Qifa's email included the link to a story in Saturday's Al Akhbar, an opposition-friendly newspaper that had covered the auction. (For those of you less wrapped up in Lebanese politics than some of us: the Ministry's new head, Gibran Bassil, is a member of one of the opposition parties. Before he became minister, the Telecomm Ministry did ... nothing. Absolutely nothing. So the question is now: is the new minister able to push through so many changes because he is so much better than his predecessor, or because the opposition blocked these changes when a majority-party minister was in power? The answer, of course, depends on one's political leanings :).)

For those of you who read Arabic, here is the link to Akhbar's article. For those of you who do not, here I am as your cheerful translator!

According to the article, 32 "vacant distinguished numbers, of the platinum type" were sold at Friday's auction, reaping more than $2,516,000. That's a huge amount - an average of $78,625 per number. While I'm shocked that the auction actually drew so much money - and for "70" numbers! - I'm also amused by the paper's description of them as "distinguished". In Arabic, the word "distinguished" is used all the time to describe diplomatic ties: countries are often described as having "distinguished relations" with one another, and government ministers and heads of state send "distinguished greetings" to one another on holidays and birthdays. And apparently these distinguished figures need equally distinguished mobile numbers :).

The article suggests that this auction represents a "dangerous culture of consumption" developing in Lebanese society reminiscent of "what has happened in the Gulf". I'm not sure that consumption culture generally can be blamed on the Gulf - after all, Lebanese were busily buying imported products when today's Gulf states were still British protectorates - but certainly the license plate and mobile number auctions seem to have taken off there first.

Curious to know who made the winning bids on some of these numbers, and how much they paid? Al Akhbar and I are here to help.

Roughly 110 people signed up to participate in the auction - people Akhbar described un-euphemistically as "wealthy" Lebanese. But only 13 of them left with lightened wallets and new numbers - meaning that several went home with multiple purchases.

Bilal Bunduqji, one of the owners of the Petit Cafe restaurants, paid $855,000 for nine numbers (that's an average of $95,000 per number). One of them, 70 77 77 77, cost the lion's share: $400,000.

Salman Al Rayyes paid $450,000 for 70 70 70 70.

Muna Abou Hadeer paid $400,000 for 70 70 00 00, as well as $42,000 for another (unspecified) number.

Wadia Al Abssi (now there's an eye-raising last name) purchased five numbers for a total of $142,000.

Bilal Bou Khalid purchased three numbers for a total of $81,000.

Sajad Khan bought four numbers for a total of $80,000.

Kamel Amhaz purchased one number for $170,000.

Mustapha al-Shabb purchased two numbers for a total of $69,000.

Zein al-Atat purchased two numbers for a total of $42,000.

Manal al-Ramah purchased one number for $40,000.

Ibrahim Qabalan purchased one number for $27,000.

Fouad Bou Khazen purchased one number for $80,000.

Karl Kassab purchased one number for $30,000.

According to the paper, the revenues raised from this auction are to be used for the "improvement of rural services" - meaning rural telephone services, I think. Let's hope that they are put to good use - and let's hope that the lucky 13 auction winners are all happy with their purchases. (I frequently suffer from buyer's remorse, even on small purchases - so I say this sympathetically.) Akhbar's article ends with a quote from Bunduqji, who sounds pretty happy about his purchases. He's planning to flip the numbers and sell them at a profit to khaleejis and other foreigners.

So: if you hail from the Gulf or anywhere else in the world and you are looking for a pretty number, dial +961 70 70 70 70 and ask the nice man who answers what he has for sale.

The debate started at 9:00 pm Eastern time, which is a bit late for the Arabic-speaking world. 9:00 pm in New York is 2:00 am in Morocco; 3:00 am in Egypt; 4:00 am in Lebanon; and 5:00 am in the United Arab Emirates. But both Al Jazeera and Arabiya carried the full debate live - allowing viewers who were awake to see it in a language they understood, and allowing the news channels to be able to re-broadcast part or all of the debate later on Friday.

Here are a few snapshots I took of Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya's debate coverage:

The text in the white box at the top right says "Live - St. Louis", and the text in the blue band at the bottom reads: "First debate between the two candidates for the American vice-presidency from the Republican and Democratic parties".

These images aren't anything you didn't see on CNN - but that's part of what interests me. The US presidential elections are a big deal, and the world - and maybe particularly the Arab world - is watching them with great interest.

Below are two photos I took of Al Arabiya's coverage. To be honest, I didn't like Arabiya's instant translators as much as Al Jazeera's. Each station had a team of three translators: one for each candidate, and one for the moderator. Al Jazeera's team happened to be all men, while Al Arabiya's happened to be all women - and I simply didn't care for two of the women's accents.

I should also note here something that I noticed after looking through all the photos I had taken. Palin looks like she is smiling in all of them - "the result of all that beauty queen training", one of my colleagues said yesterday. And Biden looks like he is scowling. Now - I know that he smiled, and I know that she looked serious: but my photos suggest that the overall "attitude" they project to viewers is very different.

And finally: I have absolutely no idea why Al Arabiya decided that "The Prime Minister of Canada: the American economy is in a disaster" must be run as a breaking news item during the debate. Surely by Thursday night this was rather old news - in the Arab world as well as in Canada.

For those of you who missed it, here are his words, from CNN's transcript:

When we kicked -- along with France, we kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, I said and Barack said, "Move NATO forces in there. Fill the vacuum, because if you don't know -- if you don't, Hezbollah will control it."

Now what's happened? Hezbollah is a legitimate part of the government in the country immediately to the north of Israel.

Aside from the confusion between Hizbullah and Syria - which, to their discredit, neither Gwen Ifill nor Sarah Palin appear to have considered a problem - Biden's assertion that Obama suggested putting NATO troops in Lebanon as peacekeepers flummoxes me. I can't imagine that this would be a good idea for America - nor for Lebanon. UNIFIL is doing good work - and in any case, Hizbullah was a legitimate part of the Lebanese government long before 2005.

As much press as Biden's slip-up seems to be getting in Levantine blogs and news sources like Naharnet this morning, I think its important not to lose sight of the fact that Lebanon was a mere side-note to the larger issue that both Biden and Palin were addressing: the Israel-Palestine conflict, and the question of the Bush administration's record of success or failure in foreign policy.

Here's what Palin, who answered first, had to say:

Israel is our strongest and best ally in the Middle East. We have got to assure them that we will never allow a second Holocaust, despite, again, warnings from Iran and any other country that would seek to destroy Israel, that that is what they would like to see.

We will support Israel. A two-state solution, building our embassy, also, in Jerusalem, those things that we look forward to being able to accomplish, with this peace-seeking nation, and they have a track record of being able to forge these peace agreements.

They succeeded with Jordan. They succeeded with Egypt. I'm sure that we're going to see more success there, also.

It's got to be a commitment of the United States of America, though. And I can promise you, in a McCain-Palin administration, that commitment is there to work with our friends in Israel.

She wants to move our embassy to Jerusalem? That doesn't look to me like a commitment to an equitable two-state solution.

And lest you think that I am playing favorites, here's what Biden had to say:

Gwen, no one in the United States Senate has been a better friend to Israel than Joe Biden. I would have never, ever joined this ticket were I not absolutely sure Barack Obama shared my passion.

