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July 2007 Archives

July 31, 2007

Weapons for Everyone

As you might already have read, the United States has announced a massive arms package covering Israel, Egypt, and the Gulf countries. Guardian columnist Brian Whitaker, a Middle East expert, believes the deal is a bad idea, as it will inflame Sunni-Shia tensions throughout the region. While I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Whitaker, I must respectfully disagree with him and say I consider the deal a good idea overall.

Continue reading "Weapons for Everyone"

Posted by dubaiwalla at 06:36 PM | Comments (23) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Gulf , Iraq War , Islam & Politics , Levant , MENA Region General , North Africa , Religious Minorities , US Foreign Policy

July 29, 2007

Miss Arab World

Congratulations to Miss Bahrain who has just won the Miss Arab World beauty contest in Cairo.

It's wonderful to see how a modest glimpse of flesh can instantly bridge the East-West divide, as evidenced by the comment from Daily Mail reader Ken from Suffolk:

"So, behind the hijab's, niqab's and burqa's there are some very pretty ladies in the Arab world."

Purely for the research purposes of Aqoul's male readers, here are some of the other contestants (those whose monocles have already steamed up may click the images to enlarge):

I am sure many of our learned commentators will be able to draw significant political insight from this landmark event.

Posted by secretdubai at 06:07 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Society & Culture

July 25, 2007

Islamist Election & Moving MENA Forward: Stability and Investment

Some time back a good friend of mine in the Maghrebine banking community asked me my thoughts on what would happen if The Parti la Justice et le Développement (Justice & Development Party), the moderate Islamist party in Morocco won the upcoming elections - as they would clearly do in any free election, from an investment flow point of view. Or more succinctly - would people like me take money out of the market, re-balance to Tunisia, etc.

My answer was "depends" - although Moroccan politics is not something I follow terribly closely, PJD actually in the economic sphere has always struck me as being fairly economically liberal (given the francophone and Arab world benchmarks that is) - and I opined that us Anglo Saxon investors would actually like to see a government with better roots and thus probably better ability to move economic liberalisation forward. I was worried, though, that this answer might be too me. I submit, then, the results of the Turkish elections and London's reactioin as partial indication my gut read is on target.

(See also Abu Aardvark's thoughts on Arab world reaction to the elections and in particular re the pseudo-secularist "Moderates")

Continue reading "Islamist Election & Moving MENA Forward: Stability and Investment"

Posted by The Lounsbury at 08:17 PM | Comments (17) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Economic Development , Economic Policy , MENA Region General , North Africa

July 23, 2007

MENA Business, Liquidity, Speculation, Fatwas and Egyptian Belly Dancing

Being bored on the TGV, some time to catch up on comments. In this instance on various MENA economy items that caught my eye in the past month.

So, some quick reactions to the massive amount of liquidity flowing about the region now, and globally, and fatwas on IPOs. Sorry no actual Egyptian dancing as such, but the investment equivalent with Ministry of Finance blithering on.

(edited formatting 23/7/07 18h00 GMT+2)

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Posted by The Lounsbury at 08:25 AM | Comments (17) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Business, Private , Gulf , MENA Region General , North Africa

July 22, 2007

Dubai's New Erection Penetrates Foe China Entry's Position

Why are you looking at me like that? Stop it. The internal structure of the new under-construction Burj Dubai tower has just passed the height of the rival entry in the world's tallest building competition, Taiwan-Republic of China's Taipei 101 tower. The Burj is now 1,667 feet (sorry, I don't do metric). The question: is there any value or significance to such structures? It looks horrible at this stage; is the final version decent? And no. The caption wrote itself. Grow up. (Update: Taipei 101 - I think it's ugly too.)

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 02:45 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Economic Development , Economic Policy , Gulf , MENA Region General , Political Development , Society & Culture

July 19, 2007

The Muslim Sartorialist

Ever heard of the Sartorialist? It's basically a photo blog done by a guy with a keen eye for fashion. He photographs people in trendy European and North American cities and adds little blurbs about why he thinks the outfits are interesting.

