Stories about Middle East & North Africa from August, 2007
Ukraine: Crimea
On the last day of summer, here's a translation of LJ user drugoi's photo report on his trip to Crimea, one of the favorite summer tourism destinations in the Soviet times, now facing fierce competition from resorts in Turkey and Egypt.
Tunisia: A new Mohammed cartoon crisis ?
Tunisian blogger A.L.G.Y of Cos-maux-polis is wondering whether a new Mohammed cartoon crisis is brewing. She explains that drawings of a man with the body of a dog wearing a turban were published in a local Swedish newspaper on August, 18th. As protests are underway in Pakistan and Iran, she...
Morocco: Cheap Chinese Plastic
Everything Morocco questions why there's so many cheap plastic products “made in China” being sold in the traditional artisan souks of Fez.
Morocco: Books on Fez
The View From Fez shares a list of books pertaining to the grand city of Fez.
Syria: Arab Bread Basket
Syria is the Arab bread basket of the Middle East, writes Egyptian D.B. Shobrawy, who adds that the Arab country is sharing the spoils with neighbours hit by a wheat shortage.
Bahrain: Nasfa Celebrations
Bahrainis marked the birth of the Shia Imam Al Mahdi with a lot of fanfare and blogger Mahmood Al Yousif was out with his new camera to record the celebrations.
Bahrain: Camera Jogging
Bahraini Ammaro takes his camera along for a jog and this is the result.
Egypt: Mubarak Deathwatch
“(F)or over a week now the Egyptian (non-state) media has gone into another one of its Mubarak deathwatch modes,” writes Issandr El Amrani, from Egypt.
Egypt: Princess Diana's Death
Egyptian Zeinobia marks the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death with this post.
Bahrain: Hand-Picked Podcasts
Bint Battuta in Bahrain shares with us her pick of podcasts in this post.
Turkey is Typing….WordPress Still Blocked
Last week Sami Ben Gharbia did an excellent posting about the blockage of the Wordpress blogging platform in Turkey, this week we will examine what Turkish bloggers have to say about it. There is anger, resentment, and sense of utter amazement at the absurdness of the situation. And yet, there is a powerful spirit of strength in combating this ban.
Egypt: Complaining for Change
Something I love about Egyptian blogs is our tendency to complain. Firstly because we're Egyptian and its our nature and secondly because we have so much to complain about. Among our complaints this week: international scandals, intellectual persecution, the Egyptian Legal system (or lack thereof), the question of beauty and as usual, religious persecution rounding out the group, writes D.B. Shobrawy.
Slideshow of Iran's female athletes
Tunisiendoctor has a slideshow of Iranian female athletes (Fr).
Iran:Study says US preparing military attack
Iranian Truth writes that here’s a little story in the news that hasn’t been receiving much press circulation but is definitely of concern:According to SOAS,The United States has the capacity for and may be prepared to launch without warning a massive assault on Iranian uranium enrichment facilities, as well as...
Iran:Talking to Gary Sick
View from Iran continues his interesting interviews and this time she talks with Gary Sick. The blogger says Gary Sick was in the Carter administration during the taking of the American embassy by revolutionary Iranian students. His discussion of that time, the difficulty of the negotiations, and the analysis of...
Iran:Iranian historical buildings in 6 photos
Kosoof, a leading photo blogger, has published Iranian historical buildings in 6 photos.The blogger has given an explanation about each one.
Iran:An abstract painting and a real Kebab!
Aref Adib has published two photos:one is a painting from Howard Hodgkin,a British painter, and the other one is a photo of a Kebab in Vienna.The blogger invites us to see similarities between two photos.The blogger adds “a representational painter of emotional situations” & below the painting is my represention...
Saudi: Support for Jailed Activists
Saudi Jeans updates us on the demands being made by the supporters of Saudi reformists detained since February.
Arabeyes: Who is Using the Tunisian Presidential Airplane?
The Tunisian presidential airplane and the 'unofficial' trips it takes to Europe and the fashion capitals of the world has attracted the scrutiny of the country's most outspoken bloggers. Who is using the president's plane? Who approves the trips abroad and how much is it used for official business? These are some of the questions being raised in Arabic and French, which I am translating today into English.
Palestine: Gul for Turkey
Fayyad from Palestinian blog Kabobfest writes about Abdulla Gul‘s election as Turkey's president. “Ironically, some secular extremists in Turkey, too (have) issue with the fact the Gul’s wife, Hayrunisa, wears a hijab, which is banned from all Turkish public institutions, and (for) some reason terrifies some, especially when Mrs. Gul...
Iraqi Insurgency
Abu Aardvark (Marc Lynch) updates us on the latest news about the insurgency in Iraq.
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