Desert Rose (Adenium Obesum), originally uploaded by malyousif.

I got these cuttings as a gift this morning, I’ve gone to 4 garden centres in Bahrain before receiving them and they didn’t have any Adeniums in stock, and they didn’t know when they would be getting any in…

These are going to be my pride and joy if they “take” into my garden (in pots initially). I fell in love with this plant immediately I saw it the first time.. absolutely gorgeous.

(this is my side cabinet in the office by the way)

references, if you’re interested in this plant: 1, 2 and 3.

He had this, and threw it away! He just threw away the origin of the revolution called the Internet (ok, I’m emotional and exaggerating, but hey..) while spring cleaning!

Muscati spring DOESN’T EVEN EXIST IN THE GULF WHACHWRONGWIVYOU? You go an throw away A SPECTRUM+?! Man, I’m jumping on a plane right now to come to Muscat to beat you up!

On the other hand if you can retrieve it, I implore you to keep it (or give it to me!) or give it away to a museum or something, it’s such a shame that that gets thrown out. I remember when dad bought us the ZX81 and then the Spectrum, then Spectrum Colour and then the XL.. unfortunately we didn’t keep any, but I can tell you those were the start of my brothers and I journey into technology. What memories. I was the least active one in computers as well!

If you didn’t catch my reference to the availability of Arabic/English and English/Arabic machine translation by Google as I’ve mentioned here, then this is from their blog. I thought I would highlight it again as this is an extremely important development. At last we have a very workable, and completely free translation service rather than the usual Arab companies offered restrictive engines. (hat tip for this one goes to me brother Hani, thanks!)

We recently launched an online version of our system for Arabic-English and English-Arabic. Try it out! Arabic is a very challenging language to translate to and from: it requires long-distance reordering of words and has a very rich morphology. Our system works better for some types of text (e.g. news) than for others (e.g. novels) — and you probably should not try to translate poetry … but do stay tuned for more exciting developments.
Google Research

Whoever did this should receive the maximum punishment permissible by law. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to continue to burn tyres, rubbish bins and most certainly there is not one single reason in the world to throw Molotov cocktails at police cars. This is a criminal act, regardless of political motives.

The country has been suffering from a small band of criminals especially on the Budaiya highway and Sanabis going on rampages almost every night. Every road in the area carries the pockmarks of burnt tyres. Innocent people in villages were suffocated by the burning tyres smoke and then tear-gas lobbed at these pricks by the police to try to control a situation.

There are 30 or so people apprehended, some received jail sentences and others are awaiting their fate in the next few days: the first lot demonstrated at the airport, the second and third and probably fourth lots were “demonstrating” to demand the release of those originally, and then subsequently imprisoned. And pray how are they “demonstrating”? Why by resorting to violence, burning things, stopping people from enjoying their evenings or going shopping and then this, burning police cars.

There is no doubt in my mind – taking the coordinated nature of these riots – that they are all coordinated, and some ass hat is “directing” these morons on where, when and how to demonstrate.

Well, I don’t have any sympathy for them and hope they rot in jail for all I care. To hell with them. If quite a number of community leaders have beseeched them to demonstrate peacefully and they didn’t heed the advice… well, let them live with the consequences of their actions. For a very long time.

So we have Salafis supporting bin Laden and being ultra-sectarian against the Shi’a, and we’ve got these twits who are most probably Shi’a on the other side burning and “revolting” against the government. The rest of the people of this country which (I hope) constitute the vast majority who are against both these extremes are caught in the middle, and nothing will release us unless we ALL stand against both of these extremists.

Violence is not the way forward. Especially at this critical juncture of our history.

Very pretty aren’t they? Kids fronting a demonstration in Muharraq yesterday in support of “the Iraqi resistance” and the Palestinians. The demonstration was organised by some group calling themselves “National Justice Movement” in cooperation with the Shura Islamic Political Society and National Constitutional Grouping which brought out about 150 people, according to Al-Wasat (arabic).

