A new community website for Saudi bloggers has been causing much controversy, and Saudi bloggers, as well as some Arab bloggers, have reacted to a post written by the co-founder of the first Saudi blogging community. Farooha, the other co-founder, wrote: “you cannot regulate the Saudi blogosphere. You cannot “refine” it nor “filter” it or whatever else I read that you wish to do to it.” The Egyptian Sandmonkey also wrote on the same topic:

They know that this is the one medium of free thought and expression left in the arab world, and that scares the shit out of them, because, as they so rightly fear, Freedom of speech, expression and thought is their enemy. They can only prosper in an environment of censorship, rules and restrictions put and approved by them, while us, the evil old guard, will prosper anyway.

Aya, another Saudi blogger, says she is proud not to belong to the new community: “I have a couple of questions here, first: What makes this community official ? As far as I know, there is nothing official about blogging. Bloggers are independent individuals who don’t officially belong to anyone. Isn’t this an oxymoron “Official – Bloggers”?” she wrote.

Moving to another topic, Fedo has noticed a new fad among Saudi female bloggers, which is writing about sex, and called them to stop doing this because “writing about sex is cheap.” After reading some news of a recent sex scandal, hibbalicious seems to be worried. “This is such a bad situation, what does it reflect about what is happening in our societies now?, not just in Kuwait but in many Arab countries, people are becoming more and more sexually promiscuous, and thats not just single people but married people as well,” she wrote. Meanwhile, Ubergirl calls to change the name of Saudi Arabia to Sexist Arabia. She also has an interesting post on demonic possession.

Responding to a post by another blogger, Dodi wrote on women's rights: “Discrimination and racism do exist everywhere in your society and ours!! A woman is my country is very well respected. Go to a travel agent and you go first, a bank or any other office and you will be served first. I went the High Minister of Education and we waited in a room and the employee himself came to us, took our papers helped us with all he could and even offered us BREAKFAST!!!” Now to let's go to Misso's questions: “What happened to the gallant and chivalrous image of a man? What happened to the dream of a “they lived happily ever after”? Is this sensible thinking that comes with the wisdom of age? Or is it the resignation of women who saw and knew better and are just trying to make it work. But then again, I can’t help thinking why try to make it work if it is not working for you?”

Finally, here are three more posts that also worth mentioning: Aya asks: What Saudis are famous for?. Dotsson was getting bored with Saudi blogs, but he found six new bloggers that really changed things around, and last but not least, let's see how a weird coincidence brought two Saudi bloggers to meet.

Providing a proper work environment for Saudi women was one of the major goals of the new labor law that was published few months ago, but the question is: how the employers are going to put this goal in practice? Not very well so far. Dodi has recently went to a job interview, only to find out that she had to give up her hijab if she wanted that job. She wrote: “for the first time in my life I felt humiliated in a way that I never experienced before. For the first time I am rejected because of my religion and for the first time I felt exactly what do woman in France and Turkey and other places go through just because they are Muslims!!”

On the recent news of a Saudi-Pakistani cooperation to develop a nuclear program, Aya says there is nothing solid about these claims, and she believes that Saudis are far more concerned with another bomb, aka the lingerie bomb!

Ubergirl78 has recently read A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, and she thinks it is a great book. She does not care about all the controversy around it. “The man wrote a very good book,” she wrote, “Who cares that he lied a little bit!? The only difference between James Frey and Dave Pelzer is that unfortunately for James, everything he mentions in his book is on record somewhere else. That's why he got found out.”

Farooha, who is back after taking some time off blogging, writes about the first full-length Saudi produced movie, and would like to thank the people behind this project, “were it not for each and every one of them, a Saudi movie would have been about as possible as snow smack dab in the throbbing heart of Riyadh on a steamy August afternoon.” Meanwhile, Aya has a little piece of advice: ” But hold your horses,” she writes, “the film will actually not be shown in Saudi Arabia. Oh I forgot, in order to show a movie you need a movie theater. And you know, the conservative elite won’t allow it. At least for now.”

