Photograph by Juan Cole, May 2012 Line of tanks that Mu’tasim Qaddafi deployed against the civilians of the city of Misrata, Libya, March-August 2011– destroyed and kept as a memorial outside the city.
Omar Khayyam (493) “I passed a potter at his wheel”
The other day I passed a potter at his wheel, displaying every moment a new skill; and it occurred to me, though one less clear-eyed wouldn’t see it: It is our ancestors’ clay in a potter’s hands! Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 493
Matisse: “Algerian Woman” (Painting)
Henri Matisse. The Algerian Woman. 1909. Oil on canvas. Musee National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France The depiction of the Middle East has, since Edward Said’s Orientalism, often been approached in binary terms and in the framework of “power/knowledge” in the tradition of Friedrich Nietzche and Michel Foucault. There is, however, an argument […]
Jimmy Carter’s Greatest Victory: Guinea Worm on Verge of Extinction
The guinea worm may be the second major human disease after small pox to be completely eradicated. It is a parasite that you get from drinking water with small fleas in it. The larvae of the worm are in the fleas, and they migrate into your muscles. After growing there for a year, as a […]
Dear Microsoft: Please give us Non-Profit News
Microsoft has sold its remaining 18% share of MSNBC, which now becomes, just NBC. It is being reported that Microsoft wants to be free to develop MSN.com as a news portal. MSN general manager Bob Visse issued a statement saying, “We’re talking about using technology and using data to solve information delivery and news delivery […]
“Whoever controls the media . . .” (Allen Ginsberg Poster)
Entrance to Grand Mosque, Kairouan
Photo by Juan Cole, May, 2012 Aghlabid, rebuilt 863. For another traveler’s view of Kairouan, see this blog.
Morsi Reaffirms Israel Peace Treaty to Clinton
The establishment press in Egypt, al-Ahram (“The Pyramids”), reported cautiously on the meeting between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi (from the Muslim Brotherhood party). 1. It noted that Clinton affirmed the US desire that the Egyptian military go to its barracks and leave elected civilians in charge. 2. It said […]
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