There’s a new blog on the block, published by Mideastwire, the company that provides a daily digest of translated articles from the Middle Eastern press and runs the Beirut Exchange. I would highly recommend checking it out and subscribing to its RSS feed.
Nick Noe (the co-founder of Mideastwire) has assured me that they will be putting up material and translated articles on a regular basis, so it’s an easy way to get access to a great resource. (See, for example, the translation of the Assafir interview with Bashar al-Assad, which we discussed a couple of days ago.)
Also, do check out the latest briefing on the Lebanese municipal elections, put out by IFES, which is invaluable as usual. You can download it here.
Finally, a Syrian online newsletter (tabloid?) All4Syria is claiming that the Syrian Ambassador to Canada has been summoned back to Damascus because of the launch of OneMideast, which sounds like a ludicrous claim to me (and to Josh Landis as well). Be sure to read the comment section as well, but here’s the report itself:
بعد قصة المدونين : مرسوم بعودة السفير السوري من كندا
طباعة أرسل لصديق
مراسل المحليات – كلنا شركاء
20/ 05/ 2010
صدر مرسوم بعودة السفير السوري المعتمد في اوتاوا السيد جميل صقر وذلك بعد ان انهى خدمة خمس سنوات …….وتزامن صدور المرسوم مع الضجة التي حصلت بنفس اليوم واثارتها المقالة البريطانية التي كشفت عن لقاءات وحوارات بين مدونين وشخصيات سياسية وديبلوماسية واكاديمية سورية مع نظرائهم الاسرائيليين والتي كانت مستمرة منذ اكثر من سنة حيث يقوم بتنسيقها وادارتها الشاب كميل قطرنجي المقيم في كندا .
وقد ربط البعض بين صدور قرار اعادة السفير في كندا وعدم التمديد له لمدة عام اضافي وبين هذه القضية , وقد منح السفير صقر مدة شهرين لانهاء التزاماته والعودة لدمشق
As it turns out, the Ambassador was due back in Damascus anyway because his five-year term was up, but the website’s editors were only to happy to suggest that far more nefarious forces were at work.
Qifa Nabki 
I am not sure if Brennan is an idiot or not, and I don’t really care, but someone like Noe should look at USG relations with the PLO in Lebanon as an instructive case for what he seems to be arguing.
Would have commented there, but no comments, apparently.
Posted by david | May 21, 2010, 2:38 pm“Terrorists are like the internet.”
— Bashar al-Assad on Charlie Rose last night.
Tee-hee-hee. To be fair though, he said that they were not like a ‘video game.’
PS: Are you under some heavy rock?!?
Posted by david | May 28, 2010, 2:30 pmKind of. It’s called the dissertation rock.
Posted by Qifa Nabki | May 29, 2010, 6:30 amBon courage, wazir al-widener, bon courage…
Posted by david | May 29, 2010, 12:47 pm