As the G8 wraps up in Huntsville Ontario today, the G20 is starting tonight with a dinner by the Canadian Prime Minister.

Protest organizers have started a Get Off The Fence! protest by working people, with a heavy dose of far left terminology. The site runs Drupal, with a link "open source technology" in the footer linking to Drupal.org.

The protests are already turning violent, with at least two police cruisers being torched so far.

The BBC Middle East correspondent Tim Franks, reflects on remaining impartial in the Middle East.

He notes the dissociation that most Israelis exhibit to the plight and conflict in the West Bank. Many more observations. A very good read.

The best quote? "This is the Middle East but, no, it is not the Middle Ages".

An Associated Press article about Belgium, Belgians vote on future, united country in doubt drew some parallels of the Quebec separatist movement and their relationship with Canada.

This is sad ...

The USA military expenditure, according to 2005 figures is US$ 548,531,000,000 per year.

This is almost 6 times more than the second largest military spender (China).

A simple calculation shows that the US can cut their defense spending by half, and still be at 3 times more than China.

This could balance their budget over the years too, and perhaps cause economic growth as well, while keeping them as the best defended country in the world.

The Israeli human rights group, Gisha, has filed a court case against the state of Israel's blockade of Gaza.

Some startling findings include:

• Cinnamon is permitted, but coriander is forbidden.
• Tea and coffee are permitted, but chocolate is not.
• Mineral water is permitted, but fruit juice is forbidden.
• Canned meat and tuna are permitted, but canned fruit is forbidden.
• Tahini (Sesame seed paste) is permitted, but jam is forbidden.

Other forbidden goods are childrens' plastic toys, and textiles, among other things ...

The BBC has an interesting look at the African-Palestinians in Jerusalem.

Their ancestry comes from Chad, Nigeria, Sudan, and Senegal.

They settled and married from other Muslim Arabic speaking non-African Palestinians in Jerusalem, and face the same challenges that the broader Palestinian community faces.

Limits on the Prime Minister's power to prorogue parliament have been passed.

An academic paper by Elizabeth Anne Roodhouse titled The voice from the base(ment): Stridency, referential structure, and partisan conformity in the political blogosphere analyzes six top political blogs and their coverage of Sarah Palin's candidacy for Vice President in 2008.

An interesting finding is:

The BBC has an article on how the Military in Egypt is still seen as a savior and hopes for it to intervene. This even comes from educated classes and intellectuals, not just the general populace.

If the "hereditary scenario" plays out, where Gamal Mubarak being installed as president in a "charade dressed up as a democratic vote", some are hoping for the army to interfere and prevent such a thing from happening.

The Iraqi poet Ahmad Mattar has always been a vocal critic of the Arab rulers and the silence of the Arab populace, with witty sarcasm and brilliant literary creativity. In a previous article, we gave a few examples, of his criticism of Saddam and the general downfall of Arab contemporary state of affairs.

He has a new poem on Obama, which is given below with an English translation. Even though it is titled Obama, it is really an inward looking poem lamenting the state of the Arabs.

This is not the first time Obama appears in Arab poetry. There is the Shaaban Abdel Rahim song about Obama where the song writer is dismissive of Obama, and also stresses the importance of Arabs standing up for themselves and not relying on external factors.