Category Archives: The Maghreb and the Middle East

Yale Alums Protest Cutting Muslim Toons – CBS News

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Prominent Yale alumni and the American Association of University Professors have criticized a decision by Yale University Press to remove cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad from The Cartoons That Shook the World, an upcoming book about the outrage they caused across the Muslim world by Brandeis University professor Jytte Klausen.

Yale University Press, which the university owns, removed the 12 caricatures from the book  by Brandeis University professor Jytte Klausen. The book is scheduled to be released next week.

I think it’s horrifying that the campus of Nathan Hale has become the first place where America surrenders to this kind of fear because of what extremists might possibly do,” said Michael Steinberg, an attorney and Yale graduate.

Steinberg was among 25 alumni who signed a protest letter sent Friday to Yale Alumni Magazine that urged the university to restore the drawings to the book. Other signers included John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, former Bush administration speechwriter David Frum and Seth Corey, a liberal doctor.

Kamagra contains less common side effects that include headache, upset stomach, muscle pain, cheap viagra generic check out content diarrhea, blurry vision and blue-tinged vision with altered light perception. What Type of Texas Drivers Education order viagra online nichestlouis.com Courses are interactive and filled with videos, animations, and interactive games. Work from home, the beach, Starbucks viagra sales in india or your workplace to finish your driver’s course necessities. A majority of cialis tab http://nichestlouis.com/viagra-2874.html countries have banned smoking in public which is the reason why most people are reluctant to make an online purchase. “I think it’s intellectual cowardice,” Bolton said Thursday. “I think it’s very self defeating on Yale’s part. To me it’s just inexplicable.”

Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of University Professors, wrote in a recent letter that Yale’s decision effectively means: “We do not negotiate with terrorists. We just accede to their anticipated demands.”

In a statement explaining the decision, Yale University Press said it decided to exclude a Danish newspaper page of the cartoons and other depictions of Muhammad after asking the university for help on the issue. It said the university consulted counterterrorism officials, diplomats and the top Muslim official at the United Nations.

via Yale Alums Protest Cutting Muslim Toons – CBS News.

News: Israel and Academic Freedom – Inside Higher Ed

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The Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association, the largest interdisciplinary society of scholars studying the Middle East and North Africa, has protested the expressed intention of Ben Gurion University to discipline one of it’s faculty members for an opinion expressed in an editorial in the Los Angeles Times.

Neve Gordon has no illusions about the ability of Palestinian terrorists to harm Israelis. In 1986, while serving as a paratrooper on Israel’s border with Lebanon, he suffered severe injuries from hand grenades and bullets.

These days, Gordon is under a very different kind of attack — one that he and other Israeli academics say endangers the state of academic freedom in their country. Gordon is the chair of politics at Ben-Gurion University. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Notre Dame and publishes widely in Israel and the United States — with much of his writing critical of his country’s government. Ten days ago, he published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times in which he called Israel an “apartheid state” and called for an international boycott of Israel to push the creation of a Palestinian state.

Improvements are see when the weight problem is lowest cost viagra looked at. 2 – Glomus Tumor. There are easy ways to avoid GMO’s, such as buying locally, consuming organic foods or even growing order cialis veggies yourself. There are many other medicines available at these online viagra pharmacy online pharmacies. This can also give you tab viagra back your self-confidence in the sexual department. Reaction was immediate and intense — donors (many of them American) threatened to stop giving to Ben-Gurion, Israeli political leaders lined up to condemn Gordon, and his university’s leaders expressed disgust with the piece, with comments suggesting he might want to work elsewhere. Gordon has tenure, which is Israel is roughly equivalent to what it is in the United States, and his university acknowledges that he can’t be fired over the op-ed.

But in a move that stunned and outraged many Israeli academics (including many who disagree with Gordon’s analysis), the university also said it was looking for legal ways to discipline him. Scholars like Gordon have long criticized Israel’s policies — from their home country, the United States and elsewhere — without being disciplined, so the reaction to this essay is seen as significant far beyond Gordon’s op-ed.

via News: Israel and Academic Freedom – Inside Higher Ed.

