Middle East Blogs – Ten Sites CNN Missed
STEVE ROYSTON: My only quibble about CNN’s list is that it picks up exclusively on Arab writers and – with the honourable exception of Mahmood the Bahraini Blogfather – most of the writers seem relatively young.
Lebanon’s Hottest New Act… Mashrou Leila
RACHEL MCARTHUR: Remember the name Mashrou Leila (Leila’s Project), because we guarantee this band will become a household name very soon.
How do you Accurately Define a Muslim?
AMERICAN BEDU: It’s a topic that seems, more often than not, to generate more heat than light but here’s my attempt to define a Muslim.
Lebanese Entrepreneurial Spirit Strikes Again
MICH CAFE: It works for pizza, why not for shisha? An enterprising Beirut businessman spotted a gap in the market and has a Vespa equipped staff to fill it.
GCC Thought Leaders: Step Up and Connect
MISHAAL AL GERGAWI: In the GCC what we need is an intellectual evolution of enlightenment not a political
revolution against government.
Surely Some Mistake? Dubai Runs Out Of Petrol
ALEXANDER MCNABB: You couldn’t make it up, could you? Dubai, part of major oil producing nation the United Arab Emirates, has run out of fuel. Seriously.
Gulf Government Silence Speaks Volumes
MISHAAL AL GERGAWI: Most government media arms have dug their boots in. That their positions may be correct is irrelevant. After all, how strong is a position that isn’t communicated?
UAE First Arab Nation on Trend Countries
RACHEL MCARTHUR: This week, Twitter announced it was expanding its local trends feature, adding 70 new countries and cities – one of which is the UAE.
KSA, UK Immigration: Different Directions
STEVE ROYSTON: Add to the mix pressure on borders from poorer neighbouring countries, and you can predict immigration will be on the agenda for years.
Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing: The Case of Munther Fahmi
JONATHAN COOK: “There is clearly a policy to push Palestinians out of Jerusalem to reduce what is called here the Palestinian demographic threat…”
Opportunity Knocks in the Saudi Oil Conundrum
MISHAAL AL GERGAWI: Unlike an Emirati or Qatari, a Saudi doesn’t have delusional expectations of financial entitlement and pre-deserved stature at the marketplace. A Saudi is glad to find a job at all.
Newspapers Inconsistent Over Blogger Arrests
MATT J. DUFFY: The question all UAE, and indeed regional, newsrooms ask is what is the responsible approach. A responsibility to reporting the facts, or to safeguard their future.
Iran: Problems on the Horizon for Gulf States
DAVID ROBERTS: These events take place in the context of growing Shia power, encapsulated by the notion of a Shia crescent ‘enveloping’ the region…
Picture Perfect: Dubai Sheikha’s Likeness to Her Mom
MICH CAFE: I saw Sheikh Mohammed holding Sheikha Al Jalila on the night of the Dubai World Cup. It immediately reminded me of the 1978 photo of her mother in the arms of her uncle.
Paranoia and Control in the Gulf Economy
MISHAAL AL GERGAWI: Incubation is the most innovative role governments can play, sparking industries whose high start up costs are a barrier to entry.
Stakes Getting Higher by the Day in Bahrain
GENIEVE ABDO, JASIM HUSAIN, TABSIR: While the mainstream opposition in Bahrain distances itself from Iran, the noises from Tehran are becoming more strident and belligerent
Social Media: Are Brands Getting the Revolution?
ALLAN BIGGAR: The path is now open for a consumer revolution where a new generation will be more influenced by their social-network contacts than by traditional marketing messages.
UAE Newspapers & the Self Censorship Debate
MATT J. DUFFY: The subject matter of this article offers a insight into which types of stories the paper’s leadership believe would be “irresponsible.”
A Call to the GCC: ‘Together You Can Save Yemen’
MISHAAL AL GERGAWI: Yemen’s problems could be solved, in part, by the GCC coming together with member countries taking what they are best at, and imparting know-how to the Gulf’s poorest country.
Comment on The Real Damage of Vanity Fair’s Attack on Dubai by Sam
By: AmyAus82 ..
I’m so sick and tired of this junk.
It’s the same story ‘locals are rich, lazy and stupid’, ‘westerners (whites) are ‘drunks here for the money living lives they couldn’t in their own country’, and the ‘poor unfortunate workers struggle through every day more humble than the last’…
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Let’s call it as it really is, shall we?
Locals: living a country that developed around them so have known nothing other than living the way they have and are trying to enjoy it, They value education and love their family but enjoy active social lives, whether it be with friends or just their family.
Whites: offered better deals so came here to get forward because 1) they would have the chance to move up a level, and 2) they would return to their country with cross cultural experience, extra bonus for future jobs. Don’t love everyday, but work hard to get to the next because they are living in a mixed bag of cultures and it IS tough so YES they do enjoy those nice five star events because, while away from their families and friends, they do tend to substitute the sadness with ‘things’- but still hard working and do it every day because that’s life
Drones: Not always as ‘woe as me’ as the papers make them. They came here for the same reason the whites did, the money is better than in their country. Many of them suffer, but let’s face it, they suffer in their own countries regardless and it’s not an issue of ‘UAE treating them bad’ it’s an issue of the world declaring some countries are third world and have poor passports so don’t have education/quality to first world standards. Don’t be fooled into thinking they are all in need of help, many will stab you in the back if they get the chance – because they’re born evil? No. Because they were born and taught from birth that survival is battle of the strongest. Not everyone with a sad face is a victim.
That’s a better stereotype. One our ‘learned’ friend didn’t bother to find out about. He flew in, stayed for a day or two and flew out. He wrote a high school newsletter article and left.
The same insulting article could have been written by me about holidays in the US, UK, Asia, Africa… many countries… if I chose to look at the things he chooses to look it.
‘Deafening journey to loud mouthed, narrow minded America’
‘Who will England whinge to next?’
‘Australia: Are you sure it’s not Asia or the Middle East?’
You can angle anything you want from anything you want.
It’s a case of whether your journalists really wants to write or just wants to make a word count.
We can see from his opening paragraph that rattled off possibly four or five metaphors, wasting even more of our time, that he had a word count that needed to be filled and to have filled it with ‘real’ information would have required references, the time for which he did not want to spend.
Boo to you AA Gill.
I will never read an article by you again.
I am stupider for having read it and would like those 10 minutes of my life back.
Boo.
