As tensions continue to rise in the Gulf because of religious, foreign and nationalistic forces, a breakthrough in the north-south divide would be a giant step forward. So I propose a solution: the Arab Gulf States recognise once and for all the name “Persian Gulf” for the 7,000-year-old, 600-mile body of water that separates us from our Iranian neighbour; and in return, Iran ends its occupation of the Arab islands and returns their sovereignty to the United Arab Emirates. Read more »
The National
A Waltz with President al Bashir of Sudan
It was a cold October night last year when I entered the Curzon Soho cinema on Shaftesbury Avenue in London to watch Ari Folman’s Waltz With Bashir, the Israeli movie that retells in animation the story of a group of Israeli soldiers who stood idle as the Lebanese Forces Christian militia group massacred the Palestinian refugees of Sabra and Chatila. Read more »
Dubai, tennis and The Lord of the Rings
The next time you read a Dubai-bashing article in the western press, remember that there is potentially more accuracy in The Lord of the Rings – which took place in a world that never existed. Read more »
Iran: the day the revolution lost its way
The CIA under US President Dwight Eisenhower orchestrated a coup d’etat in 1953 against the Iranian prime minister Mohammed Mosaddeq, one of the first democratically elected leaders in the region. It took the US government half a century to admit any wrongdoing and offer a tepid apology to the Iranian people for meddling in their affairs. Too little, too late. Read more »
Of Arabs, Jews and an internet that never forgets
Technology doesn’t always work in one’s favour, which could be something very positive for governance in the Arab world as we lack even the basic understanding of transparency. For example, it may keep officials in check when they finally realise that their actions, intentional or not, are recorded for ever and can’t be undone. Who knows? Maybe, thanks to the internet, one-day corruption in the Middle East will once again become taboo, rather than practised in broad daylight. Read more »
The land of two steps forward and one step back
The case of the Saudi judge upholding the marriage of an eight-year-old girl to a man 50 years her senior is so very wrong on innumerable levels and is a step back in the otherwise forward progress of the Kingdom. Read more »