Intellectual frauds: Mona Yacoubian, Foreign Affairs, and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)

A few hours ago I commented on an article on the Foreign Affairs website by Mona Yacoubian, entitled "Hezbollah's Gamble in Syria: The Dangerous Calculation Behind the Group's Decision to Back Assad", dated June 2, 2013. The author, a supposed expert on the Middle East, translated the word "takfiri" as "apostate", and claimed that Sayyid Nasrallah of Hezbollah, by calling Sunni rebels in Syria "takfiris", was igniting a sectarian war, in effect calling all Sunnis "kuffar", or infidels. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sayyid Nasrallah was not referring to all Sunnis, but referring specifically to the "takfiri" sect, which is a group who deem anybody, Shia or Sunni, to be a disbeliever if they disagree with their stringent standards.

The Council on Foreign Relations had the audacity to erase my original comment and incorporate my corrections into a newer version of the piece. The following is my second comment -we'll see if that gets censored as well - plus the original comment on the link http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/139430/mona-yacoubian/hezbollahs-gamble-in-syria?page=show



Pure intellectual dishonesty - I posted a comment on this article a few hours ago pointing out a blatant error by the author, who claimed that by calling Sunni rebels in Syria "takfiris", Sayyed Nasrallah was calling them apostates (whereas the word for apostate in Arabic is "murtad"). Instead of printing a retraction or acknowledging an error in earlier versions of this piece, CFR chose to erase my comment, and subsequently incorporate my corrections into a newer version of the article. This is tantamount to plagiarism - stealing my intellectual contribution without acknowledgment. Below is my original comment (by the way, last I checked I received 3 likes for the original comment, though admittedly one was mine):




Pathetic - CFR has half a billion dollars in assets and you can't afford an "expert" who understands the word "takfiri"? Takfiri refers to Salafi/Wahhabi extremists, often of the Al Qaeda stripe, who are quick to pronounce "takfir" on other Muslims. Takfir means to declare someone a "kafir", or infidel. The extremist terrorists Obama has backed in Libya and now Syria have a rigid, dogmatic, and sectarian approach to Islam which brands anyone who disagrees with them, Shia or Sunni, to be unbelievers - and thus worthy of being robbed, raped, and killed. Sayyed Nasrallah of Hezbollah is loved by Shia, Sunnis, and Christians alike - one of his Sunni allies, Sheikh Maher Hammoud, was recently targeted for assassination - as was the Sunni Assad-backer Sheikh al-Bouthi -  because the Syrian "rebels" won't hesitate to kill Sunnis who oppose them (and their backers in Washington, London, and Tel Aviv). Sectarianism is what the West is promoting in Syria by backing the "FSA", and a bloodbath is in store for Shia and Christians of the region once Al Nusra Front (the embryonic Sufyani) and the like get the upperhand, thanks to Foreign Affairs' cheerleading...