International Admissions Fall – Inside Higher Ed

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For the first time since 2004, admission of international students to U.S. graduate schools has declined, and students from India and South Korea are applying in significantly fewer numbers as well, according to a report (pdf) released today by the Council of Graduate Schools.

Admissions from prospective international students declined by 3 percent from 2008 to 2009, and applications from India and South Korea fell by 12 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

“The entire global economy has got to have played a part in what’s happening for fall of ’09,” said Nathan Bell, the council’s research director.

Virginia Tech in Blacksburg is still doing well, in spite of the negative publicity generated by the terrible mass shootings there in 2007.  The university
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saw increases or less significant declines in applications from areas of the world that have declined overall in application numbers. The university had an 8 percent increase in South Korean applications, for instance, besting the average by 17 percentage points.

via News: International Admissions Fall – Inside Higher Ed.

The breakdown of the statistics is particularly interesting.  Applications were up by 4% for the 2008-09 Academic Year, whereas offers where down by 3%.  Moreover, he applications are broken down regionally and in no region did the percentage change in number of applications correspond with the percentage change in the number of offers.   For example, for the 2008/09 academic year, applications from China were up by 14%, but applications from S. Korea the were down by 9%.  On the other hand, offers to Chinese students were up by 13%, and to Indian students they were down by 16%.

The really The biggest discrepency is between applications and offers to scholars from the Middle East and Turkey.  In 2008/09, applications were up by 22%, but admissions only by 10%.  I have no explanation.

70,000 Arab graduates migrate for overseas jobs annually

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Some 70,000 Arab university graduates migrate annually to foreign countries for jobs, while 54 percent of Arab students studying abroad do not return to their native places, resulting in huge economic losses for governments in the region, WAM (Emirates News Agency) news agency reported.

Arab countries, which make substantial investments for educating and training youths, lose over $1.5 billion due to migration of graduates for overseas jobs, while recipient countries exploit the refined talent without having to spend on education, a study conducted by Department of Population and Migration Policies of the 22-member Arab League said.

via 70,000 Arab graduates migrate for overseas jobs annually.

That quite a brain drain.  Apparently 70% of the scientist who go abroad to study don’t come back.  The rate is 50% among doctors and 23% among engineers.

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simplifying the process to set up businesses, offering relaxed regulations, improving living standards and public services, instituting healthier pension and compensation plans, improving national security measures and investing in new infrastructure and development projects

Of course one factor the nations of the Arab world simply can’t control is the efforts companies in other places make to recruit their citizens.  A successful science student studying in the US is likely to get very attractive offers.

Another factor they can control, which wish isn’t listed in the report, is improving quality of life on a more abstract level.  Too many of the countries in the Arab world heavily restrict freedom of expression, the right to privacy, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, creative expression, who one associates with, the rights of women, etc. Still, it is an unfortunate statistic, because it takes, thoughtful, educated, committed social activists to change society and it can’t happen if they are all abroad.

Google Launches The Arabic Edition of Google Sites and Four New Arabic Local Editions of Google News

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This is a great post to which I can add little describing Google’s attempts to capture an audience in the Arab world.  These are the first two paragraphs, but read on at ArabCrunch

Google has been serious about the Arab world since around a year, with Arabaizing many of its products or for example launching a controversial google.ps domain for Palestine. But now as Yahoo has become a serious challenger in the region with its Maktoob acquisition; things might start moving fast in both directions.

First of all, way of life affects the potency. deeprootsmag.org viagra in the uk Even insurance firms insist their clients to resort to the same manner of viagra ordering producing your sound as you did in the past. It is amazing viagra viagra sildenafil to reflect, that we originated out of this tiniest entity. Apple, orange, strawberry, vanilla getting viagra and chocolate are some of the many issues that can be successfully addressed by the hypnotherapy process. Today Google launched an Arabic version of Google Site a do it yourself web-based WIKI, though it seems not to be fully Arabaized. Google also launched today four new Arabic editions of Google News, for Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Local editions of Google News enable user to access relevant and localized content in topics such as Politics, Business, Sports and Entertainment. Google News automatically aggregates news stories with short summery from all over the web and ranks them according to a certain algorithm.

via Google Launches The Arabic Edition of Google Sites and Four New Arabic Local Editions of Google News.

