Saturday, September 13

Saturday, Sept 13

INTER-DIMENSIONAL HIATUS ENDS

William Gibson has left the building. As of his Friday, Sept 12th entry, Gibson has exited from his blog-hiatus and gone back to his regular activities. I understand. Here is a brief excerpt:

*LAST POSTCARD FROM COSTA DEL BLOG*

*I’ve found blogging to be a low-impact activity, mildly narcotic and mostly quite convivial, but the thing I’ve most enjoyed about it is how it never fails to underline the fact that if I’m doing this I’m definitely not writing a novel-- that is, if I’m still blogging, I’m definitely still on vacation...*

......................................

As a member of Sisters in Crime, I feel like I have been marking time with blogging and, although it's been interesting, at some point I'll have to get back to my normal activities, too.

I was about a third of the way into a mystery novel when 9/11 happened and I realized that I wasn't going to be able to get on a plane and just leave. I started feeling very far away from the rest of my family and very isolated in general. Worse yet, I found it impossible to pick up the narrative thread of that story, despite my affection for it.

I got into blogging via Neil McIntosh from The Guardian, a British newspaper, who has been a strong advocate on behalf of the activity. Going in, I established some goals for myself. I was not very enthusiastic about the random public reading my journal, but I decided I would aim for a dozen quality readers. Second, I wanted to practice html and gain some facility with related computer skills. Third, I wanted to use some space to develop a more discursive approach to expository writing.

Today, more than ever, I feel that I am living a very provisional existence here, which could change at any time. And I do not know exactly when. I am very unhappy that I have not been able to direct my situation when and the way I want. But I think I am ready to move on to the next chapter of my life.

......................................

Bye bye, Gibson. See you down the road perhaps, but there are no sure bets in this life. Godspeed.

Ironically, I’ve never read any of Gibson’s work.

Maybe this is Saturday Night for Uncomfortable Revelations.


Saturday, Sept 13

~~ Batya Gur Gets Arrested ~~

*From that moment on I was arrested for disturbing a policewoman in the line of duty: "Move it lady, get in the car," yelled the pierced-tongued girl with victorious glee.

From the moment the soldiers opened their mouths at me... the hidden plot of our lives, a plot that is engraved in us, was exposed suddenly in its full banality and in its truth...

I spoke to them about respect and civility; I told them he could have been their grandfather. I asked them to identify themselves. They refused.*

:: From Haaretz, Friday, September 12.

......................................

*Internationally renowned Israeli crime novelist Batya Gur was briefly detained by the police after she protested their mistreatment of an elderly Palestinian man, police sources said Friday.*

:: From Foreign Briefs, September 5th

-- AFP via Daily Times of Pakistan.


Friday, September 12

Friday, Sept 12

AN ERRANT GLOBALIZATION FAIRY

A really nifty discussion has been going on at Jeff Javis' BuzzMachine blog about the arena of intellectual debate citing the causes and maybe even the dynamics of the 9/11 attack.

Jeff got recruited to put his reactions into op-ed form and post it over at the website of the NY Post. The resulting essay is terrific, I'm happy to report. And there is a link to it at his blog.

The controversy swirls around some luftmensch's notion that "Globalization" was somehow responsible for the 9/11 attack. That's a nice abstraction... more like a facile label.

Now Riverbend adds some illumination to this fragile thesis. Posted on her entries today is the fey riff that the "connection" between her Iraq and the 9/11 NYC attack was: ta tah... a fairy!

What happened to that fairy? Riverbend explains:

The fairy dug an escape tunnel to Iran… or perhaps Syria… or maybe North Korea. Time will tell...
But RB assures us: *she will be caught again.* Well, whew!

......................................

Yes, I know, Riverbend sometimes uses her blog to rant. I have some mixed feelings about that. First, I had been nagging her to start a blog since she first posted an entry on Salam Pax's blog, so it's debatable as to whether I am in some small part responsible for foisting rants on the blog-reading public :-)

But, secondly, so what?! I mean, if it's your spot to do with whatever you want and you want to get something off your chest and you can't foist it on the NY Times (like the much vaunted Tom Friedman) or Al-Ahram... so... no one is forcing the public to read it.

