Links for July 15-19 2010

• Joe Sacco: Not in my country | The Guardian

  Sacco's new comic on African migrants in Malta.

• Mubarak angry about rumors about his health, says Israeli minister

  Benyain Ben Eliezer talks like an Arab official: "I spoke to him very recently. Without being a doctor, I can be sure by the sound of his voice that he is in excellent health and will remain in the political arena for a long time."

• The impresario: Gilles Kepel, scholar of radical Islam - The National

  IMHO, Kepel's most lasting contribution may be the excellent PhD students he mentored and who now lead their fields.

• Arabianism: Watheeqa: A true-life tale of horror

  A moving post by a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon.

• Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Reveals Details of $50 million Gaza Aid Deal

  Qadhafi Jr. ventures into regional diplomacy.

• Netanyahu: Illegal African immigrants - a threat to Israel's Jewish character - Haaretz

  As Israelis use it, the phrase "Jewish and democratic character of the state" is becoming synomous with apartheid and racism.

• A hidden world, growing beyond control

  WaPo investigation into the national security state.

• Hamas bans water pipes for Gaza women

  Sordid

• Standardized English Tests, Including TOEFL, Are Halted in Iran - NYTimes.com

  Here are the "targeted" sanctions that will not hurt ordinary people.

• Netanyahu heads to Egypt to meet Mubarak on Mideast talks - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

  "Lieberman suggested that Israel shut down all border crossings with the Strip and allow movement in and out through the sea and the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border [...] By the end of the process, the responsibility for Gaza would be shifted onto Egypt and the international community."

• FREE AMEER MAKHOUL & OMAR SAID

  Israel's "Hizbullah spy case".

• Kurtzer on preventing the next war: we can only manage it after the fact « The Mideastwire Blog

  Noe on very silly piece by Dan Kurtzer.

• The Daily Star - Innovation is Moroccan civil society's main challenge

  This article has some good points but ignores the lack of democratic political channels through which to enact change.

• The Saudi succession: When kings and princes grow old | The Economist

  What a backward bunch.

• Syria's decade of repression | Nadim Houry

  HRW's researcher on new report.

• Tricky Bibi - Haaretz

  "I know what America is. America is something that can be moved easily."

• Forty years of Egypt's Aswan High Dam - The National

  "“I don’t believe that many people know that the first feasibility study for the dam was ordered by the Revolutionary Council headed by Gamal Abdel-Nasser within only three days of the revolution itself,” says Dr Mamdouh Hamza, a renowned Cairo-based engineer. “By October 18, 1952, when the revolution was only 100 days old, a complete feasibility study for the dam had been carried out. The ministry of public works (now the ministry of irrigation), together with engineers and university professors, joined in the making of the dam.”"

• Israel dumps waste on Palestinians - Al Jazeera English

  It just keeps on getting worse, doesn't it?

• U.S. Says Scientist Aided C.I.A. While Still in Iran - NYTimes.com

  Am starting to think Amiri was an Iranian double-agent, feeing disinformation to the US.

• Iran accuses US and UK of supporting group behind mosque attacks

  CIA denies backing Jundullah, but you have to wonder where all that money Congress assigns to destabilizing Iran goes.

• Pope Shenouda: Homosexuality is cause for divorce | Al-Masry Al-Youm

  Can't make this stuff up.

• Charity For Gamal Mubarak 's Presidency

  "The NDP businessmen lobby in Egypt is trying to create a fan base for unpopular Gamal Mubarak using the poverty of the people"

• Gregor Czisch on the super-grid | FT Energy Source | FT.com

  Fascinating interview on the tech of renewables.