Envoy Kofi Annan’s 6-point plan for Syria is the following:

“(5) Ensure freedom of movement throughout the country for journalists and a non-discriminatory visa policy for them.”

At a delicate moment in the hard-fought Syrian conflict that could potentially destabilize the entire Middle East, the United Nations believes getting more journalists into Syria is one of the six most urgent actions to consider?