"Ma cousine Condoleezza : Et autres nouvelles" (Mahmoud Shukair)
Click below for Le Monde’s review of Palestinian writer Mahmoud Shukair “My cousin Condoleeza and other stories”, originally released in Arabic and now available in French. And here’s a review of his previous collection of stories, Mordechai’s Mustache and His Wife’s Cats.

Links from my del.icio.us account for October 29th through October 30th:

In Mauritania, a TV talk show with consequences | Menassat - Mauritanian politician and TV presenter arrested and charged after criticizing junta.
El Khabar | La Constitution Algérienne sera bel et bien révisée - Algeria's Bouteflika decides to "allow the people to enjoy their right to [...]

This is an actual sentence from a CNN report on Sarah Palin attacking Barack Obama over his relationship with eminent Palestinian scholar Rashid Khalidi:
Khalidi has been a stern critic of United States foreign policy towards Israel and has accused the country of “occupying” Palestinian territories, but he has denied acting as a spokesman for the [...]

Links from my del.icio.us account for October 28th through October 29th:

Washington Times - GOULDEN: Eddy and the Mideast - Story of arabist spy Bill Eddy.
Harvard Iranian Oral History Project Harvard University - Personal recordings from the 1920s to the 1980s from Iran.
Welcome to POMED’s Country Pages Project | Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) - [...]

Another new book about Egypt in the twilight of the Mubarak era has come out:
"L’Egypte entre démocratie et islamisme : Le système Moubarak à l’heure de la succession" (Jean-Noël Ferrié)
I haven’t gotten a chance to read it yet, but from the blurb it looks at how the “Mubarak system” works and its success in [...]

Links from my del.icio.us account for October 27th:

The Al-Qaida We Don’t Know: The Limits of the Counterterrorism Approach - Nathan Field advocates a less polisci, more humanities approach to understanding Islamist terrorist groups like al-Qaeda.
Alger censure, avant sa parution, un livre “infamant” de Mohamed Benchicou - Afrique - Le Monde.fr - Algeria bans Mohamed Benchicou's [...]

Links from my del.icio.us account for October 25th through October 27th:

Egypt fines broadcaster that aired Mubarak protest - Reuters.com - Cairo news fined $27,000 for broadcasting Mahalla protest
Saudi Arabia and al-Qaeda trials | The struggle against al-Qaeda | The Economist - Saudi shifts gear from co-option to trial in handling of its jihadists
Zionism at 60 [...]

Also check out the website.

Links from my del.icio.us account for October 22nd through October 25th:

Christopher Ketcham: An Israeli Trojan Horse - More on Israel's cornering of high-tech surveillance market in US, relationship with NSA
Is Israel’s booming high-tech industry a branch of the Mossad? - Haaretz - The NSA - Israeli high tech connection
Al-Ahram Weekly | Opinion | MB goes [...]

Is this really a good idea:
Pakistan plans to arm tens of thousands of anti-Taliban tribal fighters in its western border region in hopes — shared by the U.S. military — that the nascent militias can replicate the tribal “Awakening” movement that proved decisive in the battle against al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The militias, called lashkars, will receive [...]

For those who missed it, below is a Word file with the transcript of the Gamal Mubarak interview that appeared in the French review Politique Internationale. Nothing amazing but some interesting personal touches.
B. A. et P. D. - Dans quel état d’esprit avez-vous grandi ?  
 
G. M. - Comme beaucoup de mes compatriotes, j’ai su très [...]

Links from my del.icio.us account for October 20th through October 22nd:

Daily News Egypt - NAZIF’S CLOSING REMARKS ECHO PEPPY TONE OF EUROMONEY - Peppy! And I love the last line of the piece: "There were no farmers or construction workers available at the conference to comment."
Fatah says to accept Egypt plan for reconciliation - Nabil [...]

Condoleeza Rice is on a mission to save her (and her boss’) legacy in the Middle East, with all this last minute peace-processing and the recent relaxation of the “no talking to Hamas or Syria” approaches of the past. She and her colleagues made a right mess over the last eight years with their “transformational [...]

In the last two years, there had been repeated leaks that some of the best intelligence on the Iranian nuclear program was coming from Germany, which was explained as one reason the Europeans (and Germany in particular) were leading the diplomatic offensive against Tehran and letting the US take a back seat in negotiations.
It turns [...]

Links from my del.icio.us account for October 10th through October 18th:

EDITORIAL: THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES - Daily News Egypt has cojones, asking "Is Egyptian democracy an oxymoron?"
In Scramble for Cash, Pakistan Turns to China’s Deep Reserves - Join the queue?
TUNISIA: Independent news site destroyed - "Kalima, an independent Tunisian online news site, was hacked into [...]

More details here. [Thanks, EH]

Links from my del.icio.us account for October 10th:

Israeli town hit by third day of Jewish-Arab clashes - Yahoo! News - "Chanting "death to Arabs," the protesters were headed from a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood to the house of an Arab when police intervened."
America the Banana Republic: Politics & Power: vanityfair.com - Hitchens finds out maybe he [...]

The great Israeli chronicler of the occupation of Palestine has this depressing reports on how the two Palestinian governments are undermining Palestinian unity:

The intimidation and repression of Hamas in the West Bank is mirrored in Gaza, where Hamas persecutes Fatah members and their families: institutions are closed down; there are illegal arrests, torture in detention [...]

Links from my del.icio.us account for October 8th through October 9th:

EGYPT: Anger Approaches Boiling Point - So will there be any consequence to Egyptians' anger?
My Mom’s Hummus Recipe — Ralph Nader for President in 2008 - Surreal: Ralph Nader is selling his Mom's hummus recipes in exchange for campaign contributions,in reaction to the Israel-Lebanon Hummus [...]