Please excuse me while I vomit quietly onto my keyboard. And no, my nausea isn't particularly about Israel: its about the idea that we would put our own national interests behind that of any other country. No matter how good an ally we might think them - and whether that country be Israel, Great Britain, or any other long-term partner - we need to put our own interests first. We should not elect our country's leaders - in the White House, on Capitol Hill, or even in city and state positions - with the expectation that they will abandon our citizens in favor of blindly supporting a foreign country.

More on the debate later, when I organize all the photos I took of Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya's coverage.

I also love that these holidays are increasingly recognized in the United States, both by schools and businesses. Jewish and Muslim students and workers are more able today to request time off from work or school without prejudice than they were fifteen or twenty years ago. And in some communities, particularly those with long-standing multi-faith populations, these holidays may be publicly commemorated: with a menorah in a town square, for Hanukkah; or a mayoral iftar, for Ramadan.

I love these changes, but I also want more. And holidays are an area in which I think we could learn something from Lebanon.

Here is one list of all Lebanon's 2008 public holidays:

2008
1 Jan New Year's Day.
6 Jan Orthodox Armenian Christmas.
10 Jan Islamic New Year.
19 Jan Ashoura.
9 Feb Feast of St Maroun.
20 Mar Mawlid al-Nabi (Prophet's Birthday).
21 Mar Good Friday.
23 Mar Easter Sunday.
25 Apr Orthodox Good Friday.
27 Apr Orthodox Easter.
1 May Labor Day.
6 May Martyrs' Day.
13 May Resistance and Liberation Day.
15 Aug Assumption of the Virgin.
2 Oct Eid al-Fitr (End of Ramadan).
1 Nov All Saints' Day.
22 Nov Independence Day.
9 Dec Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice).
25 Dec Christmas Day.
29 Dec Islamic New Year.

There are a lot of holidays in Lebanon, you might be thinking. And you are right - but they aren't all celebrated in the same way. There are two categories of holidays: holidays that apply to everyone, and holidays that apply to people of a particular religious background.

Let me address this second category first. These "members-only" observances are used for the holidays of Lebanon's minority communities. For example, the entire country does not celebrate Armenian Christmas. But Armenians are expected to be given the day off, with no negative repercussions from teachers or employers.

This is somewhat like what I see happening with Jews and Muslims in the US (or Hindus who want to celebrate Diwali), although with two key differences. First, it is not mandated by the national or state government; and second, it is not universal. In Lebanon, my understanding (which may be wrong - so please correct me if so!) is that employers are required to give members of the celebrating faith the day off, and the government can take legal action against them if they do not. This aspect of holiday'ing makes me a bit uncomfortable - as a product of the separation of church (or synagogue, or mosque) and state, I dislike the idea that people should be automatically defined by their religious affiliation.

Also, in the case of the particular example I gave above, it can get a bit confusing. All Armenians do not celebrate Christmas on January 6 - there are different denominations within the Armenian community. Yet all Armenians are, at least officially, granted the day off. (I would argue that this is one of many indications of Lebanon's Ottoman heritage. In the Ottoman Empire, "Armenian" was a catch-all millet category that mashed together religious identity and ethnicity - just like "Greek" did. Hence "Armenians" included all ethnic Armenians, who are both Orthodox and Eastern Catholic, and Maronites.)

So: I am not advocating the Lebanese system of insisting that people of a particular religion must celebrate its holidays - after all, we as a country are officially religion-blind.

But I am interested in thinking seriously about the first category of holidays: those that everyone celebrates, at least in the sense of having the day off from work or school. In Lebanon, as here in the US, everyone celebrates national days, like Independence Day and Labor Day.

And in Lebanon, as in the US, everyone celebrates certain religious holidays, like Christmas and New Year's Day. In the US, these holidays follow the Western Christian calendar. But in Lebanon, they follow the Western and Eastern Christian calendars, and they include the Muslim calendars as well. So everyone celebrates Orthodox Easter as well as Western Easter; and everyone celebrates Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, and the Prophet's birthday.

The exact list of holidays seems to shift from year to year - in 2009, for example, Armenian Christmas does appear to be an official holiday. And for the past two years, the Lebanese government has been considering removing Good Friday from the holiday list - inspiring copious amounts of over-heated rhetoric as well as public protests.

I'm not advocating that we adopt the Lebanese system. As nice as 16 holidays might be, what we need to focus on now is increasing our national productivity, not reducing it.

But I think that as we mature into a country that that not only recognizes but embraces the multiple faiths that our citizens follow, we ought also to spend some time thinking seriously about our national holidays.

Erecting a public menorah and holding a city-wide iftar are important symbols. But adding a day to commemorate Yom Kippur or celebrate Eid al-Adha might be gestures of greater substance.

What about Sarah Palin? Well, once again, no less remarkable. Except for one important exception,  she is not qualified. I mean, I can understand if she becomes the leader of a third world country as most of their leaders are not qualified.  You know, my 10 years old son knows how to use gmail, but is he qualified to teach computer science at M.I.T?

How about my world, the Arab World? I once asked a group of young Arab students what they want to aspire to be when they grow up. None of them wanted to become a President, Prime Minister or a King. And when I asked them why they did not want to be so. Guess what they said jokingly.....

"we do not want to go to jail for thinking about it..."

sad.. sad.. our children can't even dream of leading their countries.

The map shows IPs rather than individual users, and I'm not sure how it accounts for Lebanese providers' tendency to use European IPs (hence my confusion in 2007 when I suddenly found myself online from Lithuania). But its still a lovely map, and an interesting way to visualize our use of the Internet.

Gulf diplomatic sources in New York, told Al-Akhbar that they are concerned about the U.S. pressures on the Gulf-countries to absorb the currency liquidity available in their banks.

The United States sent harsh messages to its Gulf allies demanding serious contribution in Bush’s financial rescue plan to prevent the complete collapse of financial markets.

Especially after Qatar Investment Authority rejected the investment of part of its assets in the U.S. market, Preferring to invest in Asian markets.

http://www.roadstoiraq.com/2008/09/29/american-pressure-on-the-gulf-states-to-save-wall-street/

_________________________________________

US financial fire fans across global borders

PARIS: Wall Street's meltdown isn't just America's problem.

While many around the world are watching the financial crisis unfold as if it were a gruesome spectator sport, the consequences for businesses and ordinary people from Tokyo to Buenos Aires could dig deep and last long. And that's regardless of what happens to the U.S. government's bailout plan.

Asia's export-driven manufacturers face the prospect of their biggest market — the United States — suddenly drying up. Retailers could see a slow Christmas in Europe and America. And spooked lenders around the world may turn off the tap of capital to companies and consumers, sending economies into a tailspin.

"It's like I'm holding my breath, waiting for the collapse," said Dmitry Zhiltsov, a recruiter in St. Petersburg, Russia, worried about his company's prospects, his family finances and his mortgage.

In a report Friday, the World Economic Forum was blunt about the risks. It warned that the world faces a "heightened risk of widespread contagion" and of "massive consumer credit defaults."

Today in Business with Reuters
Bailout plan in hand, House braces for tough voteEuropean governments rescue more lendersBailouts drive down stocks globally
Yet the overall message was: Don't panic. The forum urged regulators to help out but not over-protect, "to balance the immediate imperative to prevent further damage with the longer-term need to ensure future market competitiveness and innovation."

