Category: The Middle East

Breaking (the) news

Let the images of war speak for themselves By Robert Fisk, Saturday, 2 April 2011 … I hate being called a war reporter. Firstly, because there is an unhappy flavour of the junkie about it. Secondly, because you cannot report a war without knowing the politics behind it. Could Ed Murrow or Richard Dimbleby have covered …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/04/02/breaking-the-news/

Another myth done gone

The myth of tribal Libya By Alaa al-Ameri , Wednesday 30 March 2011 10.00 BST … In the last few weeks, the word “tribalism” has been used extensively in the context of the Libyan democratic uprising – a spectre looming over the country, embodying the devil we don’t know. This was first introduced into the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/03/31/another-myth-done-gone/

Mangled pronunciations

Arabic, phlegm and the battle of Tarf al-Ghar By David Shariatmadari, Thursday 24 March 2011 11.00 GMT … Az Zawiyah. Sana’a. Benghazi. Over the last few months, western commentators have had to get to grips with an array of confusing new words. We can assume that pronunciation units have been working through the night to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/03/24/mangled-pronunciations/

Sorry means never

It’s Blair I feel really sorry for By Mark Steel, Wednesday, 23 March 2011 … Isn’t it marvellous that all these governments are determined to do “something” about Colonel Gaddafi? For example Hillary Clinton said she supported military action once the Arab League – made up of countries such as Bahrain, Syria, Yemen and Saudi …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/03/23/sorry-means-never/

Worth more than boys

The sanctity of the soaring Qassam By Amira Hass, 00:56 23.03.11 … The Hamas authorities once again forgot that the neighbor/occupier to its east is crazy. Fact: Over Shabbat, Hamas’ military wing fired more than 50 mortar shells at Israel. Or perhaps it didn’t forget: Perhaps it merely thought the Palestinian people in Gaza were …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/03/23/worth-more-than-boys/

Morocco to Mesopotamia

Right across the Arab world, freedom is now a prospect By Robert Fisk, Tuesday, 22 March 2011 … In the dying days of the Ottoman empire, American diplomats – US consuls in Beirut, Jerusalem, Cairo and other cities – NGOs across the region and thousands of American missionaries, pleaded with the State Department and with …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/03/22/morocco-to-mesopotamia/

Repertoires of revolt

The globalisation of revolution By Tarak Barkawi, 21 Mar 2011 14:41 … To listen to the hype about social networking websites and the Egyptian revolution, one would think it was Silicon Valley and not the Egyptian people who overthrew Mubarak. Via its technologies, the West imagines itself to have been the real agent in the uprising. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2011/03/21/repertoires-of-revolt/