Now for the brainfart >>

The Shura Council’s Secretary-General Abdulrahman Abdulsalam denounced the children who have infiltrated the demonstration without the organisers’ knowledge, wearing bin Laden imprinted T-shirts, re-iterating his condemnation of such behaviour and is not by the organisation parties.

He would say that wouldn’t he? Oh, this is coming from a die-hard salafist who stood for elections in Arad in 2002 and failed (thank goodness) where Othman Sharif easily beat the crap out of him… Sharif of course got through on the backs of Shi’a voters in a predominantly Sunni area because voters there detest Abdulsalam because of his sectarianism, hatred of the Shi’a and being a Wahabi, and even though they objected to the name Othman (long story, maybe another time) they voted for him anyway – sectarian? You bet, on so many fronts!

But let’s stay with the current story: he and his lot want the Americans out of Iraq, and they also strongly denounced the Anglo-American occupation and praised the “resistance” in Fallujah, Ramadi, Baghdad and Mosul. They conveniently left out Karbalah, Najaf, Basra etc as they are (screw up your face and hold the tip of your nose as you have just smelled a 3-day-old dead rat in a closed space) Shi’a!

And this prick wants us to believe that they didn’t PUSH these children to wear those t-shirts and lift those placards with their god on them without their complete knowledge, encouragement and acceptance?

And this twerp is still in the sensitive position of Secretary-General of the Shura Council? The government actually condone his actions?

What would it take to get these people to realise that this is not the way to do things in this day and age? What would it take to get them to understand that their bin Laden is nothing more than a simple-minded brain-washed criminal? Until when will they stand with a criminal just because he happens to share their religion? And if bin Laden’s own brothers, family and country disowned him, why the hell do we have people in Bahrain not only supporting him, but raising their kids to believe that HE represents the right path?

No, as long as the government and society are not doing anything to educate people through their mosques and papers and clearly and unequivocally condemning bin Laden and his ilk, and as long as they not only support, but encourage sectarian strife, then this is the least of what we expect.

Next step (especially as we’re coming up to elections) is bombs in crowded places…

Anyway, here’s a translation of the full article done very very well, considering it’s just a beta feature of Google’s Arabic to English translation engine.

Marco did a quite extensive degree research about blogging in the Gulf. He decided to take Chan’ad‘s, Saudi Jeans, Farah’s Swaleef and my blog as well as a few others for his case studies.

His study is very well researched and thought out. I hope his uni will translate & publish it as a good reference.

His research is published (at the moment) at http://www.cyberantropologia.tk

Marco’s father – Roberto – is one of my friends and has been working in Bahrain for the last year or so, and hopefully will stay for quite a number of years yet!

No, not me, I’ll probably never stop blogging as it has become such an important part of my life and a great creative release, not to mention a good ameliorator to frustration. But if you are considering quitting blogging, please take a few minutes to read the following from the Boston Globe (hat tip to John Chilton posting on the UAE Community Blog)

Blogs ‘essential’ to a good career
free registration might be required to read the full article

Blogging is good for your career. A well-executed blog sets you apart as an expert in your field.

Ben Day blogged his way into a career as a high-earning software consultant while maintaining the freedom to schedule frequent jam sessions and performances as a keyboard player.

Blogging gave him the opportunity to stand out enough to support the life he envisioned for himself. ”For your career, a blog is essential,” says Phil van Allen, a faculty member of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.

”It’s the new public relations and it’s the new home page. Instead of a static home page, you have your blog,” he said. It’s a way to let people know what you are thinking about the field that interests you.

Employers regularly Google prospective employees to learn more about them. Blogging gives you a way to control what employers see, because Google’s system works in such a way that blogs that are heavily networked with others come up high in Google searches.

And coming up high is good: ”People who are more visible and have a reputation and stand for something do better than people who are invisible,” says Catherine Kaputa, branding consultant and author of ”Blogging for Business Success.”

and they go more in detail, I’ll reproduce some of their points here, but do read the full article:

1. Blogging creates a network.

A blogger puts himself out in the world as someone who is interesting and engaging — just the type of person everyone wants to meet. ”A blog increases your network because a blog is about introducing yourself and sharing information,” says Kaputa.

