Weekly reading suggestions

As usual, there is a lot of Middle East but also quite a lot of culture-oriented tips this week. And, as usual, I am deeply in debt to sharing links with friends - so thank you all who have contributed to my own reading.

The global situation of women and mothers is still dire - here the whistle-blowers are Sida's director-general and Saudi UN under-secretery general Thoraya Obaid in Aftonbladet.

Al Jazeera here has run a series of programmes on women's veiling.

Gordon Robison writes in Gulf News on the timing of American Middle East politics.

Time magazine has run a special on the Middle East looking at the divide between conflicts and future-oriented developments. Dagens Nyheter looks here at private individuals opportunities (in Sweden) to put their money into oil economies. Swedish court advisor Tarras-Wahlberg leaves Sweden for Qatar, as reported today (here in Dagens Nyheter).

Bitte Hammargren writes in Svenska Dagbladet on Lebanese reactions to this weeks deal brokered in Doha (a sign of the intertwinement of the 2 Middle Easts?). The National writes here on the same theme. BBC reports here of the other side of the entwinement?

Thomas Gür writes on Israel's unique democratic status for Svenska Dagbladets editorial page.

Fred Halliday writes here for Open democracy on Islamic finance mechanisms.

Gulf News writes on a new UAE anti-human trafficking report. The National writes here on the same report, including a link to the report itself.

Svenska Dagbladet interviews Kurdish-Syrian author Salim Barakat in his Swedish (Skogås) exile. His new novel is reviewed here.

Previous ambassador to Iraq Henrik Amneus writes in Svenska Dagbladet about welcoming next week's Iraq-conference in Stockholm. The National writes on rival claims to Kirkuk.

BBC has pictures from the West Saharan anniversary.

Human Rights Watch reports on Saudi-Arabia in 2 reports, one on violence against doemstic workers. Here the same organization requests a stop for trials for insulting Islam in the kingdom.

BBC writes here on what can be understood about Al-Qaeda's geographic agenda.

The row over the name of the Gulf took these effects the other day, reports Gulf News.

Swedish radio interviews a woman working against increasing sex-trade in impoverished Afghanistan.

Expressens new political editor Anna Dahlberg writes on the new intensity in Swedish Middle East relations.

Aftonbladet has a series of articles on honour violence, starting here with an interview with a young man who previously controlled his sisters behaviour closely.

Human Rights Watch reports here on homophobic violence in Turkey. BBC reports on the same topic here. The National sees EU demands on Turkey's handling of illegal migration.

Swedish radio reports on the evolving plans for a government-run imam-training.

Svenska Dagbladet writes on Serbia in the shadow of Eurovision Song Contest.

Svenska Dagbladet reviews a new book on erotic (pornographic?) art in ancient Rome.

Another Svenska Dagbladet book review this week is on a new book on previous Swedish prime minister Olof Palme.

The results of this study, presented in Dagens Nyheter by a large Swedish union, representing the academic middle class, touches me deeply. The labour market effects of family formation and the differences between men and women is about my life and the lives of most of my friends.