On the other side of the spectrum, Haitham Sabbah brings us news that an Israeli News Agency has hijacked Google to try to suppress Iran's attempt to discredit the Holocaust. More importantly; however, he raises the question that there is “No denial of Holocaust, yet you deny Palestinians rights, and the massacres of Palestinians and other Arabs. I don’t want to compare, but let me remind you of some: and goes on to list tens of what he considers massacres which should be recognised by the world community.

Mohammed Ni'mah, a new blogger on the scene who blogs in Arabic, believes that the “winner” of anti-semitism this week is one of Bahrain's leading artists - and one who has contributed daily political cartoons for over 30 years to Ahbar Al-Khaleej, a daily Arabic newspaper in Bahrain - Mr. Muharraqi, as documented by the Anti-Defamaation League.

after the break: a reward for a killing, Bahraini parliamentarian encourage the Danes to research non-fossil fuels, customer service evaluations, Religious Policeman's interview, a Bahraini proves that there is water on Mars, language bastardisation, and more!

Keeping with this prevalent theme, another new Bahraini blogger: Gardens of Sand - a blot by a Bahraini girl, pursuing an MBA from Winthrop University in South Carolina, USA - brings us news of another way to treat this situation by a Pakistani cleric whose idea of a resolution is to chop the heads of the cartoonists!

On a somewhat related topic, that Desert Island Boy, who is a Bahraini-American (yes we do have some of those!) considers the effects of some Bahraini parliamentarians like Khalid Mohammed - famous for burning the Danish flag amongst other distasteful acts - on encouraging the Danes to ditch oil in favour of non-fossil-based fuel and concludes: “I hope the beardos are happy that there are fewer white devils who want our black gold. Soon there will be no market for what we are selling and we can all go back to living like Yemeni hillbillies. Maybe then they will realize that the Peninsula needs the world more than the world needs the Gulf.”

Moving away from politics for now, The Joker provides an insightful view of customer service in Bahrain when he compares various institutions; for instance he is completely dismayed by the indifference one of the major commercial banks in Bahrain shows its customers, and says in this regard: “Ahli United Bank: Customer service at its worst. The knuckle heads at the customer service desk are so confused they don't know whether you were coming or going! One time I asked them how long it took them to process a loan knowing that my salary account is with them, I have no other commitment, and my employer is A rated. They said “roughly one month.” I don't have an account with BBK and they said they'd do it in less than a week. I have endless stories with AUB… I applied for an internet account around July or august.. still didnt recieve it.“

Meanwhile, a shawarma-loving-pseudo-Bahraini takes the opportunity to talk to that famous Religious Policeman in a wide ranging and engaging interview. Be sure not to miss it! Cerebral Waste seems to have carved a nice niche for himself in the interviewing world and we look forward to reading more insightful interviews.

Qassim Abdulrasool, on the other hand, asks the very important question of when and why did women start shaving their legs, but Ali7 is more interested in showing us his persona discovery of water on Mars.

Through Ali Al-Saeed's update on his film project “Models of Success,” he introduces us to yet another very talented blogger: Hashim Al-Alawi whose blog Alfanan's Radio contains his own musical compositions, some he did in Bahrain and others while he was studying in Texas. Hashim has already released two albums whose music is a fusion of East and West and is very easy to fall in love with; his music is very melodiously moody and well worth the effort of adding to one's collection.

bahraini rants digs up another creative post which traces the origins of some bastardised colloquial Bahraini words, some of which originated from the English, Indian and Farsi languages and mostly coined within the last 75 years. Some favourites include: Bistoog = Biscuit, Bi-Feater = pipe-fitter (plumber), Smeet = Cement, Aranj joosh = orange juice and so on. If you visit that post, please check the comments threads as well as people have started contributing terms he has not covered but certainly inspired unearthing!

Our beloved and much missed Amira Al-Hussaini - aka SillyBahrianiGirl - still is missing Bahrain terribly while in self-imposed exile in Canada while she accompanies her husband in his pursuit of medical perfection; we are fortunate however that she continues to write in the local Gulf Daily News newspaper back home where she has been the news editor for a number of years. Her latest article there concerns the sheer arrogance of some people in which a “Yemeni soldier in Bahrain, who stabbed a Moroccan woman after a scuffle at a hotel, then arrogantly boasted that since he was working at the BDF, he was above the law.” in which she brings forth several irksome facts to the surface: illegal naturalisation, foreign mercenaries being preferred to Bahraini citizens in the armed forces and the police and the not so veiled prostitution industry in the island.

