Blog archive all
28th February 2012
There was a short-lived flurry of excitement yesterday when WikiLeaks began publishing emails that appear to have been hacked from the servers of Stratfor, a Texas-based "global intelligence" company.
"What we have discovered is a company that is a private intelligence Enron," WikiLeaks chief… Read more
25th February 2012
I think it's fair to say that while gay Arabs have been generally supportive of the Arab Spring, the Arab Spring has not been very supportive of gay Arabs.
The activists among gay Arabs certainly see themselves as part of a broader struggle – which raises the question of how far they should set… Read more
19th February 2012
I have added a couple of new documents to the website (in English translation) which readers may find useful for reference purposes:
Syria's new draft constitution
This is the draft which President Assad has said will be submitted to a referendum later this month.
The… Read more
11th February 2012
Lizzie Phelan, the British "independent journalist" whose fanciful reporting of the Libyan conflict attracted a good deal of attention on the internet last year, appeared on Russia Today yesterday, blaming Britain, Israel, France and the US for the double bombing in the Syrian city of Aleppo.… Read more
11th February 2012
It has long been assumed that the pro-government demonstrations in Syria are anything but spontaneous – that government employees and the like are obliged to take part in them. A series of intercepted emails from the Ministry of Presidential Affairs now provides some confirmation of this –… Read more
9th February 2012
You may have been wondering what happened to Lizzie Phelan, the British "independent journalist" who reported Colonel Gaddafi's numerous successes against the rebels in Libya last year.
Well, the fall of Gaddafi didn't bring an end to her endeavours. Last month she re-surfaced in Syria, once again… Read more
9th February 2012
Saudi Arabia has moved a step closer to lifting its unwritten ban on female drivers.
It is reported that a committee of experts will look into "issues that have a social dimension and no legal basis [in Sharia]" that are currently dealt with by the courts. The issues they have in mind, apparently… Read more
26th January 2012
There's a woefully misleading report about Yemen from AFP this morning. It begins:
"Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh will stay in the United States beyond the election next month that will choose his successor ..."
Let's get this straight once and for all. The so-called election, scheduled for… Read more
24th January 2012
There have been interesting developments in the Saudi religious police (the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice) following the appointment of Sheikh Abdullatif al-Sheikh as its chief earlier this month.
Al-Sheikh is a religious scholar who specialises in women's issues.… Read more
18th January 2012
Another insidious myth is doing the rounds: that 55% of Syrians support president Assad. The figure was cited by Aisling Byrne in an article which I critiqued recently. Now, it has surfaced again in an article by Jonathan Steele for the Guardian.
While it is undoubtedly true that the Assad regime… 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
