Links May 14th to May 16th

Links from my del.icio.us account for May 14th through May 16th:

• Al-Ahram Weekly | Economy | Mind the gap - An interesting piece on the need for a new salary system for civil servants that does away with the current low-base system.


• Democracy Promotion Under Obama: Lessons from the Middle East Partnership Initiative - Brookings Institution - Tamara Cofman Wittes on MEPI.


• Matthew Yglesias » Cantor, Hoyer Forget to Take “AIPAC” Off Their Letter’s File Name - AIPAC releases its hounds, doesn't bother to cover up tracks.


• Khasab Journal - With Murmurs of Change, an Omani Sultan Tightens His Grip - NYTimes.com - Democracy, or lack thereof, in Oman.


• A press row in Qatar | The limits to liberalisation | The Economist - Robert Menard vs. Qatari conservatives, or the perils of Sheikha Mozah's Moolah.


• Index on Censorship » Blog Archive » Dimbleby: fearful BBC risks losing its way - Excellent article by David Dimbleby on the BBC's ill-thought-out kowtowing to Zionists on Middle East Correspondent Jeremy Bowen's work. Read it all.


• Mideast’s Christians Declining in Influence - NYTimes.com - How many ways can a single story be problematic? Tons in this case; for instance lamenting that there are only a few Christians left in Turkey without taking into account the Greek invasion after WW1, talking about Christian foreign workers not being eligible for citizenship in the Persian Gulf (as if non-Gulfie Muslims generally are); talking about "Saudi-branded" Islam in Egypt; not talking about migration policies in the West that long favored Arab Christians and Jews; and more. Not to take away from the point that the Islamist ascendancy has made many countries less hospitable to Muslims.