Manama Republic once again goes where no one treads. This time, he pens an excellent thought in which he compares the unfortunate demise of Rafiq Al-Hariri on Valentine's day last year, to the demise of contractual constitutional rule in Bahrain on Valentine's day in 2002. In this article Dangerous Liaisons he says” “For two small nations of the East, one February fourteen will go in memory as one of the most heartrending days of the calendar; an anniversary of the cruel ending of a pulsating relationship by anti-Cupid's arrow, lanced from within in one instance, and from without in the other.” Manama Republic is always worth reading to get a real feel of the undertones that besieges Bahrain's society.

Finally, Frederik Haentjens, a Belgian blogger currently working in Bahrain suggests a meeting between visiting Belgian bloggers to the forthcoming Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix and Bahraini Bloggers. The 8th of March has been selected for the gathering at Dar Al-Bareh Gallery Cafe, one of the leading art galleries in Bahrain. I am sure both countries' bloggers will have more to say about this unique meeting after the gathering.

Mahmood seems to have been branded a pervert for photographing wild parakeets having sex in one of his palm trees and have chosen to nest in his house's eaves. He's been warned; however, to quit this “bird-porn” business as some think that his site will be blocked by virtually the whole Gulf because of the terms used in that article.

Moving on… On the tenth day of Muharram, the first month in the Muslim calendar, an event that took place over 1,300 years ago is commemorated in Bahrain by its Shi'a population as do hundreds of millions of Shi'a Muslims around the world in remembrance of Imam Hussain.

In Bahrain, the commemorations have morphed into a cultural event that is now not just the usual expressions of grief which is exhibited by processions of men beating their chests. These events are now streamed on the internet^a, something that prompts Tawfiq Al-Rayyash to suggest calling this festival e-Ashoora.

However, some take this expression of grief to extremes by allowing an incision to be made in their scalp so that a copious flow of blood occurs^a. This bloody precession is called “Haidar” and is a very controversial subject even among leading clerics and Shi'a Marji' as Tawfiq Al-Rayyash argues^a and concludes that this act damages the reputation of not only the Shi'a, but Islam in general and needs to be stopped. Something that virtually all Bahraini bloggers agree with^a.

Michael Jackson after the break…

Michael Jackson has left the island! Good riddance, Mahmood says and breaths a sigh of relief, one that is echoed by others as well. But from the mundane Jackson to Bahrain's very own under-rated superstar; Abdulhadi Khalaf brings to our attention Salman Zaiman^a, a progressive musician who has had a great impact on the art and artists in Bahrain as is explored in a wide ranging interview in Al-Talee'a^a literary weekly magazine from Kuwait.

The main daily newspaper in Bahrain Al-Wasat^a started a section three days ago highlighting blogs and blogposts. Silly Bahraini Girl is worried on what this might lead to. She argues that: “The fact that Arab media is taking a close look at blogs is alarming to say the least. A few months ago the Information Ministry in Bahrain, for instance, had ordered bloggers to register their blogs with the ministry or else face action, the minute some twit up there realised that there was a new craze called on-line journals. And now Al Wasat is trying to draw attention to bloggers and then the Cabinet and Parliament will hold extraordinary sessions to discuss the matter and we will, I repeat, we will petition the UN to .. to .. I don't know what.”

Haitham Sabbah continues to monitor the international press and asks very valid questions on how they choose to ignore news and takes them to task.

Finally, Mahmood takes on a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry who foolishly emailed him an encouragement to boycott Danish products in protest of Jyllands-Posten publishing derogatory cartoons about the Prophet and argues that the Chamber of Commerce should limit its role to taking care of businesses and their business needs, rather than their spiritual ones.

^a = in Arabic

Suffice it to say that the vast majority of Bahrain blogs have written about this subject, the first was Haitham who broke the story in the Bahraini blogosphere on Jan 11, 2006 with an extensive number of comments, followed by more discussions on Mahmood's Den with three posts: in the first he accused the Bahraini parliament as being childish and ridiculous for breaking their holidays and holding an extra-orderinary session just to demand an apology from Denmark, incite people and businesses to boycott Danish goods and called for country-wide protests, thus completely going against the very rules and laws which they are considering to limit freedoms of expression and personal freedoms in Bahrain, the second article came out when it become known that a French newspaper reprinted the cartoons and the third was after some 25 demonstrations after Friday prayers with a picture of a member of parliament burning the Danish flag.

