...Or Does It Explode?

Random Thought?

How well does Moammar Qaddafi sleep at night?

Don't Fear the Barber

There appears to be a competition between Iranian and Saudi authorities over who can come up with the more ridiculous attempt to police so-called "public morals." Apropos yesterday's post on Iran's struggle to defend against a "Barbie Invasion," here is today's wacky headline of the day:

"Saudi Governor Orders Haircuts for Men Who Hit on Women"

It's the great Saudi haircut crackdown of '08!

Don't Fear the Barbie

Wacky but true headline of the day: "Prosecutor General: Iran Must Fight Barbie Doll Invasion"

The Jet-Skiing Dictator

Gotta love the cover of the latest issue of TelQuel, which goes all US Weekly on King Mo6. In the "His Majesty's Hobbies" cover story, readers get to learn about the king's love of water-sports, cinema, bobybuilding, basketball, and Paris in the springtime. It's a veritable portrait of the monarch as a young man. The question, of course, is who pays for the jet-ski?

Bonus: Don't miss the photo inside the article of Mo6 hanging out by the pool with his furry-friend.

Lawyer for the 8-Year-Old Divorcee

Lawyer and human rights activist Shatha Nasser addresses a news conference in Sanaa April 21, 2008 as her client, the eight-year-old girl whose marriage was terminated by a court in Sanaa on April 15 listens.

Friday Foto: Midelt Jewish Cemetery

Is This Not Condescending?

A review of Robin Wright's Dreams and Shadows in the New York Review of Books ends with these slippery words:

Dictators are ugly, and democracy is, most likely, the least bad way of being governed. But demagogues can be better than democrats at keeping fragile polities together. The Arabs say warily that one day of fitna, schism, is worse than thirty years of tyranny. A quaint and anachronistic notion, maybe, but also the product of a historical experience far longer than most other peoples'.

Two thoughts: (1) Somewhere Moammar Qaddafi is reading the review and laughing. (2) Where is government censor to ban this article, close down the New York Review of Books, and arrest the reviewer? If "the Arabs" don't "democracy" because of their "fragile polities," why not the same for Mr. Max Rodenbeck?

Syrian Appeals Court Revisits Kamal Labwani's Case...

...and tacks on three more years to his 12 year sentence:

Germany condemned Syria on Wednesday for extending the prison sentence of an opposition activist, Kamal Labwani. The German Foreign Ministry said he had only spoken out for democracy and freedom of opinion.

In a statement in Berlin, the ministry said a military court in Damascus had sentenced Labwani, leader of the Liberal Democratic Union, on Wednesday to a further three years in prison after convicting him of spreading propaganda and false information. Added to a 12-year sentence imposed last May, Labwani was now serving 15 years in prison. Berlin condemned that first sentence, when it was holding the European Union presidency last year.

"This new conviction is in breach of the international pact of civil and political rights which Syria signed in 1969," the ministry said. "Non-violently, Dr Labwani is advocating improvements to democracy and freedom of opinion in Syria."

Good to see the Syrian judiciary is open to revisiting and challenging past rulings!

A Moment of Silence for Hadeel

Hadeel al-Hodaif, one of Saudi Arabia's outstanding young (female) bloggers, has suddenly gone into a coma.

It is unknown for sure what prompted this seemingly healthy young woman to withdraw from the world in such a sudden, stark way.

May she soon re-emerge, back into the warm light of day.

Jailed Under Three Different Kings: One Moroccan Activist's Bizarre Odyssey

Mohamed Bougrine has quite a tale to tell:

Seventy-two-year-old Mohamed Bougrine is not just the "prisoner of three kings". He also held another title - Morocco's oldest political detainee - but that no longer applies.

At the beginning of the month, the old man was given a royal pardon, following several months in jail for what the authorities termed "lacking the respect due to the king"...

"I was arrested for the first time 17 March 1960," he says, every date stuck in his mind.

...Mohamed was imprisoned four times under the next Moroccan king, Hassan II, sometimes for supporting resistance movements, at other times for his political activity.

...After more than a decade in jail, after being tortured and humiliated, and at his advanced age, would he be prepared to go to prison again for his beliefs? The response was as firm as this extraordinary man's convictions.

"I don't think I have been in jail for the last time, and it doesn't scare me," he said. "I am fighting for a better Morocco."

Read the whole article to get a full account of Bougrine's bizarre story.