Upcoming Travels
I’m going to Oman tomorrow for the weekend.
Then I’m going to Jordan and Yemen with my Dad.
Then I’m going to India by myself.
Then I’m going back over to Qatar.
All that between now and mid-April.
Whoohoo!
They are killing women!
“They can only be stopped when we challenge them on their home turf by spreading freedom and multilateralism to defeat their backward ideology and isolationism. And for that Muslims are in dire need of more Benazirs. Every Muslim woman should be Benazir, think and fight like Benazir.”
From Gulfnews. http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Pakistan/10178113.html
The Tents are Up. Winter in the Desert
Wonderful little article in the New York Times about the life that blooms in the desert this time of year. The tents are up. The people are enjoying life in the desert during the winter months.
http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/27/for-the-moment-the-sands-of-time/?hp
Mourning Benazir Bhutto
This early evening news ends what was a beautiful day. It is such a loss for the nation of Pakistan. Here in Dubai her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, and three children left for the airport to go to Islamabad around 6 p.m. local time.
In Doha, Qatar
I’m here in Doha, Qatar. I’ll be attending a training workshop with my library management system on Tuesday (4 Dec) and the GCC IUG meeting on the 5th and 6th.
It is an exciting time to be in Doha. The GCC leaders are all here for the GCC Summit. For the first time, that includes President Ahmadinejad of Iran. I watched the opening address(es) this afternoon and their subjects, goals and shared ideas seem very good. I look forward to the reporting.
I’m watching Aljazeera. Their coverage of Venezuela’s recent vote (51 to 49%) is very balanced. Plus they are covering the Turkish and Russian votes.
There are no equivalent international news organizations coming out of the USA. CNN has completely failed to remain relevant. Even the BBC falls short these days. The world is so much larger than what American media is interested in. I’m completely unimpressed with western news outlets. They don’t even try anymore.
The Most Important Resource for Middle East Bloggers
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15013
The UAE has made it a ’cause’ to tackle the fast-paced chase called censorship. Reporters Without Borders has created a resource, downloadable by way of PDF, called the Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-dissidents.
http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=542
When I think about having a blog, writing about living in the Middle East, expressing my opinions, I’m reminded by how quickly one’s ‘innocent’ intent is thwarted by the fear of oppressive outcomes. These result typically in deportation and for some, jail.
And then I come to find out that ZU students have created their first blog. Fantastic news: http://expozure.blogspot.com/