Even one of Bahrain's intellectuals whose blog is rather popular didn't escape the cartoons; however, for his troubles he got featured on the front page of a national newspaper and accused of being derogatory to the Prophet himslef! (arabic) Of course, that paper, Al-Watan (arabic) just exposed itself as nothing more than a yellow journal.

The King gave one of his candid interviews to the editors-in-chief of the local papers in which he laid down future plans which were welcomed by everyone, especially as the speech (arabic) promised to attack corruption head-on, provide affordable housing and land for every citizen and end the era of the decades-length ministerial positions.

Haitham Sabbah attended and was a panelist at The 2nd Al-Jazeera Forum where he spoke about The New Media: Bloggers and Participatory Journalism where he had the opportunity to open the eyes of traditional newspaper editors to the world of blogging and citizen journalism. He was amazed that one of these editors was actually on his blogging panel and didn't know the first thing about the medium!

Ali Al-Saeed was involved in co-producing a new documentary about successful women in the Middle East called Models of Success and he describes the hectic schedule of the first two days of shooting, and gets to know what a producer actually does. It seems to have been a very enjoyable and informative enterprise for Ali.

Manama Republic reflects on the seemingly conscientious efforts of the government, represented by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, to hurt the feelings of the majority of Bahrain's population by hosting a “Wahabifest” at a time when the Shi'as - who constitute approximately 70% of the population - are commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussain - the Prophet's grandson - in their Ashura festival.

Manama Republic was also the only Bahraini blogger who commented on the very unfortunate death of a young girl - Fatima Jaffar - because she got electrocuted in her home due to faulty wiring. Wiring that her family could not fix due to their utter poverty.

A good place to visit for all these stories and more is the Bahraini Blogs aggregator at http://bahrainblogs.org/ where it is updated form all Bahraini blogs every hour.

I cannot help wondering who is the PR genius who convinced the three royals that billboards will make them loved? He/she must be a secret agent of the opposition who planted him to mislead the royal troika. And, apparently, he (or she?) has done a good job. For who would in his right mind would believe that he needs billboards to gain love or respect? The royal trio were really taken for an expensive ride. And counter-productive to boot.

Manama Republic has another excellent and insightful piece. This time he sheds a light of an insider on the unfortunate fatal accident that claimed one of the king's sons recently, and raises a very important point: Bahrain seems to specialise on squandering opportunities; opportunities which if used judiciously, could very much endear the Royals to their Bahraini subjects and puts the blame on the kingdom's dysfunctional PR machine. He contrasts Bahrain's missed opportunities with those that Kuwait makes a habit of winning.

Talking about cars, Mahmood posts another couple of vlogs (videoblogs); one about a recent visit with his son to the wildly popular Drag Races at the Bahrain International Circuit, the home of F1 in the Middle East, and in the second he takes you on a tour of his newly re-landscaped garden, in between he discusses the complete ineffectiveness of the Minster of Information who is rumoured to be on the way to be fired in a forthcoming cabinet reshuffle, and just like everyone else in the Arab and Muslim worlds this week, he puts forth his two cents regarding the blaspheming Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet.

The other hot topic in the area is the Palestinian elections and the subsequent landslide by Hamas. eMoodz provides his insight into this phenomenon and blames Bush for the increase in Islamists' wins across the Middle East; he states that: “Such uneducated policies lead extreme Muslim fundamentalists to power, Shiite’s have taken over the Iraqi parliament, have boosted Hizbullah’s in Lebanon, brought radical Ahmedinjad to head Iran, gave the opportunity to the Muslim Brotherhood act to even shine more, and now, Hamas’s victory in the recent Palestinian elections.“

Haitham Sabbah on the other hand has a different take on Hamas' win; he is despondent and pessimistic on the next four years of Hamas rule. Haitham, incidentally, is taking part in the Al-Jazeera 2nd Forum in neighbouring Doha, Qatar, where he is joined by Global Voices co-founder Ethan Zuckerman where they are both participating in the The New Media: Bloggers and Participatory Journalism panel.

We have another blog to welcome to the Bahraini blogosphere, Mohammed Neama so far writes exclusively in Arabic about things Bahraini.

