Wednesday, July 30, 2003

al-bawaba.com, Cyber War Against Mubarak & Son??, July 27 2003 The email group Free Egyptians has been active against the Mubaraks. Echos of the al-Assad succession in this story.
al-bawaba.com: Jewish group urges US administration to ban Hizbullah Al-Manar TV station, 30 July 2003
Arabic News, Syria: recirculation of al-Doumari, 30 July 2003 significant in relation to Syrian media.
Arabic News, Mosque calls for prayer for first time in Granada 600 years after moors left Spain, 30 July 2003 nothing to do with the net, but Granada is one of my favourite places. I viewed the construction work a few years ago. This story has implications in relation to the historical links between Islam and Europe.
'ABC, 'I divorce you' SMS troubles PM' This is not the first time this topic has emerged. There was a case a couple of years ago in Singapore, I recall. According to this report:

"Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has directed the Islamic Advancement Department to verify the method of SMS divorce.

"I can understand why the women are very worried," he was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.

"There's possibility of being duped through SMS.""
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Baghdad Blogger Salam Pax's Guardian column.
BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Al-Qaeda 'plans summer attacks'
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US spies in the spotlight, 30 July 2003
Wired News: The Case for Terrorism Futures, 30 July 2003 As discussed yesterday. It didn't last very long. Interesting concept, poorly executed.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | 'I can't imagine anyone who considers himself a human being can do this', 28 July 2003 A powerful piece from Chris McGreal about the impact of the conflict in Palestine on children.

EducationGuardian.co.uk, Costing religion, discusses the impact of 'shariah law' preventing the taking out of loans for students at university. Perhaps this is an issue requiring detailed analysis, certainly in terms of the issue of 'public welfare' and its relationship to education and Islam. It certainly doesn't apply to all 'schools' of thought.
Further Reading

As well as looking directly at the net, this blog will contain some material that I've been reading in print form. The same disclaimer applies.

New Left Review 21, Tariq Ali, 'Recolonizing Iraq', April 8 2003 Tariq Ali gave a version of this material as part of a recent BRISMES (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies) Conference at Exeter that I attended a few weeks ago.

Tuesday, July 29, 2003

News

Let's start with something controversial ...


CBS/AP, Betting On Terror, July 29, 2003
. I think that Andrew Orlowski in The Register provides a more incisive analysis of this story: The Register, Kill a Middle East head of state, win prizes! - Pentagon shows how, July 29, 2003
"DARPA is launching an online gambling site called the 'Policy Analysis Market'." All in the best possible taste??? Will you be 'investing'? Decide for yourself by visiting Policy Analysis Market. I'll be watching this one closely. I might give it a go, for scientific reasons.

Gulf News, Internet chatting is becoming an addiction, July 29, 2003 News from Sharjah about Internet use: "A survey of cyber cafes revealed that many young Internet users spend most of their time chatting and searching "useless" sites. However, some do use Internet cafes for educational purposes." Nothing unusual there, then. Not sure about the survey's source...
Gulf News, IT is leading the way to the future, July 29, 2003
Sample students' projects from Dubai and Abu Dhabi - there's some interesting material there.

Straits Times, Moderates in Indonesia find their voices, July 29, 2003

WorldNetDaily, Foreign holy warriors face shocking reality: Called to jihad against 'infidels,' but find out people side with U.S., July 29, 2003 discusses MEMRI report


Arutz Sheva, Daniel in the Lions’ Den, July 28, 2003
'Daniel' being Daniel Pipes, whose commentaries on Islam and Muslim Affairs can be found on his website.

CNET/MSNBC, World nearing Web address crunch, July 28, 2003 IPv6 clamour

Computerworld, Report: Inadequate IT contributed to 9/11 intelligence failure, July 24, 2003 Not really a surprise, this: referred to in my book Islam in the Digital Age

Wired, Iraqis Log On to Voice Chat, July 28, 2003

BBCi, Phone services spring up in Iraq, July 28, 2003 also see
Reuters/Wired, Phones Come Alive in Baghdad, July 22, 2003


The New Yorker, The Search for Osama, July 28, 2003

MensNewsDaily, Radical Islamic Cleric Apparently Threatens British House of Commons, July 28, 2003 More on Omar Bakri Muhammad - incidentally, I first wrote about him and the net in my article islam@britain.net. Details on virtuallyislamic.com Planning further work in this area during the next year.

Reuters/MSNBC, Internet booms in Baghdad,
July 25, 2003


FrontPage, Islamic Apostates' Tales, July 21, 2003

Australian IT, Ungodly attacks on the virtual Vatican, July 16, 2003 "The Vatican must also fend off web surfers who harbour no hostile intent whatsoever, such as an insomniac Franciscan friar ... who had repeatedly tried to enter the site." OK, so it's not about Islam, but I was fascinated by the friar. I also write about Christianity online in my book The Good Web Guide to World Religions.

More information on Islam and the net at www.virtuallyislamic.com, including Islamic Studies Pathways - a guide to Islamic Studies resources on the Internet


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