That may be an elusive equilibrium, especially in today's climate. Consultancy Global Insight expects things "to get worse before they get better" and doesn't expect a global recovery until 2010.

In early trading Monday, Asian stock markets were mixed after U.S. Congressional leaders and the White House agreed Sunday to a US$700 billion rescue of the ailing financial industry.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 0.5 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 2 percent amid lingering anxiety over the effectiveness of the plan, which still needs official approval from both houses of Congress.

A swoop through a few major cities shows how legions of lives are linked, in different ways, to the U.S. financial sector and its costliest crisis ever.

In Tokyo, the mood is strangely serene, as the world's No. 2 economy considers how to cope — and how to capitalize on the weaknesses of No. 1.

Japanese financial institutions suffered little from the subprime crisis that ignited today's fires on Wall Street, and are now flush with cash. Their conservative lending strategies, and lessons learned after Japan's economic bubble burst in the early 1990s, are paying off.

"Quite a few businesses, especially banks, are seeing this as a major opportunity," said Martin Schulz, an economist at Fujitsu Research Institute.

Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan's biggest brokerage, is buying the Asian, European and Middle Eastern operations of collapsed U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers. Top Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. is buying up to 20 percent of Morgan Stanley.

Long-term, though, the financial crisis is bad news for Japan's export-driven economy. Government data released Thursday showed a rare trade deficit in August — including a 21.8 percent drop in exports to the U.S.

Manufacturers in China are antsy about export losses, too.

"Clothes are constantly on sale in the U.S. We can't make money," said the manager of Tianjin Excellent Import & Export Co., in Tianjin, southeast of Beijing.

The textile company, with 100 employees and $40 million in exports last year, has slashed shipments to the United States and shut its office in Paris, said the manager, who only gave his family name, Yang. The company is refocusing on Japanese and Bangladeshi markets.

Overall, the Chinese and Indian economies are holding steady as the U.S. falters, partly thanks to domestic demand.

China's treasury ran a 1 trillion yuan ($130 billion) surplus in the first half of the year, and its financial institutions are among the world's strongest. A run on banks is unlikely because Chinese families have few other places to put their money.

Not so in Hong Kong.

The territory suffered a big bank run last week — with thousands of customers swarming Bank of East Asia offices there and in Singapore — and 11 people were arrested after rumors involving troubled American Insurance Group Inc. fueled market jitters.

A few times zones westward, Moscow's financial markets have swooned in recent weeks, partly under the avalanche of bad news in New York.

Zhiltsov, the Russian recruiter, fears demand for investment bankers and financial analysts will dry up, gouging his company's profits. "All we need is for the housing bubble to end too," he said drily, referring to real estate prices that have mushroomed in Russian cities.

In sober "Old Europe," bankers, retailers and consumers are realizing that no one is immune to the fever on financial markets.

When Lehman Brothers imploded, European banks counted their chickens and sighed with relief: Their exposure to Lehman's risks looked limited. But now Dutch-Belgian bank Fortis is teetering — and blaming uncertainty over the U.S. bailout package for its volatile share price. On Sunday, Congressional leaders and the Bush administration reached a tentative deal on the $700 billion bailout designed to prop up the financial system and avert a deep recession.

In Britain, even the Queen's tailor is careening. Trading in shares of Hardy Amies PLC, the Savile Row tailor famous for making dresses for Queen Elizabeth II, was suspended Friday after it disclosed it might go into administration for lack of cash.

"The news of what's been happening in the financial markets over the past two weeks has been very worrying for consumers and has impacted their confidence," said Clive Black, retail analyst at Shore Capital Stockbrokers in London.

"There will be more companies finding it difficult and the banks aren't in a position to help them as much after the credit crunch, so there will undoubtedly be more casualties down the line," he added.

Fears of credit cards and corporate loans drying up have given fodder to anti-capitalism activists like Jerome Sinpaseuth, who was handing out fliers on a posh Paris square. "For a long time people considered us jokers, extremists from the left. But now more and more people think we were right" to criticize unfettered corporate profits, he said.

Sinpaseuth has a kindred spirit across the Atlantic in Brazil, if an unlikely one: Patricia Fraga, a 37-year-old bank manager who works on Sao Paolo's Avenida Paulista, the financial heart of Latin America's largest economy.

"The crisis in Wall Street makes it more than clear that financial institutions must be under some form of permanent government supervision," she said. "It also shows that countries must reduce their dependence on the American market."

The global fallout from Wall Street's mistakes isn't just hurting stock portfolios. It's also denting dreams.

India's best and brightest, who once sought jobs in medicine and engineering, have turned to business schools in increasing numbers. News of Lehman's bankruptcy filled PaGalGuY.com, a message board for India's aspiring financiers, with mournful comments.

"Is it a time for us b-school aspirants to reassess our career goals?" wrote a blogger identified as Sukrit Munjal, 22, from Bangalore. Another blogger who called himself Unhappy Demon, said simply: "Don't post these kind of sick scary news man."

___

Associated Press writers Joe McDonald in Tianjin, China; Emily Flynn Vencat and Bob Barr in London; Alan Clendenning and Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Dikky Sinn in Hong Kong; Tomoko Hosaka in Tokyo; Erika Kinetz in Mumbai; and researcher Bonnie Cao in Beijing contributed to this report.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/09/29/business/Meltdown-Contagion.php?page=2

_______________________________

"The Transparency International CPI measures the perceived levels of public-sector corruption in a given country and is a composite index, drawing on different expert and business surveys. The 2008 CPI scores 180 countries (the same number as the 2007 CPI) on a scale from zero (highly corrupt) to ten (highly clean)."

The 2008 CPI was recently released. No surprise that Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden were ranked amongst the least corrupt and the Somalia once again came in dead last as most corrupt state. Interesting though, "significant improvements" have been made on several Muslim-majority countries including Oman, Qatar and Turkey.

Out of 180, Canada ranked #9 as least corrupt, Germany #14, UK #16, US #18, France #23, Israel #33, UAE #35, Jordan #47, Italy #55, Egypt #115, Russia #147 and Sudan #178.

And thanks to two of them who have each spent time as the Chronicle of Higher Education's correspondents in the region, I also pay much more attention to the Chronicle. Its not a mass-market paper - its a weekly newspaper-print magazine that covers American colleges and universities, and its primary audience is an academic one: professors and administrators.

The Chronicle's articles can be a bit specialized, so I tend to pick and choose what I read. (I'm most interested in articles that relate university issues to the broader picture - like the issue of lowering the US drinking age and how university presidents and other administrators have reacted to this proposal.)

I particularly like its commentary pieces, which are often very thoughtful reflections on issues that any professional can not only understand but relate to.

Yesterday, I read an absolutely fascinating piece about race, and how Arabs, Iranians and other Middle Easterners often fall through the cracks of the almost exclusively black-white racial divide that characterizes the US. I've read before that Middle Easterners fall into the unhappy category of "not-quite-white": legally white, which allowed them to immigrate to the US in years when Asians were barred; but like Irish, Italian and Russian Americans, considered "less white" than the British, French, German and other North-Western Europeans who formed the first block of immigrants.