After a recent trip to Mecca, AhMeD takes the time to tell us why he is so excited about his very first visit to the holy city, and writes his impressions on Ka'bah: “The Ka'bah isn't big, but it is so…so… glorious! I got this extraordinary feeling once I saw it in person, I felt that I was in the presence of something great and grand. It had nothing to do with me being a Muslim or not, actually at that moment I didn't think of my religion at all. It just felt that Im in the presence of something so great and wonderful.” On the other hand, Misso writes on her recent visit to the other holy city in Saudi Arabia, which is Medina, and describes at as a spiritual experience. Finally, Ahmed had a visit to Lebanon (Arabic), and says that he liked Lebanese restaurants, and he liked the family spirit he saw among the people there.

And now to our quick tour on some posts of note: Dotsson comments on the story of five Saudi women who underwent sex change surgery. He wrote: “Now this article is one of a kind! The next time, a woman tells me she's feeling kinda moody, I'm definitely gonna be wondering what is going on inside of her head and I hope I'll find a way to be more understanding. This is one trend, I sure hope doesn't catch on!!!” starlit_saudi has a picture from downtown Riyadh, and Bissa reports from a lecture she attended by Lubna Al-Olayan at her school.

Prometheus posts (Arabic) on the story of Abdul-Rahman, the Afghani man who converted to Christianity, and he thinks no one is hurting Islam than Muslims themselves. “Islam has nothing to do with what going on here. Koran is very clear on that there is ‘no compulsion in religion,' and to believe or not is a matter of personal freedom,” he wrote. Another topic of interest to him was the new statistics which recently reported that Al Arabiya news channel has surpassed their competitors Al Jazeera in the percentage of viewership in Saudi Arabia. “There is a difference between covering news professionally and neutrally, which is what Al Arabiya does, and “making” the news and shaping them to promote a certain political or partisan ideology. And this exactly what Al Jazeera does,” he added (Arabic).

Jaded Saudi says she is sick and tired of Arabs hating on everything American/Western. She wrote:

I hate it when they twist everything around and make it seem like Americans are attacking them in every freaking way. I hate it when they make rumors up about certain brands and companies (remember the supposed Anti-Muslim message that “appeared” in the Coca-Cola logo that read “No Mohammed, No Mecca”?)

“It is difficult for the victim to feel that his killer is a human being like him, and he becomes shocked when he realizes that they have much in common.” According to Abu-Joory that was the moral of the movies (Arabic) Munich, directed by Steven Spielberg.

On a recent visit to one of the major bookstores in Riyadh, Taqwa has noticed something that annoyed her, made her felt defeated, inferior, and tired of people putting limits on her because of her gender. She says:

It seemed that all of the women were in one section. The section for books about “Women and Marriage” (or something like that), “Beauty”, and “Children Stories”. I say one section, because they were all right next to each other. There were virtually, no women in the other sections (politics, economics, environment, bestsellers, management, sciences, etc) of the bookstore.

Responding to a request by a reader, Tala Al-Bakr writes a post about living in Riyadh from his very own perspective. “The thing is in Riyadh it is very hard to break your routine because there isn't anything else to do especially with your family besides going to restaurants,” he says.

AbOd announces (Arabic) the launch of a new website that he describes as the Arabic alternative to the popular social bookmarking tool del.icio.is. “It is available in Arabic and English now, and we will add more languages soon, such as French which is used by the population of North Africa,” he wrote.

And finally, Amer Al-Sadiq has a letter to spammers: “How would you feel if someone sent you a diaper to your mail box?? How could you do this to me ?!?!What in the hell is wrong with you?? You have disturbed the peace of my day, I've struggled and suffered a lot to get the picture of your stupid diaper out of my head.”

Fouad Al-Farhan is one of the pioneer Saudi bloggers. He was born in 1975 in Taif, west of Saudi Arabia, and received his higher education in the United States. He graduated from Eastern Washington University with a degree in marketing, then joined Ball State University for a masters degree in computer sciences. “Although Bush and his gang have been trying to remove all my good memories from my life in America, but I still think that I have lived the best years of my life there, moving between different states such as Oklahoma, Texas, Washington, and Indiana,” he told me during an interview via email.

