Orientalist Notebook

BLOGGING TO RESUME SOON FOLLOWING BREAK

Unfortunately, the launch of this blog has been effectively delayed by a residence move which I have just completed this week. I intend to be publishing something soon.

KHS

NOTE ON ARABIC NEWS SOURCES

On this blog I frequently quote from Arabic-language media sources which may be unfamiliar to many readers. This post is intended as a guide to some of the more important ones which readers may want to bear in mind when considering the potential for source bias. When quoting other sources, I'll describe any relevant affiliation at that point, but will otherwise not do so for these primary sources.

********

Al-Alam: Iran's Arabic language satellite channel, based out of Beirut and Tehran. Mainly useful for decoding Iranian foreign policy in the Arab world.

Al-Arabiya: Saudi-owned satellite television channel run out of the United Arab Emirates. Strongly anti-terrorist; primary competitor to the more well-known al-Jazeera.

BBC Arabic: Despite being British-owned, tends to play to its audience in terms of bias, like the radio version, although the TV version has a higher hard-news content. Sleek and well-run, it will likely be a strong competitor to the Arab channels.

Al-Hayat: International daily based in London owned by the son of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Sultan bin Abd al-Aziz. Secular, Arab nationalist orientation. Coverage focus is Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Al-Ittihad: Highly sophisticated UAE daily with strong coverage of economic and local issues important to the government.

Al-Jarida al-Jadida: Kuwaiti daily news paper. Government-aligned.

Al-Jazeera: Qatar-based satellite television channel; the most widely watched Arabic-language news source in the world. Strongly Arab nationalist with heavy coverage of Palestinian issues.

Al-Riyadh: Major domestic Saudi daily. One of about a half dozen domestic Saudi newspapers which although privately-owned are carefully watched by the government. Since they are all essentially identical in coverage and highly dependent on the Saudi Press Agency for news, it is only necessary to read one of them.

Al-Sharq al-Awsat: International daily based in London, owned by the son of Riyadh Governor Salmon bin Abd al-Aziz. The most prominent "liberal" Arab daily, with the most neutral coverage of the U.S.

Al-Qabas: Kuwaiti daily newspaper. Primary focus is Kuwaiti and Persian Gulf issues.

Al-Quds al-Arabi: Palestinian-owned international daily based in London. Strongly anti-American, provides generally reliable coverage with a bias in favor of movements hostile to the U.S. and Israel across the board, both secular and Islamic, from the Baath to Hamas and al-Qaeda. Topically, focuses most heavily on Palestinian news, with broad coverage across the Arab world.

Voices of Iraq News Service: Independent and non-partisan Iraqi news service.

Al-Watan: Domestic Saudi daily owned by the son of former Saudi King Faisal bin Abd al-Aziz; considered the country's daily "liberal" newspaper.

WELCOME TO THE ORIENTALIST NOTEBOOK

Welcome to my new blog, Orientalist Notebook. I am an attorney, published author and specialist in the Middle East. My book, The Arab World: An Illustrated History, was published in 2004 by Hippocrene Books, and you may read more about it at my homepage, ArabWorldAnalysis.com.

The term orientalist has fallen out of use in recent years due to a lack of understanding of the term. The orientalists were those Western scholars - mostly British, French or German - of the 18th and 19th centuries who learned the languages of the Orient - "the Other" - for the sake of knowledge of the world. At a time when European states were competing over empires, most Orientalists shunned modern languages, focusing on classical Arabic and Persian and ancient languages like Hebrew, Ugaritic, Akkadian and Egyptian. They produced the first histories of the Middle East worth reading, and while their scholarship often lacked the precision of the best of modern scholarship, all those who study the Middle East today, whether Westerners or natives of the region, stand on their shoulders.

My own specialization is in Arabic and Islamic affairs. When writing about current events, I depend heavily on Arabic-language information sources, which are usually much more detailed in covering local events than Western media outlets. And having spent years studying the region, I try to provide perspective not possible without extensive study.

Topically, Orientalist Notebook will primarily focus on the Persian Gulf region and the Arab world more broadly, along with Iran and Israel. I intend to try and balance between adding perspective to topics bombarded with superficial coverage (e.g. Iraq, Israel/Palestine), and attempting to raise awareness of trends or events which I consider important, but which tend to get overlooked.

• Arab Politics and Regional Political Risk: I cover key political issues with a focus on the Persian Gulf states, the Levant, Egypt and Iraq.
• Security Issues: I cover terrorist groups, both Islamic and secular, Islamist movements more broadly and the agendas of state actors in the region, especially Iran.
• Economies of the Arab Gulf: I cover major economic issues, not usually business issues per se, but rather with a focus on Arab media reports relevant to long-term trends in the Persian Gulf economies which go beyond what exists in the international financial media.
• International Legal Issues: This includes both national security law and issues of domestic law in Arab countries which are of importance to the future of the region.

This is a non-partisan blog. The mission of this blog is to impart comprehension of the Middle East, not to support a party line, administration or political faction. I encourage comments, questions and criticisms alike, although I expect that comments will be focused on the substantive issues raised in the post. I intend to leave comments unmoderated as long as that remains the case.

I hope you find this blog to be both informative and enjoyable.

Kirk H. Sowell