Testbist – Page 101 – Testing grounds

Links January 25th and January 26th

Automatically posted links for January 25th through January 26th:

The Arab – New London-based magazine on MENA

MidEast Brief::Egypt – Newish website links to articles on region

Egypt says will keep border open and help Gazans restock – Unable to stop flow of people, Egypt maintains borders open

Abbas: No talks with Hamas despite Gaza border chaos – Abu Mazen turns down Cairo talks with Hamas

PALESTINIANS CREATE NEW BREACHES DESPITE EGYPTIAN ATTEMPTS TO SEAL THE BORDER – Article mentions Egyptian tanks on their way to border

Gaza source: Hamas planned border wall blast for months – Amira Hass

Gaza into Egypt Middle East Strategy at Harvard – M. Kramer revives “give Gaza a chunk of Egypt” idea, good response by S. Cook

The People in Gaza Challenge Sham Peace Process – Juan Cole’s Informed Comment hosts Joel Beinin op-ed

ANALYSIS: Gaza border breach shows Israel that Hamas is in charge – Haaretz analysis

?????????? ?????: ????: ???? ?? ???? ??? ??????? ????? ??? – Mahdi Akef denied that Khaled Meshaal asked him to stage Gaza siege demos

Furlough Day for Gazans (Prospects for Peace) – Daniel Levy

Appeal for the defense of individual freedoms – Moroccan liberals call for right to individual freedoms after Islamist gay witch-hunt

Egypt’s Gaza policy / A pan-Arab consensus? – Haaretz analyzes Egypt’s tough position re: Gaza and Hamas

Links January 23rd and January 24th

Automatically posted links for January 23rd through January 24th:

Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi : “La Mauritanie n’est pas un pays de prédilection pour les terroristes” – Afrique – Le Monde interview with Mauritanian president

Egypt holds scores from Brotherhood over Gaza protests – Backlash against MB for organizing first major protests since 2006

Gazans flood through Egypt border – Things are not looking good, especially as Israelis have cut fuel supplies again

YouTube – TPMtv: War of Attrition – Excerpts from Democratic debate – some good jousting there

The worst market crisis in 60 years – George Soros in the FT on the current financial crisis

Links for January 22nd

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

Links January 20th and January 21st

Automatically posted links for January 20th through January 21st:

al-Qaida Solicits Questions Online – Questions include “why haven’t you opened a new front in Egypt” and more depressing idiocy

Measuring liberty | When freedom stumbles | Economist.com – Look at the charts: in 1982 Egypt was “partly free,” now it is “not free”

Economics focus | Selling sex | Economist.com – Interesting article on the economics of prostitution

HAMAS ASKS EGYPT TO REOPEN RAFAH BORDER – Hamas puts Cairo on the spot

Translating the Party of God into English – Quilty reviews Hizbullah in translation

Review: Loaded Dice by Neill Lochery – Debunking of idea that UK Foreign Office is pro-Arab or anti-Israel

The rise and decline of London as a pan-Arab media hub – Media critic Najm Jarrah

An Israeli Law for Censorship of Web Comments – Elijah points to a bill in the Knesset that would enable libel laws for web comments

Why does Johnny come marching homeless? – How Iraq veterans with psychological problems end up homeless

Those troublesome engineers « Kafr al-Hanadwa – SP has a good post on why engineers are over-represented in Islamist groups

Links January 15th and January 19th

Automatically posted links for January 15th through January 19th:

Comment is free: Out of Egypt – Khaled Diab talks about the wave of Egyptian exile

Hussein Agha and Robert Malley – Middle East Triangle – Argument for three-way deal between Hamas, Israel and Fatah

Rantings of a Sandmonkey » Google takes down Kefaya – SM says Google is blocking Kefaya site from its results – to be followed

PUBLIC OUTCRY OVER TALK OF SUBSIDY REFORM – Detailed business story on subsidies

Bread, the (subsidized) staff of life in Egypt – International Herald Tribune – Slackman writes on bread subsidies

Bedouin named consul general to Alexandria – Israeli consul in Alex is Bedouin

Le Monde.fr : Colère de l’Egypte après l’adoption au Parlement européen d’un texte sur les droits de l’homme – Euro parliament resolution on Egypt rights leads to 27 ambassadors being summoned

NPR : Egypt Produces Squash Champions – Why does Egypt have 15 out of the top 20 players in the world?