Al-Farhan, who has a great interest in the American and Saudi political affairs, and who has been following the active liberal and Islamic movements in the Arab World, says that he has been reading blogs and observing their effect on the American life since the beginning of the blogging revolution. However, it took him about four months to decide to start his own blog. “I was carefully studying what I want to offer. I wanted to be special, and to be committed to this new thing in my life as much as possible,” he says after about nine months since he started blogging.

Bloggers can be so different from each other, but most of them have one thing in common: they want to express themselves. Al-Farhan is no exception. “I want to express my freedom, ideas, and hopes, publicly and in a way that is unusual in the Saudi society. I think blogging is the best tool to do that now,” he says. Other reasons which encouraged him to start his blog are the limitations on freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia. “The television stations are completely owned by the government. The newspapers are highly censored, and some of their chief editors have been in their positions for more than 30 years. This is why you find our media boring and primitive,” he added. Al-Farhan thinks that blogging can help young Saudis to make the government hear their voice, and to let the world know that they share the same human values, ambitions, and interests with them.

Fouad Al-Farhan does not spend much time working on his blog. He takes about half an hour daily to update it, but that time can change from day to day depending on his other commitments. But does he feel committed to his readers? Not really. “Every time I blog, I know there is someone out there hears my voice. I don't care if this “someone” agrees with me or not, likes me or not. All I care about is that I voiced my opinion. Freedom of expression is a right for every human being,” he said.

Moving to the current state of the Saudi blogosphere, Al-Farhan thinks that blogging is still very new in Saudi Arabia. “If 10% of Saudis are using the internet, then I think that only 1% of those know blogging or had heard about it,” he says. Saudi bloggers are probably blamed for this, and Al-Farhan says he is unhappy that those experts on certain topics who use the internet extensively won't share their views and knowledge through blogging. The quality of content on Saudi blogs is questionable, but he thinks those who blog are better than those who don't. Which is easier? To turn the existing superficial bloggers into professionals, or to convince professionals out there to start blogging? He is not sure, but “we probably should work on both directions,” he added. “The superficiality is due to our fear from expressing ourselves, and that's why we find Saudi bloggers goes under strict self-censorship.” He thinks that they have fear from being misunderstood.

Fouad Al-Farhan does not have this fear, though. He is one of the few Saudi bloggers who write using their real name. Bloggers hide their identity because they are afraid of the government, society, or their families. But he thinks that bloggers should not be afraid from the government. “The government's battle is against the terrorists who want to destroy our nation,” he says, “and if you were a terrorist then you won't be thinking about starting a blog, but you would think how to run away.” We are a young nation, and it's time for Saudis to get over their fears and reservations. “I really think that blogging can make a very big difference in the Saudi society,” he added.

Saudi internet users are still using forums heavily to read the latest news and participate in the conversation. The popularity of Al Sahat website, which is basically a group of several forums usually denounced in the media for carrying extreme views, is a clear evidence on that. Fouad thinks the popularity of Al Sahat is exceptional, and he believes that everyone in Saudi Arabia, including ministers and officials, follow that website. He frequently links to threads from Al Sahat, and he disagrees with those who consider it extreme. However, Fouad says the future is for blogs; forums are on the way to become history. In forums, there are limitations set by the owners, and these limitations determine the style and popularity of the forum. “In the blogs, you are the owner, and it is entirely up to you to make your blog special and popular.”

What kind of effect can blogs have on traditional journalism in Saudi Arabia? “I don't think that blogs can compete with media on reporting news, but they would probably thrive on the side of analyzing news,” Al-Farhan wrote. He believes that Saudi newspapers have almost no credibility. “If you have become a well-known blogger, then you can have more credibility than a whole newspaper,” he added.

Although Fouad Al-Farhan believes future is for the blogs, he does not know how does this future would look like. But we can only be optimistic. “If we worked hard to spread blogging in Saudi Arabia, and convinced some influential people to adopt it, then we will gain the benefits of blogging in the same way Western societies did,” he says, “we have to move on.”

