There is still surprisingly little in-depth reporting about what led to Libya’s makeover — but plenty of reaction Some on the left are complaining that Bush and Blair are embracing a crackpot dictator. Others on the right are rejoicing that this makes the Bush policies look good. Those in the middle tend to be more [...]

Mauritanian police have accused Libya of being behind last month’s attempted coup:
Judicial police chiefs said the alleged coup plot “has been financed by the Libyan special services”.
“Everyone in Nouakchott knows it,” the police said in a statement late Thursday.
However, little evidence has been unearthed about Libya’s involvement.

Zvi Bar’el points out that suddenly they’re no longer incompatible.

In a completely unexpected announcement, Libya’s Muammar Qadhafi has said that he would give up his WMD program, allow inspectors unconditional access and sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The news was broken by British PM Tony Blair, who also broke the news last week that Saddam Hussein had been captured. According to Blair,
“Libya came to [...]

David Kay, the head of the WMD search team in Iraq, has reportedly resigned. This article from The Independent also discusses the declining importance of the WMD search to the White House, much to the detriment of Downing Street. I wonder whether the accusations that he was hiding WMDs will be brought up against [...]

Another episode in the life of the Kingdom of Ridicule…

A picture published by the Iraqi National Congress’ mouthpiece showing Ahmed Chalabi talking to Saddam Hussein is stirring controversy that Chalabi is using the moment to humiliate Saddam and draw support:

The newspaper which normally sells about 5,000 copies was snapped up before it barely reached the stands and though many did not approve there were [...]

Juan Cole is following breaking news about the bombing of the headquarters of the Badr Brigade, the militia of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).
Since the militias are overwhelmingly Shiite and Kurd, and the resistance is largely Sunni Arab, this was an announcement that the former were going to be used [...]

Lauren Sandler of The Nation has just published a truly worrying article about the situation for women in Iraq since the occupation began:
Millions of women have found themselves living under such de facto house arrest since the coalition forces claimed Baghdad in April. They have been forced into this situation by a menacing triple [...]

Amir Oren, Haaretz’s military correspondent, has a shocking editorial today in which he advocated settling the Palestinians in northern Sinai to solve Israel’s “demographic problem”:

The only natural expanse for the surplus Palestinian population is in northern Sinai, along the coastal plain south of Rafah until Lake Bardawil and the city of Al-Arish. A new and [...]

Jimmy Breslin’s editorial in Newsday is mind-boggling for two reasons: one, that such a great number of Americans seem to think that Saddam was behind the 9/11 attacks despite all the media attention that he is getting since his arrest, and secondly that the role of the Bush administration in spreading that notion is still [...]

This has long been rumored, but now seems actually closer to starting: Al Hurra (The Free One) is the name of the forthcoming US-funded Arabic-language TV station. Although based in Virginia, it seems one of its major offices will be in Baghdad. There is considerable irony that this will yet another state-controlled TV station, although [...]

Haaretz notes a new study by the CIA’s National Intelligence Council posits that no peace is possible until Arafat’s death and perhaps long after that:

The intelligence estimate casts doubt on the likelihood of a full peace settlement materializing in the years before 2020; nonetheless, should an Israel-Palestinian agreement for a “cold peace” win support among [...]

Benyamin Netanyahu has pitched in his two cents in the growing debate on the Israeli right over the demographic threat that Palestinians both inside and outside Israel present:

Netanyahu added that Israel does not face a demographic threat from the Palestinians who will be under Palestinian control and will enjoy “self determination” in the future, but [...]

Egypt is getting worried about Kenya’s intention to withdraw from the 1929 Water Nile accord which regulates usage of the Nile south of Egypt and keeps most of the water for Egypt’s use.
Egypt has reacted strongly to the announcement made by the Kenyan government in which it called for unilaterally revoking the 1929 Water Nile [...]

This comment piece by Caroline Glick in the Jerusalem Post is telling of an evolving concern in the Israeli right about Egypt, and especially Egypt after Mubarak.
One of the worst-kept secrets in our region is that aside from Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Egypt is the greatest looming threat to Israel’s national security. As our [...]

Nyier Abdou has an interesting article in the Independent about the rise of muhagaba fashion in Egypt:
The increasing number of women wearing the hijab has brought about a radical change in the image of the Egyptian woman. As young, urbane women increasingly take the veil, age-old associations between hijab and the traditional religious conservatism dissipate. [...]

I missed a few days ago with the whole Saddam capture thing, but it’s worth noting that President Bush has (reluctantly?) signed the Syria Accountability Act.
The legislation says Syria has provided a safe haven for anti-Israel terrorist groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad and is accused of pursuing the development and production of biological [...]

The official announcement was made by Tony Blair at 11:15am London time, although the Iranian National News Agency and a few members of the Iraqi Governing Council knew of the arrest earlier. President Bush is set to make an announcement later in the day.
According to Ahmed Chalabi’s spokesman, Entifadh Qanbar, Saddam had dug a hole [...]

Rush Holt, a Democratic congressman from New Jersey, and 34 others (mostly Democrats) have cosponsored a bill that would provide increased federal funding for languages considered to be critical to national security.
Al Qaeda operates in over 75 countries, where hundreds of languages and dialects are spoken. However, 99 percent of American high school, college [...]