Chris V. Panganiban, The Peninsular, More Arabic websites, but few visitors, 5 Apr 09 "Based on the study explained in the presentation, although there are now more Arabic websites in the region than before, their number is still small compared to that of English websites. Another fact is that most people in the Gulf access the popular sites such as Google, Facebook and Yahoo."
Tip: startuparabia.com
Monday, April 06, 2009
Muslim Brotherhood blogger detained
Reuters, Egypt police detain Muslim Brotherhood blogger, 5 Apr 09 "Police arrested Abdel Rahman Fares, 25, in the province of Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, while he was handing out flyers calling for the protests Monday, the security source said.
"Fares, who runs the blog "My tongue is my pen" (http://abdofares.blogspot.com/), was detained on suspicion of distributing literature promoting the Brotherhood's ideology and inciting citizens to strike, the source added."
"Fares, who runs the blog "My tongue is my pen" (http://abdofares.blogspot.com/), was detained on suspicion of distributing literature promoting the Brotherhood's ideology and inciting citizens to strike, the source added."
YouTube in Dubai
Gulf News, Police highlight negative aspects of YouTube, 3 Apr 09 ""Dubai Police completely supports the personal freedom of every individual but there is certain content on YouTube that is absolutely unacceptable to any country, society or individual," said Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Deputy Chief of Dubai Police."
Omar Bakri Muhammad's "A-Team"
Dominik Lemanski, Daily Star, Bakri's A-Team on Global Jihad, 6 Apr 09, "Omar Bakri Mohammed claims he is training up to 400 extremist activists in a bid to win over the 'hearts and minds' of western converts ...
" ... We are already doing this in the UK with the use of the internet but we need Muslim intellectuals on the ground who can speak -English and French as well as Arabic."
" ... We are already doing this in the UK with the use of the internet but we need Muslim intellectuals on the ground who can speak -English and French as well as Arabic."
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Friday, April 03, 2009
Zaad: Palestinian directory search engine
startuparabia.com, Zaad, A Specialized Palestinian Directory Search Engine, 2 Apr 09 Here's the link: Zaad "Zaad is a local Palestinian directory search engine that serves up search results from specialized databases, currently covering the Palestinian private sector and NGO sector databases."
Investing in Technology Forum
startuparabia.com, Investing In Technology Forum, Cairo, Egypt - May 12-14th 2009, "The Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF), a Pan-Arab NGO with the mission of promoting and supporting Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship as a tool of economic development in the MENA region, has announced its 6th Investing in Technology Forum to be held this year in Cairo, Egypt on May 12th -14th, 2009 under the Patronage of H.E. Dr. Ahmed Nazif, Prime Minister of Egypt."
Islamic Turkistani Party: Voice of Islam
CBS News, Voice of Islam Video Pays Tribute To Turkistani, 2 Apr 09, "The media wing of the Islamic Turkistani Party released a new 66-minute video paying tribute to the slain leader of the Islamic Turkistani party Hassan Makhdum, who is known Abu Mohammed al Turkistani."
Swat: Punishment by Pakistan Taliban
Declan Walsh, The Guardian, Video of girl's flogging as Taliban hand out justice, 2 Apr 09 "A video showing a teenage girl being flogged by Taliban fighters has emerged from the Swat Valley in Pakistan, offering a shocking glimpse of militant brutality in the once-peaceful district, and a sign of Taliban influence spreading deeper into the country."
Disturbing viewing.
Also read this piece: Saeed Shah, The Guardian, Pakistan region in grip of fear as leader begins to implement sharia law, 3 Apr 09 "[Sufi] Muhammad is leader of an Islamist movement that has long since agitated for sharia justice. And he took a big step towards his objective in February when he struck a "peace for sharia" deal with the authorities under which the Taliban would stop a two-year armed campaign in the region in return for the establishment of new religious courts. In a rare interview with any media outlet, domestic or foreign, he told the Guardian that the new courts would formalise penalties including flogging, chopping off hands and stoning to death."
Disturbing viewing.
