When I was a student in Paris in the mid 1990s and people asked where I was from, I would reply that I was from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah or any other emirate that the person asking me would recognize. It was never an issue, because I felt secure that ultimately it was the same country. Read more »
Archives for October 2009
Sometimes the sound and the fury signify nothing
Over the past few weeks two unfounded rumours about the UAE have snowballed on the pages of some newspapers in the Arab world and have even been picked up by newswires. Some media organisations seem so inclined to print negative news about this country, they no longer have an issue with presenting negative rumours as facts. Read more »
حلول راديكالية لمشكلات كهرباء الشارقة
أعرف أن ما سأكتبه قد يجلب لي الكثير من الانتقادات، ولكنني تعودت على ذلك مع مرور كل هذه الأشهر. والحقيقة هذا الموضوع مثير للجدل مهما حاولنا محاكاته بدبلوماسية، وأقصد هنا موضوع انقطاع الكهرباء المتكرر في الإمارة الباسمة. فعلى مدى أسابيع عدة مضت تعرّض مقيمون ومحال تجارية إلى انقطاعات تجاوزت الـ12 ساعة في اليوم ما أدى إلى مصاعب نفسية وجسدية ومالية قدرت بـ 500 مليون درهم.
Rumours of Expulsion of Lebanese Shia From the UAE
Over the past few weeks two unfounded rumors about the United Arab Emirates have snowballed on the pages of some newspapers in the Arab world and have even been picked up by newswires. Some media organizations seem so inclined to print negative news about this country that once they have exhausted the typical stories about the effects of the global financial crisis on the UAE, they no longer have an issue with presenting negative rumors as facts. Read more »
Levelling the UAE Playing Field
There is no doubt that the UAE will benefit from a revised companies law that levels the playing field. After all, why, for example, should there be only one agent for a specific brand of cars? What a revised version of the federal companies law would mean for the UAE. Read more »