Al-Bab A former Middle East editor of The Guardian, a British newspaper, Brian Whitaker has a smart take on the goings-on in the Arab world and is not afraid to be critical. Rather than focussing exclusively on politics, his blog offers insights into Arab culture and society, such as gay rights and cinema, too. www.al-bab.com; @Brian_Whit
Informed Comment: Juan Cole is an American academic and veteran commentator. He blogs about Islam, the Arab world and their relationship with the West. In a recent post, he argues that bombing Syria is unlikely to make a difference to the war. www.juancole.com; @jricole
Arabist: Run by Issandr Amrani, a Moroccan-American who has written for The Economist and is North Africa director at the International Crisis Group, and friends of his. It is particularly good on Egypt, and north Africa in general. Regular “link dumps” to articles provide a valuable guide to what Middle East aficionados should be reading. arabist.net; @arabist
Karl Remarks: An architect by day and side-splittingly funny commentator by night, the Lebanese-Iraqi Karl Sharro writes satirical posts about the region. He recently recreated the alleged phone call, between Ayman Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s boss, and Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the head of the group’s branch in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which led to the temporary closure of 19 American embassies. www.karlremarks.com; @KarlreMarks
Jihadica: Run by a group of American academics, including Will McCants of the Brookings Center, Jihadica examines militant transnational Sunni Islam, and includes videos and lists of jihadist Twitterati. www.jihadica.com; @jihadica and @will_mccants
WITH so much happening in the Middle East it can be hard to keep up. The Economist’s Pomegranate is here to help. In a new weekly post, it suggested a selection of commentators to follow to stay informed on the region’s disparate countries. This first post looks at writers on the Middle East in general.