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Clash of the Titans: The Syrian Arab Republic Vs Facebook

Friday, December 07, 2007
"Syrian authorities have blocked Facebook, the popular Internet hangout, over what seems to be fears of Israeli "infiltration" of Syrian social networks on the Net, according to residents and media reports....Lebanon's daily As-Safir reported that Facebook was blocked on Nov. 18. It said the authorities took the step because many Israelis have been entering Syria-based groups".

Righty-ho. The Syrian state is so robust, sure in its own identity etc etc that it is worried that Israeli Facebook users (many of whom are doubtless Arabs) will bring about the End of the House of Assad?

Is it the 'poking', the pirate/ninja/snowball etc nonsense, or the status updates that are most threatening, I wonder?

Meanwhile, Bashar Assad and his thuggish / murderous / thankfully dead father appears to have a number of fan clubs on Facebook. Nice....

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posted by Croydonian

Consultants, even dafter than wonks?

Tuesday, October 23, 2007
How else could one publish a survey, which does not appear to be a joke, in which Jordan, yes Jordan, ranks as a more globalised economy than the United Kingdom and Australia. Apparently this is in part owed to it having "one of the highest levels of peacekeeping troop contributions of all U.N. member states".

Still more curiously, it has Jordan "finishing in the top 10 for the economic, social, and political components of the index". Now admittedly Jordan is not North Korea, Sudan or Zimbabwe, but fancy your chances of opening a shul in Amman, given that Jordanian land buying and nationality appears still to be barred to Jews?

For a further bucketful of cold water, over to Freedom House - Jordan rates as partly free, at five for political rights and 4 for civil liberties. We score 1/1. The Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom makes Jordan's "economy is 64 percent free, according to our 2007 assessment, which makes it the world's 53rd freest economy....Jordan is ranked 3rd out of 17 countries in the Middle East/North Africa region, and its overall score is higher than the regional average".

Meanwhile, Singapore, Honkers and the Netherlands make the top three, and bar the less than democratic rule of HK, that does not sound that wrong.

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posted by Croydonian

They do things differently in ..... Syria

Friday, October 12, 2007
Interesting piece on Syrian TV in, of all places, Thai newspaper 'The Nation'.

This move would doubtless be hugely popular with independent production companies if replicated in these parts:

"Syrian President Bashar al Assad ordered the country's TV network to purchase all Syrian series which have been produced this year".

I'm quite tempted to head out to Damascus and start on Arik Sharon, the biopic.

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posted by Croydonian

With 'friends' like these....

Monday, October 08, 2007
Egypt had a public holiday on Sunday to celebrate its 'victory' in the Yom Kippur war (erm, you lost, actually).

I would like to say that I am shocked, but I am not. Perhaps more important is that the Egyptian equivalents of the Mirror and the Guardian are appalled at a publication strike by opposition newspapers over "the country's crackdown on press freedom": "Government newspapers criticized the opposition decision to halt publication on Sunday, which coincided with Egypt's holiday marking the Yom Kippur War and the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan".

And what has this crackdown involved?: "an Egyptian court last month sentenced the editors of four outspoken tabloids to a year in prison for defaming President Hosni Mubarak and his ruling party after they criticized senior officials in the government. One of the editors also faces charges in a separate lawsuit of spreading rumors that the 79-year-old Mubarak was in poor health".

I have always thought that Mubarak looks like an extra from The Godfather, so I suppose his acting this way is no great surprise. Meanwhile, I hear that the Lord Protector suffers from an ingrowing toenail, mainly because he cannot reach to chew it.

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posted by Croydonian