Blog archive all
6th March 2013
Undeterred by the banning of a British academic from the UAE, the British government is urging closer ties between universities in the UK and the Emirates.
David Willetts, the minister for universities and science, was in Dubai yesterday, attending a conference on "the role of higher education in… Read more
6th March 2013
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who died yesterday, once had a popular following in the Middle East.
In an opinion poll conducted in 2009, Arabs were asked which leaders they most admired outside their own countries. Chavez was named by 36% – placing him top, and a clear 18 points ahead of his… Read more
4th March 2013
I'm not sure what to make of the news that Saudi Arabia's first-ever "tweeters' forum" is taking place at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh today.
According to the Saudi Gazette, 500 of "the best young Saudi tweeters" will be gathering "to discuss the most pressing issues related to tweeting as well… Read more
3rd March 2013
Sectarian clashes have broken out in Kom Ombo, in Upper Egypt, over the disappearance of a woman who is rumoured to have been kidnapped and forcibly converted to Christianity.
Ahram Online reports:
"The city's most central and largest church, Mar Girgis, has been under attack for the past three… Read more
1st March 2013
Sharmine Narwani, an Assad apologist who can be found on Twitter denouncing British universities and the western mainstream media, managed to cast off enough of her principles last month to write an article for the mainstream media while citing Oxford University in her author's credentials.
Her… Read more
27th February 2013
Bahrain has expressed its appreciation to the UAE for turning away a British academic who was due to speak at a conference in the Emirates last Sunday.
Bahrain's foreign ministry said the UAE's decision was "a true reflection of the strong bonds of fraternity between the UAE and Bahrain and an… Read more
27th February 2013
After a decade of seeking to expand the private sector, Arab Gulf monarchies have swung into reverse and are now promoting a culture of economic dependency on the state in the hope of buying off political opposition, Suliman al-Atiqi writes in an article for the Sada website.
This development has… Read more
26th February 2013
There has been a flurry of articles over the last few days about new weaponry reaching anti-Assad fighters in Syria. This is a very significant development, for two reasons.
First, it reflects a shift in attitudes among some western and Arab governments as far as arming the rebels is concerned. It'… Read more
25th February 2013
A tweet circulated today by numerous Twitter users casts a particularly nasty slur on Olivier Voisin, the French photographer who was fatally injured in Syria last week. It says:
"Dead French Photographer was State Department-Funded – Embedded in Syria With Al Qaeda"
There are no established facts… Read more
24th February 2013
Rampant military splendour: the despotic Sultan Qaboos
With the killing of Colonel Gaddafi in 2011, Sultan Qaboos of Oman inherited the mantle of the Middle East's longest-surviving despot.
Qaboos – described by the US State Department as "a longtime friend of the United States and a valued… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
