Blog archive all
5th December 2011
Arab states continue to perform badly in the World Economic Forum's latest survey of the Global Gender Gap, released last month. The Middle East and North Africa is the worst-performing of six global regions examined in the study.
As in previous years, four Nordic countries – Iceland, Norway,… Read more
4th December 2011
A human rights organisation in South Africa is planning legal actionafter a journalist was sacked by al-Jazeera and expelled from Qatar following a positive HIV test.
The journalist – a South African who has not been identified – had recently taken up a post as a senior editor with al-Jazeera's… Read more
4th December 2011
Having signed the GCC's ludicrous "transition agreement" under international pressure, President Saleh shows no sign of relinquishing power in Yemen and the situation continues to deteriorate.
Fighting has been going on for several days now in the city of Ta'izz, south of Sana'a, with Saleh's… Read more
30th November 2011
The Saudi press has been awash with praise for the "visionary" (but stupid) Prince Nayef who has just been named as crown prince - i.e. next in line to the throne. Indeed, if the Saudi reports are to be believed, world leaders are also overwhelmed with joy at the news of his appointment.
As John… Read more
28th November 2011
It has been widely reported that the Yemen "transition" agreement signed last week includes immunity for President Saleh and members of his entourage. This led to protests in Yemen at the weekend calling instead for Saleh's prosecution.
If guarantees of immunity have indeed been given, who gave… Read more
22nd November 2011
It looks as if Saudi Arabia will avoid exclusion from the 2012 Olympics – by entering a token female presence in equestrian events.
Women's sporting activity in the kingdom is widely discouraged on religious grounds and the kingdom has previously sent all-male teams to the Olympics. But last… Read more
21st November 2011
The Ennahda (al-Nahda) party, which won the largest number of seats in the recent Tunisian election, has declared its support for the counter-revolutionary forces in Bahrain, according to the official Bahrain News Agency.
A report from the agency says the party's political bureau "reiterated that… Read more
20th November 2011
Foreign Policy Blogs boasts that it is "the largest network of global affairs blogs online", staffed "by scores of professional contributors from the worlds of journalism, academia, business, non-profits and think tanks". Plus the occasional public relations man working for a repressive government… Read more
19th November 2011
Sixty-two people are now reported to have been arrested in Kuwait following a demonstration on Wednesday in which protesters invaded the parliament building.
The emir has called for "stricter measures to confront this chaotic behaviour" and the interior ministry says it will take "all necessary… Read more
18th November 2011
It's almost a year since I wrote a series of blog posts about the scandal of human trafficking in the Sinai desert of Egypt, and the Mubarak regime's ludicrous denials than anything untoward was happening (here, here, here and here).
Well, the trafficking is still going on though there are a few… 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
