Photograph of one of the main gates of Tripoli, Libya, taken around 1925 for The National Geographic Magazine by York and Son.
Category Archives: Countries
Turkey’s Hero, Behind the Bronze Veneer
“Mustafa,†a documentary about Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey’s founder, is filmed in Istanbul.
Turkey’s Hero, Behind the Bronze Veneer
By SABRINA TAVERNISE, Istanbul Journal, The New York Times, November 13, 2008
ISTANBUL — After nearly a century of looking serious, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, has started to smile.
Ataturk — a war-hero-turned-statesman who defended Turkey during the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire — is the subject of what is perhaps the world’s longest personality cult.
His portrait hangs in every tea shop, government office and classroom. Insulting his memory is a crime under Turkish law. And every Nov. 10, Turkey observes a moment of silence to commemorate his death in 1938.
But the ironclad official version might be softening. Last month a documentary on Ataturk was released that looks at his human side. That might not sound like much, but in a country where official history is kept under lock and key, the film, “Mustafa,†was a brave endeavor. Continue reading Turkey’s Hero, Behind the Bronze Veneer
Obama’s Iranian Opening
by William O. Beeman, New America Media, News Analysis, November 12, 2008
New America Media Editor’s note: Diplomacy between the United States and Iran has been at a standstill. President-elect Barack Obama has a great opportunity to end the cold war between the two nations. NAM contributing writer William O. Beeman is professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota.
President-elect Barack Obama has a serious opening to improving relations with Iran, if he knows how to exercise it. Unfortunately, his transition advisory team is weak on Middle East affairs, and almost non-existent on Iran. This leaves the president-elect prey to the same forces that have tried to sabotage progress on rapprochement with Iran during the Bush administration.
Paradoxically the Bush administration in its last days is flirting with a thaw on Iranian relations. They have been giving serious consideration to establishing a real United States Interests Section in Tehran. Iranians have had an Interests Section in Washington for decades. By contrast, the Swiss Embassy has represented U.S. interests with Swiss personnel. Continue reading Obama’s Iranian Opening
The shoe is on the other fit
A Difference in Language
By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed, Asharq Alawsat, November 11, 2008
I can not imagine what Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir had for dinner the evening when he made his fervent speech in Darfur where he proclaimed ‘America, Britain, and France are all underneath my shoes’. I hope that the President’s shoes remain in good condition because he will surely need them over the coming days.
That said, it is Bashir’s good fortune that the metaphor of being underneath one’s shoes is lost in translation and is not such an insult in the West, as it is in our culture, for surely such a remark made by the President about an Arab country would have led to war. Continue reading The shoe is on the other fit
Yes, we can … chew qat
qat market in the Cheikh Othman area of Aden
Qat sales tripled on the eve of American Elections
by Mohammed al-Kibsi, Yemen Observer, Nov 5, 2008 – 2:05:47 AM
For the first time in Yemen’s history Yemenis at large spent the Wednesday’s night till Wednesday morning following up the American elections results. Abdul-Ghani al-Kazan a Yemeni lawyer said he didn’t sleep the whole night till the results were released and till Obama displayed the winning speech at 7 :30 am Sana’a local time.
Ali al-Thawr a qat dealer said he sold four folds of the daily quantity last Tuesday afternoon and night. “After I had finished selling the daily quantity of qat at 3 pm. I found more people searching for qat so I phoned a qat farmer to send me one more shipment of qat” said al-Thawr.” Continue reading Yes, we can … chew qat
A Fatwa that Hits Back
Fatwa Gives Women the Right to Hit Husbands
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat – A fatwa originating from Turkey has given women the right to strike their husbands in cases of self-defense.
Sheikh Mohsen al Obeikan, an adviser to the Saudi Ministry of Justice and a member of the Saudi Shura Council agreed with some Islamic scholars in Turkey and Egypt in this regard. “This [issue] is acknowledged by Islamic jurists and it has roots in Islamic Shariah, the Quran and the Hadith [Prophetic traditions],†said the Sheikh. He referred to the following excerpts of the Quran: ‘The recompense for an injury is an injury equal thereto (in degree),’ [Surat Ashoura: 40] and ‘…whoever then acts aggressively against you, inflict injury on him according to the injury he has inflicted on you…’ [Surat al Baqara: 194] Continue reading A Fatwa that Hits Back
Sex and the Islamic City
[The following is a review by Omar El Kouch of Al-Madina al-Islami wal-Ouçoulya wal-Irhab: Muqaraba Jinsya, (Islamic City, Fundamentalism and Terrorism: a Sexual Approach), Beirut, Arab Rationalist League, Dar Es Saqi, 2008, 208 pages, ISBN 978-1-85516-287-7 by Abdessamad Dialmy. The review is translated here from Arabic into English by Said Allibou and Imad Mahhou (Mohamed V University, Rabat, Morocco).]
The new book of Prof. Dr. Abdessamad Dialmy holds a new treatment and handling, where the author attaches a particular importance to the sexual factor in the composition and the reasoning of a fundamentalist, radical and terrorist personality. This is a factor which is absent in the various studies on fundamentalist and radical movements in the Kingdom of Morocco and witnessed in the rise of radical movements and incidents of violence and bombings, fields of study and research. Continue reading Sex and the Islamic City
Showcasing Palestinian cinema
Jackie Reem Salloum, the director of Slingshot Hip Hop, wants to encourage Palestinians to tell their stories through artistic expression.
Showcasing Palestinian cinema
By Deena Douara, Al-Jazeera, October 29, 2008
On the heels of the Toronto International Film Festival comes another motion picture fete about a people trying to carve out a state in a war-torn region.
From October 25 to November 1, Toronto will showcase 36 films about the Palestinians as part of year-long commemorations marking the 60th anniversary of the ‘Nakba’, or catastrophe.
Kole Kilibarda, one of the Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF) organisers, believes audiences will be surprised by “the amazing cinema produced even under the most difficult of circumstances”.
The TPFF will include Canadian, North American, and world premieres of award-winning documentaries, features and short films.
Palestinian films have gained prominence on the international scene in recent years, beginning with the enigmatic Divine Intervention (2002) and the controversial Oscar-nominated Paradise Now (2005). Continue reading Showcasing Palestinian cinema