The government did not release any statement regarding this arrest, but one of the notable things that followed the arrest was the blocking of some websites that published the article. The recently blocked websites include Al-Wasatia forums, owned by Al-Awaji himself, Al-Wifaq electronic newspaper, and the infamous Al-Sahat forums.

The local press did not report this story at all, but some Saudi bloggers have written about it. Fouad Al-Farhan says he was really disturbed (Arabic) when he heard the news of arresting Al-Awaji, as well as the blocking of the websites. “I have disagreed with Dr. Mohsen in several meetings and in this blog, but I don't agree on arresting any human being because of his opinions,” he said. Al-Farhan thinks Al-Gosaibi is a bad minister because he has not found any practical solutions for the unemployment crisis, add that what Dr. Mohsen said in his article is not just his opinion, but also the opinion of many people inside the government and the society. “So, do we all deserve to be arrested?” he asked.

On the other hand, Riyadhawi thinks that Al-Gosaibi is a devoted minister (Arabic). “There is a difference between freedom of expression and personal attack. Apparently Dr. Al-Awaji did not see this difference, and committed the latter under the name of the former, but he did not expect that it would develop into this,” he wrote.

Aya posts on her experience with the current state of the Saudi blogosphere, saying she is very encouraged by finding many interesting and well written Saudi blogs. “Although things don’t always come easy for Saudi bloggers, the will of Saudi bloggers is flourishing and thriving. The internet, after all, has no ceiling & one can always find ways around censorship.” she added.

Mo5 o 7ekma has a strong post on women's driving (Arabic):

Yes, I'd like to get my own car, and I'd like to drive it myself. Neither you, nor anybody else on this earth has the right to ban me from something that my religion did not ban me from. There is not even rational justifications for this ban. I say, we demand women's driving because it is our right, and that's enough.

However, she says that she does not like it when non-Saudis who do not live in Saudi Arabia talk about this topic, trying to analyze, criticize, and condemn, because their analysis usually lacks perspective and accuracy, “and even if they had those, it is still a domestic affair,” she added.

On the same topic, Aya also wrote:

Driving a golf cart in an already segregated event might seem to some as a trivial issue, however, it is certainly not for the self-appointed anti-anything related to women’ progress camp. Their logic is simple: If women drive golf carts today, they will want to drive real cars tomorrow, certainly, a major sin that should be uprooted as early as possible.

After a recent visit to Jeddah and Mecca, @tz3naf was not pleased at all with miserable state of the streets of a city known as the “Bride of the Red Sea.” “We, people of Saudi Arabia, are supposed to benefit from the rise in oil prices, and not to keep on donating to Palestinians, or to rebuild what America destroys in Iraq and Afghanistan. Half of what was donated to Palestine could change the face of Jeddah,” she wrote. Moving to Mecca, she says that a Saudi won't feel like home there (Arabic), because there are so many Africans. Those Africans usually come for pilgrimage, but then they overstay illegally in the country to work in some jobs such as begging. “They are not just beggers; they also spread alcohols, drugs, black magic, and prostitution in this holy city,” she added.

Ubergirl lists ten things she likes about Riyadh, including Saks Fifth Avenue and the fact you can get a tan in December. Meanwhile, Leeno takes the time to give us a glimpse from Riyadh nightlife.

After reading Raja Al-Sanea's controversial novel “Banat Al-Riyadh,” Ahmed says (Arabic): “we read or hear everyday about young people who use drugs, drink alcohols, even commit suicide, and we don't see the same controversy that surrounded this novel. Is it because the main characters of the novel are women, or because the writer is a woman, or is it simply because we think our society is that ideal?”

