Terror-less beards, a project by Cynthia Ghoussoub
“On January 22nd 2014, a day after a suicide bomb attack hit Beirut’s southern suburb, Lebanese rapper Hussein Sharaffedine, also known as Double A The Preacherman was wrongly accused of being a terrorist and was publicly detained by security forces at a checkpoint. In the span of 34 days in early 2014, 5 bombing incidents shook the city killing many civilians in which Jihadists were held accountable. Sharaffedine’s arrest at a checkpoint was undoubtedly associated with his physical appearance that many might refer to as “terrorist beard” defined by Urban Dictionary as “a style of beard that is commonly found in terrorists.”
Source: Hummus for Thought
Not much special in UN Middle East missions
Of the twenty-two members of the Arab League, no less than nine have been assigned a Special Advisor, Special Coordinator, Special Envoy, or Special Representative by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Their purpose, broadly speaking, is to promote conflict resolution in their respective area of operations. None have succeeded, and where peace has been achieved their contribution has generally been marginal. As unprecedented levels of death, destruction, and displacement are visited upon the region and its peoples, the world body needs to find ways to make such appointments effective, or significantly curtail them.
Source: Jadaliyya
New messaging app by Iran's Basij militia gives state access to all conversations
The Basij paramilitary organization, a subsidiary of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), announced the launch of its new messaging service for mobile phones, “Salam.” The application will give state officials full access to all content and data that pass through it.
The new messaging application, now available for free download, will use servers owned and controlled by the Basij, thus allowing easy access to and monitoring of all user conversations by the paramilitary group and intelligence agents.
Source: Global Voices
