Spurned in Saudi

An American student writes to AMERICAN BEDU about her love affair with a Saudi undergraduate, and about how ultimately neither his family nor his culture would accept her – despite his many words of love. American bedu writes:

"The Saudi student will believe the words of love and promises he has said but when it comes down to the line in the sand, he will likely adhere to his family wishes even if it means marrying another or giving up his “first true love.”

While the student herself writes:

"The warning signs were there all along- I read of them, and told myself we wouldn’t be another case of Saudi Student Heartbreak. I didn’t believe we’d have to rely on the Love Conquers all mindset, because there wasn’t a problem. We were two young people in love"

SYRIA COMMENT has some excellent analysis on Hizbullah's decision to pull out of Lebanon's government in the light of possible indictments against their members in an international tribunal.

The article argues that while no one wants war, this will paralyze Lebanon – where the economy has recently been growing at 8% - and affect the countries wealthy communities the greatest.

It's pointed out that the US is quite prepared to let Lebanon 'stagnate' if it means isolating Hizbullah, but that Washington has nowhere near as much leverage as it would like.

While Hilary Clinton talks of 'not taking sides', and Ben Ali remains a 'World Bank Favourite', QUNFUZ provides video and details about what he sees going on in Tunisia.

"The not so inevitable has happened with surprising speed" writes SYRIA NEWS WIRE. Key passages:

"The ostensible trigger was Prime Minister Hariri’s failure to agree to anemergency meeting on the STL indictments. The real reason is that after months of pressure, Hariri is still refusing to distance himself from the tribunal investigating his father’s 2005 assassination."

And:

"For now, this looks like the end – in any meaningful way – of Hariri’s short-lived and slightly impotent political career. And Lebanon will be none the worse for that."

BEIRUTSPRING centers on President Obama's analysis in regard to recent events in Lebanon, largely agreeing with the following:

"The efforts by the Hezbollah-led coalition to collapse the Lebanese government only demonstrate their own fear and determination to block the government’s ability to conduct its business and advance the aspirations of all of the Lebanese people"

A McDonalds on Gulf Road installs an intercom system… but will it work in Kuwait, with all the different accents and noise?

Do you only see what you want to see?

An interesting sculpture on the beach in Makkah, by Saudi artist Abdulhalim Radwi.