Blog archive all
12th February 2014
The Geneva talks on Syria resumed this week with the opposition eager to see the question of political transition figuring prominently on the agenda while the regime seeks to avoid that at all costs.
Today, the opposition played rather a smart move by issuing a 1,900-word document setting out its "… Read more
12th February 2014
“One day, it will be an Alawite who finally kills Assad.” This rather startling prediction – that the Syrian president’s own community will eventually turn against him – comes in a blog post from Aboud Dandachi, an activist now living in Turkey.
Dandachi, it should be noted, used to live in Homs… Read more
11th February 2014
Back in 2001, three prominent sociologists published a groundbreaking book called Dynamics of Contention. Its authors, Doug McAdam, Sidney Tarrow and Charles Tilly, sought to develop a universal framework for studying "contentious politics" – protest movements, strikes, revolutions and the like.… Read more
10th February 2014
The Saudi government's efforts to increase female employment seem to be having the opposite effect in some areas.
Several women-only shops in Jeddah are closing down because there are not enough qualified women to work in them and they are not allowed to employ men, reports:
"Fadyah al-Otaibi,… Read more
9th February 2014
For as long as people have been writing books there have been others who sought to destroy them. When it's driven by moralistic or political objections, book-burning often takes a ritualistic form, carried out in public. Regardless of the books in question, setting fire to them strikes many people… Read more
8th February 2014
Hundreds of thousands of foreign workers have been forced to leave Saudi Arabia during the last couple of years, with 250,000 deported during the last three months alone, according to interior ministry figures.
One of the main aims behind these expulsions is to provide more jobs for Saudis (even… Read more
6th February 2014
A United Nations investigator provided a rare glimpse into the workings of the UAE’s justice system yesterday. At the end of a nine-day official visit to the Emirates, Gabriela Knaul, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, presented her initial findings in a news… Read more
5th February 2014
Two years ago, in a letter to potential investors Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, wrote:
"By giving people the power to share, we are starting to see people make their voices heard on a different scale from what has historically been possible. These voices will increase in number and… Read more
4th February 2014
Filipinos inside the Shumaisi deportation centre in Makkah. (Photo sent to Arab News by an inmate.)
It’s now three months since Saudi Arabia launched its all-out crackdown on “illegal” foreign workers. I reported on the beginning of this ill-conceived campaign in a series of blog posts last year… Read more
3rd February 2014
Calling for a negotiated solution has long been a central plank of Russian policy on Syria. So long as peace talks were not in prospect this was an easy position to adopt. It sounded reasonable and portrayed Russia – despite being one of the Assad regime’s key international backers – as a potential… 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
