For Ali Farzat

This was first published at The Arabist -- in solidarity with Ali Ferzat, the brave Syrian cartoonist who was seized and tortured by Bashar al-Assad's thugs.

Juicy leaks on Israel, Egypt, and the minutia of Mideast politicking

Fountain of leaks: Assange, the Duchamp of our time?

I spent yesterday digging deep into the latest cache of diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks. Here are some of the gems, which first appeared on @MideastChannel's twitter feed:

Great aside from 2006 cable... "Note: Egypt is the primary source of palm fronds for Succot to Israel." wikileaks.org/cable/2006/08/…


Egypt & Israel trade shmatas, "fabric imported from China to be manufactured in Egy and then sent back 2 Isrl 4 resale" wikileaks.org/cable/2008/08/…

Israel's labor mvment "no longer sell an idea about the state's obligation to its citizens; they sell insurance." wikileaks.org/cable/2005/11/…

Lieberman meets Lieberman: "Avigdor bemoaned lack of #Israeli leadership, harking back to the Begin era" wikileaks.org/cable/2006/04/…

Uh, good luck with that.... "Cancer Fight in Middle East Focuses on Tobacco, Awareness" wikileaks.org/cable/2005/04/…

Amb raised #Egyptian ban on US poultry exports, noting that... connection with [H1N1] outbreaks in US was unscientific. wikileaks.org/cable/2006/11/…

US embassy in Tel Aviv details Israel's medical marijuana policy and synthetic THC therein wikileaks.org/cable/2006/12/…

Hitting peak recession

Not another great recession.