Onto Silly Things now where an insomniac Silly Bahraini Girl who misses her country to bits, reflects on the injustice of the judicial system where she is aghast at a very light sentence passed on a policeman who was inciting youth to go on a stealing spree on his behalf!

Strav turns his attention on health matters and tracks ‘bird flue' in the area.

We started this round-up with an ex-MP, so let's end it with a prospective one! Tawfiq Al-Rayyash who was recently elected to the board of the largest political party in Bahrain Al-Wefaq's Steering Committee, reflects on politics and how it could be a noble pursuit if applied with honesty. He argues that instead of violence to replace a regime, political means must be utiltised to the full to do so for almost all Arab regimes suffer from an incurable corruption. (in Arabic)

The Joker meanwhile objects on another cartoon and the continued unwanted presence of Michael Jackson in Bahrain, and beaches the powers that be to throw him and his entourage out.

Tomorrow, Jan 31st, 2006 coincides with the Muslim Hijra New Year of 1427. May I take this opportunity, on behalf of my Bahraini blogging colleagues, and wish the whole world a very happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous New Muslim Year.

A week where: Ali7 agrees with Jakob Nielsen in that blogs, just like normal websites, need to follow some reasonable usability guides. He stresses the point however that trusting your writing efforts to free blogging engines is probably not the right way of going about things as the author would lose control of what he wrote. (Arabic)

Ali Al-Saeed is now not only a writer, but a co-producer of a documentary that is in the process of being shot by an American film company in Bahrain dealing with women leaders in the Gulf. He's also been tasked to write the documentary's accompanying book.

Zainab Al-Khawajah tells us a bit about her Christmas holidays which she has spent in London; protesting in front of the Bahraini Embassy, speaking at Hyde Park's Speakers' Corner and visiting five human rights organisations handing them reports about Bahrain.

Haitham Sabbah, on the other hand, wishes that he was a parrot!

Discrimination against the Shi'a is the theme discussed this week by Jaffar Al-Omran.

Last but not least, we now have a fellow blogger elected to the Steering Committee of Bahrain's largest political party: Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society. Tawfiq Al-Rayyash was one of 60 candidates for the 30-member body that will decide on all future directions of the party, including whether they will participate in the forthcoming parliamentary elections. A very important post and we wish him luck in his new position and wish also that he continues blogging so that we know what's going on in that party and so that he may also benefit from other opinions.

The Joker starts the ball rolling and suggests that pilgrims are not treated equally as proscribed in Islam, where everyone should be equal. This is further demonstrated by the strict uniform and rites pilgrims undertake – but in actual fact they are treated according to their ethnicity, with 3rd world pilgrims treated in a much more derogatory fashion unlike the Saudis and other Arabs who perform the Hajj (Muslim pilgrimage). The solution he poses for this recurrent problem include the limitation of the numbers of people allowed to perform the Hajj - a theme universally taken by all commentors; hiring professional organisations to oversee crowd control and flow during the various stages of Hajj, and lastly the “ticket price” allowing people to perform the Hajj should be proportional to their prosperity.

Mohammed Al-Maskati blogging at emoodZ agrees and further amplifies on the theme by stating that once again, the Saudi authorities put the blame unfairly on pilgrims' disorganisation and impatience, rather than the Saudi Hajj authorities' incompetence. He goes further in suggesting that Sunni clerics should follow their Shi'a colleagues in re-interpreting some of the set tasks of the Hajj and making them more flexible, especially that the main bottleneck has been the “stoning of the devil” task. The Shi'a allow their followers to stone the devil at any time at the end of the Hajj, while the Sunnis only allow their followers to do so after the point of noon on the last day of the pilgrimage and has a time limit associated with the task. As all rites must be performed in strict sequence, if any pilgrim does not finish all these tasks, his or her pilgrimage would be regarded as null and void if these tasks are not completed. This interpretation adds to the frustration and hastiness of the pilgrims as they literally fight against time to finish their Fifth Pillar of Islam.

Mahmood finds himself in complete agreement with both of the above, and argues for more drastic measures: Hajj should be declared optional rather than mandatory, and clerics should find other ways in which Muslims can atone themselves of sins. He receives a lot of flack and some support for his thoughts.

