· September, 2006

Stories about Middle East & North Africa from September, 2006

Turkey is Typing…

  30 September 2006

As that transition from the lazy days of Summer turn into Fall, a gloomy spell has fallen over the Turkish bloggers this week…and actually, I can agree with them myself. Murat from American Turk writes about the frustration of the day to day mundane of the office: I'm unhappy at...

Iran:Ayatollah Khomeini's letter and nuclear bomb

  30 September 2006

Kamangir talks about Ayatollah Khomenii's letter that was published after 18 years. We read in media, a letter from 1988 in which Iran's top commander says Iran could need a nuclear bomb to win the war against Iraq has come to light in Tehran. The blogger adds I do not...

Iran:Ganji's letter to America

  29 September 2006

Nim Negah has published an excerpt of Akbar Ganji's, Iranian journalist and human rights activist, “Letter to America” in Washington Post. Ganji asked for a direct and transparent talk between US and Iran.The blogger published following part of the letter :” It is both possible and desirable to solve the...

Syria: Democracy vs. Engagement!

  28 September 2006

While the Democracy Faith seems to have been based on the assumption that authoritarianism and corruption in the Broader Middle East and North Africa region seem to play a role in encouraging international terrorism, the Engagement Faith is premised on the assumption that authoritarian regimes are much more capable of...

Palestine: Citizen Profile

  28 September 2006

Are Palestinians still romanticizing with the fantasies and daydreams of complete liberation and the return to a land they only heard and read about? Maybe these daydreams were legitimate and reasonable in the previous era of the struggle, but under the current necessity for re-evaluation, the options for realizing the...

Tunisia: Ramadan Beggars

  28 September 2006

We all see beggars on the streets, on subway corners, and especially traffic lights. But Ramadan sees a sharp rise in beggars and their activities. Of course, these people would like to exploit this holy month as much as possible and play on the high level of religious emotions of...

Jordan: 1st Grade Curriculum

  28 September 2006

Beside believing that Christian private schools are far better in discipline than Muslim schools, Batir thinks that the 1st grade curriculum is so tough, and a 6 year old children can't accommodate it.

Bahrain: Michael Jackson quits Bahrain?

  28 September 2006

Khalid wonders if Michael is quiting Bahrain and his buiness with King's son after reports that he parted company with a record label based in the Gulf state of Bahrain. Jackson has lived in Bahrain since being acquitted of child abuse charges in 2005.

Iran:A blog service was filtered by mistake!

  28 September 2006

According to Reportes without Borders,a blog service, Persianblog.com[Fa], was briefly blocked “by mistake” by Iranian Internet Service Providers. In Persian blog we read access to 650,000 blogs got blocked for a day [Fa].

Ukraine: Babiy Yar Massacre's 65th Anniversary

  28 September 2006

Stones and flowers were laid at the Babiy Yar Memorial in Kyiv Wednesday, to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the 1941 massacre – by Veronica Khokhlova In 1941, at least 33,771 Kyiv Jews were shot by the Nazis on Sept. 29 and Sept. 30, in the Babiy Yar ravine of...

Tunisia: Opening prisons to the world

  27 September 2006

At this site, I’m trying to show videos that show or speak about human rights abuses, and – as in the Tunisian video above – the impact of human rights abuses on ordinary people. I don’t speak Arabic, so how do I know what this video’s about? It's thanks to...

Iran:Blaming Afghans

  27 September 2006

Hamed Ghodosi says authorities, blame Afghan refugees or immigrants for high rate of unemployment instead of lack of foreign investment and low economic movement in country. The blogger says in National Radio an interviewee said I am a jobless technician and a bunch of Afghans are working here. The blogger...

Kurdistance

  27 September 2006

Onnik Krikorian from Oneworld Multimedia has written a series of wonderful articles about the Yezidis, ethnic Kurds, who live in Georgia and Armenia. Traditionally, information gathered about the Yezidis focus on those that live in Southern Kurdistan/Northern Iraq, which makes Onnik's article an incredibly valuable cultural resource. Rasti writes this...

More banned journals and Khatami in the USA

  26 September 2006

According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the International Federation of Journalists, the Iranian media is under an increasing amount of governmental pressure. More newspapers and magazines such as daily Shargh and the monthlies Nameh and Hafez have been shut down by the Commission for Authorizing and Monitoring the Press,...

Israel: Shimon Peres is an obstacle to peace!

  26 September 2006

DesertPeace believes that Shimon Peres is an obstacle to peace, even though he is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, which means that he should work effortlessly to establish peace. “Not so in the case of Shimon Peres, who seems to be on a whirlwind tour to guarantee that...

Bahrain: Elections!

  26 September 2006

It's been 63 days since the parliament was dissolved and no one knows when the next elections are going to be… “or should we take it as the “experiment” has failed and we're going to try version 2.0 of The Bahraini Democratic Experiment and that is: get rid of this...

Jordan: The Darkest September

  26 September 2006

Hareega has posted a little [ar] series on his blog about Black September, a very dark moment in Jordan’s history. It is the most mysterious, ambiguous, misunderstood and taboo part of Jordanian history that everyone avoids talking about, Nas said.

Bahrain: Political laughter

  26 September 2006

If you are interested in humor columnists or satirists, Esra'a is looking for a help out in a website that's primarily dedicated to political satire about African and Middle Eastern leaders mostly.

Palestine: Talking instead of Bombing

  26 September 2006

Salah Al-Dien describe the report which states that majority of Israelis would support holding negotiations with a Palestinian unity government that includes the Islamic Hamas movement; as the best news piece he have seen all month because it once again shows that the people are way ahead of the leaders...

Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome

  26 September 2006

Todays post is full of revelations. Find out what is really behind all the violence in Iraq … where the Iraqi government is these days … original reactions to the Pope's comments on Islam … a recipe for a failed state … if Jews and Muslims really do get along...

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Mariam A.
Mariam A. is the editor for the Middle East & North Africa. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.