Since the end of March, the
Wall Street Journal's new
Middle East Real Time blog has written about
Turkey's "unstoppable" export boom in soap operas,
Saudi Arabia's "life after jihad" rehab program,
the persistence of obviously fraudulent bomb detectors across Iraq,
YouTube branding discussions among Syrian rebel factions,
a rising media star Sunni cleric in Lebanon,
a post-revolutionary Cairo arts festival, and attempts to
overcome conservative objections and change the Saudi Thursday-Friday weekend to match the rest of the business world. Previous non-paywalled
WSJ Real Time blogs include
Korea,
China,
Canada,
India,
Brussels,
Emerging Europe,
Japan.
posted by mediareport
on May 9, 2013 -
16 comments
"The Western observer tends to split the Russian press into two camps: evil statists and martyrs. But for their part, members of the Russian press are convinced of their superiority over their Western colleagues, at least when it comes to Syria. Russian journalists aren’t under the illusion that they are more objective than their Western counterparts, but they are convinced of their ability to convey a more realistic, complex picture of the events in Syria." -
The New Republic: In Russia, Even Putin’s Critics Are OK With His Syria Policy
posted by beisny
on Jul 24, 2012 -
34 comments
Britain's Channel 4 has
broadcast graphic and disturbing footage apparently showing torture within a Syrian military hospital. The UN special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez,
says that the allegations are "consistent with what my mandate has been receiving over the last several months."
[more inside]
posted by Joe in Australia
on Mar 7, 2012 -
92 comments
Marie Colvin, an American journalist working for
The Sunday Times of London, and French photographer, Rémi Ochlik
were killed this morning in the city of Homs, Syria. The two Western journalists were among 20 people killed in a makeshift media center, raising suspicions that Syrian security forces targeted their location by tracing satellite signals. Their deaths follow 19 days of shelling that activists say killed hundreds of trapped civilians in one of the deadliest campaigns in nearly a year of violent repression by the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
[more inside]
posted by 2bucksplus
on Feb 22, 2012 -
104 comments
There is no right answer.
Damned if we do impose sanctions on Syria. And damned if we don't.
Foreign companies are enriching Assad's brutal regime – but even the Syrian people are divided on the issue of sanctions.
This piece was written by George Monbiot after he had publicly asked for feedback
What do you think – should we impose sanctions on Syria?
The moral line is unclear, but I'm writing a column next week about this issue and would appreciate some of your input.
Useful background :
Geopolitics of the 2011 Syrian Uprising.
Some voices from the street.
(
Previous 1; 2; 3; 4 ).
posted by adamvasco
on Sep 20, 2011 -
32 comments
Deadly detention: Deaths in custody amid popular protest in Syria “These deaths behind bars are reaching massive proportions, and appear to be an extension of the same brutal disdain for life that we are seeing daily on the streets of Syria,” said Neil Sammonds, Amnesty International’s researcher on Syria.
“The accounts of torture we have received are horrific. We believe the Syrian government to be systematically persecuting its own people on a vast scale.”
posted by joannemullen
on Aug 31, 2011 -
67 comments
February 25, 2011: Vogue calls her "a rose in the desert": "
Asma al-Assad is glamorous, young, and very chic—the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies."
(Wikipedia about her
husband: "He has been criticized for his disregard for human rights, economic lapses, sponsorship of terrorism, and corruption.")
[more inside]
posted by iviken
on Feb 27, 2011 -
25 comments
The SY Empire: A rare and fascinating look inside the secretive
Syrian Jewish community of Brooklyn, which has drawn a bright line against assimilation called the Edict that casts out for life any "SY" who marries a gentile, even if they convert. (
Crazy Eddie --
who knew? Seinfeld's mom --
who knew? Isaac Misrahi --
who knew? "J-Dubs" --
who knew?)
posted by digaman
on Oct 15, 2007 -
84 comments