I've read about this issue in academic terms, but this piece helped me think about it in human terms:

Middle Easterners: Sometimes White, Sometimes Not
By JOHN TEHRANIAN

A few years ago, I was invited to interview for a tenure-track position as a law professor. I spent a pleasant day meeting with my prospective colleagues and received strong indications that I would receive a job offer. But a bloc of professors opposed my candidacy, and I ended up one vote short.

One faculty member called me to relay the unhappy news. Although disappointed, I was not disturbed until he said: "You shouldn't take any of this personally. The group that voted against you thought you'd be a great colleague and a wonderful addition to the law school. It was just a race issue." Confused, I muttered something about my opposition to discrimination against minorities.

That surprised my caller. "No, no, John. They objected to the fact that you're white. They insisted that we hire a minority candidate."

Although the professors who voted against me were apparently progressive liberals in favor of diversity in the law-school faculty, they seemed to have no concern about its lack of a full-time professor of Middle Eastern descent — an absence brought into relief by the large number of Arabs, Persians, Turks, and Armenians in the student body and local community. I asked, "They do know that I'm Middle Eastern, don't they?"

"Yes, of course," he said, "so they consider you white."

Utterly perplexed, I muttered: "White, huh? That's not what they call me at the airport."

Ultimately, university administrators determined that the faculty's actions were illegal and offered me the job, which I politely declined. But the underlying premise of the entire debacle — the whiteness of Middle Easterners — remained unexamined. And so it remains in both the academy and society.

The Middle Eastern question affects some of the most pressing issues of our time: the wars in Iraq and on terrorism; the growing tension between preservation of our national security and protection of our civil rights; and the debate over immigration, assimilation, and our national identity. Paradoxically, scant attention is given to our domestic Middle Eastern population and its place in American society.

Middle Eastern Americans are caught in a Catch-22. Our government, our educational institutions, and the private sector almost uniformly classify individuals of Middle Eastern descent as white. On paper, therefore, they appear identical to a blue-eyed blond of North European descent. In reality, however, Middle Eastern Americans have faced growing discrimination in recent years — through targeted immigration policies, racial profiling, a war on terrorism with a decidedly racist bent, and increasing workplace harassment and hate crimes.

Unless you belong to the group, however, it might be hard to see that. Middle Eastern Americans have little collective voice, as they are not considered a minority in official government data. Despite our heated discourse about diversity, therefore, Middle Easterners have remained surprisingly absent from the debate.

The academy has the ability to lead a vigorous colloquy about Middle Easterners and diversity. But government classifications for tracking admissions and hiring decisions have crippled us. As a result, bureaucratic reductionism has trumped critical thinking about what race and ethnicity mean, and what constitutes diversity.

For example, a recent newsletter from the American Bar Association celebrated significant increases in minority hiring for law-school faculties: From 2000 to 2004, minorities increased their share of full-time faculty positions from 13.9 percent to 16.0 percent, leading to plaudits for "meaningful progress in diversifying the law school community."

Like almost all accounts of diversity, however, that report paid no attention to Middle Eastern representation. While we have specific counts for law professors of African, Asian, Pacific Island, Latino, and Native American descent, the official data camouflage professors of Middle Eastern descent in the majority, with European-Americans.

That approach causes several problems. First, efforts to quantify minority representation in education and industry have brought to light systemic discrimination and underrepresentation, thereby leading to efforts to improve minority recruitment. By failing to measure the representation of Middle Eastern Americans, we cannot ascertain the degree to which they may suffer from discrimination or underrepresentation.

Second, by whitewashing Middle Easterners, we unwittingly send the message that they do not contribute meaningfully to diversity. The Supreme Court has allowed institutions of higher education to use diversity policies to promote cross-racial understanding, enervate invidious racial stereotypes, and enliven classroom discussion. Greater representation of Middle Eastern Americans could advance all three goals.

Of course, ethnic diversity does not guarantee a diversity of opinions, and the majority is not de facto incapable of relating to minority experiences. But a diversity of perspective helps, and a more visible Middle Eastern presence in academe could promote further exploration of the important, but underappreciated, issues raised in this essay and my forthcoming book on the subject, Whitewashed: America's Invisible Middle Eastern Minority.

Re-examining our notions of diversity is particularly important at this juncture, when race-conscious policies are coming under increasing attack. Indeed, the recent experiences of many Middle Eastern Americans readily belie the Panglossian trope of colorblindness that has permeated recent Supreme Court jurisprudence and fueled attacks against affirmative action. Arguing that the use of race-conscious policies to redress past discrimination is never constitutional, Justice Antonin Scalia once optimistically posited that "in the eyes of government, we are just one race here. It is American."

Reflecting the ascendance of that view nearly a decade later, the Supreme Court effectively ended the use of affirmative action at secondary schools in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s famous proclamation that "the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

Although Grutter v. Bollinger, which upheld the University of Michigan law school's race-conscious admissions policy by the thinnest of margins, has not been overturned, the current composition of the Supreme Court and the Seattle decision make the viability of any remedial policies precarious at best.

Surprisingly, however, various branches of government have continued to promulgate race-conscious policies, thereby undermining the colorblind rhetoric. Consider the continued tolerance of racial profiling — a practice that often targets individuals with Middle Eastern appearance or names in airports. Roberts's tautological edict against discrimination apparently gave a federal appellate court no pause when it declared earlier this year, in Cerqueira v. American Airlines, that the "race or ethnic origin of a passenger may, depending on context, be relevant information in the total mix of information raising concerns that transport of a passenger 'might be' inimical to safety." On that basis, the court took the remarkable step of reversing the jury verdict for a plaintiff who, because of his Middle Eastern appearance, had been forcibly deplaned despite clearing all security checks.

Colorblindness is also still lacking in segments of the private sector. Yet courts have shielded certain discrimination from adequate legal remedies. For example, in 2005, a federal jury held that Abdul Azimi, a Muslim immigrant from Afghanistan, had suffered years of vicious racial invective and physical abuse at his workplace. The evidence established that co-workers had regularly taunted Azimi with the N-word, linked him to Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, and left him notes with swastikas and profanity-laced vituperations against his faith. They even assaulted and battered him, forcing pork into his mouth and pockets as they denounced his religion in the crudest terms imaginable. Shortly after Azimi finally filed a complaint against that hateful and abusive treatment, and just a few weeks after the attacks of September 11, 2001, he was summarily fired.

Despite agreeing that Azimi had suffered discrimination, the jury found that the unlawful harassment had not caused Azimi "to be damaged by emotional distress, pain, suffering, emotional anguish, loss of enjoyment of life and/or inconvenience." Azimi appealed, in Azimi v. Jordan's Meats (2006), but the unfathomable verdict was affirmed and Azimi did not receive a single penny in damages.

Such a precedent threatens to provide carte blanche for the targeting of Middle Easterners in the workplace. Shockingly, Azimi's case was a relative success: In the year of the Azimi decision, courts ruled on 69 employment-discrimination cases involving claims by Muslims, many of Middle Eastern descent. Azimi's, with its acknowledgment of discrimination, was — in the words of The New York Times — the "only … victory, if you can call it that."

