Blog archive all
19th March 2013
To mark the tenth anniversary of the 2003 Iraq war, I am re-posting diary entries that I wrote at the time for the Guardian's website. They are posted here day by day and the full collection can be found here.
19 March 2003:
Tony Blair need not go into exile just yet. Last night… Read more
18th March 2013
Two people are in custody in Tunisia and six more are being sought by the authorities in connection with a rap music video entitled "Boulicia Kleb" (Police are Dogs).
According to the interior ministry, the public prosecutor in Ben Arous began a criminal investigation because the video, posted on… Read more
17th March 2013
Ten years ago this week my daily routine changed. I began setting my alarm for five o'clock each morning to write a diary of the war in Iraq.
The idea was to provide a short and sometimes opinionated review of each day's events – both military and political – and to have it ready and posted on the… Read more
15th March 2013
"I'm a law student from Germany and i'm working on my thesis in which i compare the Arab League with the European Union. My focus lies on the Arab Charter regarding Human Rights. I'm searching for some useful inforamtion in english about the Arab Human Rights Charter and also the importans… Read more
13th March 2013
Sex and politics may seem like strange bedfellows but they are often closer than we think. In the 1960s, opposition to the Vietnam war and the casting-off of sexual hangups in western countries blended into a single slogan: Make Love Not War. Meanwhile, a new generation of feminists insisted that… Read more
13th March 2013
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, were in Jordan yesterday on the first full day of their Royal Solidarity Tour of Arab monarchies – and already it's embarrassing.
Officially, the nine-day trip which will also take in Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia is billed as a "… Read more
11th March 2013
There was a time when Arab media habitually reshaped the news to fit their official line – deliberately omitting salient facts, grossly misrepresenting what people said, and so on. In a pre-internet age, when national borders could still be sealed against information coming from outside, they were… Read more
10th March 2013
Prince Charles – heir to the British throne – is due to arrive in the Middle East on Monday for a nine-day "goodwill" visit to Arab monarchies. His tour will take in Jordan, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
These trips, which happen every few years, are usually a cue for the British media's royalty… Read more
9th March 2013
Let's suppose, just for the sake of argument, that the Americans had not invaded Iraq in 2003 and that Saddam Hussein were still in power there now. How would he view the conflict in neighbouring Syria? Would he be supporting the Assad regime, or not?
I began wondering about this a few days ago,… Read more
7th March 2013
"Don't panic" is the basic message of a report on engaging with Islamist governments, published by the Conservative Middle East Council (CMEC) in Britain.
"The once-imagined prospect of Islamist political forces playing a central role in the region's future is now a reality," it says, adding that "… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
