I've mentioned Jeff Jarvis before (see here and here). The following links, comments and quotations are from Jeff Jarvis's postings today.
The Saudi blogger, Religious Policeman, says the (second) Saudi civil war has begun:The first was when King AbdulAziz, back in the last century, unified Saudi Arabia (or stole it from the Hashemites, depending on your point of view. However the victors write the history). The second is starting now. Am I being over-dramatic? Some may think so. However I do not believe that I am. Saudi Arabia has always nurtured religious extremists thru its Wahabbi state religion, its educational system, and its introverted attitude to the outside world. The advent of oil provided the finance for these extremists to practice what they preached. At first they operated abroad, in Afghanistan, in Chechnya, in the Yemen. And we Saudis regarded them as brave adventurers, the late 20th century equivalent of volunteers in the Spanish Civil War.Then came 9/11. It had become more serious. But Westerners were the target. And, at all levels, we never really condemned it. Indeed, many cheered.... Now, all of a sudden, they are attacking Saudis. OK, Saudis from the ruling tribes, part of the security forces. But we all look the same. And suddenly we are the targets. The terrorists are not going to leave us alone, because we're not part of the government apparatus. And now we are faced with the sudden realization that we should have done something about this a long time ago.
News from Iraq:
The head of CNN laments that the violence in Iraq means that reporters are not getting out to find out what is going on firsthand and that means we're not getting good reporting from Iraq:I think news consumers are being shortchanged to a degree, not just on television but in print, because journalists are not able to do their jobs effectively, and certainly the depth and breadth of reporting that you saw even a month ago was far more vast than what news consumers get today.
As Jeff says, 'all the more reason for us — and for news organisations! — to watch what the Iraqi bloggers are saying and to hope that more start publishing. It's not their job to cover all the news. But they give us the news they know from their perspectives.' I have mentioned this before. Today, Jeff Jarvis also singles out the blogging of The Mesopotamian.
