Public affairs commentator Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi addressed the Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) community last week and encouraged students to develop skills in as many fields as possible and to speak out on issues that concern them. Read more »
The Arab World’s Other Migration Problem
Much of the world has been horrified by recent scenes of mostly Arab migrants drowning in the Mediterranean. However, migration has long been a trademark of the Middle East, and today it threatens to clear the region of its rich diversity. The lack of tolerance of minorities—both ancient, as in the Christians and Jews, as well as recent, as in the large minorities from the subcontinent in the Gulf—runs contrary to the Middle East’s long history as a cultural, ethnic, and religious mosaic. Read more »
Why is a ‘free’ Egypt more prudish about sex than Saudi Arabia?
Last month an Egyptian appeal court sentenced one of the region’s most promising young novelists, Ahmed Naji, to two years in jail for writing a story. Much has been written about the case but what intrigued me is that it appears that as the ceiling of what is publishable in the Arab Gulf States rises, the ceiling of what is allowed in Egypt keeps declining. Read more »
What a Trump Presidency Means for the Gulf
As objectionable as it may seem to many, it’s becoming increasingly likely that Donald Trump will be the Republican Party’s presidential nominee. It is also no longer a remote possibility for Trump to become the 45th president of the United States come next January. What would a Trump presidency mean for the oil-rich Gulf Arab states? Read more »
The Gulf’s New Social Contract
To cope with the loss in oil revenue, most GCC states have introduced indirect taxation, including municipal and road taxes, and have openly discussed the introduction of Value Added Tax in the near future. The traditional Gulf social contract has never been more fragile, and attempts to drastically rewrite it by GCC governments no doubt comes with its risks. Taxation in exchange for ensuring the security of citizens in an increasingly dangerous neighborhood might be the new accepted social contract, but Gulf states should tread carefully nonetheless. Read more »
Global Art Forum 10: The Future Was Space
A panel discussion involving Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi commemorates the golden jubilee of the founding of the United Arab Emirates in 2021 in the context of Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre’s probe launch to Mars. Read more »