Prometheus takes on the rise of Islamists in the power positions in the Arab World (the win of Hamas in Palestine and the win of Islamists in the municipal election in Saudi Arabia, to mention some examples). He thinks it was expected. He says that in the times of crises, people tend to look for shelter in religion. The Islmists keep on talking about dangers that threat our identity, which makes people become more religious, and to blindingly follow those who claim to talk in the name of religion. “All that extremism we see around us has nothing to do with Islam (Arabic), ” he writes. “It is a bridge the extremists use to take over the power, and to control the destiny of people. They do not hesitate for a second about committing every crime in order to reach their goal, which is taking over the power,” he added.

Trying to explain to a friend that everyone sets their own limits to what they are willing to risk with their lives in the hereafter, June wrote:

Muslims are people too and they are allowed to make mistakes just like everyone else. It annoys me because when Muslims start talking like that about Muslims they sound like Christians and Jews when they attempt to criticize Muslims when they do something wrong.

Finally, let's have some fun with Saudi Future, who tells us about the different kinds of teachers, and also provides the best way to deal with each one of them :-)

Writing about the latest terrorist attack on oil refineries in Abqaiq, east of the country, Abu-Joori says he wishes that this failed attack would be the last alarm to some Saudis who kept on making apologies for the terrorists (Arabic). “We were the ones who exported this destructive ideologies, and now they are coming back to us in the ugliest form,” he added. Meanwhile, Maha was worried because the two terrorists killed were too young. “What made them do this? I was expecting older people, but now that I know they are young and my age, I started to feel sorry for them. They just wasted their lives and was it for a good cause?” she asked.

The changes in the Saudi society were the subject of a thoughtful post by Prometheus. He thinks that liberals “have been fighting gallantly for what they believe, repulsing fierce attacks of the self-proclaimed guardians of Islam who are trying hard to tame all others into their deviated teachings,” and that they should come forward and make their voices heard in order to spread the “noble ideals of tolerance, peace and coexistence.”

@rabian Rash posts on the crash of the Saudi stock market. He also writes about the beggers that overwhelm him as he goes about his daily life. He writes:

There is an elderly gentleman who waits by the traffic lights all day, when he sees the cars stops he quickly scutters along towards them, and as he gets into ‘view' on the road you immediately see him switch into his ‘limp mode', this is interesting to watch as the moment the light changes, he suddenly seems to loose twenty years, and with an energetic sway scutters back to the safety of the pavement. Does no one else notice this?

Mo5 o 7ekma says the consequences of the Danish cartoons controversy are not all bad (Arabic), because this controversy has sparkled curiosity among Danes to learn more about Islam. “Now, I can say that the boycott and protests were fruitful, but the question is: are we going to see any change in Western policies regarding Islam, Muslims, and their issues?” she asked.

Mochness asks about what she calls “illiteracy illness” regarding the habit of reading in the Saudi society. She says:

What is it with people and their reading phobias? Since when has watching Star Academy been more accepted than reading books? Why is reading a “Waste of time” and “boring” and “Stupid” (see the irony of labeling reading as stupid?) Is our illiterate society going to compete with other societies with who got to vote the most for their beloved Star Academy competitor instead of who got to read [insert book name here] and [here]?!

Nzingha writes a long post on nationalism and marriage of Saudis to non Saudis, saying the concept of nationalism is one that she “will never get.” Saudi men and women have to face many problems when they want to marry non Saudis, and due to this fact, many people give up this thought. Maryam asks a related question: “If that someone was everything you ever wanted but not a Saudi, would you give him up?” She knows the answer to this question is complicated, but it is for sure worth to be answered.

Finally, here is Aya, who thinks that Saudis are obsessed with priorities, “or to put it right, the concept of prioritizing.” She says:

To Saudis, it is the main dilemma: We shouldn’t address certain issues because of other, supposedly, more deserving ones (although they are of different nature). What is actually happening is that rather than developing the capability of solving multiple societal problems, we are becoming more one dimensional in our thinking.

What is the difference between democracy and American democracy? Hassan thinks he has the answer (Arabic). “In democracy, those who gain more votes should win. In American democracy, those who win should not harm America, and if they won, they have to be hurdled in every possible way. The evidence on this is the American stand from the Hamas government in Palestine and the Iraqi government.”