Unlike the "bad old days," nobody is coming over to your house and putting a gun to your head and forcing you to memorize her screeds. Yeah... like "nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition..."

......................................

Can I wax poetic for a moment? We are currently going through a rather fallow period for writerly columnists on this side of The Pond. The heyday of writerly columnists here was surely the revived NY Herald Tribune with their stable of "New Journalism."

There are currently some ideologically-heavy pundits who have some fans, but it's not the same thing. Worthy of mention, though... Anthony Shadid has been doing an outstanding job over at the WaPo. But he's about the only bright spot on the horizon. And, lucky for him, he can accumulate a bigger fan base via the Internet.

Maybe that's what makes the Jeff Jarvis op-ed piece so delightful. It somehow grew almost organically out of his blog and then launched successfully on its own. There may be more assets nascent in these blogs than we have discovered so far...

I do feel that Blogs are making a positive contribution with interesting writing, sometimes reportage, and sometimes op-ed essays. It's up to you to pick and chose.


Friday, Sept 12

~~ Baghdad: Shots Fired ~~ Iraqi police say a big gunfight has broken out in central Baghdad. Shooting could be heard from a major street, where several of the city's biggest hotels are located.

A police captain says Iraqi security forces were chasing what they believe to be a gang that's been hijacking cars in the area.

U.S. soldiers were seen rushing to the scene, along with an armored fighting vehicle.

:: From a report by AP via ChannelOklahoma.

Friday, Sept 12

AL-JAZ JOURNO TO BE TRIED AS QAEDA: A Spanish judge on Thursday ordered a journalist from Arab television network Al Jazeera to remain in jail without bail and stand trial on charges of belonging to an Al Qaeda cell in Spain.

Tayseer Alouni is best known for interviewing Osama Ben Laden shortly after the September 11, 2001, suicide attacks in the United States...

The order by Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon accuses Alouni of belonging to an Al Qaeda cell in Spain run by Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, who is being held by Spanish authorities on suspicion of a playing a role in the Sept. 11 attacks.

:: From an article by Reuters via The Jordan Times.


Thursday, September 11

Thursday, Sept 11

"CELEBRATIONS IN BRITAIN" -- Many British Muslims celebrated 9/11 and spent the day rejoicing the mass murder. LGF has an entry posted which lists some of the many celebrations.

Cheering... hooting their horns, shouting and waving... Muslims working in the Post Office applauded the attacks... chants of triumph... jumping up and down with joy... cheering and dancing in the street... laughing and shaking hands... fireworks let off during the three minutes of silence...
This is a LINK to THE SHORT ENTRY -- without the comment thread which is over 200 responses long at the moment. In the upper left is a hyperlink to the main weblog which you can go to if you want to also read the comments.

And here's a LINK to LGF's entry Al Muhajiroun is Throwing a Party. This is also the shortened entry which will load more quickly. It also has over 200 comments in response to it.


Thursday, Sept 11

COMMANDING VIEW: IDF soldiers in the West Bank city of Ramallah commandeered the Palestinian Authority Culture Ministry building, Palestinian sources told Israel Radio on Thursday morning.

The radio said Israeli troops took over the top floor of the building, which overlooks Yasser Arafat's Muqata headquarters compound, forcing all of the officials working there to leave.

A military official said the building has a commanding view of what transpires in the Muqata, the radio reported, describing the take-over as "deterrent in nature" and quoting him as saying, "At this stage we are speaking of a message and a signal to the Palestinian Authority and Yasser Arafat."

:: From a story at Haaretz

-- By Amos Harel and Arnon Regular.

Thursday, Sept 11

IN MEMORIUM:

Chow Kwan Lam

Perished: World Trade Center, 9/11/01.

Always a smile, always a hand to help.
He left this world better than he found it.

Rest in Peace.

Wed-Thurs Overnight, Sept 11

THE SOUTHERN BORDER: Mexican police are monitoring the flow of foreigners north into the United States, keeping a special eye out for people of Arab descent, a local official said here. But he added: "Nobody has been detained yet."

