snapped shot

Earlier today, we reported on a protest in Beirut, organized by Hezbullah, that was aimed at decrying Tony Blair as a stooge of Israeli foreign policy.

Now, coming across the wires, we're treated to photographs of "a religious festival," with the same large throngs of people touting Hezbullah flags.

Coincidence? Or were the people demonstrating earlier today handed signs to carry, not necessarily knowing what was written on them (the English signs, at least)? At the very least, is it not probable that these people were organized, in fact, to primarily celebrate "the 15th day of Shabaan, the birthday of Imam al-Mahdi, a 9th century religious leader?"

I bet you'll find that, once these people showed up to celebrate this religious event, they were handed all kinds of things to hold by their Hezbullah masters. One would even suspect that, being on the 11th of September, you'd even find some anti-American posters somewhere amongst the demonstrators. Our photographers, of course, would adamantly refuse to publish any photographs that would show Hezbullah in a negative light, wouldn't they?

And the propaganda marches on, completely unchecked by a most pliant press. Continue reading »

Ok, for starters, "Tolerance" doesn't generally involve depicting someone you don't like as a bloodthirsty vampire. For some reason, this motif seems to appear quite often in the Arab world, though. Check out this poster of Condoleeza Rice. It's not her best pose, I'd say.

But what really strikes me as odd with this photograph, is that it purports to be an ambulance. Are there many ambulances in the Middle East which are the front-end of a Mercedes Benz grafted to what appears to be the back of a Land Rover? I haven't seen any of these models in the Red Cross inventory... While it's possible that this is some private medical company's ambulance, it's more likely that the car has been placed there, poster and all, as a shameless propaganda stunt. (Correction: This ambulance is totally normal. I'm the one that needs to be examined here, as I seem to have Sillius Gooseitis. All in a day's work here at Rancho Kooko!)

They could've at least gotten a picture of Condoleeza smiling.

UPDATE 28-AUG-2006 14:23 EST: Apparently, our little Condi poster is a travelling road show. It seems to have made an appearance in Beirut shortly after Kofi Annan walked through. I'm sure he stopped by and autographed it at some point, the terrorist lover he is. One thing that is interesting about the poster—So far, it's only showing up in FAUXtographs taken by the Associated Press' Matt Dunham. Coincidence? I doubt it. I'm sure ol' Matt has plenty of copies of that poster in his personal luggage to hand out to all of the Hezzies that want it.

Does this make the gentleman with the flip-flop (yes, the tired old Arab insult—I'm sure Condi is totally offended over here) on her face a "Hezbian?"

I can keep the puns a-comin' all day here, folks.

UPDATE 29-AUG-2006 09:19 EST: It seems that CounterTerrorism Blog has found some information that illustrates how orchestrated the "spontaneous" pro-Hezbullah demonstrations were when Kofi came through Beirut. I'm shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you.

UPDATE 22:03 EST: Reader Anna from Myrtus notes that I'm totally incorrect on the ambulance, and informs us that this is a known Mercedes-Benz model. This goes to show why you, the Reader, are so important to me. I've barely got two legs to stand on my own with, what with my credibility in tatters and all. Thanks for keeping me honest there, Anna!

Curses, foiled again! Continue reading »