Farooha had a recent visit to the neighboring island kingdom of Bahrain, and was not very pleased with the behavior of her countrymen there. She wonders, “where the hell we were on the day God handed out civility and manners?” and says that “we probably overslept that morning.”

Aya writes about women's driving, calling it the most polarized issue in Saudi Arabia. She added:

If women ever get their right, there will be a “Saudi Arabia before women driving” and a “Saudi Arabia after women driving.” Things will never ever be the same again. And for this same reason this issue gets more resistance, it is not just about a car and a woman being alone together, no, it is about opening Pandora’s Box.

Green Tea has a short comment on the sentence of an Austrian court to jail the British historian David Erving. He writes (Arabic):

Excuse me, I think I'm getting confused! But isn't this story goes under the so-called ‘freedom of expression' that they keep on telling us about it. Or is it just applicable to our prophet (peace be upon him) and our religion, and not to their proclaimed Holocaust!

Last week, Jeddah Economic Forum took place in this nice coastal city on the Red Sea, and @rabian Rash thinks the amounts of money paid for speakers in the forum for their minute speeches were “more than enough to fix the pot holes and sewage problems in Jeddah.” But he is not complaining, because “it was all for ‘our benefit',” he added.

Fouad Al-Farhan is discussing the Ministry of Education's decision to teach Ardah, a folk-dance popular in the central region of Najd, in Saudi schools. He argues that every region in the country has its own folklore, and Ardah is not necessarily a part of it. “Is this a new attempt to Najdify the country? (Arabic) Is it wise to do that in a time when our enemies are trying to take any chance to destroy our unity?” he asks.

Riyadhawi thinks that most of the political and economical problems facing Arab countries today are caused by the continuous wars the region has to go through (Arabic), with a rate of one war every ten year since 1948 to present. “Now, close your eyes and imagine the political and economical situation if none of these had happened,” he said.

Finally, let's take a quick tour on some posts of note: Itachi posts some photos from the National Festival of Heritage and Culture (aka Janadriyadh). Abod writes about Dan Brown (Arabic), the famous novelist. After reading Nostradamus' history, Talal wonders about the legacy he would be leaving behind if at all he would leave one. “What are the various situations that I have encountered and the ones I will face that will either write my accomplishments in history or let them fade with the wind,” he added.

When we expect others to respect us .. our highly respected figures.. we shall do the same .. we shall respect them and respect the things that are important to them!… Actually, even if they do not show respect to us or to our religion .. we shall do what we think is right .. and not be in the reaction mode ALL the time!!!

He was, of course, talking about the violent assaults against foreign embassies in Syria and Lebanon. However, Mo5 o 7ekma says such attacks were expected, and thinks that those who attacked the embassies should not be arrested and punished (Arabic) because they are “just some angry youth.” The boycotting has affected some of the nutrition habits for Saudis who used to depend on Danish products for a very long time. “All I can say is thank god Dunkin Donuts isn’t Danish!!” Feras said. Mohammed Al-Shwaier posted this drawing with the title “What kind of destruction have you chosen for yourself, Denmark?”

Now, let's move on to another controversy. This time, it's about a novel called “Banat Al-Riyadh.” It was written by a young dentist, and sparkled a lot of controversy over the past year. Jaded Saudi, who read the book on her recent trip home, thinks it is because this book “talks about everything that's taboo and supposedly doesn't happen in Saudi, like dating, booze, girls dressing up like boys and driving…” She does not understand why people are in denial, and says maybe people are upset about it because it relates such taboos to Riyadh, “when in reality this crap happens everywhere in Saudi and even in the Gulf countries,” she added. Meanwhile, Ruba, one of the youngest Saudi bloggers, thinks that this book has gained a lot of undeserved attention (Arabic). “Even in the best and most developed societies there are books which reflect a bad image about their societies,” she said.

Finally, Green Tea, posts his thoughts on how he could get rid of dealing with Arab media, and that now he depends on blogs to keep up with the latest news (Arabic). “Bloggers have given us a golden alternative, because they don't undergo any kind of control that may restrict them or forces them to publish any certain set of ideas, and because they enjoy much more freedom to express their opinions,” he wrote.