Practically every Bahraini blog offered condolences to his majesty the king of Bahrain on the tragic death of his 6th son: Shaikh Faisal, who was just 14 and died as a result of a car accident. Shaikh Faisal is remembered by his friends as an avid equestrian and is full of life. Some commentors however wanted to break the norm and politicise this tragic event, especially as controversial forums like the recently lauded BahrainOnline.org, which mysteriously is on a 4 day maintenance regime! Hassan Al-Khozai (Arabic) was disgusted by some of the black-hearted comments on “some” Bahraini forums who seemed to revel in the extinguished young life just because it belonged to a royal, and this comes from someone who could only be described as opposition. However Hassan is certainly not unique in this respect, he has proven his humility just as other traditional government opponents have: Abdulhadi Khalaf, and Manama Republic have conveyed their condolences with the politeness, respect and humility this situation demands.

The sympathies were extended universally once again to the Kuwaiti people and royal family on the death of their 13th Amir; Shaikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, after a long illness. Shaikh Jaber was much loved in Bahrain not only for the various infrastructural and community projects he and his government have done in Bahrain through the Kuwaiti Development Fund, but also for the shared history of the two countries and the closeness of their peoples.

In other activism news, non other than GV's MENA Uber Editor Haitham Sabbah launched a campaign to include the country name Palestine in the drop-down lists of online blogging services. He has met with some success so far in at least getting the blogging services to listen to his point of view and effect the required changes. While Strav highlights RSF's latest campaign targeting conrporate responsibility. Tawfiq Al-Rayyash (Arabic) recalls the troubles and civil unrest that Bahrain went through in the 1990s and questions whether those methods are still applicable today in civil disobedience demonstrations. He concludes that those methods most definitely will not work to put pressure on the establishment, and asks what method would be most effective in this day and age. He was also in a reminiscing mood last week offering us a glimpse of Bahrain in 1954 showing a picture of one of the Hussaini processions, and tells us about Sami Yusuf, who is a “devout practicing British Muslim who sees songs as a means of promoting the message of Islam and encouraging the youth to be proud of their religion and identity.“

Silver Girl declares her love and admiration for Israel and suggests that Arab leaders should emulate Sharon. She also touches upon the very thorny Bahraini subject of what is regarded as illegal naturalisation when she highlights a column by Reem Khalifa, a journalist at Al-Wasat Newspaper (Arabic).

Homesickness is a very powerful emotion, as copiously discovered by a very Silly Bahraini Girl, no matter how much she protests that she's not and quite likes the weather in Toronto, Canada, where she has exiled herself for the time being! However, that doesn't stop her from highlighting alleged corruption within the justice system in Bahrain.

Routine and structured ways of life is reflected upon by Mo at Random Blog. Mo is a final year medical student in Ireland who loves football, Xbox and PlayStation games which he sometimes writes about. It is a very random blog, but thankfully it provides us with a glimpse of what goes on with medical trainees in foreign lands! He even has some fashion advice to “manly” men this time: “They're plain and black, by the way. Just the way they should be. *manly grunt* ” he says in describing how he succumbed to the cold finally and bought some garments he wouldn't have been seen dead in only a few months ago!

The Joker finds out that his feelings for Dr. Phil are anything but platonic; he riles against this “Colonel/Psychologist” because he was aghast at his temerity of exhibiting a family whose child has suffered at the hands of a pedophile to public display on one of his shows. He further explores the quality of these shows and concludes that they are nothing but entertainment with station managers having no regard to their viewing public by sandwiching irreverent adverts in between program segments which he thinks should be treated with better respect, considering the sensitivity of their content and subjects.

If you were a university that has doctoral studies, would you accept a PhD dissertation in which 200 leading intellectuals branded as heretic? Well, Jaffar Al-Omran continues to shine by bringing us controversial subjects which are worth discussing. He has unearthed one Sa'id ibn Nasser Al-Ghamdi whose doctoral dissertation was submitted and accepted at: “Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University. In his dissertation Al-Ghamdi made a list of 200 Arab intellectuals accused of heterodoxy and deviation, the accusation, which is punished by death in his doctrine.

Book signings? Yes, we have them in Bahrain too, thanks to our very own Ali Al-Saeed, the only Bahraini English-language novelist. Ali had a book signing event which took place at the most famous shopping malls in Bahrain in which he met with some of his admirers. He was good enough to also post some pictures of the event.

Bahraini Rants is back! I, for one, missed his rants, I'm sure those of you who peruse his archives will become as addicted to this gentleman's writings as I have; and if you're like me, a person who likes his or her food, then don't miss out on his excellent Argentine Asado recipe. You will most definitely forget your diet when you read his descriptions because you will want to fire your BBQ immediately to try it out!

