Haitham Sabbah · December, 2005

Latest posts by Haitham Sabbah from December, 2005

Saudi Arabia: Religious impact

  29 December 2005

Sabbah chronicles the social progress of Saudi women in the last year, and considers it a blow against Islamic terrorism. A woman won election to a seat on the “engineer's board,” and another has become the first female jockey to compete internationally. On the other hand, he thinks that the...

Bahrain: Bahrain International Airport Demonstrations

  27 December 2005

Mayhem at Bahrain Airport, Silly Bahraini Girl Says. While Mahmood wonders why every issue in Bahrain is politicised and invariably turn to violence? Zainab shows pictures that were not in the newspapers and emoodz says, you simply can't give an airplane to someone who miserably fails to fly a kite....

Egypt: Karim Interview's Chomsky

  19 December 2005

Karim Elsahy finally made his interview with Noam Chomsky. He describe it as a lecture than an interview. Karim thinks that Chomsky is too extreme for him. Though he find his ideas factually correct and certainly logical, he find them lacking a certain “on the grounds” reality that makes them,...

Saudi Arabia: Fox News & Journalists

  16 December 2005

Sabbah wonders if Fox News can stand for their slogans, specially after hearing the influence of the Saudi Prince, Al-Waleed Bin Talal, on changing the channel reports of the Paris riots. “Within 30 minutes, the title was changed from Muslim riots to civil riots”, Al-Waleed said. While talking about media,...

Bahrain: Independence Day

  16 December 2005

Today marks the 34th of Bahrain independence day. While Silly Bahraini Girl sees it as a time for fun and parades and fireworks and … rallies.. and demonstrations.. and the sound of explosions… chaos… anarchy.. the ugly smell of fear; Mahmood hopes that the 35th anniversary would be happier if...

Algeria: Floods in Annaba

  16 December 2005

Nouri bin Ziri is asking us to put the city of Annaba and the surrounding area in our prayers, so that they may recover rapidly from the floods (French). Many schools, houses and other structures have been ruined or destroyed.

Dubai blog blocked

  16 December 2005

The UAE's telecoms regulatory authority has blocked the blog Sorry Dubai, following a post that criticised the monopoly state telco Etisalat. The blog also attacked Etisalat's blocking of popular Internet telephony website Skype. UAE bloggers are in a nervous mood after this. The blog, written by someone who goes by...

Morocco: Blasphemous Cartoon

  15 December 2005

Foulla says that Al-Azhar, the highest seat of religious learning in the Sunni world, vowed to raise the issue of the provocative caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September, with the UN and international human rights organizations.

Morocco: Open Skies

  15 December 2005

Zany says that the “open skies” deal, which ends restrictions and limits on flights and national airlines operating between the EU and Morocco, will help Rabat bring the additional travelers it needs to boost its tourism industry.

Algeria: President Health

  15 December 2005

According to Hale and quoting IslamOnLine (12/13), Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's condition is ‘critical’, and that was supposedly confirmed by his brother Mostafa, a physician who accompanied him to Paris. The news, as reported, did not sound favorable for a good outcome of his hospitalization, saying that if he fully...

Bahrain: Fanatic Muttawa

  15 December 2005

Mahmood is very upset after the Bahrain Ministry of Information, encouraged by the parliament, decided to ban any live musical shows at the only good, family oriented, non-alcoholic, non-shisha-smoking entertainment restaurant in Bahrain. The newly opened restaurant coasted the foreign investor more than $ 4 million, as he claims and...

Bahrain: HRW Appeal to UN

  15 December 2005

Zainab Alkhawaja reports that a group of Human Rights activists went to The United Nations building in Bahrain to protect themselves from what they claim as continuous harassments of the government but the Head of the United Nations office in Bahrain, Mr. Alloush, considered this an invasion of a governmental...

Lebanon: Personal grieving for Gebran Tueni

  13 December 2005

Rami writes; Gebran Tueni is not responsible for sectarian divisions in Lebanon. His entire platform was built around unity, a unity that he partially embodied. Those who decry his words are those that stand against a unified Lebanon. To substantively engage what he has said and to call him out...

Iraq: Call for Humanity!

  13 December 2005

This letter can't go unnoticed. A Citizen Of Mosul posts a letter he received from a Swiss citizen medical therapist who is asking for any link to useful sources or information regarding the 43-year-old German archaeologist Susanne Osthoff, who was taken hostage in Iraq along with her Iraqi driver on...