Stories about Middle East & North Africa from September, 2006
Bulgaria: More on “Tripoli Six” Blog Campaign
Declan Butler, a senior reporter at Nature, reports that the blog campaign to help free the “Tripoli Six” seems to be gaining momentum. Also, he writes that “Mickey Grant, a filmmaker from Dallas, Texas, has, in response to the blog campaign, today made his full, 1h 22 min, 2003 documentary...
Iran:A tortured political leader
Roozmaregiha writes that Ali Akbar Mousavi Khoini, jailed political prisoner and former deputy in Iranian parliament, seized opportunity at his father's funeral where he had found a few minutes of freedom to say he has been under torture in prison.The blogger adds Mousavi is not an ordinary prisoner; he is...
Iran: American short stories in Persian
Ketablog says a collection of nine short stories from contemporary American writers has been published in Persian in Iran [Fa]. The collection's name is Goodness of God and we can find stories from Gib Hansen or Sherman Alexie.
Morocco: 5000 micro companies
Samir says that the Moroccan Minister of the Social Development, Family and Solidarity, has come up with an innovative plan that addresses both needs of unemployed and handicapped people who need work and communication technology. One of the projects is to create 5,000 small companies providing moving “publiphones” on behalf...
Israel: No wonder they hate us
The zionist Left in Israel talks alot…they were never known for their actual actions. Shulamit Aloni was for years a member of the Israeli Knesset. Her voice was loud and clear when pointing out the injustices being done to the Palestinian people, but there was never any real actions to...
Jordan: Poverty in Jordan
Wael Attili has a sample story of poverty in Jordan. Imagine living on a monthly income that is less than US$ 110 [ar]. Wondering how these people are living between us, unnoticed!
Lebanon: Is Nasrallah the new face of moderation in Lebanon and the M.E.?
You kill a terrorist and you have another terrorist. This does not apply to moderates. Every time you kill a moderate you don't have another moderate but you rather contribute to the birth of a radical and a terrorist. Hassan Nasrallah is an exception to this rule. He is becoming...
Libya: Debate Continues On Qadhafi's Libya
Libya has changed undoubtedly. But that change is purely opportunistic and economic. The country is still under dictatorship and the fact that the US government and media suffer from some form of amnesia/madness does not take away from this fact, smokey spice said.
Palestine: Listen, just keep me safe…
Our safety in the United States and elsewhere will never be guaranteed by force and violence, and certainly not when that violence creates legions of new enemies who have just been given a real reason to realize their new hatred of America when their countries are bombed and occupied and...
Syria: Syria takes over the Arab World
Today the airwaves are filled with the Syrian dialect. Syria is once again producing most of the Arab World's Ramadan television. A quick flick through the channels shows Syrian series on almost every channel. From the classical Arabic history dramas on Moroccan TV, to the comedies on Tunisian TV and...
United Arab Emirates: Etisalat obstructing business
Going back to the early seventies, companies left Beirut because of the civil war and re-located largely to Cyprus, Athens, Dubai, Bahrain. Many of those which had gone to Cyprus & Athens re-re-located because telecommunications were so bad. Many came on to Dubai because telecommunications were so good. A lesson...
Iran:Washington Post
Washington Post invites Iranian bloggers to share their opinions about what is going on between US and Iran.
Syrian Blogsphere in a Week
To kick off this week, Ghalia welcomes the holy month of Ramadan in her special way, with another beautiful shot of her camera… “Ramadan is the (month) in which was sent down the Qur-an, as a guide to mankind, also Clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (between right and wrong)…”...
Turkey is Typing…
Ramadan begins this weekend, or Ramazan, if you are Turkish, and I thought that it would be nice to open up this week's article with a link from Binnur's Turkish Cookbook for Ramazan Pide. Let the celebrations begin! The pope's comments have been a hot topic of dicussion in the...
Russian Diaspora
Sean's Russia Blog looks at the large and widely-scattered Russian diaspora in the CIS (e.g. 4 million in Kazakhstan) and in Israel.
Kurdistance
First up on this week's edition of Kurdistance, there has been a fantastic conversation about the Kurdish Question on the Washington Post's PostGlobal feature. The conversation has been very active for several weeks now, I would recommend reading it and joining in! Save Roj TV, whose courgeous work we have...
Iran:Deep Dish Score Music for Anousheh Ansari
In Community Weblog of Persian Students in the UK we read that Grammy Award-winning production and Iranian-American DJ duo Deep Dish today announced the recording of ‘Be the Change’, an eclectic musical work dedicated to Anousheh Ansari's historic Space flight as she became the world's first female private space traveler.
Bulgaria, Libya: Save the Tripoli Six
Declan Butler, a senior reporter at Nature, draws attention to the plight of the “Tripoli Six” – five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor on trial in Libya: “Can the blogosphere help free the Tripoli six? — innocent medics risking execution in Libya.”
Israel: Days of Awe on Both Sides of The Wall
This Saturday both Jews and Muslims begin the holiest of days on their calendars. For the Jews it is the start of Rosh Hashanah, the New Year. For the Muslims it is the start of the Holy Month of Ramadan. “Let us start the Days of Awe with real, meaningful...
Palestine: Destroyed villages on Google Earth
umkahlil says that palestineremembered.com is working on comprehensive project to bring the Nakba online by integrating maps of destroyed Palestinian villages and towns in 1948, into the Google Earth maps, so that Palestinians can see where their original town or village is in Palestine.
Lebanon: Who wants to rule Lebanon?
Hizbullah is holding an unlicensed rally on Friday, which is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of their supporters celebrating their “divine victory” over Israel. The Lebanese Interior Ministry, which normally issues permits for such mass gatherings, has not even been approached or asked for permission. Security for this rally...
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