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NEW YORK (AFP) - A tiny and extremely rare 5,000-year-old white limestone sculpture from ancient Mesopotamia sold for 57.2 million dollars in New York on Wednesday, smashing records for both sculpture and antiquities. The carved Guennol Lioness, measuring just over eight centimeters (3 1/4 inches) tall, was described by Sotheby's auction house as one of the last known masterworks from the dawn of civilization remaining in private hands. "It was an honor for us to handle The Guennol Lioness, one of the greatest works of art of all time," Richard Keresey and Florent Heintz, the experts in charge of the...

Mesopotamian city grew regardless of kingly rule 19:00 30 August 2007 NewScientist.com news service Roxanne Khamsi Changes in pottery over the years allowed researchers to develop a timeline for the Tell Brak's expansion Contrary to the assumption that ancient cities always grew outwards from a central point, the urban site of Tell Brak in north-eastern Syria appears to have emerged as several nearby settlements melded together, according to researchers' analysis of archaeological evidence. Experts say that the findings lend support to the theory that early Mesopotamian cities developed as a result of grassroots organisation, rather than a mandate from a...

Hi, I suspect the site has been attacked, because at the same time that I experienced the trouble (keeps recycling for UserId and password, when any request is made to post or etc. despite the fact that the site opens normaly); I started receiving Emails from the Mujahideen Shura Council, i.e. Al Qaeda in Iraq and its affiliates. Alaa / The Mesopotamian Alaa | 09.28.06 - 2:44 am | #

Friday, September 15, 2006 THE GRAND FITNAH Hi, Fitnah, is one of these words that I find difficult to translate succinctly; perhaps there is an English synonym unknown to me. Fitnah is sawing discord that results in conflict and violent antagonism. But in Arabic the word has much stronger connotation. There is a verse in the holy Koran that contains the following expression: “Fitnah is worse than murder”. What is happening in the land of the two rivers right now is one of the worst Fitnahs in our long eventful history. We have known in the past, persecution, intimidation and...

HELL WELCOMES ITS LATEST ILLUSTRIOUS INMATE Friday, June 09, 2006 Hi, I extend warm greetings to all my friends after such a long absence. Well, today is a good day. The urge to express my feelings is so strong that I am back at the keyboard despite the terrible apathy that has gripped me these last months. You can probably guess at some of the reasons for this state of mind. I am not going into details. Only it seems to me that intelligent people should not pay such a high price just to learn some few facts that have...

Mar. 20, 2006 Hi, Actually, it is not so much pessimism but rather realism that pushed me to write that last post. I think most people here, including the political elites realize that a civil war is something unthinkable that will tear the country apart. However, like in Yugoslavia, the sect or ethnic group that really caused the partitioning and break up of the country was non-other but that which most wanted to keep it one, namely the Serbs. By their brutality, cruelty and ethnic genocide, they destroyed any basis for coexistence between the various ethnic constituents of the old...

Friday, February 03, 2006 CARTOONS IN THE NAME OF GOD THE COMPASSIONATE THE MERCIFUL Hi, Those who have been following my blog should know that I am a practicing believer in the religion of Islam; so naturally I consider it offensive to show disrespect to Islamic religious symbols or any religious symbols of any kind, for that matter. However there is more to this than meets the eye. It seems to me quite suspicious that this storm is created at this particular time. To start with this is certainly not the first time that insults and affronts of this nature...

One of the most awesome and mystical phenomena in existence is how truth always finds a way to assert and vindicate itself despite all odds, fog and confusion. They said that no valid elections could be held “under occupation”; and when 8 millions went to the polls last time, they dismissed that with the pretext that the other 6 or 7 millions did not, that there was fraud, that the "Shiaas" and "Kurds" were taking advantages etc. etc.; and therefore the thing had no validity. What about it now? Now that the Sunnis had the slightest chance and a little...

"As long as the Americans remain pro-Iraqi, the Iraqis will remain pro-American..." Thursday, December 01, 2005 The speech by President Bush was great. It should be clear to anyone with even minimum amount of intelligence, that if anybody has the facts it is the President; he does have more that one hundred and fifty thousand men and women on the ground to report to him. And I am always astonished at people wondering about how the Iraqis feel about the American and allied presence in Iraq. Was not the present Iraqi Goverment elected by 8 million people at the risk...

Thursday, November 03, 2005 ARAB MEDIA Hi, End of Ramadan and Eid greetings to all the Muslim peoples of the world, I pray to God that he may bless them and inspire thoughts of peace and humanity in their minds and give them a true understanding of the tolerant and charitable essence of religion.. As I have said before, the War on Terror should take into account that perhaps the main arena of the struggle is the Media and Information fields. This terrorist phenomenon combines primitive urges and ideologies with the use of the modern technologies of satellite T.V. the...