2. Blogging can get you a job.

Dervala Hanley writes a quirky literary blog that got her a job is at Stone Yamashita Partners, a consulting firm that ”tries to bring humanity to business.” Hanley says the firm was attracted to her ability to put her business experience into personal terms on the blog.

3. Blogging is great training.
To really get attention for your blog, you’re going to have to have daily entries for a while. At least a few months to get rolling, and then three or four times a week after that. So you will really get to know your topic well.

4. Blogging helps you move up quickly.
…

Still want to give up blogging?

Cactus Yellow Flower, originally uploaded by malyousif.

This image also is especially presented to the Dubai Press Club people who have worked tirelessly to bring a much needed conference to fruition. Special thanks to Mohammed Al-Mansouri, Ms. Maryam bin Fahad and of course Ms. Mona Al Marri.

Have a wonderful Friday my friends!

If you’re from the Emirates and can’t see this picture, can you please let me know? I actually serve this from my server, but it’s linked to the flickr page so it should at least display.. if it doesn’t I would appreciate you telling me so I can fix it. Thanks

Burj Al-Arab – Dubai, originally uploaded by malyousif.

It’s been fun!

blogging the 4th Arab Media Forum in Dubai

and Impressions on the 4th Arab Media Forum

It’s over. Apart from the official dinner and prizes tonight, the conference and sessions have just finished. We’ve had our bloggers’ session this afternoon and it was brilliant! Good organisation, good attendance and very good questions from the audience.

Chairing the panel was Ms. Dalia El Farra, Ms. Anisa Al-Sharif, a UAE national and personal blogger, tackled the experience of blogging and how some blogs were quite literally stepping into traditional media spheres. She specifically brought to our attention the “Jar Al-Qamar” blog which was the first to break the story of the sectarian strife in Alexandria, and stressed that this will not be the last that we will find bloggers publishing news as it happens.

Dr. Emad Basheer, the director of the Lebanese University’s College of Media came all prepared with a good 7 pages for his talk which was very worthwhile. He described the start of blogging with the Sumerians in about 4000BC! And explained the various eras it went through. He of course was treating the “phenomenon” of blogging as diarists; looking at it this way, I can see where he was going. Anyway, he explained the distinct 4 eras of blogging as starting in ancient times with the Sumerians as it was them who first developed the act of writing, then it went on to the creation of the Gutenberg Press in the 1400s – if you discount the Chinese and Japanese printing presses which are supposed to have predated the Gutenberg Press in the 1100s and 1200s. Onwards to 1946 when the first computer was invented, and then of course with the prevalence of the dial-up communications and then ultimately the internet.

Following on from his presentation – which I will try to get and post here as it is interesting – I started where he finished and said that I started blogging in 1986!

Well it’s true! I had created one of the first BBSs (bulletin board services) in the area and called it Stray Cats BBS. We had quite a few members at that time and what we did is very similar to blogging today, it was a collection of chronologically organised entries to which people commented. After that we went into forums and then as we have today the current structure of the blog. Sure, the terms “weblog” and “blog” only came a lot later than ’86, but if we take Dr. Basheer’s paradigm, then a lot of us (dinosaurs!) have been blogging since the BBS days.

My talk (which lasted a lot shorter than Dr. Basheer’s I might add, and I told the audience to clap when I felt that I had bored them enough ) concentrated on the issues of credibility and anonymity in blogging. Core issues which have been discussed time and again in virtually all the sessions at the conference. I explained that credibility in blogs is gained by peer-review, in which if any reader disagrees with anything that a blogger has written, it is very simple to call him up on the facts by commenting on the piece. If commenting is not allowed on that particular blog, then a link is created into the objector’s blog referring back to the original article and he would expose his thoughts and why he thinks that the other writer is wrong. Through this process, the community itself takes care of reviewing and ensuring credibility is only granted to those who deserve it, that of course is evidenced by the number of links there are to a particular blog or article, and it is this that created good feedback sites like Technorati and The Truth Laid Bear’s EcoSystem which track these links.