:: From AFP via the Arab Times.

Wed-Thurs Overnight, Sept 11

WHERE'S REDA? Any time a journalist disappears, it's worrisome. If you recall, Tarek Atia who blogs at cairo live first brought this mystery to our attention. A longer article about the 46 year-old bachelor now appears in English at Dar Al Hayat penned by Abdel-Rahman Hussein. It has some further details. As far as leads:

Authorities... are checking phone records to and from his mobile phone before it was switched off.
It seems ominous to me that his phone was switched off. Maybe he emigrated to another country. People do that sometimes. Well, gee, I hope he's O.K., but the situation right now doesn't look too good.

Wednesday, September 10

Wed, Sept 10

ANOTHER AL-JAZ ARRESTED: The U.S. military said early Thursday that it had detained an Al-Jazeera reporter, saying she had broken its "ground rules."

Al-Jazeera reported that Baghdad correspondent, Atwar Bahjat, was detained while she was covering explosions in Baghad that went off while she was in the area. There were no other immediate details of the blasts... she was then transported to Baghdad Airport.

:: From: AP via ABCNEWS.


Wed, Sept 10

CLIFF-HANGER DEVICE? Aljazeera is speculating about Arafat's "removal" once PM Sharon returns from India and claims Arafat's fate is "hanging by a thread" for the next 24 hours.

*Meanwhile, AP reported Wednesday that the Egyptian President said Cairo would accept Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat if he is expelled, but added that such a move by Israel would be a "fatal error."*

:: Comment: Is there a limo with Egyptian plates with the engine running in front of his office yet? Maybe he's still packing his toothbrush. Why would this be a mistake-- Arafat is Egyptian... so he'd be going home. That seems to make sense.

Tues-Wed Overnight, Sept 10

AUDIO INTERVIEW: At Jeff Jarvis' BuzzMachine, under the entry there titled "More Salam Pax," a fellow named Chuck Olsen has posted a hyperlink on that comment thread to an Australian interview with Salam Pax. It's on Real audio and about 15 minutes long. Great listening!



Tues-Wed Overnight, Sept 10

MAIL "HANDLERS" - Regular postal service will resume shortly for Iraq with Kuwait handling the exchange of mail between Iraq and the rest of the world for regular letters, but not registered, express mail or parcels.

This announcement raises all kinds of ugly questions like what kind of "services" did the Iraqi people have access to before liberation? Perhaps the State Security Secret Police was "processing" their mail. What a nightmare!

:: From KUNA via Zawya/IQ.

Tues-Wed Overnight, Sept 10

BAGHDAD INTERNET - The French Spin: Samir, a professor of translation at the University of Baghdad, says access to the Internet will open the minds of the Iraqi people, isolated as they were from the world for so many years under Saddam.

"For example, I'm 40 years old, and the first time I was ever able to get on a page like Yahoo was three months ago. That is something young Europeans do every day."

Naamet, who says her Internet name is "Nana," enthusiastically explains: "We visit pages on European fashion, read newspapers, learn recipes, find about universities in other countries and chat with people from various countries."

:: From AFP via Zawya/IQ.

Tuesday, September 9

Tuesday, Sept 9

How I became the Baghdad blogger:

My name is Salam Pax and I am addicted to blogs.
Some people watch daytime soaps, I follow blogs. I follow the hyperlinks on the blogs I read. I travel through the web guided by bloggers. I get wrapped up in the plots narrated by them. I was reading so many blogs I had to assign weekdays for each bunch, plus the ones I was reading daily . . .

:: From today's Guardian, the voluble, sometimes rollicking, story of how it all started . . . in the dangerous wilderness of mirrors . . .

Tuesday, Sept 9

AVERTING A CONFRONTATION: Mediators, including US-backed governor Haidar Mehdi Mattar al-Mayali, are in the process of trying to head off a showdown between Iraqi militias and coalition forces bent on disarming them as an array of unauthorised gunmen have taken to the streets of Najaf in defiance of arms controls imposed by the coalition in June.