Prometheus compares between the Arab World and other parts of the world when it comes to publish hatred material (Arabic). He tells us is about two Singaporean bloggers who were jailed and fined after being accused with using their blogs to spread hatred and threaten the social peace. “It is different here,” he writes. “Some internet forums have been publishing threads by unknown writers, where they attack other religions and sects.” However, nothing is done about it. He also comments on the news about Bush's administration plans to bomb al-Jazeera TV station, and asks, “why should a big superpower with such a great political and diplomatic influence brush aside all other effective means of pressure and persuasion, and resort to force to silence a small TV station?”

Fouad al-Farhan has dedicated a post to the Swiss president (Arabic), who criticized the Tunisian government for their human rights record and their position from freedom of expression, and described him as a “free man.” After finishing his speech, the Swiss president went to sit on his chair next to the Tunisian president, who did not look disturbed at all. “He is a dictator. Do you expect that he would cry?” al-Farhan wrote.

Farooha comments on the case of Mohammed al-Harbi, a chemistry teacher, who was unfairly sentenced with three years in jail and 750 lashes. She calls everyone to help. “Save the chemist, and would be inventor by leaving these good people your two cents!” she wrote.

After the terrorism attack in Jordan, Abu Joori says the reaction of Jordanians to the attack was different from that one Saudis had (Arabic) when they had similar attacks in the past few years. He thinks the attack has helped Jordanians to form a national unity; something that Saudis did not do. He says, “I think we, as Saudis, have missed yet another excellent opportunity to develop the feeling of nationalism, and to emphasis the concept that we all share this part of the world, and it is our duty to protect it and serve it.”

“Even here at the Saudi blogosphere, we find some people who clearly announce their hatred to a certain sect, a certain region, or even to the American president George Bush, forgetting there are groups who attacked this nation, every citizen lives here, and they did not even said a word to condemn these attacks,” he added.

Metallic Kitty writes about racism against Arabs in Europe. “It sucks how most countries consider Arab people dogs,” she says. “Isn't that embarrassing? Isn't that shameful?” she asks. Meanwhile, ubergirl87 says she is “sick and tired of Hollywood portraying Arabs as ignorant, evil people.”

Finally, here is our weekly selection of random, quick snippets from around the Saudi blogosphere: Dotsson posts an imaginary and funny interview with Michael Jackson, who recently moved to what he called “our tiny neighbor Bahrain!” Jo describes the sense of independence she felt when she was able to cash a cheque. Trilancer is wondering what “exactly is happening to Arabian TV,” and thinks that Arabian channels are “competing in showing the most smut possible without triggering a riot.” And Tyt notices that the majority of Saudi bloggers in English are females. “We need to hear the opinions of the Saudi male bloggers,” he says.

This week has witnessed two Saudi bloggers meetups. The first was in Jeddah, where eight bloggers gathered for coffee, and talked about Linux, college life, and blogging. Fouad al-Farhan has a detailed report (Arabic) from the meetup. Another mini meetup was taking place in Riyadh, with a “females only” theme.

One of the hot topics in the Saudi blogosphere for this week was about driving, however, no women included this time. Trilancer wrote about road dangers, and thinks it is “tragic that a road accident soon becomes the reason for more accidents.” He blames that on the state of roads, and also the people, “since years of lax traffic law enforcement has shown them that the traffic police are always, if at all, after somebody else.” Dotsson was almost in another accident. Meanwhile, TyT takes the time to explain a phenomenon he called Attack of the Camry Boys. “These kids are REALLY annoying on the road, driving at speeds no less than 150km,” he wrote.

Under the title, “Do you remember him?” Abu Joori writes (Arabic) about a year after the mysterious death of Yasser Arafat that he was the best representative for the Palestinian cause. Abu Joori also prays for the Palestinian people to be united, and to gain their right by having their independent state on the Palestinian soil. More questions come from Meesho, who was surprised to hear the news about building the first church in Qatar, and wonders if we need to do this just to please the Americans and Europeans (Arabic). “Or is it a weakness? A weakness in our religion, a weakness in our personalities?” she asks.

