Global Voices Online

“The Lebanese treat their politics like other countries treat soccer. ‘All the props are there. You have team flags with various colors, you have buses that shuttle the fans, you have the bitterness and ecstasy that follow defeat and victory, and you always blame the referee,'” writesBeirut Spring quoting a conversation with the Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey.

Recent Links also in Middle East & North Africa

Maghreb Blog reports that the sentence of Chakib Khayari, a human rights activist and whistleblower, has been upheld in a Casablanca court. Khayari is set to serve three years in prison for accusing high-level civil servants of aiding in drug trafficking.

Moroccan resident Ibn Ibn Battuta shares a list of nonfiction and travel books that keep him busy on the road in Morocco.

Iranian students in Paris criticized Iranian government and its repression policy against Iranian students and opposition in a meeting with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian president's advisor in Paris. Here are the films [fa].