The Najaf governor said he was trying to persuade the US-led coalition to license a limited number of militia gunmen to bear arms to protect their leader’s homes and offices, in return for the withdrawal of the remainder.

“It will be for a fairly small number only,” Mattar told AFP Monday. “But there will be enough and we can always support them in an emergency very quickly.

“There are positive signs,” the governor said...

:: From a story by AFP via Khaleej Times.

Monday, September 8

Monday, Sept 8

A TOUR OF WAZIRISTAN
From a Reporter's Notebook


*With the search for Osama bin Laden narrowing to a 40-square-mile area in northwestern Pakistan, I decided to take a trip to the wild, tribal region to find answers to some questions...*

:: From ABCNEWS

Look on right sidebar for Satellite Images of the area.




Monday, Sept 8

OBL HUNT: In case you've missed it today, the hunt for bin Laden is currently focusing on a region near the Pak-Afghan border called Waziristan. It is located in northwestern Pakistan and seems to be just above Quetta which appears on many maps. Brian Ross usually keeps close tabs on the "OBL" issue at this TV Network. ::From ABCNEWS via Drudge.

Authorities are casting a net around the towns of Angoor Ada and Wana in southern Waziristan...

"It is hostile area in terms of geography, mountains, terrain, ravines and two ferocious tribes, the Wazirs and the Mahsuds who dominate the area," said Akbar Ahmed, professor of international relations at American University in Washington. ::From Rediff News.

Monday, Sept 8

UPCOMING ARAB LEAGUE MEET: The Arab foreign ministers seem to have agreed to allow the new Iraqi rep to attend meetings as an observer, but he will not be permitted to participate in closed-door meetings. And he will not be accepted as a representative of "the Republic of Iraq." The article makes mention of his ethnicity as a Kurd, inviting the inference of possible racism involved.

In a separate incident, two Libyan men were arrested after shouting insults at Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal and trying to beat him up in the lobby of a Cairo hotel, Egyptian police said.
One officer said the two were bitter about remarks made at an Arab summit in March by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz branding their leader, Moamer Kadhafi, a "liar" and "slave of colonialism."

Yikes! -- Looks like it's shaping up to be another "action-packed" Arab League meeting.

:: From Agence France Presse via the Hindustan Times.


Monday, Sept 8

RAZANNE: New contemporary cultural artifact in the effort to establish a more Moslem-PC doll than the ubiquitous Barbie. The latest candidate is called Razanne, according to Mahmood in Bahrain -- "Ken's got to convert to Islam if he wants Razanne!"

I blogged a story some time ago which reported that someone in Iran was trying to replace Barbie with something similar, but they were disappointed that no one was buying it.

Sigh! Maybe Ken should look into the Librarian Action Figure I blogged about yesterday (Sunday). See that item below.



Monday, Sept 8

MYSTERY -- Inspector Lynley . . . I'm sorry to say last night's episode dragged for me. Too talky maybe. Or didn't feel the issue mattered enough. A bit too much like a soap opera, and I can never follow the story on that format. I almost dozed off two or three times during the show. And found it difficult to keep my eyes open til the end. I didn't feel it came up to the quality level that I've come to expect from the series.

I see from my site meter that someone is polling on Google for the audience's reaction :) ... I have to wonder whether those of us who blog are representative of the general audience.

Here's a Link to the Mystery! Series for those who have not yet acquired this video habit.

Monday, Sept 8

ARAB LEAGUE: It ain't over, til it's over . . .

''We will be there,'' said Adnan Pachachi, who also attended the Lake Como conference which draws world leaders and corporate executives to a three-day workshop on economics and politics.

Moussa said a key agenda item ahead of Tuesday's meeting was what role the [Interim] Governing Council would play in the Arab League, and he suggested that some sort of provisional acceptance might be in the works.

:: From an earlier article
-- by Nicole Winfield, AP via Boston.com

Monday, Sept 8

ARAB LEAGUE CLUSTER

DUELING AGENDAS:
Kuwait's foreign minister warned Sunday that there is a plan afoot to isolate Iraq from the Arab world among "certain parties," adding that it is necessary to "foil this plan" which is adverse to Arabic interests. He urged support for the new Iraqi government as it works to restore Iraq's self-sovereignty before he left for a GCC meeting of foreign ministers in Jeddah.