Historically, no country has ever been more open and welcoming to immigrants than the United States, and no country has ever demonstrated a greater respect for civil rights and the protection of minorities. However, we still have work to do. At a time when issues related to Middle Eastern Americans have risen to the forefront of our country's debates about national security, assimilation, and civil rights, there is no reason for those Americans to be excluded from the debate over diversity. As academics, we have an opportunity to lead the way.

One thing that I particularly like about this piece is that its author, John Tehranian, is not a specialist in Middle Eastern history or Iranian studies. He is identified as a law professor at Chapman University - in other words, while heis a scholar, this isn't his field. But it apparently has become an issue that he has chosen to pursue at a professional level. The Chronicle ends this piece by noting that Professor Tehranian will publish a new book in December - a book called Whitewashed: America's Invisible Middle Eastern Minority. Having read this commentary, I can't wait to read the book. 

Thank you to the many of you who have written with your thoughtful, sincere comments - RJ, Valerie, Faemom, Dawn et al. And thank you Intlxpatr and Faylasoof for posting about this story on your own blogs.

Thanks to my friend K, I have learned that an aptly named group called Hate Hurts America has published a website that addresses the DVD's points: ObsessionWithHate.com. And CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, has asked the Federal Elections Commission to investigate the distribution of these DVDs. (If you want to contact the FEC yourself, you can do so via its website or by calling 1-800-424-9530.

And if you think that this DVD issue will raise a stink here at home, you might be interested to know that the international press is starting to cover it as well. My aunt saw an article about it in todays Kuwait Times, and the Abu-Dhabi-based The National yesterday published an article titled: "Electioneering with Arab Stereotypes" - which mentions, among other things, that the Clarion Fund, which distributed Obsession, has yet to file its requisite 501(c)(3) forms with the IRS.While it might seem obvious that the Arab world would be interested in this story, I've also found articles about it in Hong Kong's Asia Times and the British paper The Guardian.

Meanwhile, I can see from the letters to the editor and "oops!" articles printed in the papers that distributed this DVD that public opinion is largely (although certainly not exclusively) against this kind of hate - and this kind of manipulation.

Here's a sample, from Del Stone Jr., the Online Editor of Florida's NWF Daily News (and yes, I am including it here partly because I love the title):

Putting Lipstick on Propaganda Doesn't Change It

Wednesday's mail brought a curious delivery, a DVD titled "Obsession: Radical Islam's War against the West."

I'd heard of the film only that afternoon. When I received my copy I became curious about its creation ... and its creators.

"Obsession" is a controversial 60-minute "documentary" that attempts to describe radical Islam's threat to the West through footage of terror attacks, clips from Arab TV and historical films of Nazi rallies. It has been shown on college campuses and on Fox News, and is now being distributed through direct mail and newspaper inserts.

"Obsession" was produced by the Clarion Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization which claims to accept no funding from the U.S. government, political institutions or foreign organizations. Clarion Fund's mission statement reads as follows:

"Our primary focus is on the most urgent threat of radical Islam. By utilizing the following three mediums, Clarion Fund is helping Americans understand that the mainstream media is (sic) not adequately conveying the reality of radical Islam: documentary film production and distribution, online education, college outreach."

Clarion Fund was founded in 2006 by Canadian filmmaker Raphael Shore, who now lives in Israel. The organization was described by a blogger on The Huffington Post as "shadowy" because it has not revealed the source of its funding. Clarion Fund Communications Director Gregory Ross said money for the distribution of "Obsession," which has run into the "millions," was collected from "private American individuals that span the political spectrum."

Some 28 million copies of "Obsession" are being sent to Americans through the mail or bundled into the inserts of 70 newspapers in "swing states," the implication being the filmmakers hope to influence the presidential elections, a charge Clarion rejects. The states include Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Missouri, Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Florida, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina and Virginia.

Newspapers in Florida carrying the DVD include the Daily Commercial, Florida Times-Union, Fort Lauderdale El Sentinel, Fort Myers News Press, Miami Herald, Ocala Star Banner, Orlando Sun Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Tampa Tribune, Tallahassee Democrat, St. Petersburg Times and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The newspapers have come under fire from critics who say the news organizations are circulating hate to earn back revenue lost in advertising declines over the past year. But a New York Times spokeswoman, questioned by journalism industry magazine Editor & Publisher, said the DVD did not violate their advertising terms of service.

Critics say Clarion is trying to skew the election to the Republicans. A group that distributed the movie at the Democratic and Republican conventions maintains a congressional "scorecard" that rates elected officials on terrorism-related issues (see watchobsession.org ). Sen. John McCain rates a 58, while Barack Obama and Joe Biden score a 25. Also, E&P reported an article on the "Obsession" Web site all but endorsed John McCain, but was taken down after questions were raised.

If you watch "Obsession," remember this: The film is propaganda, just as Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" and Sergie Eistenstein's "Battleship Potemkin" were propaganda films. Even Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" series was described as propaganda by the U.S. Army.

Even if you agree with "Obsession," you should maintain a healthy skepticism.

Propaganda doesn't stop being propaganda just because you agree with it.

"Obession" is being marketed through direct mail, newspapers, and on the film's Web site.

If you want to offer Del Stone feedback on this piece, the paper states that he can be reached at 863-1111, Ext. 1433, or dels@nwfdailynews.com.

I also like this letter to the editor, published on Monday in the Rio Rancho Observer:

Editor:

I’ll make this brief. I have thoughts of 9/11 in my mind as often as I have prayer. That is most of the time. It cannot be judged because of surface things such as if I’m flying my flag or wearing my flag pin.

Why would your paper think that you have the right to say we don’t (think about 9/11), and you are going to bring this “Obsession” DVD into our home unwanted, to make sure we do? We are not so dumb and I am appalled that your paper takes on this preachy attitude. This DVD message has not the purpose to bring us into remembering 9/11. We are not about to forget it. We all know that this was meant to be a “smear and scare” tactic to move the Republican party forward in this country. These wicked DVDs were sent out by some unknown source at this convenient time to promote the fear again.

I was told the last time I ran an ad in your paper that the reason it was not being delivered to my area was there was too much growth, yet on Sunday morning there it was in my driveway, so you could deliver this DVD to as many as possible. Shame on you.

Beverly Norman

Rio Rancho

The Miami New Times, which apparently did not distribute the DVDs (although I am not sure whether this was as a matter of conscience or because the paper was not approached), has also been taking a keen interest in the issue. Here's what one of its reporters, Kyle Munzenrieder, had to say yesterday on the paper's blog:

Remember that Anti-Radical Islam DVD, Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, you got in your Herald two weekends ago? Remember how we said it was controversial, and possibly a teensy bit Anti-Islam, as opposed to plain old anti-Radical Islam? Remember how after we suggested The Herald should have included a bit of a disclaimer, two days later they did and interviewed the director of the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations? Do you remember Miami, do you?

Because now CAIR is asking the FEC to probe itself all up into the Clarion Fund, the shady organization that paid for the distribution of that DVD in the Herald and 70-something other newspapers. CAIR's thinking is that maybe, just maybe the fund "is really a front for an Israel-based group seeking to help Sen. John McCain win the U.S. presidential election," according to a press release they just sent out.

