Links 25 November - 22 December 2013

Last link dump of the year...

• West signals to Syrian opposition Assad may stay | Reuters
• To kill or not to kill: Army and politics in post-revolution Egypt - Al Jazeera English
  Omar Ashour.
• Preventing South Sudan’s Inferno - The Daily Beast
  Clooney
• Gabbling and Gobbling on the Nile | Jonathan Guyer
  Thanksgiving in Cairo, featuring friends and colleagues of the Arabist
• Fighting in South Sudan: More accident than plot | The Economist
  A strange so-called coup
• This Egyptian Constitution Poster Is A Total Disaster
  Poster at press conferences misspells "Egyptians," features random white people from the internet
• Gaza floods force thousands to flee their homes - PhotoBlog
• Gaza mental health pioneer dies aged 70
  El Sarraj
• Catastrophe for Gaza
  A 2008 op-ed by Dr. Eyad Sarraj, who just passed away
• keef keef | Inanities
  Sarah Carr on Tunis
• British and German couple 'held in Egypt without charge' for a month | World news | The Guardian
  More disturbing rogue ineptitude from the Egyptian police
• Tunisia's Transition Continues
  Some progress, but still long to go.
• Dispatch from Iran: Ruffled feathers | The Economist
  Military grumbles about Rouhani.
• Karl reMarks: Six Kalīlah wa Dimnah Tales: Thinly-Veiled Arab Spring Fables
• What role does the Palestinian question play in global jihad? « jihadica
• Egypt’s third constitution in three years: A critical analysis
  al-Ali: reflects "tribe-like mentality" of state institutions
• Egypt police 'inflict pain like it's an art' | MinnPost
  More Khaled Saids.
• BBC Radio 4 - The Making of the Modern Arab World, Episode 1
  A new documentary by Tarek Osman
• Snowden and Snooping
  Chas Freeman on the NSA
• ASA Members Vote To Endorse Academic Boycott of Israel | American Studies Association
  Read the testimonials.
• Brothers’ bloc defeated in Doctors Syndicate elections | Mada Masr
• Segregation:our secular values need to be protected | Observer editorial | Comment is free | The Observer
  Good piece.
• Egypt prosecutor targets father of boy arrested over pro-Mursi ruler: lawyer | Reuters
  That's "ruler" as in measuring tool. Really.
• Former Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.): Congress Should Not Weaken US Law on Military Coups
  (because of Egypt)
• How Egypt’s Gen. al-Sisi Won TIME’s Person of the Year Poll
  Ashraf Khalil looks at the Egyptian news sites that pushed the poll
• Making an example - Mada Masr
  On the teenage girls given severe jail sentencse for pro-MB protest
• Syrian Refugees Illegally Pushed Back
  from Greece, Italy, Egypt
• Profiteers become another obstacle to peace in Syria
  Civil war economy is good for some
• Syria dispatch: from band of brothers to princes of war
  On the transformation of Syrian militias
• ‘The near future of Iraq is dark’: Warning from Muqtada al-Sadr
  Shia cleric warns country could "disintegrate"
• Iraq: Wave of Journalist Killings | Human Rights Watch
  Iraqi journalists enjoying that democracy we promised them
• Full translation of Egypt's draft 2013 constitution
• Egypt’s Sisi Wins Reader Poll for TIME Person of the Year
  More Sisi mania
• In Taking Jobs, Women Take On a Saudi Taboo
  On the growing # of Saudi women in the retail sector
• U.S. State Department monitoring Shezanne Cassim's case
  Man jailed in UAE for making a funny YouTube video
• Saudi government bans Arabic science fiction novel, raids bookstores
  Jinn are in the Koran, so why is writing about them the basis for censorship?
• Coming Soon: Learning from Cairo
  Book launch Saturday Dec 7: http://learningfromcairo.org
• Update: Alaa Abd El Fattah arrested, being held at CSF barracks
• Saudi Arabia's foreign labour crackdown drives out 2m migrants
• Syria's Palestinian refugees: No place to call home | The Economist
• Muslim Brotherhood female protesters given 11 year prison sentences
  Some of these girls are 15 years old. Shameful.
• What’s Behind the Wave of Terror in the Sinai
  Vivian Salama gives history and interesting details
• SCAF planned Mohamed Mahmoud killings, Brotherhood claims
  So MB says it accepted SCAF orders then?
• Muslim Brotherhood financing attacks: Egypt minister
• Egypt's latest charm offensive. Journalists to sample the delights of military democracy