September 11 Special Happy 'Bloody' Birthday Bashar

Published September 11th, 2011 - 20:59 GMT

Still-president, young by the standards of Arab dictators, Bashar Al Assad turns 46 on 11 September. Many in his country were prevented from reaching that ripe old age in recent months.

A #Bloodybirthday for Syria’s Bashar al-Assad

9/11 for Syria is overshadowed and blood-marked by the 46th birthday of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad:

"The president’s birthday comes amid continued violence in Syria, as the Assad regime cracksdown on protesters despite popular dissent and increasing international pressure."

Source: Bikyamasr

Storming the Israeli Embassy in Cairo: The Greater Context

"Seven months since the beginning of the Egyptian revolution, the nation is still in the process of democratic transition, and the focus of the world has greatly receded. Yesterday, September 9, could threaten to draw back the world’s eye, and possibly serve to confirm many misgivings held about the readiness of Egypt for democracy. It would be a mistake to judge so simply; hopefully this context will fill in the gaps over recent events."

Source: A Sense of Belonging

White House: Jewish “refugees” right of return should be “on the table”

"The right of Jews to return to the Arab and predominantly Muslim countries they fled from or were kicked out of over several decades could be "on the table" as part of the Middle East peace negotiations, according to a senior White House official."

Source: Foreign Policy

ULTRAS & THE REVOLUTION

"Yesterday [Friday] was a long, hot, busy day in Cairo. As darkness fell, protests were taking place in Tahrir (against the proposed election law and suspected collusion/incompetence in Mubarak's trial) and in front of the High Court (in favour of judicial independence). Young, energetic, overwhelmingly male crowds were also busy knocking down the recently erected protective wall around the Israeli Embassy and reportedly removing the large eagle motif and most of the letters from the wall of the Ministry of Interior, leaving anti-army and anti-police graffiti in its place. "

Source: The Arabist

‘DailyKos’ bans Simone Daud, who sought to inject Palestinian view into US political discourse

"DailyKos, the popular political site whose goal is to elect "more and better Democrats", has silenced yet another wonderful strong Palestinian voice, Palestinian Israeli blogger Simone Daud (formerly known as palestinian professor)."

Source: Mondoweiss

The Marriage Escapades

Being part of a minority in the ME- not Jewish, not Christian not Druze, not gay, but 'single' and of marriageable age:

"Being a group of single twenty - somethings in this part of the world, where being married is one of the ultimate status symbols, well you accumulate a lot of stories.
Some of them are funny and some plain horrifying."

Source: Eshda3wa (Whatever)

Making sense of 9/11

by Jordan's Prince Hassan:

"Over the past ten years, much has been written in an attempt to make sense of what happened on 11 September 2001. It is a difficult task. Analysing evil is not easy. Terror makes no sense to the rational mind. All that seems clear is that, for millions of Americans and the world at large, the events of that day will never become just a memory but will remain something they carry with them for the rest of their lives."