“According to the website for the Secretary of State for New York, Clarion Fund Inc. is incorporated in New York as a Delaware based foreign not-for-profit corporation. According to the Delaware Department of Corporations, Robert (Rabbi Raphael) Shore, Rabbi Henry Harris and Rebecca Kabat incorporated Clarion Fund. All three of whom are reported to serve as employees of Aish HaTorah International, an organization apparently based in Israel. Also according to the Delaware Department of Corporations, the incorporators of the Clarion Fund used Aish HaTorah’s New York City address (150 West 46th Street, New York) to incorporate Clarion Fund in Delaware. It appears that the funding for the production, marketing and distribution of ‘Obsession’ may have originated from Israel-based Aish HaTorah International.”

So, basically we know that a foreign group may have paid for the distribution of some propaganda that drummed up national security fears at the expense of Muslims. Normally Republicans would be up in arms about "Got Dang Foreigners" involving themselves in our election process, but since this benefits them we'll bet they'll be silent (because they, meaning the people who control the party, not necessarily the voters, appear to have no morals and standards anymore, and it has never been more evident than during this election cycle, so we doubt they'll man up now). And of course most of the mainstream papers aren't going to push the issue because they were the ones who profited from all of this, but it was wrong, it was bullshit, and the FEC isn't probably going to do anything about it either. Even if CAIR's probing into the issue turns out to be a bit off (and frankly, no one seems to have any idea who the backers of the Clarion fund are, and this is the best we've seen), we're glad someone isn't letting it get swept up under the rug.

While we're at it kudos to the Palm Beach Post (who also distributed the DVD) for coming down hard on the Clarion Fund:

"The irony is that The Clarion Fund, whatever the group is and whoever runs it, is operating like the secret cells it warns about. Terrorists are cowards. In their own way, so are the people sending out this campaign ad."

And my friend K emailed me yesterday to relate her experience and to suggest that those of you in these swing states contact the publishers of your local papers to express your opinion. Here's what she had to say:

Dear all,

I urge you to make a phone call.

As you will read at http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/sep/24/me-islam-dvd-provokes-inquiry-request/, "The Tampa Tribune is one of about 70 newspapers that agreed to bundle the DVD inside its paper. One shipment went out in Sunday's Tribune. Another is to be distributed this coming Sunday." Please call Denise Palmer, the publisher and president, at 817 259 7424 and urge her to reconsider the second shipment. I got her assistant, who I kindly asked to put me through to voicemail, where I left a message stating who I am and how I urge the Tampa Tribune to make the right decision and not distribute racist propaganda again on Sunday. Many of you can probably come up with better, more articulate or persuasive arguments.

Also, I called the reporter Lindsay Peterson and thanked her for her even handed report for Tampa Bay Online (just a regurgitation of the AP story below, in fact, with some incriminating details re the distributors of "Obsession" left out, but still...).  I told her my concerns about the redistribution of "Obsession" next week--she was very sympathetic and at least acted as if she agreed. I don't know if it would be productive or counter-productive to flood her with calls, but I do think that thanking her via email (lpeterson@tampatrib.com) and letting her know that you have called Denise Palmer would pique her to pressure being put on the leadership of the paper.

Feel free to forward; if we could get one Florida paper to pull the DVD, it would be a great start. There ARE papers in this country who have refused to distribute the DVD, for instance the Greensboro News & Record and the St. Louis Dispatch.

This issue isn't really about Muslims, or Islam, or even radical Islam. Its about us: about America, and how we treat one another. As citizens we all have the right to vote based on our opinions and our values - and manipulating us to skew our opinions in one direction or another not only demeans each of us, but more than that, it smears our country and our democratic traditions. As Beverly Norman said: Shame on you, newspapers who agreed to distribute these DVDs. And shame on you, Clarion Fund, for treating American citizens so poorly.

Obsession

What on earth? I thought, clicking on it. My father isn't the type to become obsessed with anything. But someone thought he should be - he and every other Iowan. So this someone - a shadowy someone incorporated as a non-profit called "The Clairon Fund" - sent DVD copies of a film called "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" to every subscriber of the Des Moines Register last weekend.

My father scanned the DVD in its accompanying packaging, which you can download as a PDF here. (The download is more than worth the effort, but if you are on a Lebanese connection, be forewarned: its 4.5 MB.)

This is the poster of the movie (again, the scan my father made is much, much richer - it shows not only the DVD cover but also testimonials from various "experts" and other promotional materials. Horrifying, and McCarthy-esque.):

I am an Iowan and a New Yorker, and both parts of me are furious.

First, the New Yorker. This poster shows MY CITY. My New York, my Manhattan, my World Trade Center towers in their stark aftermath. This city, this image, and these buildings are not up for grabs, and they should not be taken by people bent on exploiting them for their own ends.

Second, the Iowan. My fellow Hawkeye State'rs are down-to-earth, middle-of-the-road Americans. They favor family values, a hard work ethic, and sensible, durable clothing. And for the past 12 or so years, their votes have helped determine the results of the US presidential election.

Iowa is a farm state, but its citizens are not ignorant. Our public schools are among the best in the country, and our state universities turn out some of the top medical and scientific research (well, not in ALL fields - but in several). The slick New York propagandists' idea that they can simply slip a DVD into the local paper and frighten Iowans into voting one way or another offends me. More than offends me.

Thanks be to God for my fellow citizens. What was their response to this DVD?

Here's the first one:

I am incredibly disappointed in the Register for serving as the delivery agent for "jihad Swift Boating" by including the DVD "Obsession" in the Sept. 14 edition. I watched it in its entirety.

This DVD connects modern Jihadi to Nazi Germany ideologues. It attempts to scare us into a paranoiac approach to our place in the world.

While I do not deny that terrorism is a real threat, and feel strongly that we must all prepare to deal with it, this is a blatant attempt to frighten us into our own brand of Western militancy. The last eight years of the Bush doctrine have taught us the consequences of stirring the hornets' nest of militant Islam in the Middle East. Saber rattling, "shock and awe" and cowboy diplomacy have only fueled hatred of the United States in the Islamic world and threatened our long-term security here at home.

The fact that this DVD, which was produced in 2006, should be released with less than two months before our national election and that it should be targeted for newspapers in swing states is a thinly veiled ploy to frighten the electorate into voting for the perceived "party most likely to protect us."

I shouldn't be surprised that the Republicans are willing to stoop to frightening footage to secure votes. I had not thought the Register would serve as the delivery boy for Jihad hysteria.

- James L. Fritz, Decorah

Mr. Fritz doesn't come from a booming metropolis - Decorah is a small town with long-standing farm roots. I wouldn't be surprised if he has never met a Muslim - and his capitalization of "Jihad" is quaint. I'm glad that he wrote this letter, and I'm proud to share a state with him.

Here's another:

This post has been long in coming, but I hope that you will all still find it interesting (and if not, feel free to skim!).

When it came to news coverage of the US presidential conventions, my favorite channel was Al Jazeera. I loved not only how much attention it devoted to each convention and the electoral process, but also how it incorporated Arab-American delegates and party activists as commentators. Al Jazeera covered the conventions extensively during Arab World primetime hours - I watched an online stream at work one afternoon, transfixed by the top-of-the-hour live report and the detailed explanation of everything minutely related to the election, from swing states to House and Senate majorities.