Links for January 14th

Automatically posted links for January 14th:

Daily Kos: Bush fawns over the U.A.E. – Great takedown of Bush’s appraisal of UAE as “model society”

Total, Suez, Areva to build two nuclear plants in Abu Dhabi – The Middle East nuclear race that really matters

Bush Nudges Mideast on Democracy – Story number 129747247 on Bush abandoning democracy talk

Official Version of Naval Incident Starts to Unravel – Tiny Iranian boats not aggressive and posed no threat

Pursuing happiness behind the veil – The LAT’s Jeffrey Fleishman: king of the mixed metaphor

Islamists emerge in stifled Tunisia – Returnee mujahideen spell trouble

Kuwait set to invest as Merrill seeks $4bn – Another big Gulfie investment in top Western financial firm

EGYPT HOLDS ARMY OFFICERS FOR ‘PLOTTING ISRAEL ATTACKS’ – Now, if you were an Egyptian Islamist in the army, would it be Israel that’s your target?

EGYPT: Iraqi refugee return driven by lack of money IRIN Middle East | Middle East | Egypt | EGYPT: Iraqi refugee return driven by lack of money | Early Warning Refugees/IDPs | News Item – Iraqis fleeing death find poverty in Egypt

Links for January 13th

Automatically posted links for January 13th:

Arab Stereotypes in American Film – Jack Shaheen short

Barack Obama – I’m sure we’ve seen him somewhere before – Armando Iannucci on Obama: it’s dead on

Comment is free: Laughing at dictatorship – Ibrahim Hudaibi on Mubarak jokes

Arabs eye £500m Liverpool buy-out | Sport | The Observer – Dubai group to buy Liverpool FC

Citi Looking Abroad For Major Investors – WSJ.com – Waleed Bin Talal to invest

Links for January 12th

Automatically posted links for January 12th:

The Lost Archive – Recovery of lost German archive of early Qurans

Egypt?s cartoon revolution – Yemen Times – Profile of Destour cartoonists

Rival Egyptian families agree to end ‘mustache war’ – Saidi mustache vendetta ends in reconciliation

Egypt’s new golden age of television | Menassat – Review of Egypt’s satellite channels

Bush Alters Stand on Palestinians – WaPo as bad as NYT, thinks Palestine occupation is just “presence”

Links for January 11th

Automatically posted links for January 11th:

Islam and democracy | The practice?and the theory | Economist.com – Rather flawed piece since it alleges democracy not discussed in Muslim lands

The Arabs | Between fitna, fawda and the deep blue sea | Economist.com – “IT IS not easy to be an Arab these days”

George MacDonald Fraser – Economist obituary of Flashman creator

ACLU: Court Rejects Government?s Attempt to Deport Egyptian to Torture – Egyptian convert successfully claims torture is likely if sent back to Egypt

House Leaders Vow Tough Stance on Iran – Tom Lantos potential successors just as gung-ho on Israel

Torture In Egypt: The Nadeem Center?s Report at 3arabawy – Hossam has torture report available for download

Egypt names site of first nuclear reactor – It’s Dabaa, whatever the real estate speculators wanted!

CIA: We said back in 1974 that Israel had nuclear weapons – But in Seymour Hersh’s “Samson Option” it’s clear the US knew, but did not want to hear, in late 1960s

25 Simply Amazing Mosques – List includes many modern mosques, but what about Hassan II in Casablanca?

Threat To Cut U.S. Aid Opens Rift With Egypt – Forward looks at Egypt’s accusations at Israel lobby

Links January 9th and January 10th

Automatically posted links for January 9th through January 10th:

??????? ???? ????? ????? ?????? ?????? ?«?????» ??????? – Egypt cuts subsidies on food oils, etc.

151,000 civilians killed since Iraq invasion – WHO, Iraq Gov says revises death tool (1/4 that of Lancet)

Has the Era of Cheap Oil and Food Prices Ended? – Walid Khadduri addresses top question in many Arabs’ minds

Can the Middle East sustain democracy? Middle East Strategy at Harvard – Debate on Arab democracy – Alterman, Dunne, Carpenter, etc. in comments

La rééducation des terroristes d’Arabie saoudite – Jihadi re-education: to do jihad, make sure the Saudi Gov says it’s OK

US candidates are vague on Middle East democracy – Steven Cook examines — Edwards has most concrete plans

Jacob?s Jottings: The Case of Fouad Ajami The National Interest – Another Ajami takedown, this time on his newfound Huntingtonism

Rehabilitating Libya – International Herald Tribune – Op-ed reminds of Libya’s nastiness — or does it not count when victims are not Western?

Democracy: inevitable no more – M. Albright on democracy, but she was never a supporter of Arab democracy

Saudi Calls on Sarkozy to Visit Alone – After some in Egypt were outraged by Sarko’s new girlfriend, Saudi draws the line