Links for June 22-26 2010
- Mohammed ElBaradei, Egypt’s wake-up caller - The National
How true: Egyptian society is prone to “a lot of myth and very little contact with reality”, he says.
- Is Israel right to complain that Hamas has denied Red Cross visits to Gilad Shalit? - Ali Abunimah
Technically, not really.
- Crown Center - THE IRAQI ELECTIONS OF 2010—AND 2005
Kanan Makiya on Iraqi elections.
- The Muslim Past - NYTimes.com
Max Rodenbeck on Bernard Lewis: "The quaintly missionary idea of “bringing freedom” to benighted peoples may simply betray Lewis’s age: he was born in England in 1916, in the already waning glory of the British Empire. But the shrill alarmism jars with his repute as a historian whose most notable contribution has been to chronicle the relative decline of Islam in the past three centuries. It is a fair judgment to say that the four-fifths of the world’s people who are not Muslim appear in no immediate or even distant danger of extinction at the point of a scimitar." Contrasts Lewis nicely with Fred Donner, whose book "Muhammad and the Believers" is praised.
- LRB · David Bromwich · Diary
"Obama sees himself as the establishment president. If a populist insurgency on the right presses hard against his legitimacy, if disappointed supporters stop giving money or knocking on doors, still he has the confidence of a leader whose standing is buoyed up by corporate leaders, by a famous general and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, by a decent preponderance of Wall Street, and by the mainstream media, whose resources he deploys and channels with a relentlessness no other president has approached."
- tabsir.net » Berbers out of Yemen?
On speculation about the origins of Berbers.
- Syria’s new best friend - Le Monde diplomatique
Turkey, of course.
- Gaza: State of siege | The Guardian
Excellent editorial calling for Pal reconciliation.
- ElBaradei makes sharp criticism of police action - The National
ElBaradei statement on Khaled Said and more.
- Albert Cossery, the dispassionate anarchist - The National
Review of new English editions.
- Top Israeli official pessimistic about U.S.-led Mideast peace talks
Wants Iran strike, no Isr-Pal talks.
- A Saudi tower: Mecca versus Las Vegas | The Economist
More Saudi desecration of Mecca.
- The blockade of Gaza: Hamas is making ground again | The Economist
"“We don’t need mayonnaise,” says a Gazan, who recently heard [Amr Moussa] speak. “We need freedom.”"
- Shalit, Hamouri, Bernard-Henri Lévy et les intellectuels mercenaires - Les blogs du Diplo
Great takedown of BHL.
- Foreign Policy: Is Petraeus A Do-Over In Afghanistan? : NPR
Stephen Walt being tough on Obama.
- A great resource on the Hamas women
Helena Cobban points to a new study.
- EGYPT: Surviving on a crust in Cairo’s expanding slums
On measuring poverty in Egypt.
- Change Egypt's Expats Can Believe In | Foreign Policy
But first they have to get the right to vote.
- AFP: Egypt says new autopsy confirms police did not kill blogger
But no one believes it and it doesn't explain the bruises.
- AFP: Israel cannot put Gaza responsibility on Egypt: Mubarak
But is Rafah opened now?
- Eissa Interviews ElBaradei In Video
Feisty journo talks Doc B.
- US vetoed Shalit release deal and other things I learned from "diplomatic sources"
"Press reports that US envoy George Mitchell once again put severe pressure on Egypt and other parties not to allow a Hamas-Fatah reconciliation deal to proceed are accurate. The logic is that the US wants to avoid any legitimization of Hamas and focus on the "proximity talks" leading to "direct talks" (leading to nowhere?)."
- Petraeus brings calm, different perspective
The second coming of the second coming.
- 87 US senators support Israeli self-defense (AFP)
I wonder how many of them support Palestinian self-defense from occupation.
- Shams' Infinite Playlist of Quantum Sufi Madness
A very odd and interesting blog.
- Rise of the Sultans | Foreign Affairs
Akbar Ganji on the takeover of the state in Iran.