Al Jazeera's tag lines were just as dramatic as CNN's, and perhaps for me more fun because they looked fresher in Arabic. The Democratic Convention offered: "Obama and the Democrats: Eyes on the Presidency" (3oyoun 3ala al-ri2asa); "Before the Decision" (qabl al-7asm); "seesaw states" (wilayat al-taraju7); and of course, the great electoral tradition of "Mutual Exchange of Revelation of Political Defects" (tabadul kashf 3awrat siyasiya".

And the Republican Convention, of course, had Sarah Palin. Al Jazeera, like the US news channels, took her very seriously, and spent considerable time and effort introducing her to its viewers:

Here's what the text above says:

Sara Palin

Republican candidate for the position of vice president in the American presidential election

Elected in 2006 as the youngest and first woman to the office of governor of Alaska

First woman to be a candidate on the Republicans' ticket for the American presidential elections

Opposes the right of abortion

Delineated authority of the large oil companies in their attempts to try to develop [oil] wells to capacity

(I may have elided the details of the last point, but that's the gist of it. If anyone feels strongly that nufudh and ta7adat should be treated differently, I am more than open to another translation.)

To me, this list is very interesting, because it shows Al Jazeera's view that these are the four most salient pieces of information for Arabic-speaking viewers looking to know more about Governor Palin. (I have more to say about the Arabic words for terms like "vice president", but I will save those comments for tomorrow's post.) I'm not surprised that abortion plays such a large role here - I suspect that her firm anti-abortion stance would make her popular with devout and/or conservative viewers, Christian and Muslim. And I guess I'm not surprised about the other points: she is the first woman to govern Alasak and to serve on the GOP presidential ticket, and oil and energy issues generally are certainly playing a major role in this campaign. But I'm having a hard time seeing this as sufficient. I keep imagining someone in the Hawran or Khartoum or the Metn saying to him/herself the next time he/she hears Palin's name: oh yes, she's the anti-abortion one who is the first conservative woman candidate for vice-president - and she's young. On the other hand, I suppose its better than she's the one with the pregnant teen-ager, which story hadn't broken at the time I took this photograph, but which certainly dominated the US news.

But all these tags and bullet points, interesting though they were to me, were mere background to the main component of Al Jazeera's convention coverage: live reporting from the convention hall, with an on-the-scene anchor, instant translation of the major speeches and commentators giving their analysis from a set of "directors' chairs" positioned in front of the convention floor.

The anchor was a regular Al Jazeera correspondent, whose name I unfortunately do not remember. And the commentators were Arab-Americans who were at the convention either as delegates or party activists.

Here's one of the Democrats, Saba Shami:

I confess that I hadn't heard of him before Al Jazeera, but he is evidently a Palestinian-American who emigrated to the US in the 1970s and who has been very active in Virginia politics, and in encouraging Arab-Americans to take part in the political process. (You can read a 2004 interview that the BBC conducted with him here.)

And here is one of the Republicans, David Ramadan:

I hadn't heard of Ramadan either, but he is a Lebanese-American who emigrated in the mid-1980s and is also very active in Virginia politics. (You can read a recent interview that Al Jazeera English conducted with him here.)

Here they are together, offering a very clear example of the channel's commitment to broadcasting "the opinion ... and the other opinion". I took four pictures of them debating, and all look much like this one: intense exchange of opinions with many hand gestures:

I love this. I love that Al Jazeera, with its massive viewership, dedicated so much time to broadcasting the US political process in action: the pageantry of it, the goofiness of it, the tedium of it - not to mention the nitty-gritty of showing what states might vote which way, and what that will mean for the future president's ability to work with Congress to pass good laws.

And I love even more that the channel found these and other active Arab-American citizens to explain, comment on, and argue over the process and the candidates. I do have my own personal feelings about who I will vote for in November, but I think that in this election we have two very good, intelligent, sincere, un-corrupt candidates. And what I believe most of all is that our country gets stronger whenever more citizens engage with the political process. I hope that Al Jazeera's coverage gives viewers outside the US a sense of what our political process really looks like:no "99% of the vote" victories, on the one hand; and no Jewish cabals, on the other (and on my secret third hand: the acknowledgement that yes, both parties' conventions could stand a little less spectacle and a little more grassroots groundedness).

And I hope that viewers inside the US, or coming to the US, see Shami, Ramadan, and the channel's other commentators as men who they might emulate. Arab-Americans have been largely invisible as a political constituency, which means that politicians and political parties have done little to address their particular needs, whether these be an end to racial profiling or incentives to public schools that include Arabic in their roster of foreign languages - or whether these be changes to current immigration laws or to foreign aid allocations in the Middle East.

Joining a political party, going to community board meetings and political meetings, hosting fundraisers, door-knocking for candidates - all these are signs of active citizenship. And all these are ways to raise the profile of Arab-Americans with both parties, as a constituency whose votes and whose support are an important segment of the larger US community.

Have you ever wanted to ask a friend a quick question online without writing an entire email? Or do you want to be able to switch an email conversation easily from English to Arabic without having to change your setting each time? Google now offers solutions to both, following the launch today of several new features in the Arabic version of Gmail.

For the first time, the popular webmail service provides the ability to send instant messages in Arabic with the introduction of Gmail chat.

Instead of composing a formal email to a friend or colleague and waiting for a reply, you can now use chat to get a rapid response to quick queries. Gmail chat lets users see when their friends are online and get in touch however they want and just like email messages, chat sessions are searchable by you. Some of the features included are as follows:

- Gmail chat is integrated with your email so you can access it easily from the same screen as your Gmail inbox.

- Chat is in fully bi-directional (left-to-right and right-to-left) format, making it easier than ever to converse with family, friends, and colleagues in your own language.

- Customise your status so friends and colleagues can see what you're doing or where you are. If you don't want to be disturbed, you can make your chat status 'invisible' or 'busy'.

- Use the Group chat option to converse with a number of friends at the same time, in the same window.

- Chat off-the-record if you want to keep conversations with other Gmail users from being archived in your inbox or your friend's inbox.

- Enjoy new emoticons that allow you to add smiley faces and other expressions to your conversations

In addition to the introduction of chat, users will see some other changes to Gmail from today. We understand that Arabic language speakers may need to use Gmail in other language settings (such as English, French or Spanish) so we've made it easier for them to switch between languages. For example, if your email thread starts in English but you want to reply in Arabic, that's now no problem...

[To read the rest of the release, please click the link above.]

I'm confused. After my first read of this press release, I thought: I've been able to use gchat (and Gmail) for Arabic script chat and email inter-changeably with English since at least the start of 2007, so how is this a new feature? After my second read, I thought: Okay, its Arabic Gmail and gchat that now offer this feature. But that doesn't make sense, either. Why would the Arabic version of Gmail be slower to offer Arabic chat capabilities than the English version?

This is a total mystery to me. I've looked on Google's corporate page and its official blog, but I can't find any mention of the "launch" of Arabic gchat. Do any of you use Arabic Gmail? Does this press release make more sense to you than it does to me?

Five years ago, on Sep 15,2003, I first came to Tripoli, Libya for my first international assignment-joining the Libyan Swiss Diagnostic centre.

“You have to leave a lot of things behind if you have to move forward,” one experienced person told me, sensing my hesitation at the prospect of leaving everything behind and going for a foreign assignment.