Now, let's check out our selection of random, quick snippets for this week: Saudi Eve talks about being a news-junkie. Trilancer did not like the design of Nintendo DS portable game system, so he has been working on a new design. And Fouad al-Farhan expects some changes in the cabinet, naming three ministers that he thinks would be replaced. He says if his expectations were wrong, he is going to close down his blog (Arabic).

Finally, here is a piece of philosophy by ubergirl87, who wants to be anonymous, but not left out. “When I'm anonymous, I could be anything to anybody. (…) When I'm left out, people know who I am, but don't relate to me, and I don't to them. It's like being the odd one out. Whereas when you're anonymous you're not one in the first place,” she writes.

Young Saudi men are not comfortable with such restrictions. According to Majoudi, these restrictions leave many people with the feeling that they are isolated and unwelcome (Arabic) by the society, which in return makes them feel discomfort with their own society. However, opening doors to the boys can be unwanted by others, like ubergirl78, who thinks that Saudi males are stupid. She provides plenty of reasons for her conclusion, including racing expensive cars in public streets, and being rude to Saudi girls in particular. Probably what is needed to solve such problem is equality; “[e]quality at all levels, in all places is what the world needs,” Random Saudi says.

On another matter, Abu Sinan, an American blogger married to a Saudi woman, has questioned the real identity of the famous Saudi blogger The Religious Policeman. For Abu Sinan, it seems that reform in Saudi Arabia is the last thing on The Religious Policeman's mind, and even if “he is interested in reform he is going about it the exact WRONG way.” Abu Sinan thinks that he is probably not Saudi, and even called him a “fraud.”

Finally, here are some random, quick snippets from around the Saudi blogosphere: Ruba, one of the youngest bloggers, is so feminist, and she blames Saudi men for that. That also led her to think about writing a book with a friend of hers. Good luck with that! Meanwhile, Rimyoleta makes a list of her 30 favorite blog posts. Fouad al-Farhan talks about his visit to a little village (Arabic) on the coast of the Red Sea. Catch-22 has not celebrated her 25th birthday, and she has some really good reasons for not doing so. Riyadhawi takes on the controversial TV series “Al-Hour Al-Ayen,” and says the hype about it was unjustified (Arabic), and Abu Joori takes on the low performance (Arabic) of the national Saudi airlines.

Farooha had a meeting with the Jordanian blogger Ruba Al-Assi. At first, they had a communication problem, so they finally settled for English. According to Farooha, they “had one hell of a time.” And although they had graduated from the same class at the same secondary school in Riyadh, Roba dose not remember Farooha at all, and Farooha remember Roba as “The tall girl.”

Trilancer is disappointed with the low level that Arabic TV shows have reached. He thinks that a major season for TV in the Arab World, such as Ramadhan, only “shows how bad Arabian shows are. From bad to worse, and the only thing new technology has proven is that the problem is with the people, not the resources.”

Nour thinks that Embrace, Cherish, and Care are three magic words that will take Saudis to the top. “If we want to build a nation so strong, bonded by love and respect, all must benefit. We should look at the less fortunate and give them a chance. We the people, not Al-Saud, blame them all you want, it won't change a thing. It won't make any ones life better. (…) Embracing righteous and modestly continuing yet cherishing our religion Islam, all at the same time could never turn against us,” she says.

Prometheus says that religious fanaticism has ruined our lives (Arabic), “and those who promote this fanaticism are ignorant, retarded people,” he added. “We must not follow them and support their extreme opinions.”

Fouad al-Farhan wonders if Google has become the biggest spy in the world (Arabic). On the subject of discrimination against minorities, Jo says “[i]t is one thing to be able to speak your mind and quite another to use your words so that you can incite hatred towards any group of people.” Digital Mind discusses some possibilities to encourage writing books in the Arabic (Arabic) language.