A Straight Guy in Scotland? "Syrian Lesbian" Blog Revealed to be a Hoax

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Monday June 13, 2011 · 8:17 AM PDT

2011/06/13 · 08:17

The blog "A Gay Girl in Damascus", which preported to describe the life of a Syrian lesbian woman, has been conclusively revealed to be a hoax. From BBC News:

On Sunday, an "apology to readers" appeared on the blog signed by Tom MacMaster - a 40-year-old American Middle East activist studying at Edinburgh University who said he was "the sole author of all posts on this blog".
"While the narrative voice may have been fictional, the facts on this blog are true and not misleading as to the situation on the ground," he writes.

lexington1

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Sunday January 30, 2011 · 8:14 PM PST

2011/01/30 · 20:14

You are in the the 19th Child Diary of the Liveblog of the 2011 Egyptian Uprising and other uprisings spreading throughout the Mideast. We stand with our Egyptian friends and their courageous struggle for freedom.

DO NOT REC THIS DIARY! Rec the Mothership here.

(The idea is to keep the Mothership visible on the rec list, with links therein to the child diaries where we can discuss the events. This prevents multiple liveblog diaries taking up slots on the rec list.)

lexington1

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Wednesday December 30, 2009 · 7:50 PM PST

2009/12/30 · 19:50

Well, it seems Iran is back in the news again. Many of us, including myself, have written diaries celebrating the resumption of the protests, telling the atrocities of the "Islamic" Republic, and hoping we might, finally, see an end to them. But its important to see the events of 2009 in light of the events of 30 years ago. In this dairy, I'll provide a bit of history of the Islamic Revolution and the first few years of Khomeini for context, along with some thoughts on the current protests. Hopefully, I'll help put the current news in a little context, and I want to bring home (in a way that I don't think people often do) the seriousness of what is happening.

But now, the story turns back to thirty years ago, and the beginning of a new era for Iran.

lexington1

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Friday December 18, 2009 · 7:25 PM PST

2009/12/18 · 19:25

BBC News, December 18th

The Iranian government is being kept in power by force and will not last its four-year term, one of the opposition presidential candidates has predicted.

Opposition member Mehdi Karoubi said the government faced pressure from members of parliament, the Iranian public and the rest of the world.

Speaking to the BBC in Tehran, he repeated allegations over the abuse of anti-government protesters in prison.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected in disputed elections in June.

"From the first day the election result came out I was convinced that Mr Ahmadinejad would not survive the full four years of his term," Mr Karoubi said.

"Even within the last six months, the government has only been kept in power by force."

Poll

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When do you think the current Iranian regime will fall

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When do you think the current Iranian regime will fall

Next few months

4 votes

Next year

19 votes

Next decade

36 votes

Never

11 votes

Iran Recap (yes, stuff's still going on over there!)

lexington1

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Sunday November 22, 2009 · 9:28 AM PST

2009/11/22 · 09:28

Like many of you, I intensely watched the Iranian protests in June, and cheered on the demonstrators, was shocked to see the photos of Neda and the others who were killed, and hoped-apparently in vain-that we were witnessing the last days of the Khamenei government and its oppression of the Iranian people. And, I watched as the government crushed the intail protests, and with them, seemingly, the hope that true Democracy would prevail in Iran. But, I've been checking news from Iran lately, and I thought it was time to try to raise a little awareness. There have been ongoing protests, the last major one occurring a little over two weeks ago (Nov. 4th). More below the fold.

lexington1

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Wednesday July 15, 2009 · 8:33 PM PDT

2009/07/15 · 20:33

You know, the place that seems to have fallen off the face of the Earth since Michael Jackson died? Well, there's still news coming out-some of it hopeful, and some of it truly sickening. More below.

lexington1

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Friday June 19, 2009 · 3:49 PM PDT

2009/06/19 · 15:49

Some interesting-and extremely disheartening news out of Iran today. Iran may be about to experience a crackdown, but nevertheless a protest is scheduled for tomorrow. More below the fold.

lexington1

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Friday February 13, 2009 · 10:03 PM PST

2009/02/13 · 22:03

This is the second dairy in a series I'm doing on Central Asia. I did one on Kazakhstan previously.

Our trip through Central Asia continues with Turkmenistan. Unlike its wealthier neighbor to the north, Turkmenistan is still mostly unknown to Americans, although its giant natural gas reserves and the unchained egotism of its former ruler, Saparmurat Niyazov, has gotten this desert country some attention in the West. So without further ado, its time to explore the nation of Turkmenistan.

lexington1

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Thursday January 29, 2009 · 4:31 AM PST

2009/01/29 · 04:31

This is the first in what I plan to be a series of dairies providing overviews of the nations of central asia. I hope to give everyone here some basic knowledge about this little-understood region, which, as along as America has troops in Afghanistan, will be of central importance.

Ah, who could forget Kazakhstan, land of the infamous Borat? Sacha Baron Cohen's antics turned his character's supposed home nation, formally unknown to most Americans, into a household name. In the process, it created an image of Kazakhstan that most Kazakhstanis would rather the world forget (and so disgusted the country's government that it threatened to sue.). So, as a service to this unjustly maligned country, I hearby present the real Kazakhstan.

lexington1

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Thursday January 22, 2009 · 5:56 PM PST

2009/01/22 · 17:56

Us non-supporters of Israel often want to tear our hair out about the near-untouchable status it enjoys in this country-our media, our political class, and the majority of our population all accept on faith the pro-Israeli position-never mind the truth. (This is part one of a nine-part documentary-the other 8 parts should be in the related videos box). For over 60 years, the people of Palestine have had to deal with stuff like this.

lexington1

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Sunday July 20, 2008 · 9:55 PM PDT

2008/07/20 · 21:55

As you all probably know, Al Gore challenged the United States two days ago to end our dependence on foreign oil within a decade. Whether or not we reach Gore's target, the Middle East's days as the energy breadbasket of the planet are numbered-in two or three decades, the US will probably be getting the majority of its energy from domestic renewable sources such as solar and wind. How this will happen, and its impact on US and western society, has been discussed ad nauseum both here and on other internet forums. What recieves much less attention is the impact this will have on the Middle East itself.
**Disclamer** I'm a second-year college student. Though I'm specializing in Middle Eastern history and hope to eventually be an expert in the subject, I'm not now. The material for this diary comes from what I've gathered through news sources and outside reading.**

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A Straight Guy in Scotland? "Syrian Lesbian" Blog Revealed to be a Hoax

Egypt Liveblog: Sub-Diary #19

Iran: a tale of hope and tragedy

Iranian Opposition Leader Mehdi Karroubi Predicts that Current Iranian government "will not last"

Iran Recap (yes, stuff's still going on over there!)

News from Iran-more protests, accounts of torture, abuse of imprisoned protesters

Iran: Preparing for a crackdown

Meet the Stans: Turkmenistan

Meet the Stans: Kazakhstan

The Sacred Cows of Foreign Policy, or America's hypocrisy in Israel and Kashmir

The Post-Oil Middle East