As to the anonymity question, I maintain that the best way to gain credibility is to fully disclose who you are, and that you must stand behind your beliefs and writings. Once people actually get to know who you are, they can completely discount you and concentrate on your message. If they don’t know who you are, then that’s just another question-mark that lingers in their minds, detracting them from the idea you are discussing.

However, I also recognised that in our particular world it is not always practical to be known and I gave the example of Rabah Al-Quwayi who has simply called for taking nothing for granted in one of the many online forums in Saudi and he got a message-wrapped brick thrown at his car’s windshield! The message was a death threat. His troubles didn’t stop there, for when he went to the police station to lodge a complaint, the religious police at the station apprehended him and threw him in prison because “his beliefs were in doubt!” So the danger is always present not only from the governments, but even more from the community itself.

So in my personal view, the ideas are the most important things, rather than the person writing them; however, it does generally add to the story’s credibility if its author is known.

Questions from the floor were very interesting again, and once again continued to try to find ways to delineate blogging from traditional journalism, using the credibility issues, the immediacy of electronic publishing without an overseer, the absence of a code of ethics for bloggers, etc. These questions of course were raised by journalists rather than bloggers, who were almost absent form the forum! I’ve only met a couple of them who bothered to identify themselves as bloggers (some where even very guarded and wouldn’t give me their URLs – hint hint!) Nevertheless, I think discussing these issues are very important indeed, as it is the first step in getting traditional journalists to hear our views on the subject first-hand, and hopefully will transmit these thoughts to their readers that we are real people whose intentions are not far removed from “real” journalists.

That is not to say of course that there are no trivial blogs floating around, or trivial posts for that matter. Of course there are, and that is fine because blogging – may I remind you once again – is nothing more than a chronologically sorted personal diary entries. It could be as mundane as that, but I think as blogging became much more accepted now, even to the extent of having an ancient and trusted news agency like Reuters sourcing blogs, some are more serious than others, and it is up to the reader him or herself to make up their minds as to the credibility of the information presented, and how it is to be consumed by them.

Unfortunately the hour whizzed by, and as there was another session booked in the same room after us, we couldn’t take any more questions from the floor. Once I walked out of the conference room; however, I was cornered by KM Rakesh, the chief reporter at The Gulf Today for an impromptu interview, which lasted for more than half an hour, I hope he got the story he was looking for. Immediately after that I was cornered by “IN TV” crew for a television interview which again was off the cuff, the questions asked were good, and I hope that I have answered them sufficiently, but for a station whose newscast is not more than 6 minutes, they will have to do some serious editing to fit what I’ve said into their program… they’ll probably shorten it to the worst sound-bite in history! If any of you guys see it, can you let me know how it went? I don’t get that channel on the hotel’s TV…

In between the end of the session and the start of the interviews, I met a friend whom I have not met for about 6 or 8 years! It was wonderful to see Abdul Hamid Al-Zaidi, an old friend from Kuwait again. We have both moved from what we did all those years ago, and Abdul Hamid now manages a group of companies, one of which is – believe it or not – Arab Broadcast Forum to which he kindly invited me to participate in at their next session. I of course would love to, and shall give you more information about that whenever I receive them.

It’s 6:20pm as I write this, another hour before go to the presentation dinner which I am looking forward to. I so love meeting new people, and these intellectuals I have been privileged to meet and listen to them voice their concerns and suggest ways in which to fix our media situation, their thoughts on democracy, on extremism and the rest of the issues discussed is at worst enriching, and at best gives one hope that it is not all gloom and doom in the Arab world. As long as people like these worthy ladies and gentlemen are around, and as long as they are given a platform to share their ideas as in this forum, we will get there sooner than a lot of people think.

The train of reform has certainly left the station, and you’d better get on it and join the reform process, or get left behind.

