THE M-BLOGOSPHERE: So what's happening in the Muslim Blogosphere? According to a short article in The Economist:

THEY call themselves pyjamahideen. Instead of galloping off to fight holy wars, they stay at home, meaning, often as not, in their parents' houses, and clatter about computer keyboards. Their activity is not as explosive as the self-styled jihadists who trouble regimes in the region, and they come in all stripes, secular liberal as well as radical Islamist. But like Gulliver's Lilliputians, youthful denizens of the internet are chipping away at the overweening dominance of Arab governments.

Here is the rundown:

• Blogging in Egypt is supposedly developing into "a shaper of the political agenda"--despite Abdelkarim Suleiman being sentenced to to four years in jail.
  
  
• Bahrain is trying to get bloggers to register with the police (like lethal weapons?)
  
  
• Saudi Arabia blocks thousands of websites and issues quiet warnings
  
  
• Syria's most prominent web activist had to flee the country

JBloggers are far freer to criticize. By the same token, I suppose we are probably more likely to praise Israel than the M-Bloggers are to praise their own countries--Muslims seem more ready to praise the Islam and the Koran than extol the virtues of their country.

But does the oppression of the Muslim countries ironically provide a bigger target for bloggers and increase the possibility for them to bring change? Can JBloggers both defend Israel from her enemies and bring about change?

Update: Speaking of Bahrain, Secret Dubai Diary has the story of a blogger sued by a government minister and quotes UAE Publications Law and what it does not allow.
[Hat tip: Mr. Bagel]

Technorati Tag: Israel and JBlogosphere and Bloggers.