Now, I've always taken note of fashionable Muslim girls around me. They are masters of layering, texture and coordination. Whether it's at the mall, a pretentious cafe or even my gym (where one stylish muhajabat routinely schools me on the treadmill), these ladies are not held back by their headscarves. Unfortunately, most of the photos you find on news sites are of women wearing frumpy hijabs, dowdy overcoats and ominous-looking ninja getups (as Lounsbury likes to call them). Western media is inundated with photos of shapeless baby-blue Afghan burkas and Saudi niqabs, so it's hardly surprising that most non-Muslims think this style of dress is ubiquitous.

Continue reading "The Muslim Sartorialist"

Posted by eerie at 02:02 PM | Comments (40) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Gender Issues , Islam General , Site News , Society & Culture

July 16, 2007

"There are no Enrons here"

So a new issue of MEB Journal is on line, and this month's cover story is an overview of the Arabic-language business channels. A pretty fair overview, with a couple bits of news (evidently, there's a new station specializing in Islamic finance about to open), and this one remarkable statement from a CNBC Arabia spokesman, talking about whether business news in the region is hurt by companies' lack of transparency:

“We do not face obstacles in providing coverage,” says Ghani, adding that public figures are actually quite keen to talk with CNBC. “I think it’s a misperception here that companies are not transparent. Business is very much straightforward in the Middle East. There are no Enrons here,” he muses.

The mind, she boggles.

Posted by tomscud at 06:23 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Media

Eavesdropping on London Buses and Other Political Pastimes

In keeping with my uncanny ability always to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, I ventured to London town just as various NHS doctors were ramming cars packed with explosives into airport terminals and parading about in the shape of human fireballs.

The queues in the airport were interminable, the interrogation at customs was agonising and in the time it took me to reach central London, I could have flown back to Saudi Arabia, picked up the Ipod that I had forgotten and flown back. However, since it was London, armed with a stiff upper lip and a spirit of the blitz mindset, I deposited my baggage, found a quiet cafe in the West of the city, and proceeded to catch up on missed nicotine time in Saudi by chain smoking myself into a coma.

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Posted by bint ash-shaitan at 12:32 PM | Comments (22) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Op-Ed , Religious Minorities

Next, We'll be Pledging Allegiance To Vishnu

They're taking over. Now it's the Hindus. First the Muslims will force my daughter to wear a burka, which I just learned is a Nazi symbol, now if it weren't for the voices of the intrepid zealots of the gospel heard in this video, soon the guy pictured here would take over, and the Senate cafeteria will have to remove hamburgers from next to the freedom fries. Even scarier, he looks like he might be the Pope (oops, wrong century's xeonphobia).

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 07:34 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Gender Issues , Islam & Politics , Religious Minorities , Society & Culture

July 14, 2007

Muslim Integration in American Political Life

I'd just like to draw attention to a recent report on the subject, which draws some conclusions I'd hope would be common sense to anyone paying attention. A few that particularly struck me:

Continue reading "Muslim Integration in American Political Life"

Posted by evaluna at 05:16 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Ethnic Minorities , Political Development , Religious Minorities , Society & Culture

July 13, 2007

Sex and Dubai and censorship

It's a sad day for sex in Dubai. Or rather, Sex and Dubai, the latest UAE website to face the censors' axe.

Allegedly written by "Noora and Layala", two young Arab girls about town, Sex and Dubai is a lighthearted blog version of Sex & The City. A scarlet harlot by UAE cultural norms, the site is more Barbara Cartland when held up against the average western sex blog. While it features reasonably titillating detail, like most UAE blogs it steers clear of offensive photos or links to dating sites. It's currently the number one Google hit for "sex dubai" and the third for "dubai sex" - the advertising potential there must be phenomenal. Certainly on my own (non sex-related) blog, sex is the most common search referrer by a mile.

So how does this kind of site get blocked? Most probably through individual UAE internet user complaints. The blog had been criticised by more conservative Muslim readers, and many commenters attacked it as "shameful" and giving a bad name to the UAE. The block also came hot on the heels of a ban on social networking site Orkut, after Gulf News outed it as promoting sex-oriented communities.

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Posted by secretdubai at 12:20 PM | Comments (14) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Press Freedom

July 12, 2007

Tunisia & Women's Rights: Real Developments?