Back to the present, BahrainiRants now takes us on a trip down his musical memory lane and reflects on the music he mixed himself with painstaking attention to detail, as well as the smells and sights that music conjures up when he re-listens to some of his recordings now.

Two new blogs have become active of late: Samir, a Pakistani gentleman who lives in Bahrain has a blog he calls 1Pakistan in which he discusses issues pertaining to both Bahrain and Pakistan. The other is Asish Gorde, an Indian gentleman who has lived almost all of his life in Bahrain I am told, and is a lecturer in media studies at the University of Bahrain. Ashish's blog is Eureka Express and is well worth your visit.

More next week! Have a good one.

Both Haitham and Mahmood in Bahrain have tackled this subject and have received more than average comments which shows the level of divisiveness this subject garners, and the jury is still out as to what constitutes authenticity in blogs in general.

Another controversy (yes, Bahrain has certainly had its fair share last week!) is the appearance of one of the leaders of women's movement, Ms. Ghada Jamsheer, on an international television interview in which she lambasted the archaic interpretation of various forms of marriages in Islam and didn't even stop short of labeling those methods as wrong! A classification which instantly put the lady on irreligious grounds by extremists, to which she is not unfamiliar as she was called a heretic before by mosque preachers and others. She stood by what she said however which elated Mahmood on the one hand, and got Mohammed Al-Maskati whose excellent blog, emoodZ, to question what Ms. Jamsheer said in that interview, sending him to research whether the subjects raised were truthful. He was – as most people were – surprised and disgusted by his findings.

A third controversy is the tit-for-tat accusations by the chairman of the Accident & Emergency department at Salmaniya Medical Complex, the main hospital in Bahrain, against some of his staff, and vice versa, on mismanagement and glaring malpractice cases in that department going as far as accusing some doctors of smuggling prostitutes into wards during night shifts. Silly Bahraini Girl takes up the story with a humorous twist. On a more serious note however, the chairman of the A&E department and some of the doctors in question have been suspended from duty (arabic) yesterday pending a Ministry of Health investigation into this fiasco.

Wait, wait, there is a final controversy! 15 parliamentarians signed a memo demanding an official apology from the embattled Minister of Information who publicly stated during questioning at the Shura Council - the appointed upper house of parliament - that some of those members of the House of Representatives (elected members) who supported him in shutting down alcohol-serving bars during the holy month of Ramadhan do actually drink! Purportedly using this fact to solidify his position on the correctness of closing those businesses during Ramadhan. It doesn't look like that apology will be forthcoming any time soon as some of those signatories have withdrawn their signatures citing political gerrymandering, threats and promises by the minister of information, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that politics is politics, regardless of where it is practiced.

The ongoing saga of the Christmas-day riots at the Bahrain International Airport continues with families and supporters of those apprehended in those riots themselves going on demonstrations demanding their unconditional release as reported and witnessed by Chan'ad Bahraini. Needless to say, there were confrontations by these demonstrators and the police, some of whom have apparently used excessive force to cow demonstrators, as reported by the dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.

On more mundane news covered by Bahraini bloggers (phew!) Silveroo brings us a news snippet which dealt with a novel identity theft, in which a female University of Bahrain student covered herself up completely from head-to-toe wearing an abaya and a niqab (a “ninja” as she calls them!) and submitting a final notice of withdrawal from the university to the Registrar in another female student's name! Needless to say that when that was discovered, and the perpetrator identified, the guilty woman was expelled forthwith.

Silveroo brings up other issues connected with the misuse of the niqab and blames the Cabinet for passing that particular “retarded” law which allows fully covered women to drive, a decision which gave rise to more misuse; she says that some males have used that dress to mount a crime wave and enter women-only venues all due to the impossibility of knowing who actually is hiding behind that cover.

Two new blogs, exclusively in Arabic, have joined the burgeoning ranks of the Bahraini blogosphere: Ali7, a university student, whose first action is to send a letter to the most popular Arabic newspaper in Bahrain, Al-Wasat, attacking the Ministry of Information for basically, well, their incompetence in technological knowledge, less than effective coordination with the main ISP on the island and their priorities. The ministry has decided to block 15 pornographic sites which they claim to emanate from Bahrain, however Ali derides the ministry for not doing enough, as closing just those 15 sites is minuscule compared to the millions of other easily accessable pornographic sites from Bahrain, and alludes that all that the ministry is doing is in reality blocking political dissension sites disguising their operation which they describe as “guarding the Bahraini culture and norms.”