One closing remark that I said for the IN TV interview I shall leave you with: I was asked – to the effect – what would happen if this reform stops and if it is effective for the various regimes in the Arab region; I replied that “we only have to look to our East to find out the results of not getting on the train, we only have to look at Kathmandu.”

blogging the 4th Arab Media Forum in Dubai

The first plenary session dealt with journalistic credibility in the Arab world, and no surprises there: the panel was unanimous in condemning the state of credibility of the Arab media. We can go back to sleep now… especially that no resolutions were put forth on how to deal with this situation.

That didn’t stop Mohammed Jassim Al-Saqer (ex-managing editor of the Kuwaiti Al-Siyasah Al-Qabas newspaper) from ripping the media an old hole where he ranted about national TV channels overriding love with spending inordinate amounts of money and time in glorifying a country’s leaders rather than seeking to display and discuss the news. He also told us that western journalists take more pains investigating the story than their counterparts in the Arab world. For instance a western journalist (he didn’t specify who) has been calling him for more than 3 weeks trying to get the facts surrounding the Iraqis imprisoned in Kuwait for their attempt to murder George Bush Sr. While he says that Arab “investigative journalist” would finish his story in a couple of hours!

Abdulrahman Al-Rashed (Al-Arabiya’s GM) was more moderate in his criticism and suggested – in effect – that there are more than 200 television channels in the Arab world and it is easy enough for a viewer to just switch over to any of those channels rather than the national channels; moreover, if the viewer is multilingual, that choice is increased exponentially.

The real good thing about this session however was from the floor, where Dr. Sa’ad bin Tiflah Al-Ajmi – the ex-minister of information and academic in Kuwait – where he suggested that in order to increase credibility of the Arab media, a higher board or council or society should be established where journalists are only inducted within it when a journalist’s credibility is assured, and more importantly it should have some disciplinary teeth in order to ensure that journalists are taken to task by their own.

Another point he raised was that the majority of media-personnel are more concerned with making money (he didn’t use the term “mercenary” but he certainly implied it!) For this point specifically he was attacked by just about every person on the panel! That to me sounds like he put his finger directly on the wound.

No one during the session talked about the credibility of electronic media, although on the panel was the founder and chairman of Elaf, the Arabic news site. No one that is other than the dean of Arab journalists and the person who officially opened the forum Mr. Ghassan Twaini (editor in chief of Al Nahar newspaper), who has come out during question time very strongly for websites and described them as “complimentary elements” to the printed press, rather than what they are traditionally regarded as errant competitive nuisances.

blogging the 4th Arab Media Forum in Dubai

This is the over-riding feeling at the “Status of Iraqi media” chaired by Jassim Al-Azzawi and included Faisal Al-Yasseri (founder and chairman of Al-Diyar television channel), Ismael Zayer (Managing Editor at Al-Sabah Al-Jadeed newspaper) and Adnan Hussain (the noted writer and long time Saddam-regime opponent writing for Asharq Al-Awsat in London) as panelists.

Although the session started later than advertised, once it got going the panelists shared with us some surprising facts about how they see the Iraqi media as they live it, day in and day out. The most surprising factor to me is their adaptability to a scene without rules was and is painful! Imagine Al-Yasseri chasing government organisations for 6 months to notify them of his intention to start a television channel (notification, mind you, not seeking approval) and the absence of laws was also a deterrant to “real” journalism as there is no press and publication law, according to Zayer, which he still vehemently opposes, but is now insisting on the establishment of a ‘code of ethics’ that would bind all journalists.

Another surprising factor is the plethora of media outlets there are in Iraq: according to them, there are 26 satellite television stations, 40 terrestrial television stations and more than 100 newspapers including just a few tabloids! Try to compare that with what the scene was like just a few years ago. But all is not very happy, the whole media industry is in a flux; newspapers, television and radio channels have become far too politically motivated, with no real disclosure on who owns what, but a person can certainly deduce where a particular publication or television station is leaning. Apart from their political stances, a number of media outlets are clearly sectarian, even to the extent of using derogatory terms in which to call one sect or another. Some even go to the extent of inciting violence, and here is the biggest surprise to me: Iraqis – according to the panelists anyway – detest Al-Jazeera! Al-Jazeera is scene as nothing more than a terrorist mouth-piece which unashamedly encourage the continuation of violence in Iraq through its twisted reporting and its programs. The very same method has been adopted by a number of sectarian stations, which – Al-Azzawi says – had there been any liability laws, the vast majority of journalists and media persons would probably be thrown in prison not to be seen again.

