Links for May 6th

Links from my del.icio.us account for May 6th:

• 'Arabs revising peace plan to win Israel backing for 2 states' - Haaretz - Israel News - More concessions to the Israelis, without counter-concessions.


• Peres to Obama: No choice but to compare Iran to Nazis - Haaretz - Israel News - Reductio ad hitlerum + senile dementia = shimon peres.


• BBC NEWS | Middle East | Revolution in Egypt's mental health care - New law is marked improvement for mentally ill.


• Washington Times - EXCLUSIVE: Secret U.S.-Israel nuclear accord in jeopardy - I very much doubt that this hyperventilating story reflects any real willingness by the Obama administration to make a big policy change here. But it's a very good point made by Arab govts that it's a bit ridiculous to go after Iran when everyone knows Israel has one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world, and its current FM has talked about using it - NPT or no NPT.


• ::ECES - The Impact of Phasing out Subsidies of Petroleum Energy Products in Egypt - Economic study by Egyptian neoliberal thinktank.


• Nadim Hasbani: Why Are You Paying for TV No One is Watching? - "Created five years ago under President George W. Bush, Al Hurra's mandate is to improve Americas image and promote its values in the Middle East. It has already consumed a half a billion U.S. taxpayers' dollars. Yet, its journalism standards rank far below the level of major American channels, and its editorial stance on the all-important Palestinian conflict leans sharply in favour of Israel.
  It also censors key voices on issues central to the Arab worldview. Why would one expect Arab viewers to tune in to Al Hurra when, for example, it never broadcasts speeches by Hassan Nasrallah? After all, the Hezbollah leader's public appearances are shown live on all other Arabic news channels.
  The result is that Al Hurra's current viewership represents less than 3% of the potential market and drops below 2% in times of crisis."