Happy holidays to all who break the fast of Ramadan today.
I will be back to more regular blogging too, maybe already in the coming day or two.
Evening update:
BBC shows these pictures of the Eid celebrations. Svenska Dagbladet writes of the commercial importance of the Eid in Sweden.
More update:
Abu Dhabi's The National writes about how the Eid is determined by the official moon-sighting committee.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
The Yacoubian building
27 Sept update:
Dagens Nyheter has met Alaa Al Aswany at the Gothenburg Book Fair. Ingrid Elam's review is here.
13th Sept:
The Yacoubian Building was published in a Swedish translation quite recently (happily done directly from Arabic by Tetz Rooke).
I claim it is maybe the most important Egyptian novel of the 21st century, and I recently gave an English copy to my mother, who is about to move to Egypt. It's an excellent introduction to the complexities and taboos of modern Egyptian society and a real deja-vu for anyone to have lived in Cairo!
Reviews from Svenska Dagbladet and Aftonbladet I have found - did anyone see any additional ones?
Dagens Nyheter has met Alaa Al Aswany at the Gothenburg Book Fair. Ingrid Elam's review is here.
13th Sept:
The Yacoubian Building was published in a Swedish translation quite recently (happily done directly from Arabic by Tetz Rooke).
I claim it is maybe the most important Egyptian novel of the 21st century, and I recently gave an English copy to my mother, who is about to move to Egypt. It's an excellent introduction to the complexities and taboos of modern Egyptian society and a real deja-vu for anyone to have lived in Cairo!
Reviews from Svenska Dagbladet and Aftonbladet I have found - did anyone see any additional ones?
Monday, September 15, 2008
War in Georgia
My husband has contributed to a new FOI-report on the war in Georgia. You can download and read it here.
Svenska Dagbladet has commented on it here.
Svenska Dagbladet has commented on it here.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
More August backlog!
OK, so here comes a new set of links from my back-log of vacation reading... Apart from my own surfing, usually many friends contribute reading recommendations - I thank you all, but leave you nameless individually.
The war in Georgia again - BBC writes of pipelines and politics. Also the Economist writes of the war in context of pipelines. Aftonbladets editorial writes Olle Svenning writes of the war as a le Carré-drama. BBS talks to Russians reflecting on the war with Georgia.
Expressens Anna Dahlberg lauds foreign minister Carl Bildt on his involvement in Georgia.
Turkish president Abdullah Gul has gone to Yerevan for a football match, reported here by the Economist and by Radio Free Europe. The visit was extremely brave in domestic political terms but also has a regional context for the more regionally active Turkey that the 21st century has seen.
Another development of Turkey's neighbour relations in taking place in Cyprus. Dagens Nyheter here interviews the Greek Cypriot president on future negotiations.
Mercenaries in Iraq and the mixed blessings of oil are also highlighted by the Economist. CSIS has a new report out on Sadr and the Mahdi army.
Princess Haya involves herself in charities and speaks for those suffering of disease such as Aids and TB - published in Swedish by Aftonbladet. Another Dubai princess fights more literally but probably less successfully, at least for Olympic medals, Svenska Dagbladet reports.
Aftonbladet has a follow-up of a piece of news I linked earlier - football player Christian Wilhelmssons girlfriend (!) tells the story of how their move to Saudi-arabia forces her to wear an abaya.
BBC tells the story of British oil companies in Iran and how oil changed Iran forever.
Cecilia Udden tells Swedish radio-listeners of new-fangled street names in Amman, and is offered to choose her own street sign!
Turkish Taksim Trio played in Stockholm.
Richard Schwartz writes on the lack of a Mediterranean middle class...
I've probably paid my last visit to Vilnius for some time personally, but Svenska Dagbladet here (with the help of some friends of mine) encourage Swedes to visit for next year culture capital celebrations and to discover a beautiful city. Another travelogue on a favourite city, now in Dagens Nyheter, is on Ingmar Karlssons Istanbul.
Swedish journalist Jennie Dielemans has written a book on responsible tourism and the consequences of global travel - here interviewed in Svenska Dagbladet and reviewed by Aftonbladet. The topic is really crucial and deserves more attention.
An essay from Svenska Dagbladet on Swedish and European refugee policies in the 30's and 40's and the consequences of Jews in Europe.
The war in Georgia again - BBC writes of pipelines and politics. Also the Economist writes of the war in context of pipelines. Aftonbladets editorial writes Olle Svenning writes of the war as a le Carré-drama. BBS talks to Russians reflecting on the war with Georgia.
Expressens Anna Dahlberg lauds foreign minister Carl Bildt on his involvement in Georgia.
Turkish president Abdullah Gul has gone to Yerevan for a football match, reported here by the Economist and by Radio Free Europe. The visit was extremely brave in domestic political terms but also has a regional context for the more regionally active Turkey that the 21st century has seen.
Another development of Turkey's neighbour relations in taking place in Cyprus. Dagens Nyheter here interviews the Greek Cypriot president on future negotiations.