Also read this piece: Saeed Shah, The Guardian, Pakistan region in grip of fear as leader begins to implement sharia law, 3 Apr 09 "[Sufi] Muhammad is leader of an Islamist movement that has long since agitated for sharia justice. And he took a big step towards his objective in February when he struck a "peace for sharia" deal with the authorities under which the Taliban would stop a two-year armed campaign in the region in return for the establishment of new religious courts. In a rare interview with any media outlet, domestic or foreign, he told the Guardian that the new courts would formalise penalties including flogging, chopping off hands and stoning to death."
Thursday, April 02, 2009
The CIA Wants You ...
Times Online, CIA launches recruitment drive on internet and TV, 31 Mar 09 "A typical recruiting advertisement recently posted on the Chronicle of Higher Education's website is headlined "Central Intelligence Agency, National Clandestine Service Careers, Linguists. You Can Make a World of Difference. Are you up to the challenge of achieving our mission abroad?"
"It adds: "This career track offers rewarding, fast-paced, and high-impact challenges." The CIA is also advertising on the social networking site Facebook and YouTube.""
"It adds: "This career track offers rewarding, fast-paced, and high-impact challenges." The CIA is also advertising on the social networking site Facebook and YouTube.""
World Economic Forum, The Global Information Technology Report 2008-2009
Tunisia: Tunis Ranked First in Maghreb and Africa for Davos ICT Report "The 2008-2009 Davos World Economic Forum Global Information Technology Report ranks Tunisia first in the Maghreb and in Africa for the third consecutive year."This refers to World Economic Forum, The Global Information Technology Report 2008-2009 - which can be downloaded in full as a 2.1 MB pdf. Clearly, it could be a useful piece of research. I haven't read its 379 pages yet... There is an interactive version of the report as well.
Egyptian blogger released
Reuters, Egypt releases detained blogger, 28 Mar 09, "Police detained Diaa Eddin Gad on February 6 outside his home in the Nile Delta province of Gharbiya. London-based rights group Amnesty International said in February that his incommunicado detention in an unknown location put him at danger of torture."
Cyber Crime Abu Dhabi
Khaleej Times, Workshop on Cyber Crimes, 2 Apr 09 "A workshop on combating cyber crimes to enhance the capabilities of the Public Prosecution in this field was conducted by the technical office of the Attorney General in
Abu Dhabi."
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Shabab al Mujahedeen Movement
CBS News, Sheikh Abu Mansour the “American” Featured In Militant Somali Group's Video, 31 Mar 09, "The militant Islamist Somali group Shabab al Mujahedeen Movement has released a new video featuring a man identified as Sheikh Abu Mansour the “American," who was seen giving a study circle in fluent Arabic and English."
Research and Commentary
Thomas Hegghammer, Jihadica, Oslo Workshop Summary (part 1) includes report of panel consisting of Gilles Kepel, Reid Sawyer and Brynjar Lia, and Mariam Abou Zahab on Afghanistan-Pakistan issues.
Morocco
Earth Times, Gay rights remain a taboo in Morocco - Feature, 1 Apr 2009 includes reference to the internet and various online discussions.
Afghanistan-Pakistan Policy and Cyberspace
Thomas Hegghammer, Jihadica, Virtual safe havens and the war of ideas, 31 Mar 09 points to Andrew Exum, The New Republic, No Place to Hide, 31 Mar 09, discussing the Afghanistan-Pakistan Policy of Barack Obama. Exum (who also blogs on Abu Muqawama) states:
"The White House strategy, though, betrays an obsession with physical space at the expense of virtual space. This fixation very much reflects a generational divide among the scholars and policy-makers who focus on terrorism. Younger scholars such as Will McCants (now at the Department of Defense) and Thomas Hegghammer--in addition to being much more likely to actually be able to speak and read the relevant languages (Arabic and Urdu)--are "digital natives" rather than "digital immigrants" (to use the labels preferred by the counter-insurgency scholar Thomas Rid): They do not need to have the explosive potential of the internet explained to them, and McCants and Hegghammer especially have individually spent hundreds of hours on the more popular jihadi chatrooms to gather data about the debates and spread of information that is taking place in the virtual world."
