Links for February 4th

Links from my del.icio.us account for February 4th:

• Man sentenced to 30 lashes as punishment for flouting no smoking ban on Saudi Arabian flight | Mail Online - Savages.


• Gaza war changes Middle East equation at Israel’s expense - Alain Gresh in Le Monde Diplomatique.


• "Le Hamas n'est plus le mouvement révolutionnaire et religieux que l'on veut bien décrire" - Proche-Orient - Le Monde.fr - French senator talks to Meshaal, Hamas isolation weakening, Israelis not happy.


• Saudis Issue List of 85 Terrorism Suspects - NYTimes.com - So much for the famed Saudi rehabilitation program: "DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Eleven Saudis who were released from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and then passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists are now believed to have fled the country and joined terrorist groups abroad, Saudi officials said Tuesday."


• My Nemesis: Egyptian Dialect - Anonymous Arabist (not me) has problems with the non-pronunciation of the qaf in 'amiyya. He gives funny examples of how that would work if the 'k' was not pronounced in English: “Hey, you know that Star Tre’ movie where Ri’ardo Montalban plays ‘an, and aptain Ir’ yells out, ‘AAAAAAAAAAaaaaan!’?”


• Egyptian chronicles: Our New Egyptian Madoff - Ponzi scheme ruins famous and well-connected in Egypt too.