The Secret Policemen's Blogger's Ball

Syrian blogger Ammar Abdulhamid has been hauled in and interrogated by the secret police. He's contemplating moving to Lebanon - for his health, one might say - though it may prove to be no refuge. A man this articulate and courageous deserves our notice and support, as much as the protest babes of Beirut.

The original Baghdad Blogger, Salam Pax, was a pinhole in the black curtain of a totalitarian regime poised on the brink. Those of us following him worried every time he went off the net, fearing the worst from bombs or Mukhabarat. A wider chunk of the Middle East seems likely to go through the fire in the next years, by their own hands or ours. The difference this time is we will have more windows into their reality, through writers we feel we know and trust and sometimes love. We will be awed and inspired, but we're going to have our hearts broken as well. This isn't going to be easy or pretty. There are all too many tyrants willing to play by Hama Rules before accepting defeat.

Fedora tip: Roger Simon, who is on a roll this week.