Hoshyar Zebari, the new Iraqi foreign minister is hoping to participate in the Arab League meeting in Cairo which is due to start Tuesday.

:: From the Arab Times of Kuwait.


NORMALIZATION OPPONENT: An Iraqi figure opposed to the US-appointed council, Mezher Dulaimi, sent a letter Friday requesting the Arab League not to allow the Interim Governing Council to take Iraq's seat at the pan-Arab organisation.

Dulaimi, who heads the Committee to Protect the Iraqi People, a non-governmental organisation based in Paris, stressed in his letter that the Interim Governing Council did not enjoy international recognition.

Mussa was scheduled to hold fresh talks with Dulaimi on Sunday, according to the Arab League. At their previous meeting, on Aug 27, Dulaimi described the Governing Council as a "secretariat under the orders of (Paul) Bremer," the US civil administrator for Iraq.

:: From the Kuwait Times.


BOYCOTT ON THEIR AGENDA: Syria, one of the Arab League's 22 members, on Sunday asked its fellow Arabs to discuss the agenda of "the authorization given to Israeli businesses to enter bids for the reconstruction of Iraq," in Tuesday's meeting...

The Syrian memorandum called on the Arab League "to intervene to block this phenomenon."

:: From the Kuwait News Agency via Zawya/IQ.

A similar story at Zawya from AFP
notes that Syria is in charge of
the Arab League's Israel boycotting activities.


Monday, Sept 8

BAGHDAD REAL ESTATE: Since the Saddam ouster by US-led forces, house prices have doubled, according realters there. In this AFP article, Rory Mulholland gives some background on what's behind the boom and its peculiarities. Link via Zawya/IQ.

Sun-Mon Overnight, Sept 8

APACHE HELICOPTERS NEAR CROP GLYPHS: Linda Moulton Howe reports on this curious phenomenon.

:: Report dated Aug 29th

:: Report updated Sept 4th from Aug 26th

:: Earthfiles Front Page Headlines.

Sun-Mon Overnight, Sept 8

BOLO: ZARQAWI -- He is reputed to have become al Qaeda's main network organizer in Iraq where it said the Q is opening a new post-Afghan front that could seriously threaten American forces there.

This is a major investigative journalism piece from Sunday at the Washington Post that explores some of the current cast of characters and their affiliations. You may need to make some notes in the margin of your opera program to keep track of all these guys. Rather panoramic. It's practically War and Peace. Maybe only suitable for the really obsessed. Don't say I didn't warn you ;-)

Sun-Mon Overnight, Sept 8

GIRLS' SCHOOLS STILL UNDER ATTACK: This is a continuing issue in Afghanistan. Unknown assailants broke into a shed being used as a school in Logar Province late at night 10 days ago, doused the classrooms with fuel and set them afire, leaving behind leaflets in the Dari dialect of Afghanistan warning that girls should not go to school and that teachers should not teach them.

:: From an article by Pamela Constable for the WaPo.

Sunday, September 7

Sunday, Sept 7

LIBRARIAN ACTION FIGURE: The 5-inch doll goes on sale in October. A 58-year-old real-life librarian, Nancy Pearl, posed for the action figure which has created controversy.

:: From an article by Helen Jung for AP via Yahoo.


WHATEVER HAPPENED TO... Lord Lucan? A former Scotland Yard detective claims to have solved the mystery.

:: From a story at the BBC UK Section.

Sunday, Sept 7

EGYPTIAN STATE'S DILEMMA: *A group of television presenters in Egypt say they have been banned from appearing on screen since they began wearing the Islamic veil... Strictly speaking what they wear is not a veil, but a headscarf that covers their hair.

Muslim women in Egypt began a protest against the veil in the 1930s, and by the 60s the veil was a thing of the past.

But with the re-emergence of movements of Islamic revival, the veil has come back. Now it has become an issue for the courts.*

:: Excerpted from a story by Magdi Abdelhadi, BBC.