Mercenaries in Iraq and the mixed blessings of oil are also highlighted by the Economist. CSIS has a new report out on Sadr and the Mahdi army.
Princess Haya involves herself in charities and speaks for those suffering of disease such as Aids and TB - published in Swedish by Aftonbladet. Another Dubai princess fights more literally but probably less successfully, at least for Olympic medals, Svenska Dagbladet reports.
Aftonbladet has a follow-up of a piece of news I linked earlier - football player Christian Wilhelmssons girlfriend (!) tells the story of how their move to Saudi-arabia forces her to wear an abaya.
BBC tells the story of British oil companies in Iran and how oil changed Iran forever.
Cecilia Udden tells Swedish radio-listeners of new-fangled street names in Amman, and is offered to choose her own street sign!
Turkish Taksim Trio played in Stockholm.
Richard Schwartz writes on the lack of a Mediterranean middle class...
I've probably paid my last visit to Vilnius for some time personally, but Svenska Dagbladet here (with the help of some friends of mine) encourage Swedes to visit for next year culture capital celebrations and to discover a beautiful city. Another travelogue on a favourite city, now in Dagens Nyheter, is on Ingmar Karlssons Istanbul.
Swedish journalist Jennie Dielemans has written a book on responsible tourism and the consequences of global travel - here interviewed in Svenska Dagbladet and reviewed by Aftonbladet. The topic is really crucial and deserves more attention.
An essay from Svenska Dagbladet on Swedish and European refugee policies in the 30's and 40's and the consequences of Jews in Europe.
Friday, September 05, 2008
Vacation reading backlog...
Just as I suspected would happen, I have blogged less during my vacation. But I have collected links to share, I don't have access to my own computer and my photos right now though, unfortunately, and that might take a week or two.
A lot of these links are almost a month old - I'll still try to collect them thematically somehow...
An interesting early aspect of the conflict in the Caucasus came here, in the allegations that an attack on the BTC pipeline on Turkish territory came from the PKK. Ankara has previously been keen to point to the PKK as a perpetrator, but not so this time....
Svenska Dagbladets Jan Blomgren has written a series of analyses on the Gergian-Russian was - this one on Russia as a loser, and one on awakening the Russian bear.
Reporters without borders also has several news flashes on the war in the Caucasus.
Expressen here writes on the fate of truth in the war. Also in Expressen, Svante Cornell suggests excluding Russia from the Council of Europe.
BBC here highlights the human cost of the conflict and shows photos of Tskhinvali in ruins.
Negra Efendic of Svenska Dagbladet writes about returning to her Bosnian village.
BBC reports on Palestinian doubts for a 2-state solution.
Al Jazeera reports on media censorship in Egypt. BBC talks about difficulties for young Egyptians to get married.
The degree of appreciation for deceased Egyptian film director Yousef Chahine is discussed by the BBC.
BBC reports the Jordanian king Abdallah's visit to Iraq, the first by an Arab head of state in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein (but Turkey's prime minister & Iran's president have visited).
Svenska Dagbladet here writes on the multi-religious choir performance Vox Pacis in Stockholm in August.
Arabic-professor Kerstrin Eksell writes in Svenska Dagbladet about the deceased Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. BBC shows his farewell here.
A debate also took place on honour issues, focussing on public financing for medical operations supporting honour structures.
I have more still, but they will come - I'll publish little by little I think...
A lot of these links are almost a month old - I'll still try to collect them thematically somehow...
An interesting early aspect of the conflict in the Caucasus came here, in the allegations that an attack on the BTC pipeline on Turkish territory came from the PKK. Ankara has previously been keen to point to the PKK as a perpetrator, but not so this time....
Svenska Dagbladets Jan Blomgren has written a series of analyses on the Gergian-Russian was - this one on Russia as a loser, and one on awakening the Russian bear.
Reporters without borders also has several news flashes on the war in the Caucasus.
Expressen here writes on the fate of truth in the war. Also in Expressen, Svante Cornell suggests excluding Russia from the Council of Europe.
BBC here highlights the human cost of the conflict and shows photos of Tskhinvali in ruins.
Negra Efendic of Svenska Dagbladet writes about returning to her Bosnian village.
BBC reports on Palestinian doubts for a 2-state solution.
Al Jazeera reports on media censorship in Egypt. BBC talks about difficulties for young Egyptians to get married.
The degree of appreciation for deceased Egyptian film director Yousef Chahine is discussed by the BBC.
BBC reports the Jordanian king Abdallah's visit to Iraq, the first by an Arab head of state in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein (but Turkey's prime minister & Iran's president have visited).
Svenska Dagbladet here writes on the multi-religious choir performance Vox Pacis in Stockholm in August.
Arabic-professor Kerstrin Eksell writes in Svenska Dagbladet about the deceased Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. BBC shows his farewell here.
A debate also took place on honour issues, focussing on public financing for medical operations supporting honour structures.
I have more still, but they will come - I'll publish little by little I think...
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