The Great God Pan Still Lives
Ed Simon reviews Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East
by Gerard Russell. Continue Reading →
Tag: Middle East
Salafism for Dummies
by Alex Thurston Suddenly, Salafism seems to be everywhere: mainstream Salafism, political Salafism, Wahhabist Salafism, Arab Salafism, Islamist Salafism, radical Salafism, and at least one instance of salafist-fundamentalist cage-fighting-ism. Continue Reading →
Missed Opportunities: a review of "Arab Media"
by Narges Bajoghli It’s true that mass media have been used (and still are, in some contexts) as a means of social engineering…Nonetheless, it’s imperative to remember that the state cannot control how people interpret what they see. Continue Reading →
Missed Opportunities: a review of “Arab Media”
by Narges Bajoghli It’s true that mass media have been used (and still are, in some contexts) as a means of social engineering…Nonetheless, it’s imperative to remember that the state cannot control how people interpret what they see. Continue Reading →
Mubarak's Reality: Baksheesh
Hosni Mubarak didn’t contrive his I’m the preventer of chaos reality all alone. The tyrannical dictator of Egypt, who today told ABC’s Christiane Amanpour that he’d love to step down but can’t, has for three decades been appreciated (both politically and financially) by the West for what he is not: another critical voice in a troubled and troubling region. Poverty, ineptitude, graft, corruption, injustice: all were no match for Western fear of creeping radical Islam, i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood. Mubarak’s spent his years making the most of Islamophobic rhetoric. In a nation that’s neither rich nor poor, African nor Middle Eastern, friendly nor hostile, familiar nor understood, Mubarak’s benefitted from playing the foil for Western projection. Continue Reading →
Mubarak’s Reality: Baksheesh
Hosni Mubarak didn’t contrive his I’m the preventer of chaos reality all alone. The tyrannical dictator of Egypt, who today told ABC’s Christiane Amanpour that he’d love to step down but can’t, has for three decades been appreciated (both politically and financially) by the West for what he is not: another critical voice in a troubled and troubling region. Poverty, ineptitude, graft, corruption, injustice: all were no match for Western fear of creeping radical Islam, i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood. Mubarak’s spent his years making the most of Islamophobic rhetoric. In a nation that’s neither rich nor poor, African nor Middle Eastern, friendly nor hostile, familiar nor understood, Mubarak’s benefitted from playing the foil for Western projection. Continue Reading →
Mubarak’s Reality: Baksheesh
Hosni Mubarak didn’t contrive his I’m the preventer of chaos reality all alone. The tyrannical dictator of Egypt, who today told ABC’s Christiane Amanpour that he’d love to step down but can’t, has for three decades been appreciated (both politically and financially) by the West for what he is not: another critical voice in a troubled and troubling region. Poverty, ineptitude, graft, corruption, injustice: all were no match for Western fear of creeping radical Islam, i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood. Mubarak’s spent his years making the most of Islamophobic rhetoric. In a nation that’s neither rich nor poor, African nor Middle Eastern, friendly nor hostile, familiar nor understood, Mubarak’s benefitted from playing the foil for Western projection. Continue Reading →