Global Voices Online

Parole de Democrate [Fr] thinks AFRICOM is a backdoor for expanding US influence in Africa  and says that American troops are already conducting anti-terrorist activities on Algerian soil, according to an unnamed source.

Muslims in Europe and America prefer to study engineering, biology, business, pre-medical/pre-dental, and other such majors while Art, English, art history, political science, and general studies are frowned upon or even viewed contemptuously, says Algerian blogger Nouri.

Pork is a sin to eat. Algerian linguist Lameen Souag invites his readers to share their ideas on why the above sentence seems weird.

“The tragic attacks that took place in Algiers this week were surely aimed at debasing the prestige of the Algerian government, which is preparing to receive Mediterranean representatives and which has won the favor of most Western (and eastern) governments in its battle with al-Qaeda,” writes Algerian blogger Nouri.

Algerian linguist Lameen Souag is busy studying Siwi - and notes that they have 40 words used in baby talk. “So what special words do you use in your language when talking to babies?” he asks.

“Harvard’s MESH blog is an important resource for scholars and for students of the Near and Middle East. It is nevertheless heavily biased, particularly on Levantine affairs, and its discussion of the Maghreb is grossly underdeveloped,” writes Algerian Nouri.

Algerian Nouri shares his thoughts on Third World countries in this post.

Salim Bachi reviews Algérie, histoires à ne pas dire (Algeria, Unspoken Stories), a controversial 2007 film by Jean Piere-Lledo about the Algerian War. Of public reaction to the film, which is banned in Algeria, Bachi writes: “Jean-Pierre Lledo has been accused of ever evil on earth..[by a] population that didn't have the chance to view the documentary in question. That's the way it goes in Algeria, where we argue endlessly about things we don't know” [Fr].