The cards are shifting (and Israel missed the press release)

Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz, January 4: Hamas, as it turns out, has a single definition for victory. Like Hezbollah, Hamas knows that a few hundred rockets will not crush Israel, but rather serve as critically-needed leverage to establish its presence as a prominent and active decision-making force in the inter-Palestinian arena. This goes beyond Hamas’ standing…

Is this future of our society?

A key Wikileaks editorial: British courts continue to disgrace Enlightenment values. This month saw a secret UK court hearing, with secret participants, produce a secret order to secretly gag the population, the terms of which are secret and the revelation of which is punishable by upto 15 years of imprisonment. How many of these orders…

Feeding the beast

What is the real legacy of the Bush administration in the Middle East? Rami G. Khouri writes: Major Arab allies of the United States – such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan – are in more precarious condition now than they were eight years ago. They find themselves uncomfortably perched between their own reliance on U.S.…

The Blogging Revolution and voices of crisis

Juan Cole runs one of the finest and most popular US-based Middle East related blogs. It’s been a beacon of rationality during the Bush years. My following piece appears on his site today: During last week’s terror attacks in Mumbai, new technology reacted to the news faster than traditional media services. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and…

Going online in repressive regimes

My following talk was presented today to a full room at Harvard University’s Berkman Centre: Harvard University’s Berkman Centre for Internet and Society Luncheon Series, 25 November 2008 The Blogging Revolution: Going online in repressive regimes Antony Loewenstein Internet censorship is something that only happens in non-democratic states. Regimes that want to crush free speech…

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