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A video purporting to show members of the Saudi armed forces torturing suspected Houthi rebels has been posted on the internet.
The Washington-based Saudi Information Agency (critical of the Saudi regime) says:
The prisoners, who are suspected to be affiliated with the Houthi rebel… Read more
Hussein Ibish, of the American Task Force on Palestine, has written a thoughtful and, I think, important essay about the controversy surrounding Joseph Massad and gay rights in the Arab countries.
This is partly in response to those on the American right who seem more eager… Read more
Five years ago this month, there was a good deal of excitement in Saudi Arabia when men (but not women) were given an opportunity to vote for the first time in 40 years.
They were electing half the members of municipal councils – the other half to be appointed by the king – and… Read more
An intriguing clip from YouTube, apparently filmed at the home of Sheikh Tariq al-Fadhli, erstwhile jihadist and associate of Bin Laden, and now self-appointed leader of Yemen's southern separatists.
It shows the hoisting of an American flag in his compound with people standing to attention as the… Read more
Following on from my talk at SOAS last week about the "crunch points" in Arab society, a reader asks:
How do you explain the apparent contradiction between the authoritarian nature of all of these societies and the apparent (often shocking) lack of order and discipline, and an almost… Read more
Eager to promote traditional family life, the Conservative party in Britain is promising tax incentives for married couples if it wins the next election.
But already Iraq has gone one better (and possibly two or three better) with financial incentives to promote polygamy, according … Read more
Yesterday's discussion of Arabic transliteration prompted several emails from readers. One pointed out that Junblatt – the Lebanese politician's name – is usually written as Jumblatt in English. This seems to be a case of phonetics taking priority over the written form: if you… Read more
This Yemeni ceasefire business is getting confusing. Yesterday, the government appeared to reject the offer from the Houthi rebels. But now Yemen's National Defence Council says it "will have no objection" to ending military operations if the rebels abide by all six of the government-… Read more
A lengthy post by Kal on The Moor Next Door blog delves into the thorny question of how best to represent Arabic words and names in the Roman alphabet.
This has been controversial territory since 1926 (if not before) whenT E Lawrence's manuscript for Revolt in the Desert was sent to the… Read more
Once again there is speculation about a ceasefire in the war with Yemen's Houthi rebels – though whether it will actually happen is anyone's guess.
The cause of the speculation is an audio recording by the rebels' leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, posted on the internet. In the recording, he… 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