According to Zayer again, there are quite a number publications which are indirectly owned by the government or political parties; more importantly, these government organs channels funds and advertising revenue to their preferred papers and not just ignoring others who do not share their views, but create a number of hurdles to cripple those which fell out of their favours. One such tactic is the “partial shutdown of districts/marshal law” which not only restricts the ability of newspapers to be printed, but completely throttles distribution. Therefore, with no money coming in, publishers continue to be unsure if they can continue to produce such a newspaper.

That restriction is by no means the exclusive domain of government; however, again Zayer stresses that if for instance Al-Sadr or his people get aggrieved because of a written article, then you could forget distributing your paper into their controlled territories in Baghdad and the south; while if you tick off the sunni leaders, you could forget about distributing your paper in parts of Baghdad, Ramadi, Fallujah and Mosul.

The television landscape is not much different than newspapers, Al-Yasseri related to us that although on the books he has 291 employees at Al-Diyar television channel, he would get ecstatic if only 60 turn up for work! He is lucky that he does not have to resort to installing concrete defences around his station (which was the original Al-Jazeera headquarters in Baghdad previously) some of his employees paid with their lives reporting for the only live program he provides (the news): one reporter was killed in Fallujah by shooting, another got killed in Baghdad, and yet another was killed because it became known that he was carrying cash on him (US$13,000) to go buy a UPS for the station. Al-Yasseri believes that the last victim was murdered because someone at the station collaborating with outside criminal elements for the cash, this shows very clearly the lawlessness Iraq suffers from, and the disregard for human life there at the moment.

As to freedoms, it was agreed that although media is infinitely freer than it was in the previous era, there is no sense for that freedom if it is not coupled with a secure environment where a journalist continuously fears for his or her life. This was amply demonstrated by Adnan Hussain who read to us one of his regularly received death threats from Iraq from someone who took umbrage with Hussain’s criticism of Dr. Ja’afari, even though it should be noted that generally, when a journalist criticises someone, that criticism is not personal but most probably to the position he fills.

from Dubai

I’m being put to task. I’ve complained enough about the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and how it is disconnected from its constituents. I argued against some of its programs and personnel, and I’ve even argued against its existence, but I didn’t volunteer to actually stand to enter its board, nor did I suggest ways in which I personally can help things to change to the better… that is all about to change.

With the election of the new board it didn’t just get a bunch of new faces, but with those it got a goodly infusion of new blood and ideas. If you follow its news, you would have noticed that there are a lot more news releases about programs it has undertaken, and seminars it has mounted, as well as intrinsically changing the way in which its sub-committees exist. This is probably the most important change, as it is the work of these sub-committees which affect its members in a direct manner.

These committees are generally quite vertical: there is one for the construction industry, another for banking and finance and the like. A few however exist with a broader mandate like the Businesswomen committee as well as a newly inaugurated Young Businessmen Committee, it is this one that I have been selected to be part of, and in essence, put my money where my mouth is. No longer can I just simply bitch, because I now have the mechanism to effect change – nor matter how small that influence is – I now have a mechanism to get my voice to reach a proper destination.

The Young Businessmen Committee is composed of 16 members, making it the largest active committee in the Chamber of Commerce; and although we have not decided its objectives, the general one must be to find ways to help the young businessperson to grow, thus contributing to the creation of wealth, employment and ultimately increase the size of the middle class; thus, aiding in the better stability of society and country.

