� Egypt puts archives on Web to boost Arabic content | But what's the address?
� Muslims in Europe: A Report on 11 EU Cities | Open Society Institute | Tons of interesting questions raised by this ground-breaking poll.
� Abkhazia Is Recognized by Even Smaller Nauru - NYTimes.com | Sharqeya next?
â�© Pro-Israel Lobby Group’s Iran Petition Features Lots of Questionable Names « The Washington Independent | Such as "Porn Sex Video" and Comfylovely".
� LedgerGermane: Karzai Says Afghan Army Will Need Help Until 2024 | Yikes.
� Future of US-Egypt Relations: A View from the Next Generation | Notes on another POMED event.
� POMED Event: U.S. Military Assistance: Obstacle or Opportunity for Reform? | Steven Cook, Emile Hokayem, etc. some discussion of Egypt-US military relations.
� Mideastwire.com | Zaitout: reports about Algeria-US agreement over temporary military bases | Handle with care.
� British court issued Gaza arrest warrant for former Israeli minister Tzipi Livni | The Guardian | More of this please.
� Nights to remember - The National Newspaper | Arabian Nights conference in NYU Abu Dhabi.
� Obama's Big Sellout : Rolling Stone | Must-read Matt Taibbi story on Obama's bailout of Wall Street.
� Al-Masry Al-Youm | Police raid home of prominent blogger | Wael Abbas sentenced to six months of prison in absentia for stealing his neighbors' internet??!?!
� We will not bow to this Moroccan king | Paul Laverty and Ken Loach | Comment is free | The Guardian | Strongly worded op-ed for Aminatou Haidar.
� David Ignatius - Jordan's ex-spy chief wasn't too good to be true | On former GID chief Saad Kheir - a dubious tribute.
� Orientalism in Reverse | Brian Whitaker critiques Joseph Massad's "Gsy International" theory.

Ould Abdel Aziz & the Jews « The Moor Next Door | On Mauritania's junta leader campaign against the Israeli embassy.
TRANSCRIPT: Obama says Africa Command Focused on Partnership to Address Common Challenges | Obama's Ghana speech; bits on AFRICOM highlighted. From the official site.
Conflicts Forum » Tehran troubles | Alastair Crooke, has an article which offers analysis of the recent events in Iran but is dead wrong on the 'Western media' not understanding Moussavi was a regime-approved candidate. He also only seems to quote Khameini backers and their foreign allies. His stuff on inter-regime rivalry is interesting but really do we need to go on about the "myth of a color revolution" (few bought it) or entirely dismiss the protest movement as simply North Tehran? Disappointing.
Arab Reform Bulletin - Whither Economic Reform? | I wanted to post properly about this piece on economic reform in Egypt, but in the meantime will just link. Post tomorrow, inchallah...
A Technocrat Steadily Gains Influence in West Bank, but Questions Remain - washingtonpost.com | About Salam Fayyad.
Times reporter recounts life in Iran prison - Washington Times | Iason Athanasiadis recounts his ordeal in Iran.

If you remember the beginning of the blog madness, perhaps six or eight years ago, one of the best US blogs around was Billmon's Whiskey Bar. When that closed down, its fans continued to post at Moon of Alabama. That blog has now closed, and some of the participants in that great conversation have moved to Le Speakeasy. But for the small sub-community that focused on African politics and economics, AfricaComments.org is the new destination for real deep state conspiracy watch.

Among the original Moon of Alabama posts, the ones below — a series explaining Africom, the effort to create a US African Command (for now still based in Germany) — are a great introduction to what's at stake here, as well as some of the darker aspects of the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb / al-Qaeda in the Sahel / intelligence manipulation story. Highly recommended.

• Africa Comments: Understanding AFRICOM Part I


• Africa Comments: Understanding AFRICOM Part II


• Africa Comments: Understanding AFRICOM Part III

Automatically posted links for January 22nd:

• Defusing the Gaza Time Bomb - Rob Malley op-ed on Gaza


• L'Iran soupçonné de traficde matière radioactive - Uzbek catch shipment of Cesium 137 on train, Iran suspected


• THE ANNAPOLIS OPENING HAS CLOSED - Former Israel negotiator with Syria explains why another opportunity for new peace track has gone


• BibliOdyssey: Arabic Machine Manuscript - Beautiful images of ancient books on science


• La base de l?Africom sera installée au Maroc - Algeria's Liberte says AFRICOM base will be in southern Morocco


• Internal Memo Takes on Obama?s Approach to Middle East - Jewish organizations uneasy about Obama?


• Guys, I'm afraid we haven't got a clue ... - The first of three extracts from Jonathan Steele's new book on how Britain went to war in Iraq utterly unprepared


• ei: Where does it end? - Abunimah on the siege of Gaza