A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Thursday, January 27, 2011

All That Other Stuff

Issandr El Amrani complained a few days ago about how the "Inconsiderate Middle East" kept interfering with his visit to Tunis. He leaves Egypt for Tunis, and Egypt blows up. So does Lebanon. So does the Palestinian Authority. And hardly anyone remembers that Sudan is coming apart.

I'm just one blogger with a day job, and find that Egypt has kept me occupied since Tunisia wound down, and I've said little about the "Palestine Papers," though Palestinian Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat has named a former colleague of mine, Al Jazeera's Clayton Swisher (a former Director of Programs at MEI), as one of the two main leakers he blames. I've also said nothing about Najib Mikati in Lebanon, though the Western media has taken an "Eek! Hizbullah's taking over!" approach to the story. (But you have Qifa Nabki to meet your Lebanon needs.) And I've said nothing about Sudan since my post about haberdashery a week ago. I have The Middle East Journal as well, of course, which pays the bills. I'll try to comment more on issues I've missed, over the next day or two. But Egypt will not be neglected, since it's the country I've known best and longest, and these are amazing times.

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