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There was a time when Arab media habitually reshaped the news to fit their official line – deliberately omitting salient facts, grossly misrepresenting what people said, and so on. In a pre-internet age, when national borders could still be sealed against information coming from outside, they were… Read more
Prince Charles – heir to the British throne – is due to arrive in the Middle East on Monday for a nine-day "goodwill" visit to Arab monarchies. His tour will take in Jordan, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
These trips, which happen every few years, are usually a cue for the British media's… Read more
Let's suppose, just for the sake of argument, that the Americans had not invaded Iraq in 2003 and that Saddam Hussein were still in power there now. How would he view the conflict in neighbouring Syria? Would he be supporting the Assad regime, or not?
I began wondering about this a few days ago,… Read more
"Don't panic" is the basic message of a report on engaging with Islamist governments, published by the Conservative Middle East Council (CMEC) in Britain.
"The once-imagined prospect of Islamist political forces playing a central role in the region's future is now a reality," it says, adding that "… Read more
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… Read more
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
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… Read more
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… Read more
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
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… 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