WINDS OF CHANGE Rather, Hurricane force “Winds of Change”; that is what we are experiencing. Do you realize the significance of the results of the constitution referendum? To start with you have the percentages and figures. Of registered voters about 63% turned out to vote. Of these voters 78% voted "Yes" and 22% voted "No". Most of those who voted No were Sunnis. Some of the Sunnis have voted in favor, especially in Mosul. Therefore the percentages really reflect the percentage of Sunnis in Iraq. It is interesting that in Baghdad, roughly the same proportions of Yes & No’s as...

Thursday, October 20, 2005 IN THE NAME OF GOD THE COMPASSIONATE THE MERCIFUL Hi, Hearty greetings to all my friends – actually I have been away for a few days. Guess where? To the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia! That was to perform Al Umra, a religious tradition which is less demanding than Hajj, which I had been fortunate enough to perform a couple of years back, Wa Alhamdu lillah (Praise be to God). It is quite an interesting subject, as a ritual, which I might talk to you about sometime. Now I know that some of my friends may not...

Sunday, October 09, 2005 Hi, It is about half an hour to Iftar time. This is the most difficult part of the day. I don't know about others but I tend to get very irritated and easily provoked about this time. So I have these difficult minutes to kill, so I thought I kill them with you. So here is my nasty thought of the day (So much for Ramadan bringing you tranquility and peace of mind; and may God forgive me for saying this): Here we have the U.S.A. and Great Britain and their smaller friends, an alliance that...

Sunday, August 21, 2005 Hi, As the dialogue between the different political blocks intensify concerning the Constitution and the noticeable shift in the Sunni mood towards the political process; the real enemy: Hard core Saddamists, Foreign Al-Qaeda type terrorists and the criminal local Mafia; are getting really desperate. There are rumors in the air about an impending massive terrorist campaign – massive number of car bomb attacks, mortar attacks, and sabotage of the basic services, water, electricity etc. This threat of possible escalation must be taken seriously; because in the present situation on the ground it is not difficult to...

Sunday, August 14, 2005 PAJAMA WAR GAMES Hi, Today is the beginning of another working weak in the year of 2005 of our Lord, as a chronicler of old might have said. I am a busy man, yet I cannot help stopping everything to write this, which means that I think it is more important than even the struggle for daily bread. I do believe that the modern advanced nations, such as the U.S.A. employ people and resources to investigate scenarios on conflicts and wars as part of the effort of Defense and National Security work. So let us try...

Friday, July 08, 2005 æÇáÇÚÑÇÈ ÃÔÏ ßÝÑÇ æäÝÇÞÇ Friends, Translation of the above words from the holy Koran, may come as a surprise to you : “And the A’arab are the worst in Kufr [ faithlessness ] and hypocrisy”. The A’arab are the nomadic Arabs. This is the judgment of the Koran of the Muslims itself concerning the Bedouin nomadic mentality. Let us use the name Al-Qaeda to symbolize this murderous frame of mind which is plaguing the world right now. It is the living embodiment of the worst of all that is evil in the Arab Bedouin genetic subconscious....

Hi Friends, I shall try to translate some excerpts of the Arabic piece that I posted. It is difficult to translate, though, due to the flamboyant and florid style so typical of traditional Arabic prose. So, I must admit that the translation is going to try to convey meaning rather than literal equivalents of the Arabic words. The importance of this article is that it offers a glimpse into the frame of mind of many, especially amongst the religious Shiaa people. Note that my comments as translator are enclosed in square bracket []. Dots (….. ) denote parts that I...

Saturday, June 18, 2005 Dear Friends, Just a quick note, to the American public: this is no time to lose heart, the fight is just now changing gear. We the Iraqis are confident of winning this battle. This so-called “insurrection” may be characterized as the “Unpopular Revolt” rather than the opposite. It is doomed to failure. We have never pretended that this can be achieved overnight. It takes time and struggle, but to those who think that the insurgency is growing I would like to say this: It is the power of the people that is growing, it is the...

Time may be passing and we may forget the calamity in which we were living. And this is what happened to us, we Iraqis. After two years since our delivery from the regime of Saddam the criminal, who was slaughtering us, torturing us and driving us like a herd of cattle to the arenas of his loosing battles, with execution squads behind us; we have forgotten how we used to live in constant terror and how we were afraid to say any word that might lead us to dark torture chambers in the “Department of General Security” or the “Governorate”,...

CONDOLENCES April 02, 2005 ÈÓã Çááå ÇáÑÍãä ÇáÑÍíã ßá ãä ÚáíåÇ ÝÇä æíÈÞì æÌå ÑÈß Ðæ ÇáÌáÇá æÇáÇßÑÇã . ÕÏÞ Çááå ÇáÚÙíã With these words of the holy Koran; our holy book, we say farewell on this earth to the great man John Paul II, the Pope of the Catholic church, who has just passed away. Our sincere condolences to all the Catholic people in the world and to all humanity in general. This Pope was quite an exceptional man, a true lover of humanity; a man who had the courage of conviction and great character to put aside all...