An old Arab saying goes, “Cairo writes, Beirut publishes and Baghdad reads.” These three capitals, along with Damascus, were long the hubs of culture and education in the Arab world. However, over the past few years, as these traditional Arab capitals became more embroiled in civil strife, a new set of cities started to emerge in the Gulf, establishing themselves as the new centers of the Arab world. Abu Dhabi, its sister emirates of Dubai and Sharjah and the Qatari capital, Doha, have developed as the nerve center of the contemporary Arab world. Read more »
Abu Dhabi’s Foreign Assistance Steals Spotlight
Although lost in the spotlight on Abu Dhabi’s foreign financial aid, historically the emirate has also been tremendously generous in its own backyard, where it counts the most. While attention is to be focused on Abu Dhabi’s aid to other states, its generosity to the other emirates of the federation is even larger and more noteworthy. Read more »
Sultan Sood Al Qassemi on Egypt
Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi discusses recent social developments in Egypt with alternative media platform Jung & Naiv. Read more »
Give expats an opportunity to earn UAE citizenship
Some Emiratis are apprehensive about it, and some residents aspire for it. The possibility of naturalising certain long-term UAE residents is not without its sceptics and advocates. Part of the fear of naturalisation is that Emiratis would lose their national identity; we are after all a shrinking minority in our own country. However, UAE national identity has proven to be more resilient and adaptive to the changing environment and times than some may believe. Read more »
Democracy Under Pressure
On September 16, 2013, the IHT Global Conversation travels to Athens to look at the state of democracy in the world and how the economic, social and religious crisis are putting “Democracy under pressure”. Read more »
What Do Gulf States Want for Egypt?
Stability or democracy? Sultan Al-Qassemi, commentator on Arab affairs, and Hani Sabra, MENA director at the Eurasia Group, joins in conversation with Richard LeBaron, visiting senior fellow with the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. Read more »