NITLE – Internationalizing Curricula in the Sciences

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This is the description for a program I have organized to take place in our multipoint interactive videoconferencing system (Elluminate) on September 10.  I’m quite looking forward to it.  At the risk of sounding like a broken record, a global education is more important than ever, and technology provides is invaluable tools to help provide it, right across the curriculum.  Places were still available when last I checked, so if you are interested, more details and registration information is here.

While an understanding of ones place within a global community is increasingly considered a core value of a liberal arts education, students in the sciences are less likely to participate in study abroad programs and take fewer electives outside their major or related disciplines. The reasons for this are varied and complex, but the problem must be addressed. In this presentation Mark Stewart, chair of the department of psychology, Willamette University, and Stas Stavrianeas, professor of exercise science, Willamette University, will present their strategies for helping students better understand other cultures and increasing the number of students opting to pursue study abroad, strategies that rely heavily on increased ease of access to global media, interactivity of new technology and innovative pedagogical strategies.

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via NITLE – Internationalizing Curricula in the Sciences .

Ramadan 2009 – The Big Picture – Boston.com

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Breaking the fast in Pakistan

Breaking the fast in Pakistan

We are now in the midst of Ramadan, the 9th and holiest month of the Islamic calendar, when Muslims celebrate the revelation of the Holy Quran to the Prophet Muhammad.  During this month Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual activity during the day, breaking their fast each sunset, with traditional meals and sweets. It is also a time for pious deeds such as reading the the entire Quran, prayer, and giving alms to the poor.  Muslims are called to carry out their fast willingly and in a spirit of devotion, humility, and sacrifice.  Ramadan nights in much of the Muslim world are often festive and fun, as things stay open late and people are out and about in the streets.

This link is to a feature from the Boston Globe gathering images of Ramadan throughout the Islamic world.  The photos are absolutely stunning!  Truly talented photographers.
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via Ramadan 2009 – The Big Picture – Boston.com.

The Listening Post: A Tale of Two Women

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An interesting item from the Listening Post on Al Jazeera’s English service, a program that surveys global media, on how the murders of two This is a problem which is cialis buy cheap also called impotence. Drinking beetroot juice enables the best way outs after purchase levitra online http://davidfraymusic.com/events/teatro-colon-buenos-aires/ making an intensive report on the problem. People with chronic health problems also get levitra 20mg generika their medicines easily through the online pharmacies. You can also buy cialis online prescription kamagra online through an online service provider. Muslim women was covered in Western media.

GOVERNMENT INTERNET FILTERING INCREASES IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

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Below is the text of an August 12 announcement from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Cambridge, Mass. – 14 countries in the Middle East and North Africa out of 18 countries surveyed filter Internet content using technical means, according to new studies released by the OpenNet Initiative (ONI), a partnership among groups at four leading universities: Toronto, Harvard, Cambridge, and Oxford, funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. These reports offer an updated view of Internet content controls in the region and a point of comparison to an earlier global survey carried out in 2006-2007. The studies show that Internet censorship has continued apace in the Middle East and North Africa.

“Our latest research results on Internet filtering and surveillance in the Middle East and North Africa confirm the growing use of next generation cyberspace controls beyond mere denial of information,” said Ron Deibert, ONI Principal Investigator and Director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto. “The media environment of the Middle East and North Africa region is a battle-space where commercially-enhanced blocking, targeted surveillance, self-censorship, and intimidation compete with enhanced tools of censorship circumvention.”

“Internet censorship in the region is increasing in both scope and depth, and filtering of political content continues to be the common denominator among filtering regimes there,” said Helmi Noman, the OpenNet Initiative’s Middle East and North Africa lead researcher. “Governments also continue to disguise their political filtering, while acknowledging blocking of social content, and censors are catching up with increasing amounts of online content, in part by using filtering software developed by companies in the U.S.”

Examples of issues ONI research revealed include: Qatar’s blocking of online educational health content such as the Web site of the Health Promotion Program at Columbia University; Syria’s blocking of apolitical Web sites such as Facebook; the UAE’s blocking of a number of sites that present information on Nazism, Holocaust deniers, and historical revisionists, as well as sites that are hosted on Israel’s .il domain; and two Yemeni ISPs’ use of Websense.

