Bahrain: Quagmire!

It's a quagmire!

For the first time in the Arab world, a woman has chaired a parliamentary session in the Gulf state of Bahrain.

Alees Samaan, who is Christian, also became the first non-Muslim to act as speaker in predominantly Muslim Bahrain, if only for a few hours.

Details of the story are published on the front page of Bahraini newspapers, which describe the event as historic.

The leading pan-Arab newspaper, al-Hayat, also reported the session on its front page.

The Bahraini press speak of warm applause as Ms Samaan walked up to the speaker's chair.

At the end of the session, colleagues were said to have rushed to the podium to have their pictures taken with her.

Wow. It's a good thing we're not pushing freedom and democracy in the Arab world, or else women might actually get to participate in government and society.