Kinda disappointed, but . . .

[Michael Tee]

So far, no major diplomatic fall-out from the raid.  (Well, let's be realistic, if there was no major diplomatic fall-out from the Gaza Massacre, there sure as hell won't be any from the Flotilla Massacre.)

The other effect is hopefully a stimulus to the BDS movement, a tactic that was fairly successful against South Africa, but has reached nowhere near the dimensions necessary to work against Israel as yet.  There was some artistic boycotting (Elvis Costello bailed) but that's never going to be decisive.  Pure sideshow.  Wonder how this is playing out in Europe?  It's really hard to see how these fuckers get away with cold-blooded murder.

[Xavier_Onassis]

The storming of the blockade opened the gates between Egypt and Gaza for the first time in a long, long time.

I'd call that an accomplishment, considering.

The South African pro-apartheid groups had no serious following abroad. There were no Boer financiers on Wall Street. The Dutch, Belgians and French who were related by blood to the Boers felt no ties to them, or their way of life. Boer is the Dutch word for "boor, peasant". There were no Boer advertising agencies on Madison Avenue. There was no "Schindler's List" film made about the corralling of Boers into concentration camps when the Brits overran the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. You will get no rise from anyone by accusing them of being "anti-Boer".

The only negative thing that we saw about the Bantu was the Zulus jumping up and down. That was sort of weird. But by and large, it was easy to demonize the Boers, and to make the Bantus into martyrs.We felt sorry for those Indians our great-great-great grandparents offed. Being nice to a Bantu made us feel less guilty.

This is different from the Zionists vs the Palestinians. Image is everything in our modern world.

Jews and Israelis are quite talented at propaganda and exploitation of every resource: " Oppose us and you want another Holocaust. God gave us this Land without a people for us, a people without a land. We are Dan'l Boone in yarmulkes, Jim Bowenstein at the Alamo. God shed his grace on them, and crowned their good, with brotherhood, from Sea  (Mediterranean) to shining Sea (Dead)." Very easy to transpose 'American exceptionalism' to "Israeli exceptionalism". Hebrews may have invented exceptionalism, after all. There is but one God and He is One of Us.

As Abba Eban has said, "The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity". Their culture is alien and suspect to the people of Christiandom. They eat with their fingers, out of a communal pot. They have really noisy preachers yelling at them five times a day. Their mothers dress them funny. Some of them get too close to sheep and never wear socks. They are like uncouth Jews who have no sense of humor: there is no Palestinian Rodney Dangerfield, Jerry Lewis, or Henny Youngman. There are no Palestinians egg creams, pastramis on rye, bagels or sweet wine on sale at the local supermarket or deli. When a Palestinian opens a restaurant, he has to call it "Mediterranean", which is the word the Lebanese use to avoid using the word "Lebanese".


 

[Michael Tee]

<<There are no Palestinians egg creams, pastramis on rye, bagels or sweet wine on sale at the local supermarket or deli. When a Palestinian opens a restaurant, he has to call it "Mediterranean", which is the word the Lebanese use to avoid using the word "Lebanese".>>

We have Lebanese restaurants here advertising Lebanese food.  We have pastrami and tabouleh in Toronto.  (Actually, we have everything.)

[Amianthus]

We have Lebanese restaurants here advertising Lebanese food.  We have pastrami and tabouleh in Toronto.  (Actually, we have everything.)

You guys have a Kurdish restaurant?

[Michael Tee]

<<You guys have a Kurdish restaurant?>>

Closest thing I could find in a web search: 

Cafe Melektaus
1088 Bathurst Street, Toronto
first pakistani and kurdish oriented cafe in toronto with sweets and pastry native to those regions. drinks native to pakistan and kurdistan as well. …
•   Hookah

(never heard of it)

I heard a Kurdish band playing at an Iraqi Christian (Chaldean) wedding here in Toronto.

I see you have a Kurdish restaurant in St. Paul, though.  Any good?

[sirs]

The storming of the blockade opened the gates between Egypt and Gaza for the first time in a long, long time.

And from what I'm hearing, it might be the beginning of the end of Egypt, as Jihadists will now be free to enter into Egypt.

That's too bad, and definately an accomplishement for Radical Islam

[Plane]

The storming of the blockade opened the gates between Egypt and Gaza for the first time in a long, long time.

I'd call that an accomplishment, considering.

The South African pro-apartheid groups had no serious following abroad. There were no Boer financiers on Wall Street. The Dutch, Belgians and French who were related by blood to the Boers felt no ties to them, or their way of life. Boer is the Dutch word for "boor, peasant". There were no Boer advertising agencies on Madison Avenue. There was no "Schindler's List" film made about the corralling of Boers into concentration camps when the Brits overran the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. You will get no rise from anyone by accusing them of being "anti-Boer".

The only negative thing that we saw about the Bantu was the Zulus jumping up and down. That was sort of weird. But by and large, it was easy to demonize the Boers, and to make the Bantus into martyrs.We felt sorry for those Indians our great-great-great grandparents offed. Being nice to a Bantu made us feel less guilty.

This is different from the Zionists vs the Palestinians. Image is everything in our modern world.

