The Middle East Media Sampler 8/12/2012: Palestinian Culture And Blaming Others For Their Failures

From DG:

1) The fact that undermines the argument

In The Palestine Romney doesn't know, Palestinian American businessman Zahi Khori writes:

Despite their circumstances, Palestinians living under Israel’s brutal occupation share the same culture and proudly claim the same remarkable achievements. I, for one, returned to Palestine in 1993 to launch the first Coca-Cola bottling plant in the West Bank. It was granted a Best Country Bottling Operation award in May by Coca-Cola, a testament to my colleagues’ ingenuity and determination. But these traits alone cannot overcome the stifling effects of Israel’s occupation.

Turkish Strategy To Syrian Downing Their Airplane Reminiscent Of Mavi Marmara

The following by Daniel Pipes is reposted here with permission

Mavi Marmara 2010 = Syrian Anti-Aircraft 2012

by Daniel Pipes
June 27, 2012
Cross-posted from National Review Online: The Corner

As the days go by, the Turkish handling of its airplane downed by the Syrian military on June 23 increasingly echoes the Mavi Marmara episode on May 31, 2010. In both cases:

After Shooting Over 1,000 Syrians, Does Syria Shooting Down A Turkish Plane Matter?

Max Boot asks whether after getting away with killing over 1,000 unarmed civilians--Has Assad Made a Fatal Mistake?

The downfall of dictators is often their stupidity, arrogance, and unbridled aggression. Saddam Hussein might have stayed in power if he had simply admitted not having weapons of mass destruction. Muammar Qaddafi could have survived if he had not made blood-curdling statements about massacring everyone in Benghazi.