Some Links for your Weekend Reading

A few select items to hold you over the weekend:

• An article about how more independent newspapers are being founded in Egypt even as they're shutting down elsewhere.
• As if they needed this on top of everything else: two strong earthquakes in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province.
• Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri, a Shi‘ite and ally of Hizbullah, is denying reports he planned to visit Egypt to try to mediate between Husni Mubarak and Hizbullah.
• For your James Bond needs: Lebanon has been up in arms over the arrest of a former Internal Security Forces Brigadier General (identified only by his first name, Adib) on charges of spying for Israel. Now they say he kept his radio for communicating with Mossad in his mini-bar.
• Georgia and Russia are trading accusations again as NATO plans military exercises in Georgia next month. I hope President Saakashvili plays things a bit more cautiously than last year; I've always felt that Georgia did a bit too much bear-baiting last year and then was startled when the bear lashed out.