Dubai Madness Threatens to Make a Comeback
STEPHEN CORLEY: Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone has encouraged the incorporation of over 4,000 during the worst two years in history. Why – and how?
Total Confusion: The UAE National Identity Card
ALEXANDER MCNABB: The ‘application application’ has been removed. Typing centres have been closed. And the clock is ticking towards the end of year deadline.
Has the Arabic Booker Had Enough of Egyptians?
M. LYNX-QUALEY – Miral El-Tahawy’s wonderful novel “Brooklyn Heights” has been showered with praise. Is it, however, to be the subject of anti-Egyptian bias?
Edward Said – A Threat or an Asset?
SULTAN AL QASSEMI: Public intellectuals reflect the conscience of society and should not be regarded as a threat, but as part and parcel of the community.
A Word Association Game – Yemen?
ALICE HACKMAN: Say ‘Yemen’ to most people in the West and the word ‘terrorism’ comes immediately to mind. But yet this beautiful country has a lot to offer.
Women in Saudi: The Employment Dilemma
STEVE ROYSTON: Difficulties facing women who wish to enter the workforce are only part of what the Saudi leadership recognizes is a slow burn of discontent.
WikiLeaks Indicts, & Vindicates, U.S. Diplomats
RAMZY BAROUD: Despite their high number, the documents raise many questions, but answer few. Since more are coming, one must wait and see…
Recruitment Changes on the Cards for Qatar; as is Inflation…
DAVID ROBERTS: Clearly, to build the stadiums and the infrastructure for the competition, Qatar will need yet more workers from abroad.
There are Bad Days, and then there are…
ALEXANDER MCNABB: Adding to that, we have finally had it confirmed that, in the UAE, ‘freehold’ actually means ‘usufruct’. What the hell is ‘usufruct’..?
The Professor Detention Debate & Twitter’s Embrace
AHMED AL-OMRAN: The arrest of Mohammed al-Abdulkarim, a Saudi law professor, has unleashed a fierce debate among the Kingdom’s social media community, and revealed why Twitter is such a phenomena in the Kingdom.
The Future’s Coming, Please Tell the UAE’s Telcos
ALEXANDER MCNABB – Technology has allowed us to speak to each other in ways unimaginable five years ago. The telco operators in the Middle East, however, don’t appear to have caught on yet.
Wikileaks, The U.S. and the New Global Order
JONATHAN COOK: At work here is a set of global forces that the US, in its hubris, believed it could tame in its own interests. By the early ’90s that arrogance manifested itself in the claim of the “end of history…
How Saudi Arabia’s Media is tacking Wikileaks
CROSSROADS ARABIA: Saudi media is taking note of the WikiLeaks phenomenon. This piece from Arab News reflects the best and smartest policy that the Saudi government could follow: refuse comment.
Wikileaks – Where is the UAE Media?
MATT J. DUFFY: I suggest that one—or preferably all—of the UAE’s press outlets compile a simple report analyzing the leaked cables. The report should be published without a byline so no single reporter can be sued.
Entrepreneurship is ‘a state of mind’ – gurus
HISHAM WYNE: What makes a successful entrepreneur? At the ‘Celebration of Entrepreneurship’ conference which was recently held in Dubai, there was consensus among some of the region’s most celebrated businesspeople.
How the Muslims Killed ‘Count Dracula’
SHIBLI ZAMAN: This Ottoman general had a greater war, a war against darkness. He hunted the very progenitor of the vampire legend who impaled his enemies and drank their blood – Vlad al III-lea Tepes, also known as Vlad Draculea, who would go down in infamy as, simply, Dracula.
Qatar and Her Neighbours in the Cablegate Releases
DAVID ROBERTS: Qatar maintains a close relationship with Iran to safeguard its “trillions of dollars of potential wealth”. Nevertheless, the Head of the Army noted that “we’re neighbours, we’re not friends…”
Strange Searches leading to Plastic Destination
ALEXANDER MCNABB: Fake Plastic Whore Face, Tantalise your tastebuds, mish mushkila ya habibi meaning, what is mineralised water and the Nipple souk… Fake Plastic Souks is the expert on them all…
This is Cricket, There will be No Other…
STEVE ROYSTON: As a child, I used to stay up late to listen to the Ashes on the radio. Today, a little closer to Australia and half a century on, I’m still listening.
Relationships and the Reality of Social Networks
STEVE ROYSTON: In the real world, we have lots of alternative words to describe different levels of relationship – family, colleague, acquaintance to name but a few. On Facebook, everyone is a friend.