The other new blog, again in Arabic, is by Tawfeeq Al-Rayyash who is a political activist and running for election to the Steering Committee's Board of Directors of the largest political society in Bahrain, Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society. Tawfeeq also runs Montadayat Al-Bahrain (Bahrain Fora), one of the most popular news and fora sites on the island. His blog primarily concentrates on local and international political issues of the day.

The Joker provides us with relief from politics however, in listing what he believes are very underrated music bands mostly from the 80s. While Strav comments on the recent moves by Google to take Microsoft head-on in what promises to be a good fist-fight!

As the Muslim world will be celebrating Eid Al-Ad'ha tomorrow, which marks the culmination of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, we wish you all a very happy and auspicious Eid from all of us in Bahrain.

This most recent spate of troubles started when the authorities apprehended a leading dissident cleric at the airport on his return to Bahrain from the holly Iranian city of Qum where he is now based. Ayatollah Shaikh Mohammed Sanad was also one of those exiled off the island due to his political dissent before the new King took the reigns and worked toward repatriating all exiled dissidents and released all political prisoners signaling the start of a new era in Bahrain, this of course resulted in a lot of good will at that time, particularly in 2001 with the various announcements of sweeping political, administrative and the promise of constitutional reforms.

Fast forwarding to 2005 unfortunately shows that the good will has almost completely dissipated, thus the rise in animosity between the people and their government highlighting various ills the country suffers from like the high figures of the unemployed, and the various subsequent laws which limit freedoms as is the case with Law 47 (Arabic) that deals with the Press, and Law 56 which equates torturers with their victims.

Shaikh Mohammed Sanad highlighted these problems and demanded that the UN step in with a referendum to ascertain the populace views in the continued rule of Al-Khalifa family in Bahrain (Arabic). In this charged atmosphere his apprehension at the airport was all that is required to ignite this new wave of violence when more than 300 of his supporters congregated at the airport demanding his immediate release. The protest was peaceful and good natured to start but that soon gave way to violence which resulted in some airport property destruction and a scuffle between the security forces and demonstrators which resulted in the police using force to disperse the crowd.

Over the next few days those responsible for the violence at the airport were identified and presented to the Public Prosecutor to await trial. So far some 15 people have been arrested. Those arrest created even more demonstrations by their supporters to demand their immediate release. No more violence was reported. However all national papers carried denunciations of these latest troubles and Ayatollah Shaikh Sanad himself has denounced the violence at the airport and asked his supporters to abide by the law and not to resort to any violence in his support.

Needless to say, the majority of Bahraini blogs discussed this issue comprehensively:

Manama Republic highlights the fact that most of the nation's newspapers seem to be concerned with shattered glass rather than broken bones and bruised bodies and gives a good profile of Shaikh Sanad as well as his take on what happened at the airport.

Silly Bahraini Girl is not surprised by what's happened at the airport however, stating that what has happened is an indication of Bahrainis now entering a revolt phase against the government and Bahrainis “will take no nonsense from anyone, especially those uniformed mercenaries, who are threatening unarmed people with their batons, rubber bullets and tear gas.”

eMoodz however goes deeper and asks whether Bahrainis are ready for democracy as he sees them misinterpreting events and encourages them to concentrate on real problems the country faces.

Dreamer is livid and echos Manama Republic's concerns in that some Bahrainis along with newspapers seem to be more bothered by shattered glass rather than broken bones and shows pictures which did not make it into the national press coverage of the incident.

Ali Abdulemam who also runs the popular BahrainOnline.org forum (banned and blocked in Bahrain) and who was arrested in 2005 and jailed for 2 weeks along with his two sub-admins, has an interesting perspective on his blog which is written exclusively in Arabic in which he looks back at the last five years of the political situation in Bahrain and concludes that the king has successfully isolated the country's prime minister from effective rule, a state he has not experienced since he was appointed to that position by the late Amir of Bahrain more than 30 years ago.

