✪ MEI Editor's Blog: Fun With Google Earth: Middle Eastern Airbase Recon | Middle Eastern airbases and Google Earth fun.
✪ Middle East arms race deals will reach US$100 billion by 2014 - AL SHORFA | I'm always surprised by what comes up on this site, which is run (why? don't ask me) by CENTCOM. And what's with the name, referring to the family of the prophet?
✪ Journalists interrogated over article on Moroccan king - Committee to Protect Journalists | "The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Moroccan authorities to end an investigation of two journalists who have already been interrogated for 40 hours over an article about the health of the king. Authorities have repeatedly pressed them to reveal their sources, according to their lawyer. Editor Ali Anouzla and journalist Bochra Daou of the independent daily Al-Jarida al-Oula ‎were detained on Tuesday and released Thursday night, the journalists' lawyer, Hassan Semlali‎, told CPJ. Semlali said the Rabat Prosecution Office accused them of publishing false news about King Mohamed VI's health in an August 27 article that reported he was ill with a virus."
Note the official story had been that he had suffered from a stomach bug and dehydration. There have been rumors lately that he is taking cortizone (hence the puffy look), which is often prescribed for respiratory troubles.
✪ US citizen deported from Egypt - Yahoo! News | AP's Paul Schemm covers Travis Randall's unexplained deportation. This almost certainly has to do with his pro-Gaza activism, IMHO.
✪ Affaire TelQuel (Suite) + Affaire Al Jarida Al Oula (New) - Comme une bouteille jetée à la mer! | Get the censored issue of Moroccan mag TelQuel via Larbi.

✪ US citizen deported from Egypt - Yahoo! News | AP's Paul Schemm covers Travis Randall's unexplained deportation. This almost certainly has to do with his pro-Gaza activism, IMHO.
✪ Affaire TelQuel (Suite) + Affaire Al Jarida Al Oula (New) - Comme une bouteille jetée à la mer! | Get the censored issue of Moroccan mag TelQuel via Larbi.
✪ Update: American deported from Egypt, computer, mobile taken « Bikya Masr | Another airport security list victim, this time American.
✪ Robert Irwin’s “Dangerous Knowledge” « The Moor Next Door | A very detailed review by Kal.
✪ Brian Whitaker's blog: Dutch pull the plug on website | Menassat.com is shutting down as Dutch government pulls funding, possibly linked to its negative reporting on Israel. In the meantime the staff put up a final message, but the site is now down. Too bad.
✪ US embassy staff accused over 'Lord of the Flies' parties | In Afghanistan: "The dossier, compiled by the independent investigative group Project on Government Insight, includes an email allegedly from a guard currently serving in Kabul describing scenes in which guards and supervisors are "peeing on people, eating potato chips out of [buttock] cracks, vodka shots out of [buttock] cracks (there is video of that one), broken doors after drnken [sic] brawls, threats and intimidation from those leaders participating in this activity"."