#mma

I was taken to a villa to meet Sabri al-Banna, known as 'Abu Nidal' ('father of struggle'), who was at the time emerging as one of Yasser Arafat's main enemies. The meeting began inauspiciously when Abu Nidal asked me if I would like to be trained in one of his camps. No thanks, I explained. From this awkward beginning there was a further decline. I was then asked if I knew Said Hammami, the envoy of the PLO in London. I did in fact know him. He was a brave and decent man, who in a series of articles in the London Times had floated the first-ever trial balloon for a two-state solution in Israel/Palestine. 'Well tell him he is a traitor,' barked my host. 'And tell him we have only one way with those who betray us.' The rest of the interview passed as so many Middle Eastern interviews do: too many small cups of coffee served with too much fuss; too many unemployed heavies standing about with nothing to do and nobody to do it with; too much ugly furniture, too many too-bright electric lights; and much too much faux bonhomie. The only political fact I could winnow, from Abu Nidal's vainglorious claims to control X number of 'fighters' in Y number of countries, was that he admired the People's Republic of China for not recognizing the State of Israel. I forget how I got out of his office. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#arafat #china #interviews #iraq #israel

Being in command means making tough decisions. Not being in command means shutting up and doing what you're told. --Artemis Fowl ↗

— Eoin Colfer

#decisions

This African American Vernacular English shares most of its grammar and vocabulary with other dialects of English. But it is distinct in many ways, and it is more different from standard English than any other dialect spoken in continental North America. ↗

— William Labov

#african american #america #american #any #continental

In Judaism, there are 613 biblical commandments, and the Talmud says that the chief commandment of all is study. ↗

— Norman Lamm

#commandment #commandments #judaism #says #study

That free will was demonstrated in the placing of temptation before man with the command not to eat of the fruit of the tree which would give him a knowledge of good and evil, with the disturbing moral conflict to which that awareness would give rise. ↗

— Kenneth Scott Latourette

#before #command #conflict #demonstrated #disturbing

The printing press is the greatest weapon in the armoury of the modern commander. ↗

— T. E. Lawrence

#greatest #greatest weapon #modern #press #printing

I hope people don't compare 2D and 3D because 3D's new, it's unfair to compare to 2D which is really sophisticated, even when we're jaded about it. 3D just began, give it a chance, let the equipment and projection system catch up and be better, let the price go down, let more filmmakers get a hold of it more easily. ↗

— Ang Lee

#because #began #better #catch #chance

When I turned pro, Muhammad Ali was laying back, and I was able to fill up an area that was empty. ↗

— Sugar Ray Leonard

#ali #area #back #empty #fill

My mother is very, very smart and commands respect because she has a lot of respect for herself. ↗

— Jared Leto

#commands #herself #lot #mother #respect

The best kids are going to become the best. But the best thing about it is that you're going to learn lessons in playing those sports about winning and losing and teamwork and teammates and arguments and everything else that are going to affect you positively for the rest of your life. ↗

— Carl Lewis

#affect #become #best #else #everything