Mahmood has a couple of articles reflecting on the state of affairs in Bahrain, in the first he laments the absence of the rule of law in reference to the Bahrain International Airport riot and gives a background summary of Shaikh Sanad's position and political demands, and then follow up with another connected article when the Shaikh Sanad, the person in whose behalf people rioted at the airport, gets a first class invitation to the Ministry of Islamic affairs and gets his demands met by the government. Thus he asks if this is the most effective way to get the government's attention.

In other news, Bahraini novelist Ali Al-Saeed attends the Golden Jubilee of the discovery of the Delmon Civilisation by a Danish Expedition. Ali encourages everyone to attend, because: “The exhibition is a marvel and I was surprisingly impressed with a) the exhibits, b) how they are displayed, and c) the information accompanying them. There were even multi-media sources with documentaries, television interviews and sound clips, complementing the various rare and fascinating items collected from the excavation team and the expedition.”

The Joker selects the Bahraini personality of the year: Ms. Ghada Jamsheer, a woman's right activist who has been in the news lately and had all but one case against her dropped for defaming Shari'a judges whom she claimed were corrupt and incompetent. The Joker also gives us his insight in the burgeoning stock market and the waves of IPOs hitting the Gulf countries throughout 2005 and invites us to imagine the repercussions if the bubble bursts.

We seem to have unfortunately lost a re-blogging site, News re-Blog Blog's team have announced their goodbyes and reflect on their journey with their blog and offer insights into the Bahraini blogosphere and main stream media. We would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their efforts and wish them much luck with their future endeavours.

The Bahraini blogosphere explosion continues apace and BahrainBlogs.org keeps up with newly launched blogs by listing and aggregating them which is automatically updated every hour.

This week in Bahrain has been a roller-coaster of emotions where the parliament once again demonstrated it's disconnect from this century according to Mahmood at Mahmood's Den, he suggests that as they seem to be inviolate, it is best to join them and start selling cane sticks for the forthcoming religious police (mutawwas) to use to “judiciously” shepherd the faithful to a forced Friday prayer and sermon. Although the parliamentary wish has not become law yet, it has gathered quite powerful opposition by civic societies like the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce & Industry as well as a number of influential journalists (arabic). Amidst all of this fracas, a new Bahraini blogger: Jaffar questions the need for the “Athan” call for Muslim prayer through loudspeakers.

Manama Republic, the scathing political blog by an anonymous author continues to exhume hidden motives by the establishment; his latest topic examines what he feels is the condescending attitudes of the local business community in establishing a charity organisation which will associate help hitherto done anonymously with this new business charity and social organisation. He goes on to explain the relationships between the various layers of Bahraini society with the ruling regime and explains how the further out a Bahraini family or individual is from the central “table” the more difficult their life is.

There has also been other quite unfortunate events on the island, specifically various road traffic accidents deaths in which both eMoodz and The Joker highlight as avoidable. The Joker particularly has novel ideas on how to curb further traffic accidents, while eMoodz graphically narrates his experience with death, both in the family recently and on the road. I personally believe that the solution lies with the Traffic Department who should actually implement relevant rules and regulations and penalise errant motorists, rather than continue to be simple road-clearing devices for royalty and dignitaries.

Keeping with the traffic theme, the LiB Team are once again fuming and are on the rampage against inconsiderate car parking, providing ample photographic evidence and end with a threat to create “new aerodynamic air-holes” in offending cars had their owners not heeded their very valuable advice.

Ali Al-Saeed, the first, and until very recently the only Bahraini English-language novelist, tells us that the Second Literary Meet for Arab Youths has started on Dec 21st in which he might participate in by reading from his novel and short stories at the Bahrain Writer's Association and Al-Rewaq Art Gallery. While Bahraini Rants continues to educate his readership by providing his weekly vocabulary improvement clinic by providing three new words which must be incorporated into a normal conversation. Cancer, a new Bahraini blogger, however laments the absence of a lot of Bahraini intellectuals from the Internet, which he and others find very frustrating.

Ba7raniah* (arabic) on the other hand demonstrates how one could skive off school or work by padding official holidays with a few days sick leave and another couple of days compensation for the holidays actually falling on weekends!

* Arabs use the English number 7 as a substitute for a hard “H” sound, so this particular word should be read as “Bahraniah”, the word also has ethnic ramifications as Bahraini people who belong to the Shi'a sect of Islam identify themselves as Bahranis, while those who follow the Sunna version of Islam call themselves Bahrainis - slight difference in pronunciation, but demonstrates ethnic pride and differentiation.