The End of Eid, The Start of the Beginning
DAVID WESTLEY: This year, the return to ‘normality’ will be significantly harder to achieve for those countries that have gone through their Arab spring; the pathway to success is still far from clear.
Kick It: Women’s Football On the Rise in Kingdom
ROB L. WAGNER: ‘Unseemly’, ‘undignified’ and ‘a threat to players’ virginity’ in the eyes of religious conservatives but women’s football is making major strides in Saudi Arabia.
Dubai Gets its Blue Mosque
I heard ‘Uthman bin ‘Affan saying, when people argued too much about his intention to reconstruct the mosque of Allah’s Apostle, “You have talked too much. I heard the Prophet saying, ‘Whoever built a mosque, Allah would build for him a similar place in Paradise’.”
MICH CAFE: The closer you get, the more splendid the mosque looks. The size is breathtaking and I had difficulty getting the four 60-meter-high minarets in one frame.
Vimto – The Drink of Choice for Ramadan
MICH CAFE: No-one seems to know how it has happened but a modest, cordial drink from a small village in England is a firm Ramadan favourite.
World’s Tallest Building: Saudis Back in the Race
CROSSROADS ARABIA: Jeddah is set to eclipse Dubai as the home of the world’s tallest building following the recent announcement made by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
’46 Degrees? Quick, Open the Car Window!’
ALEXANDER MCNABB: I’ve been here more than twenty years but there are still a few things to learn about how to survive a Dubai summer.
The Grade Factories of Education: Saudi Schools
ABU MUHAMMED: Eventually I figured out why no one seemed receptive: The first is that most government and private schools are being run for profit.
Summer to Snow, Ridiculous to The Sublime
SARAH WALTON: “Us from Dubai are only occasional snow dwellers, and so I enter the fields in pink borrowed gear that results in the nickname “marshmallowzilla”…
Arab UK Festival Celebrates Multiculturalism
NADA AKL, CGNEWS: A festival held recently in London brought Arabs and non-Arabs together to reflect upon and celebrate true mutliculturalism.
Maids Caught in Middle of Saudi, Indonesia Spat
ROB L. WAGNER: Saudi Arabian and Indonesian intransigence has put maids needing work and Saudis help between a rock and a hard place.
Etihad’s Controversial $642m City Deal
JAMES M. DORSEY: The agreement dwarfs Arsenal FC’s 2004 deal with Dubai’s Emirates Airways that was valued at $144 million over 15 years.
ENOC, PR & the Media: 5 Lessons to be Learned
ALEXANDER MCNABB: Here are the five rules of Public Relations that may help Enoc, and indeed any other company that has to break bad news, going forward…
ENOC and Eppco: Where Not Just the Petrol Has Run Dry
ALEXANDER MCNABB: “Deliciously, Deena twists the knife: “Pressed for answers, he made casual comments on the weather to change the subject…”
The, ahem, ‘Joy’ of Summer in Dubai
THE HEDONISTA: It’s hot enough to melt a credit card left on a car seat, even though the A/C is set to max. Everyone is lethargic, moody and possibly sick. Hooray for Summer in Dubai.
Media Watching: Be Careful What You Tweet
ALEXANDER MCNABB: This distortion of expressed opinion coming, let us not forget, from those who purport to give us ‘context and analysis’…
How Blogging Can Be Your Company’s Voice
STEVE ROYSTON: “If you manage to persuade your CEO to write a blog, you’d better make sure he or she writes lively content. Otherwise their blog will have the opposite effect…”
After the Deluge: The Spirit of Jeddah that Endures
STEVE ROYSTON: I’ve been visiting Jeddah for more than 20 years but haven’t been there since the floods. I was curious to know if it had changed.
Citigroup: ‘No Benefit to Qatar from World Cup’
DAVID ROBERTS: Not a good week for Qatar 2022. First, there are accusations of bribery in the bid process, now Citigroup tells us that Qataris will see now net economic benefit from hosting the world’s top prestige event.
The Quiet, Undiscovered Joys of Oman
THE HEDONISTA: ‘One smile begets another’ and the people of Oman are very generous with their smiles. They’re also very keen to share their hidden gems…
GCC: Muslim Brotherhood Fears Over Arab Spring
SULTAN AL QASSEMI: UAE national observers commented in private that many names on the UAE petition calling for an elected parliament were UAE members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
