Blog archive all
19th November 2015
The Islamic State has issued a photograph showing parts of what it says was an explosive device that brought down the Russian airliner over Sinai on October 31 with the loss of 224 lives. IS also claims to have exploited a loophole at Sharm el-Sheikh airport to smuggle a bomb on board the plane… Read more
15th November 2015
The cockpit voice recorder of the Russian airliner that crashed in Sinai is unlikely to settle the question of what caused the disaster that killed 224 people.
According to Ayman al-Muqaddam, the chief Egyptian investigator, a "noise" can be heard in the final second of the recording. Muqaddam hasn… Read more
10th November 2015
Female recruits welcome, up to a point
In 2009, Fatima Zohra Ardjoune became the Algerian army's first female general, and since then four more women have risen to the same rank.
These appointments followed a presidential decree in 2006 which, as part of a modernisation plan, established the… Read more
5th November 2015
Marks on the Airbus door. Do they show shrapnel damage?
President Sisi of Egypt arrived in London yesterday – just in time for the 409th anniversary of Britain's most famous bomb plot. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn denounced his visit and demonstrators angered at the regime's human rights abuses… Read more
2nd November 2015
A brief update on the Sinai air disaster. A statement by the head of Russia's Air Transport Agency that the Airbus which crashed on Saturday "disintegrated in the air at a high altitude" has renewed media speculation about a jihadist attack.
An editorial in today's Daily Mirror, for example, says … Read more
1st November 2015
Initial reports of the Russian airliner crash over Sinai yesterday were quick to point out that the disaster occurred in an area where Egyptian security forces are fighting an Islamist insurgency. Several hours later a statement ostensibly issued by the Islamic State claimed to have shot the… Read more
28th October 2015
The Saudi-led aerial bombardment of Yemen entered its eighth month on Monday – an occasion marked by a series of strikes that almost completely destroyed a hospital in Saada province supported by Médecins Sans Frontières.
Saudi, Emirati and Bahraini troops are also known to be fighting on the… Read more
27th October 2015
When Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the opposition Labour party in Britain last month I wrote a blog post looking at his public statements on international affairs and trying to draw some conclusions about how British policy in the Middle East might change under a Corbyn-led government.
While some… Read more
24th October 2015
Sharia in Britain (2)
Government refuses to back gender-equality measure
Last Monday, amid much fanfare from the prime minister, the British government issued a 40-page document setting out what it likes to describe as its "counter-extremism" strategy. Among many other things,… Read more
22nd October 2015
Sharia in Britain
House of Lords debate scheduled for tomorrow
Earlier this week the British government issued a 40-page document setting out its "counter-extremism" strategy. One of the proposals is for an independent review "to understand the extent to which sharia is being… 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