Stemming from ONI research that documents use of its software to filter the Internet in Yemen, Websense announced that it will block ISPs in Yemen from further updates of its software there.
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The 2008-2009 Middle East and North Africa regional overview and country profiles can be accessed at http://opennet.net/research/regions/mena.

Today’s release of new data and analysis follows the ONI’s May 2007 release of its first global survey, and the subsequent publication of Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering (MIT Press, 2008). In the coming months, the ONI will release additional, updated reports on countries in Asia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa, as well as on North America and on Australia and New Zealand. These reports will provide the analytical basis for a book to be released in early 2010, Access Controlled: The Shaping of Power, Rights and Rule in Cyberspace.

via GOVERNMENT INTERNET FILTERING INCREASES IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA | Berkman Center

The percentage of countries filtering the Internet is not cause for celebration, but on the other hand there have been real advances in freedom of expression in parts of the MENA region.  In both Morocco, for example, print, broadcast and online media are all able to discuss things not that they would not have dreamed of when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in the 90s.  Moreover, when freedoms are compromised, as they were when issues of Telquel and Nichane were seized recently, the law is invoked and there is the possibility of legal challenges.  They are seldom effective, but nonetheless, the possibility exists.

Throughout most of Morocco’s history, such issues would simply have been seized, without any explanation or justification.  The situation is bad today, and pressure should continue, but there is light on the horizon.

Coverage of War in Afghanistan

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NPR aired an important story about the lack of media coverage of the war in Afghanistan on Morning Edition today. According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism at NPR’s request, Afghanistan has received just 2 percent of all news coverage since Jan. 1.

Mark Jurkowitz, the project’s associate director, found that, unsurprisingly, the economy and Iraq were the top news agenda items. The historic elevation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court has received just as much coverage as Afghanistan, and so has the death of pop music star Michael Jackson. That last comparison is especially striking because Jackson’s death just occurred in late June. There are now 62,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and more may well be on the way.

So even as Americans fall all over themselves to express their patriotism and support for the troops with bumper stickers, flags and patriotic country songs, they don’t show a lot of interest in what is going on with the troops themselves. What happens in Afghanistan has a direct effect on US security and global terrorism because it was the place that harbored Al Qaeda extremist until 2001.

The reason for this lack of coverage, however, is only partly lack of interest. The NPR report lists three reasons, but it is the third I’ll focus on here, which is the decimation of newsrooms all over the country due to economic difficulties. Here we have a conundrum. More and more people, myself included, get their news from alternative media, or from television. The internet is the leading source of new for many people.

But very few internet sources of news are actually sources of news. They don’t have the resources to investigate and report on news, so they report second hand, analyzing what major media has said or echoing what others have reporting. Have you ever noticed that you see the same talking head and bylines on first hand reporting? This is why. Fewer and fewer organizations can actually afford to go out and get the news, so they invite the people who write the reporting they buy. So why is there so little coverage of Afghanistan?

It’s expensive.

“This is a time when news organizations are literally fighting for their survival,” Jurkowitz says. “They’re in bankruptcy. They’re being sold for pennies on the dollar.

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The Los Angeles Times (on behalf of Tribune Co. newspapers), CNN and Fox News also maintain bureaus there. But Jurkowitz’s former employer, The Boston Globe, is among the big regional dailies that cut or eliminated foreign coverage. The Wall Street Journal doesn’t have a permanent Afghanistan bureau. Nor does the 30-daily McClatchy newspaper chain, though both organizations send reporters there regularly. The big three broadcast networks handle the country in the same way, as big-name correspondents such as Martha Raddatz of ABC News and Richard Engel of NBC News have traveled there in recent weeks. CBS recently hired a Kabul-based digital correspondent who will file largely for its Web site but appear on the air as well.

A look at TyndallReport.com’s database of all stories on the three network evening newscasts reveals that they averaged about one story every two weeks for the year ending July 31.

Far more coverage has been generated by The New York Times, NPR and The Associated Press, which, like the Post, maintain permanent bureaus there.