Mission Statement

السلام عليكم

The goal of this blog is to provide links to what I believe are the best pieces of journalism and scholarship on the web concerning the Middle East. I'm doing this not to impress or claim that I, myself, am any great scholar on the subject, but to highlight stories that go beyond the typical war and terrorism pieces to which we've all become so inured. Will I tackle war and terrorism? Absolutely! But along with that I'll be featuring articles on travel, literature, food, camels, language, and the ever important history.
I will be posting links to articles that confirm the commonly accepted truths of the state of the Middle East and also those that dissent, illustrating what I perceive to be the truth based on my own personal experiences travelling in and studying the region. Often times I will post two conflicting pieces admitting that either, both or neither may be right. I will also be posting links to articles that I believe are misleading or blatantly false and explaining why I feel that way. My goal is to draw on sources from both the Western and Middle Eastern media in equal measure, translating articles from Arabic for my readers where necessary. I will also add some of my own content in the form of book reviews, travel stories, and op-ed pieces, though this is not my primary objective. Naturally, I will be open to suggestions for links and submissions of original content.

-Brad