Raed in the Middle

April 13, 2004 8:07 AM

Where is Raed? Salam Pax's pal Raed Jarrar now has his own Blogspot site, Raed in the Middle, after some guest posts on Salam's blog. Foreboding political commentary (scroll down to "Three Smart Political Steps") on how AlSadr is making shrewd moves to unite Sunnis and Shi'as against American forces. In addition, Raed translates diary entries from his mother Faiza, who also Teaches you Arabic.
posted by planetkyoto (24 comments total)

Dangerous Gossip of The Week noted elsewhere.
posted by y2karl at 8:19 AM on April 13, 2004

Raed links Khalid Jarrar's Secrets In Baghdad, which is an entertaining read:

People are making jokes about how americans won't handle control to Iraqis...cause they dont have it at the first place:)...

Today...a morter bomb fell only few meters away of me:)
i was at BBC house..and the morter fell on the Sheraton, or the Ilwiyya club..i am not sure.
it was reaally loud...like the days of the war.
the funny thing is that when i heared it my reaction was : waww..cool!
and i ran towards the nearest please wher i can see what happened.
isnt it amazing to live in iraq?
me*
posted by y2karl at 8:24 AM on April 13, 2004

Ay Carumba! Sorry, y2karl, I didn't see that.
posted by planetkyoto at 8:30 AM on April 13, 2004

Oh, no, that wasn't my point---I just found it myself. I was just pointing out an item of interest. It's front page postworthy plus no one is going to piss on your thread because you posted it.
posted by y2karl at 8:41 AM on April 13, 2004

Just for completeness - Salam Pax is still here.

I frikkin' met an Ayatollah! a real life Ayatollah, I watched him eat a banana and then he put his hands on my shoulder and prayed that I get married soon.


Some other Baghdad bloggers:

Riverbend - "girl blog from Iraq."

Healing Iraq - An Iraqi dentist's blog.

Iraq at a glance - Another Iraqi dentist's blog.

Firas - "short articles about the mentality of Iraqis."

Hammorabi

Messopotamian
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:45 AM on April 13, 2004

Along with the previously linked, I have followed these closely over the past week or so:

• The View from Baghdad: 'I'm working for an international NGO in Baghad. I'm blogging to give a view of what is happening on the ground in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq that you might not find in other forums.'
• Rahul Mahajan's Empire Notes

posted by maggieb at 9:14 AM on April 13, 2004

great, great links... got to love the internet!
posted by chaz at 9:20 AM on April 13, 2004

And this, might be FPP worthy if we weren't so 'raqqed out:

The Belmont Club maps parallels in some recent journalist/insurgent encounters. I had read two of the three stories, noting the echo.
posted by maggieb at 9:33 AM on April 13, 2004

it would be really cool to have these Iraqi bloggers comment and post here as MeFi members. they'd give us a fresh, new, in loco perspective on the Iraqi situation.
maybe Matt could give them memberships without putting too much stress on the server.
I for one would appreciate immensely their input
posted by matteo at 9:39 AM on April 13, 2004

"do you have an ID?"
i show him my idea.
"jordanian? what are you doing here?"
he actually asked that question...what am I doing here??
can you see the irony?
an american soldier..her in iraq..infront of my door..asked me "what are you doing in iraq?"
what the hell?

Secrets in Baghdad is a fascinating read. Nice find y2k.
posted by eyeballkid at 9:58 AM on April 13, 2004

it would be really cool to have these Iraqi bloggers comment and post here as MeFi members.

i have the tiniest suspicion that they might have more pressing concerns at the moment than metafilter.
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 10:03 AM on April 13, 2004

wow, they get some awful hatemail.
posted by dabitch at 10:08 AM on April 13, 2004

I have hopes for riverbend's sideblog Is Something Burning?
posted by y2karl at 10:12 AM on April 13, 2004

wow, they get some awful hatemail.

Certain aspects of a MetaFilter membership would come as no surprise to them, then.
posted by y2karl at 10:16 AM on April 13, 2004

They'd probably like a MeFi ID, and if they've heard of us and have any desire, I'd be thrilled if Matt let them jump the queue, but honestly I'd rather they just kept on not getting blown up or shot.
posted by chicobangs at 11:11 AM on April 13, 2004

Have them email me, I'd be happy to let them post here.
posted by mathowie at 2:28 PM on April 13, 2004

outstanding matt, thanks
posted by matteo at 2:37 PM on April 13, 2004

I've just e-mailed khalid. I really hopes he joins, his blog is very interesting.
anybody volunteers to e-mail other Iraqi bloggers? karl? maggieb? Linguist?
posted by matteo at 2:55 PM on April 13, 2004

riverbend has been invited as well
posted by y2karl at 3:12 PM on April 13, 2004

Zeyad at Healing Iraq, too
posted by y2karl at 3:14 PM on April 13, 2004

I emailed Raed with an invitiation. I found his blog because he emailed me a couple days ago saying he reads my blog, which surprised the heck out of me.
posted by planetkyoto at 5:41 PM on April 13, 2004

Very cool turn to the thread.

I emailed metafilter member Hoder who's done a bunch working with the Iranian blogger community to see what he thinks about this. He recently posted a thread on making a blogosphere on his site. Some sort of Metafilter, Iranian bloggers, Iraqi bloggers connectivitiy has got to be a good thing.
posted by superchris at 6:41 PM on April 13, 2004

Iranians already have a Persian Metafilter-alike website called Sobhaneh (Breakfast). Also one in English focused on Iran, named iranFilter.

However, I think Iraqi blogosphere wouldn't be made unless a major and popular blog in Arabic emerges, so Arab people around the world and especially in Iraq can really experience the concept of weblog. English weblogs can not penetrate the local audience, especially in Arab countries.
posted by hoder at 7:54 PM on April 13, 2004

Are there any Afghanistan blogs? I've found several reporters, but no citizens.
posted by john at 1:56 PM on April 15, 2004