Classy guys these Israelis:

Israeli leaders are warning of an imminent conflagration in Gaza after Palestinian militants aimed rockets at the southern city of Ashkelon.
The deputy defence minister said the stepped-up rocket fire would trigger what he called a “bigger holocaust” in the Hamas-controlled coastal strip.
Israeli air strikes have killed about 30 Palestinians, including six children [...]

MEMRI has this fantastic Iranian Ministry of Intelligence public information video on the American-Zionist conspiracy to pervert Iranian youth and what YOU (i.e. concerned Iranian patriotic citizen) can do about it. Watch it all now.

From Nir Rosen’s The Myth of the Surge in Rolling Stone, on the co-optation of former insurgents that had caused a decline in violence over the past year in Iraq :

But loyalty that can be purchased is by its very nature fickle. Only months ago, members of the Awakening were planting IEDs and ambushing U.S. [...]

Ahmed Senoussi, the Moroccan comedian better known as Bziz, appeared on al-Jazeera’s “bila hudud” talk show yesterday to talk about the Arab information minister’s recent decree introducing a “code of ethics” for Arab satellite stations. The result is hilarious — just wait through the first eight minutes or so as the host sets up the [...]

Links for February 20th through February 21st:

The tea war - Kenya's troubles will mean more expensive cup of Arousa
Egypt?s Parties Committee Seizes Ayman Nour?s Asset - When will the hounding of Ayman Nour cease?
Egypt bans Western papers over prophet cartoons - WSJ, Observer, Die Welt and Allgemeine Zeitung banned
Egypt Govt Summons Danish Ambassador Over Caricatures [...]

14 jours après l’arrestation de Fouad Mourtada, plusieurs sites de blogs marocains, réputés par leur grande influence au Maroc, sont en grève aujourd’hui, Mardi 19 février 2008, en solidarité avec Fouad et sa famille.

Links for February 17th through February 19th:

Jazeera slams TV crackdown - FT on new satellite TV restrictions
TelQuel : Avoir 20 ans à la campagne - Life for young people in the (extremely poor) Moroccan countryside
Moscou accuse Paris de saborder le contrat des Mig - Algeria-Russia fracas over Mig contract; France suspected of meddling
Pharaonic Pump [...]

Hossam has updates on the latest blue collar workers’ strike in Mahalla al-Kubra, the heart of Egypt’s textile industry, where some 10,000 have taken to the street to demand a new national minimum wage:

Only one day before the convening of the National Council for Wages (the govt entity in charge of setting the minimum wage, [...]

As part of a new series on youth and religion, the New York Times ran an article today on young people in Egypt. The article, by Michael Slackman, basically argues that economic and social frustration and the inability to get married at a young age has driven many to become more pious:

The despair [...]

Prince Bandar: with friends like these…

Saudi Arabia’s rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday.
Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced “another 7/7″ and the loss of “British lives on British streets” if they [...]

The arrest and brutal treatment of Fouad Mourtada, the young man who create a fake Facebook profile of Morocco’s Prince Moulay Rachid, is a sad testimony to the fact that things have not changed as much as the regime would like you to believe in Morocco. Here is the statement his supporters have put out:

Official [...]

Kudos to Jazeera for condemning the recently announced “ethical charter” for Arab satellite stations:

Al Jazeera calls Charter issued by the Arab League’s Minister’s of Information a risk to the freedom of expression in the Arab world
DOHA, Qatar, February 15, 2008: Al Jazeera considers the adoption of the charter “Principles for Regulating Satellite TV in [...]

Links for February 13th through February 15th:

ei: How Barack Obama learned to love Israel - Ali Abunimah on how Obama wooed AIPAC
Egypt: Arab Charter for Satellite TV a Major Setback to Press Freedom in Region, Says Article 19 - On recently issued Arab Ministers of Information regulations for satellite TV
"Six Questions for Darius Rejali, Author [...]

al-Jazeera English ran some rare incisive coverage of Coptic issues in Egypt a few days ago, good questions from the interviewer (notably on the census and church-building) with interesting interventions by Michael Mounir, the prominent US-based Coptic activist. Also discussion of church-issues etc.

That was part 2, you can find part 1 here.

The Winter 2008 issue of Bidoun, the Middle Eastern arts and culture magazine, has been out for a few weeks now. For some weird reason I can never access it directly from Egypt, it only works through a proxy like proxyfellow.com or hidemyass.com, but it’s worth the trouble to check out the striking cover (below) [...]

Links for February 9th through February 11th:

Saudi royal Prince Bandar Bin Sultan's assets frozen - BAE lawsuit slowl moving along
Egypt deserves support to resolve Gaza crisis - Egyptian consul writes op-ed in SF Chronicle
U.S. pushes Israel to accept proposed Egypt border deal
- " The U.S. wants Israel to show some flexibility on Egypt's demand [...]

The Pharaos have won the African Nations Cup for a record sixth time.
Congratulations! But is anyone competent enough to explain why the team always screws up when it comes to qualifying for the world cup?

Does anyone know how to get hold of this?

[Thanks, M]

The appointment, pending congressional approval (which appears to be forthcoming soon), of Margaret Scobey as the next US Ambassador to Egypt has continued to get the local press’ interest, with her testimony to Congress’ Foreign Affairs Committee — notably her mention of the Ayman Nour case and the human rights situation in Egypt — earning [...]

Paul Rogers on the Iraq Project:
In an echo of the Baghdad embassy, Balad has grown to become the largest US air-base anywhere in the world: a fifteen-square-mile mini-city with its own bus routes, fast-food outlets, two supermarkets and accommodation for 40,000 military personnel and contractors. The base - from which up to 550 air [...]