I turn this issue over to a better-informed readership. A Globalist article argues that Tunisia provides a real regional model for a legislative and public policy system that would protect the rights and hopes of women in home and professional life, and do so consistent with religious sentiment and scholarship. "What really sets Tunisia apart from other Arab countries and most majority-Muslim states," Andrea Barron writes, "are its policies on marriage, divorce, child support, abortion, honor crimes and domestic violence. After all, what does it matter if a woman can attend university, own her own business and run for political office if she cannot choose her own husband and be free from violence perpetrated by her own family members?" So, are the benefits in Tunisian women's legal rights genuinely real; if so, have they been a cause or the effect of social changes? And where does the, ahem, not quite freedom-loving/democratic nature of the Ben Ali government fit in to all this, if at all?

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 11:21 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Gender Issues , Islam & Politics , Islam General , MENA Region General , North Africa , Political Development , Society & Culture

July 10, 2007

Chanel and Shakira: Poor Alliteration and McDoomed Reporting

I have been meaning to write something about this for quite sometime but the bile clouded my judgement. In addition, part of me refused to give the article credence by commenting on it in any length while the rest of me seethed and wondered why this piece of frankly bordering on illiterate prose irked me so...I will try to be brief, as a dissection may spin out of control into an undignified meaningless diatribe.

The first lines read:

People often ask me how I can tie myself forever to Sudan, when I have covered the worst of this country in conflict zones like Darfur. I guess I finally understood the strength of love

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Posted by bint ash-shaitan at 12:15 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Op-Ed

July 07, 2007

Trinity & Religious Debate: It Ain't Just A River in Texas

Folks, this one is an academic discussion for those not negatively oriented towards religiosity, religious dialogue and esoterica. Save your "it's all superstition" comments for Hit & Run. It comes from personal observation of sorts, especially when a translator I needed argued that Allah should not be translated as God because the word "God" in English suggests a "triune deity". I don't want to get into the Allah=god question, here; instead this brought out something I have detected when discussing religions academically with Muslims: Muslims' vast overrestimation of the Trinity in ordinary Christian consciousness (as opposed to doctrine). Without endorsing all what I read here, the author notes that in Christian-Muslim polemic "Christians are usually keener to debate other topics; and we [Muslims] tend to conclude that this is because they themselves are uncomfortable with aspects of their Trinitarian theology." He conveys his impression that is not necessarily the case and to the extent he does I think that is correct.

Continue reading "Trinity & Religious Debate: It Ain't Just A River in Texas"

Posted by Matthew Hogan at 02:48 PM | Comments (20) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Islam General

July 03, 2007

UK Muslims & Reaction: A voice of reason and not whinging victimhood

Very briefly given limited time, I draw attention to a very good arty by Asim Siddiqui in The Guardian that very properly takes on the mealy mouthed response and whinging victimhood whining of rather too much of the UK Muslim community (and professional Muslim activists - of course I am generally contemptuous of activists as a general matter). [Added: I would also recommend this: My plea to fellow Muslims: you must renounce terror]

Some particular highlights that I think key:

The events of the last few days have been sobering for us all. The response from some UK Muslim groups (influenced by Islamist thinking) is still largely to blame foreign policy (undoubtedly an exacerbating influence but not the cause), rather than marching "not in my name" in revulsion against terrorist acts committed in Islam's name. By blaming foreign policy they try to divert pressure off themselves from the real need to tackle extremism being peddled within. Diverting attention away from the problems within Muslim communities and blaming others - especially the west - is always more popular than the difficult task of self-scrutiny. ... so long as the world is presented as one where the west is forever at war with Islam and Muslims there is nothing we can do to appease the terrorists and those who share their world view. Instead it is this extremist world view that must change.

Continue reading "UK Muslims & Reaction: A voice of reason and not whinging victimhood"

Posted by The Lounsbury at 08:34 PM | Comments (88) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Ethnic Minorities , Islam & Politics , Islam General , Islamism , MENA Region General

July 01, 2007

New Month Open Discussion

It's that time again. New readers, introduce yourselves. Regular readers, continue making crass comments as usual. Since I'm planning to do a bit of redesign work this month, suggestions for improvement are also welcome.

Otherwise, here are some amusing photoshop creations by our own secretdubai. Those of you familiar with lolcats may submit captions.

 

Posted by eerie at 08:17 PM | Comments (22) | TrackBack
Filed Under: Site News