Jewish Settlers Stampede the Aqsa Plaza

This kind of action has sparked fierce disturbance and full-blown Intifadas before...We recently heard of the alcohol-toting Orthodox Jews stomping about the site with beer bottles, and now this provocation weeks ahead of the Palestine UN-sought state bid.

"Jewish settlers stormed the holy Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem under Israeli police escort at dawn Sunday, eyewitnesses said."

"I have one specific Facebook friend who I never got around to deleting.

I've wanted to delete X for a while. He was one of those obnoxious posters who was convinced that everybody on the internet wanted to know what he'd eaten or how many times he'd taken a shit that day. Not to mention his aggravating tendency to upload pictures of his mundane locations on an hourly basis."

Click on this post link to see the pictures referred to:

"Salon has a (vaguely) interesting slide show of pictures of Emirati women. To anyone who remotely knows the region, it will show you nothing remotely new. It is mostly, I think, for Americans who don’t know the Gulf to snigger at Emirati women buying or making dresses but not wearing them in public…but by far the most interesting picture is the one below."

If you've been waiting for the casting dates of the new talent show "Arab Idol" then you're wait is over and you can mark your calendar! You can also start preparing yourself and rehearsing that song you've been wanting to sing and keep your fingers crossed!

"Ehsani has gathered together his commentary published on Syria Comment over the last five years. I asked him to do this because his articles constitute a valuable and trenchant critic and analysis of Syria’s economic problems and challenges. The link for each article is published below with a representative quote."