The inaugural meeting was quite interesting to me; this is the first meeting of this sort I participate in: we had the committees coordinators, a registrar/clerk, and had to vote on electing a chairman and a vice-chairman as well as put in a program and an agenda for the next meeting. We elected Saqer Shaheen to the presidency and Mo’anes Al-Mardi as his deputy. After which, the first task put to the table was to think of objectives in order to categorise and prioritise them in practical ways in order to activate them with proper action plans.

The next meeting is set to be on May 7th, then we’ll meet once a month in the afternoon of the first Monday of the month.

My interpretation of the roles of this committee is quite straightforward: (1) concentrate on helping SMEs achieve winning strategies for growth, (2) suggest markets which are under-represented in Bahrain and bring them in, (3) create practical seminars and workshops to help the young businessperson: how to read and understand financial statements, why is auditing important to a business, how to look for investors, how to secure needed cash for growth and the like. These points are just off the cuff and hope that I will come up with more by the time we meet again.

One thing that I hope to have made clear at the first meeting is that we can no longer depend on the physical meeting model where we meet for an hour or so once a month. This will not allow us as a committee to execute all that is expected of us, not by a long shot; the suggestion I have put through is the creation of a group email list and a website where all the members of the committee are welcome to utilise as frequent virtual meeting space; this will allow us to gel our ideas much quicker, and help us in better utilise the time of actual physical meetings. A website would of course also serve as a good reference and live gallery for all of our discussions and the various documents concerning committees at the chamber. Although I have not been tasked for doing so, once I come back from Dubai I intend to create at least a mailing list through which we can start to communicate.

Would you – as a Bahraini businessperson – like us to discuss anything in particular? What do you think the committee should concentrate on?

It’s been some time since we had fun with a scapegoat, I haven’t travelled much lately, but today – and in a middle of a sandstorm! (keep you fingers crossed) – I’m off to Dubai for a couple of days to participate in the Dubai Press Club’s Arab Media Forum.

So, in the tradition of the Den, I must announce an MtvSM, who this time is….

The rules are really simple, blame Tawfiq for everything, and as he is a member of the steering committee of the largest Bahraini political party, Al-Wefaq, he should especially be blamed for the almost sure thing of Jassim Al-Saidi not only most probably being re-elected, but probably going to be the new chairman of the parliament! (full disclosure, not my idea and I heard it mentioned by a friend after which I felt bitch-slapped by him!)

I’m taking my laptop with me in the hope that I will blog this conference, so you might see some posts from me in that regard.

See you in a couple of days, and have fun!

Peace.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is a special lash and mask kit I would like to present to our dear member of parliament Ali Mattar who suggested the very valid and totally workable solution to penalise errant journalists… WHIP THEIR ASS!

And of course Mattar is going to wear that mask while he’s doling out the lashings punishment (arabic).

Mattar of course backtracked on his brainfart and justified it by saying that he was just joking! Well, I never thought that this guy and the whole herd he belongs to have any sense of humour whatsoever. But I am obviously wrong so I fully and humbly and unambiguously apologise for my temerity.

At a time when he and his compatriots in this parliament should fight tooth and nail to increase civil rights, what we get is the continuous attempts by them to restrict them. When we look to them to develop the penal law and establish true correctional facilities, we get them proposing amputating limbs and chopping off heads to combat crime, when we want to encourage tourism, they blindly and willingly categorise any concert as satanist and entice simpletons to riot to force a closure of a concert, and the list goes on…

A joke? Not by a long shot.

It is their secret wish to change this country into an Islamist Wahabi extremist state living more than 1,400 years in the past.

It is their secret wish to encourage and applaud suicide bombers and see innocent blood flow in the streets of Bahrain.

It is their secret wish to want to kill anyone who simply opposes their twisted and moronic thoughts and beliefs, using their brand of Islam as justification.

But they are no secrets at all! They have come out and declared all of these factors in the very parliament we voted for in 2002!

The only time we will see a smile on their mugs is when they achieve their version of Bahrainistan, only then will they be happy:

Are we to continue to stand around and let these brain-dead jokers control our lives? Are these the kind of people we really want to get into parliament again?