Jews and Israelis are quite talented at propaganda and exploitation of every resource: " Oppose us and you want another Holocaust. God gave us this Land without a people for us, a people without a land. We are Dan'l Boone in yarmulkes, Jim Bowenstein at the Alamo. God shed his grace on them, and crowned their good, with brotherhood, from Sea  (Mediterranean) to shining Sea (Dead)." Very easy to transpose 'American exceptionalism' to "Israeli exceptionalism". Hebrews may have invented exceptionalism, after all. There is but one God and He is One of Us.

As Abba Eban has said, "The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity". Their culture is alien and suspect to the people of Christiandom. They eat with their fingers, out of a communal pot. They have really noisy preachers yelling at them five times a day. Their mothers dress them funny. Some of them get too close to sheep and never wear socks. They are like uncouth Jews who have no sense of humor: there is no Palestinian Rodney Dangerfield, Jerry Lewis, or Henny Youngman. There are no Palestinians egg creams, pastramis on rye, bagels or sweet wine on sale at the local supermarket or deli. When a Palestinian opens a restaurant, he has to call it "Mediterranean", which is the word the Lebanese use to avoid using the word "Lebanese".


 

Hehehhehe!

Excellent!

[Xavier_Onassis]

I like Lebanese food, I am quite fond of Shwarmas which are better than your average chalupa, because chickpeas taste better than refritos, at least in my opinion. But here in Miami, all Lebanese restaurants advertise that they are "Mediterranean". There was a pretty good Lebanese place in Asuncion, Paraguay, called the Cafe Beirut. Technically of course, they are Mediterranean, but so are Italian, Spanish, Greek, Turkish, Israeli, Egyptian, Libyan, Algerian, Moroccan,and I suppose Chipriot and Maltese as well. And Sardinian, Corsican as well. The Mediterranean is a rather large sea.

[Amianthus]

I see you have a Kurdish restaurant in St. Paul, though.  Any good?

Love it. Never realized that I liked Kurdish cooking until I moved up here. It's kind of a mix of middle eastern and Indian, with a bit of Greek thrown in.

And if you ever find yourself in the area, there's a real good Cuban place, too.

[Amianthus]

Oh, and I love the little story on Babani's menu - it ends like this:

"Jamal, son of Abdul Karim, Mohammed, Qadir, Gafur Fuad, was the first to leave his tribe. He made his way to the Americas where one day he heard some interesting news on the radio. The reporter was saying, 'In Minnesota the women are strong, blond and beautiful . . . their children are far above average.' He needed no more cajoling (for he felt the news was directed at him) before he found himself among this mysteriously mild yet unsparing culture. And as he had hoped he soon met Gail, a most beautiful young blond maiden. Much to his delight he realized that she had many of the qualities of the women of his great Babani tribe. Still, he was unsuccessful in convincing his parents of this fact. And Gail's parents, Barb and Ed, were unimpressed by Jamal's tribal ancestry. In spite of the many protests Gail and Jamal were soon to marry . . . And this is how the first Kurdish restaurant came to be in Minnesota."

Of course, most will recognize the line from "A Prairie Home Companion."

[BSB]

Just for starters:

Phoenicia, 240 Cambridge St, Boston MA -- "Best Lebanese food in Boston"

Aceituna Cafe, Cambridge, MA -- Lebanese food

Cafe Barada, Cambridge, MA -- Lebanese food

And does anyone have a French Cambodian restaurant in their city or town? We have two in Cambridge and Boston. Delicious.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I am sure that there area few Cambodians here, but so far, no Cambodian restaurant in Miami.
There are many good Thai places and a few Vietnamese places. Even an Ethiopian place.

[Amianthus]

And does anyone have a French Cambodian restaurant in their city or town? We have two in Cambridge and Boston. Delicious.

We have three.

The Twin Cities have planned, pretty much since inception, to become a cultural mecca of the mid west, and this includes food as well as all the other arts. I can't think of a cuisine that isn't represented in the area.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I can't think of a cuisine that isn't represented in the area.

============================================
Bhutanese? Tswana? Lingala? Mapocho? Mangarivan? There are too many to count, let alone mention. But not all are equally delicious.

I would not recommend Belizean cuisine. It seems that there is rice and there are beans, and the choices are which one puts on top.

A botanist friend spent several months cataloguing plants in Pucallpa, Peru, on the Eastern slope of the Andes. He said that there were two choices there, too: gray meat with red sauce, and red meat with gray sauce, the former being the wiser choice. Once, he was served a chunk of meat, and when he turned it over, there was hair on the other side.

At the junction of Mexico 57 in the desert of northern San Luis Potosi State, where the highway for Tampico jojns the main Eagle Pass-Mexico City highway, my ex and I saw a waiter in a white coat and a bowtie waiting outside the door of a small adobe cafe. We went in and each ordered half a chicken. Then we heard some squawking, and saw through the back door, the waiter chasing the chicken. About a half hour later, we were each presented with a plate with a half a chicken. I got the rear half, and my ex got the front half. It came with fries and a sort of salad (lettuce and tomato fragments). It was mostly edible, but was a rather tough chicken. Perhaps if the waiter ran more slowly, the chickens would have gotten less exercise and been more tender.

I have been suspicious of waiters with bowties ever since.

Any good Peruvian cuy (guinea pig) dishes?
We have Peruvian restaurants here, but I have heard that cuy is not a rodent approved by the board of health. I have seen frozen cuy in New Jersey and New York supermarkets, but never in Miami.