The Day the Egyptians Stopped Seeing the Joke
ALEXANDER MCNABB: Every time elections would come around, Egyptians would laugh about how this time he was going to lose. It struck me the other day the laughing had stopped.
Jordan ‘Uneasy’ On Palestine Papers Revelations
NASEEM TARAWNAH: The Palestine Papers may not reveal earth-shattering facts, they have, though, given us insights into the main characters.
A View from the Street in Cairo: Fear, and Hope
SUHAIBWEBB: The curfew is in place, police have disappeared, essential supplies are running out. With the excitement there is also a sense of fear.
South Africa Provides Inspiration for Lebanon
DAVID BEATTY: There’s an aspect of South African society called ‘ubuntu’ – it means ‘interconnectedness’. It could point the way for Lebanon.
2022 World Cup Driving Qatari Labour Clean Up
JAMES DORSEY: The workers are a necessarily evil, but over time they are almost certain to change the nature of society – a notion that sends chills down Qatari spines.
A Message for Davos – Waste Not, Want Not
STEVE ROYSTON: Taxpayers’ money that could have been spent on new hospitals, refurbished schools, or improved public transport – down the drain.
After the Flood: Rising Saudi Anger Getting Response
ROB L. WAGNER: The Facebook images, twitter messages and online videos fuel Saudi anger and repeatedly raise the question why authorities learned nothing from 2009.
Tunisia: How We Got Here and the Task Ahead
RAMZY BAROUD: In Tunisia that ‘unprecedented anger” has reaped unprecedented results, leaving Tunisia with the great task of rebuilding a civil society.
Soccer Fans Play Key Role in Egyptian Protests
JAMES M. DORSEY: The involvement of organized soccer fans in Egypt’s anti-government protests constitutes every Arab government’s worst nightmare.
Saudi Arabia – Why Western Consultants Fail
STEVE ROYSTON: If they are to be lasting, appropriate and sustainable, the solutions themselves must come from within, not from the West.
Pakistan Media ‘Mainstreaming’ Extremism
MATT J. DUFFY: Cultivation theory holds that exposure to television messages can cultivate homogeneous views, an outcome called “mainstreaming.”
Demographics, Expats, Rights – & Hope in Football
JAMES M. DORSEY: Just 13% of the UAE’s population has citizenship. In Qatar it’s 26% and Kuwait 34%. And those percentages are dropping.
Ambassadors not a ‘reward’ for good deeds done
SYRIA NEWS WIRE: Richard Grenell has attacked President Obama for appointing an ambassador to Syria. The attack though is littered with factual inaccuracies.
Governments Undermining MidEast Soccer
JAMES M. DORSEY: In a soccer-crazy world of authoritarian regimes, football offers one of society’s few release valves.
419 Manipulation: Detecting the Agenda
STEVE ROYSTON: The aspect I latched on to was cybercrime, on the 419 scam. The talk was delivered by a former member of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service.
Why Obama has an Obligation to Confront Israel
PHILIP WEISS: The Goldstone Report lays bare the humiliations of the Gaza people. By failing to deal with this issue Obama is failing in his constitutional duty.
What does it mean to be a Muslim man?
YASMIN MOGAHED: A brutal attack on a young woman, observed by a group of men, has caused me to question society’s expectations of men in the Muslim world.
Dismal Saudi Play in Asian Cup Sparks Debate
JAMES M. DORSEY: A three-time Asian champion and finalist in six of the last seven Asian Cup tournaments, Saudi Arabia failed to advance in Qatar, losing all three matches it played.
Social Media is Catalysing Arab World Change
EMAN AL-NAFJAN: Leaders throughout the Arab World are suspicious of new media. Their citizens are using tools not simply to communicate concerns, but campaign for change.
Tunisia & the C21st Gossip Super-highway, Twitter
DAVID ROBERTS: The first thing that struck me was how often trending tweets were (completely) wrong. Twitter is great for disseminating information extraordinarily quickly.
