{"id":24992,"date":"2012-12-29T10:59:29","date_gmt":"2012-12-29T06:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=24992"},"modified":"2012-12-29T11:00:02","modified_gmt":"2012-12-29T07:00:02","slug":"the-people-and-events-that-mattered-in-2012-my-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-society\/the-people-and-events-that-mattered-in-2012-my-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"The People and Events That Mattered in 2012: My Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"149972689_12984573\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s that time of the year again. Rather than bore you with a litany of disappointment over the missed opportunities and troubles that have afflicted the Middle East in 2012, here are my awards for people and phenomena \u00a0– some positive, some less so \u2013 that have made me sit up and notice:<\/p>\n

Politician of the Year:<\/b>\u00a0Mohammed Mursi , for his post-chaos power play in Egypt. He and his supporters have clearly studied the history of the communist takeovers in the aftermath of World War Two and applied the lessons in post-Mubarak Egypt \u2013 organisation, discipline and the creeping annexation of the levers of state.<\/p>\n

Ruler of the Year:<\/b>\u00a0Prince Mohammed bin Naif \u2013 the first of the third generation of the Al-Saud to be elevated to a key ministry in the Saudi Government. Honourable mention to Crown Prince Salman of Bahrain. If anyone can break the political deadlock in his country, he can \u2013 if he\u2019s given the chance.<\/p>\n

Blog of the Year:<\/b>\u00a0Riyadh Bureau<\/a>, Ahmed Al-Omran\u2019s news site about Saudi Arabia. Thought-provoking, brave and informative \u2013 everything that the local print media usually isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Book of the Year:<\/b>\u00a0Hiroshima Nagasaki<\/a>, a reminder to Israel and Iran of the collateral damage that will be inflicted on the region if their nuclear squabble reaches its ultimate conclusion.<\/p>\n

Sporting Moment of the Year:<\/b>\u00a0Wojdan Shaherkani and Sarah Attar competing for Saudi Arabia in the Olympic Games. They gave new meaning to old adage that the Olympics is not about winning, but taking part. Tokenism in the eyes of some, but for me an encouraging sign that the Kingdom is finally starting to recognise that sport is not an exclusively male preserve. Special mention for Wojdan\u2019s father, who resisted the hate mail that followed the announcement of her participation.<\/p>\n

Antediluvian of the Year:<\/b>\u00a0The Saudi cleric, who,\u00a0according to the Riyadh Bureau<\/a>, is intending to pray that Adel Fakieh, the Saudi Minister of Labour, gets cancer if he refuses to reverse his policy of allowing women to work in retail. The gentleman concerned had more competitors for this award than is practical to mention here. I wish continued good health to the energetic and determined Mr Fakieh.<\/p>\n

Expatriate of the Year:<\/b>\u00a0Robin Barrett, whose untiring efforts to build a\u00a0Writer\u2019s Circle in Bahrain<\/a>\u00a0brought together novelists, poets, non-fiction writers and wannabees of many nationalities. Robin not only developed a thriving community of writers, but created an anthology of their work inMy Beautiful Bahrain<\/a>, which was published early this year. He has now left the country, and will be sorely missed.<\/p>\n

Airline of the Year:<\/b>\u00a0Gulf Air, only because it may not be around in its current form this time next year if its financial troubles continue.<\/p>\n

Journalist of the Year:<\/b>\u00a0Marie Colvin, killed in Syria. The war correspondent whose stories I would read before all others.<\/p>\n

Clich\u00e9 of the Year:<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThug\u201d, closely followed by \u201cactivist\u201d, \u201cdialogue\u201d and \u201cexternal interference\u201d.<\/p>\n

Promising Newcomers:<\/b>\u00a060 bright Bahraini teenagers with whom I spent three weeks this summer. They put their elders to shame with their enthusiasm, energy and open-mindedness. Unfortunately I am unable to reveal their identity, but they know who they are.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I would have liked to have cited a Peacemaker, Humanitarian or Leader of the Year. Sadly, no obvious candidates come to mind. But 2013 is upon us, and I live in hope that some heroes emerge who value common humanity above money, power and self-interest \u2013 heroes because their actions and achievements match their words and intentions.<\/p>\n

I wish everyone in the Middle East a happy and peaceful New Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STEVE ROYSTON: It’s by no means scientific or representative but here are the people and special moments that resonated with me this year <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":24995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,90,5],"tags":[3030,6737,18303,1981,18300,18342,18306,18311,1879,18291,191,14675,3425,2409,926,18277,15947,11656,1565,18275,385,18330,14342],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24992"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}