“Libya! Have you gone out of your mind?” one friend and well-wisher said, sipping beer at CP’s Gola bar, our mid-week haunt in the Delhi practice days.

Those were the days of Delhi practice, working in Diagnostic MRI-CT centres, which have become more and more commission oriented at the expense of undercutting the professionals who are doing reporting.

“We are the only centre which does not give any commissions to the referring consultants.” This is the pet dialogue of every owner of a MRI Centre in Delhi.

They even have an un-official association which meets every two months to decide the maximum commission which should be given.

In this scenario, with some referring consultants even demanding 50% commission, the owners are squeezed from every angle, with costs of equipments, premises, maintenance, electricity. So they have to squeeze somewhere. The largely un-organized radiologist circle is one such avenue where they pass down their pressures.

“I will give you percentage” one owner told me. And after I joined he said, “The situation has changed,” and never gave any promised percentage after reaching the said target.

One cannot leave and join everyday, and coming from an ordinary middle-class family one has to balance many factors.So I continued in the “Changed situation” and waited for an opportune moment to change my circumstances for the better.

When you are relatively junior and not established you go through a lot of things for the sake of gaining experience.

But after a certain level it is difficult to work under such circumstances.

There are some celebrated-radiologists who have made their name signing the reports which are made by radiologists working with them in the centres which they own.

This is a form of intellectual robbery which is highly prevalent amongst some established names in Delhi.

The same persons are sponsors for conference dinners and have clout in various associations and connections, so no one speaks out, though many know the undercurrent.

The radiologists who do not have the necessary resources to put up big centres may then have to look for other options. Some of them set up their own ultrasound-xray centres, others join corporate hospitals in India or abroad. The Arab world is one such option.

After a few months of unemployment or should I say Under-employment, in which I did not do any MRI reporting, and doing my own Ultrasound-Xray practice, one night, I was talking to an old friend and mentor, who asked me if I would like to consider an offer from a diagnostic centre in Libya.

“If you want to leave, leave” the owner of a MRI centre who himself was a radiologist had told me rudely one day. I had set up that MRI centre from scratch, established the reporting and scanning protocols. After a year of toiling, when he thought his work was over, he started misbehaving with me.

The dignity of the professional should be maintained.

That was the guiding principle on which I have worked in and left many centres.

Sitting in Park Balucchi-Safdarjung Deer Park one fine evening, one other friend told me.

“This principle has cost you a lot of money at times.”

I agreed that I have stood up to some particular rude “rich” owners and not let the baseline drop below the dignity level.

I asked the celebrated radiologist why he should be signing reports made by me.

That was probably the tipping point for him.

If you want to leave you leave, the other rich-radiologist had told me. I left.

No regrets. Five years down the line, I am much better off than having to tolerate the

egos of such market-oriented poor-at-heart-and-principle rich guys.

As one other senior person who himself has not compromised told me in a privy moment.

“Leave such persons. Jobs are plenty for talented people.

 One should not work where there is no dignity of the professional”

In the coming years, this principle was tested many times in different ways, in the international scenario too.

But I have maintained this principle-

The dignity of the professional should be maintained.

When I first joint Libyan Swiss, the Arab owners had kept a Tunisian technician as a supervisor who saw her role as over seeing the work of even the radiologist who was working there. Slowly but surely these elements were rooted out and now things are very smooth, though there are a few occasional bumps here and there.

“If you consider the things which we have gone through and then established ourselves to this level, the present problems are trifles,” I told one colleague who had joined the department after me and not witnessed the struggles we had at that time.

(More of that and other experiences in the next post…experiences in work, housing, dealing with management and many other interesting things one learns and gains from).

So, while I listen to a tinny version of ... could it be? ... "Beauty School Drop-Out", set to Muzak, I'm taking the opportunity to do a little blogging.

Months ago, I thought of doing a project with mid-century Arab world stamps. The inspiration, rather long in gestation, comes from the tables at a cafe in Damascus' Shaalan neighborhood: Beitouna. The cafe's proprietors had renovated their family house, and had designed tables with glass surfaces and "shadow box" compartments beneath the glass, in which they had strewn old coins, stamps and other mid-century memorabilia.

Beitouna's menu was pretty 3adeh, but its location was convenient and I loved watching the bustle of the street from the tranquility of its second-floor window tables. And I loved looking at the old stamps - I remember entire series dedicated to Syria's athletic accomplishments in something like the "Soviet Games", not to mention the short-lived appearance of "Arab Union" stamps.

So in an idle fit of online shopping one afternoon in Beirut, I decided to see what Lebanese stamps might be available on Ebay. And, let me tell you: there are a LOT of old Arab stamps for sale, and they are very, very cheap.

These aren't collectors' items - they are all used stamps, although for me this is part of their charm. And I am sure that the vendor from whom I bought a big envelope filled with Lebanese stamps wondered why I was willing to pay $2 + shipping for them. But I did, happily - and I think I got a great bargain.

The stamps show a great variety in style, motif, and the fonts used. I think they are all 1950s-1960s, but I could be wrong. Here are two photographs I took last night of assorted stamps from my "collection".

The first is a set of stamps on a fruit theme. If you look closely, you will notice that each cost a different amount - and that in French the value is in "P" (for "pence"), while in Arabic it is "qaff" (for "qurush"):

This next photograph is of two stamps from the same set, showing a man (want to bet that he is Phoenician?) decorating an amphora, which I have heard originated in Lebanon/Syria and was eagerly adopted by the Romans.

The stamp below it is very curious: it has a stylized bird on the top left, an ocean liner or cruise ship at the bottom right, and the symbols of the twelve signs of the zodiac circling around the cedar tree. I think its a visually striking stamp, but I am stumped as to what its message might be:

Today should be a busy one, in Beirut and New York. In Beirut , politicians and ordinary citizens are getting ready to welcome (or not) the national dialogue and the challenges it will bring; while here finance professionals and ordinary citizens are getting ready to withstand (or not) the latest financial collapse and the challenges that it will bring.

For those of you working to meet either challenge, I wish you strength and hope that the stamp photos give you a brief respite from the day's tasks :) .

And I also read a book that I had ordered several months ago but never quite managed to open: Matt Rees' The Collaborator of Bethlehem, a mystery involving a Christian man accused of collaborating with the Israelis and an elderly Muslim school-teacher determined to clear the man, his former pupil.

This was a hard book to read. Not because it is badly written or the plot stumbles - on the contrary, it is well written and the plot is gripping, in a quiet, menacing way. For me, it was hard to read because having been to Bethlehem and seen the shuttered shops around the Church of the Manger, as well as the beautiful big houses built when people there were making money in the 1990s (or thanks to remittance from abroad), I can imagine the economic desperation. And it was also hard because having heard Christian residents mourn their declining numbers as the younger generation gets visas to leave the country, I can imagine the sectarian tensions that Rees describes.

What I didn't see when I was in Bethlehem was the way the town is governed: by the Aksa Martyrs' Brigade, according to Rees. And much of the tension that seeps into each successive page comes from the control that its za'im-like leaders exert over the population.

The Israelis are a presence in the book, but it is a muted one. They appear directly only twice: once, when a squad of tanks and helicopters arrives one afternoon to tear up the road in front of the school-teacher's house, destroying water and sewer pipes that leave his family without water and w