Hegghammer notes in his posting response:
"There are at least two more reasons why there ought to be a virtual dimension to the new AfPak strategy. First, the Pashto and Urdu-language part of the jihadi cyberspace is growing rapidly, and very few people are keeping track of it. Those who do rarely know the Arabic sites and vice-versa. No analyst I know has enough Arabic and Pashto to connect the dots (except Mustafa Abu al-Yazid).
"Second, the Internet infrastructure in Afghanistan and Pakistan is relatively poorly developed compared to the Arab world. This is very worrying, because it means that there is a huge untapped propaganda resource which will be exploited as the local infrastructure inevitably develops."
Some interesting issues here, which I'd like to pick up on if I had more time...
"The White House strategy, though, betrays an obsession with physical space at the expense of virtual space. This fixation very much reflects a generational divide among the scholars and policy-makers who focus on terrorism. Younger scholars such as Will McCants (now at the Department of Defense) and Thomas Hegghammer--in addition to being much more likely to actually be able to speak and read the relevant languages (Arabic and Urdu)--are "digital natives" rather than "digital immigrants" (to use the labels preferred by the counter-insurgency scholar Thomas Rid): They do not need to have the explosive potential of the internet explained to them, and McCants and Hegghammer especially have individually spent hundreds of hours on the more popular jihadi chatrooms to gather data about the debates and spread of information that is taking place in the virtual world."
Hegghammer notes in his posting response:
"There are at least two more reasons why there ought to be a virtual dimension to the new AfPak strategy. First, the Pashto and Urdu-language part of the jihadi cyberspace is growing rapidly, and very few people are keeping track of it. Those who do rarely know the Arabic sites and vice-versa. No analyst I know has enough Arabic and Pashto to connect the dots (except Mustafa Abu al-Yazid).
"Second, the Internet infrastructure in Afghanistan and Pakistan is relatively poorly developed compared to the Arab world. This is very worrying, because it means that there is a huge untapped propaganda resource which will be exploited as the local infrastructure inevitably develops."
Some interesting issues here, which I'd like to pick up on if I had more time...
Saudi Jeans on Tour
Saudi Jeans is blogging the G20 Summit "I’m flying to London later tonight to blog the G20 Summit. 50 bloggers from 22 different countries have been invited by a group of British NGOs to provide a different kind of coverage for this global event, where world leaders will meet to discuss the current economic crisis and try to find answers and solutions. More from there later…"
Malaysia: 'Islamic Medical Treatment'
Daily Star Malaysia, Evil, be gone!, 30 Mar 09
"Trimizi Zainal creates hell for unearthly spirits which haunt mortals.
"AT FIRST glance, Trimizi Zainal comes across as just another Malaysian student whom you’ll probably bump into in London’s Oxford Street.
"Like any IT-savvy youngster, the 23-year-old stays connected when abroad. With his Yahoo! Messenger, he sends text messages, makes PC calls or chats with friends over the Internet.
"Well, the similarity ends there. Trimizi is no ordinary Malaysian whom you would want to mess with.""
This is an interesting article. Trimizi is coming to the UK, and I found details of a course here at PISANG, Islamic Medical Treatment Course
And there's some blogger commentary on it here: Coffee Conversatins (Zurairifm), Blame It On the Djinns
"Trimizi Zainal creates hell for unearthly spirits which haunt mortals.
"AT FIRST glance, Trimizi Zainal comes across as just another Malaysian student whom you’ll probably bump into in London’s Oxford Street.
"Like any IT-savvy youngster, the 23-year-old stays connected when abroad. With his Yahoo! Messenger, he sends text messages, makes PC calls or chats with friends over the Internet.
"Well, the similarity ends there. Trimizi is no ordinary Malaysian whom you would want to mess with.""
This is an interesting article. Trimizi is coming to the UK, and I found details of a course here at PISANG, Islamic Medical Treatment Course
And there's some blogger commentary on it here: Coffee Conversatins (Zurairifm), Blame It On the Djinns
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)