It is already clear that Dubai’s future is not what it used to be. But that does not necessarily mean it is facing a bad future. Last Wednesday’s convulsion marked a significant milestone in the financial history of the emirate, and a very different Dubai will now take shape. Today, a new Dubai has a chance to emerge: leaner, meaner and better. Read more »
What a difference in UAE diplomacy three years later
In 2002, a new window to the Emirates was opened with the inauguration of our embassy in Washington DC’s diplomatic quarter. It’s a 1,500-square-metre building that is proving to be a barometer of where the country is heading. If this is true, our embassy in Washington is a barometer of the UAE’s international affairs, then it’s a bright future indeed. Read more »
Play Fair And Egypt May Yet Be Land Of The Rising Son
To his supporters he is a voice of reform in a stagnant country. To his detractors he represents the ruling elite responsible for the stagnation of the Arab world’s most populous nation. However one looks at it, there is no denying that Gamal Mubarak is a powerful force in the National Democratic Party that has been in control in Egypt for three decades. Read more »
He Was our Washington and our Lincoln, Rolled Into One
Many non-Emiratis will not understand what goes through Emirati hearts, minds and veins when Sheikh Zayed’s name is mentioned. He has become a revered figure. Sheikh Zayed, to us, was George Washington and Abraham Lincoln rolled into one. Washington established the United States of America, and Lincoln saved it from its biggest threats. Sheikh Zayed lived long enough to do both. Read more »
Assassination attempt improves Mohammed Bin Nayef’s fortunes
There has been an unusual development in the much-debated topic of the Saudi succession, with the late August assassination attempt on Assistant Interior Minister Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef Bin Abdelaziz Al-Saud (MBN) by Yemeni-born suicide bomber Abdullah Hassan Tali Al-Asiri catapulting the interior minister’s son to the front of a group of third-generation contenders for the throne. Read more »
The UAE Is One Nation … It’s Time Our Passports Said So
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 »