Richard Delevan, a much missed regular feature in the Irish blogosphere has a post today with an exerpt of an interview he did with the Palestinian ambassador to Ireland. You can read the first part of the interview here.
Archive for the ‘Middle East’ Category
Palestinian ambassador interview
Friday, January 20th, 2006Juan Cole readers
Thursday, January 12th, 2006Welcome to readers of Informed Comment, I did a guest piece for Juan on my various trips to Dubai, and the development currently taking place there.
Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Maktoum dies
Wednesday, January 4th, 2006It seems that whenever I leave Dubai these days a ruler dies – I promise I have no connection. September 2004, Sheikh Zayed died not long after my return, and now 2 days after my return, Sheikh Maktoum has died.
Beirut bomb ‘kills anti-Syria MP’
Monday, December 12th, 2005It looks like Syria are giving the proverbial two fingers to the UN:
A prominent anti-Syrian MP in Lebanon has been killed in a car bomb attack in the capital Beirut, say reports.
Gibran Tueni’s convoy was targeted as it travelled in the Christian-dominated eastern suburb of Mekallis.
At least two other people were killed and several injured in the powerful blast during rush hour.
The attack comes hours before a UN team investigating the murder of ex-prime minister Rafik Hariri presents its findings to the UN Security Council.
An affair to remember
Tuesday, October 18th, 2005One of the stranger stories you might hear from the UAE:
A camel has been condemned to death after a worker was caught having sex with it in the remote emirate of Ras Al Khaimah. The man, a Bangladeshi driver, was sentenced to three months in jail for his dangerous liaisons. His employer reported him to the authorities after spotting him making regular visits to the camel barn, Gulf News reported.
Ras Al Khaimah is one of the poorer and more traditional sheikhdoms that make up the seven United Arab Emirates, and its judiciary tends to be more conservative than its neighbours’ (Dubai is about an hour’s drive away). Reports said authorities ordered the camel to be killed in accordance with Islamic or sharia law, because its meat was considered tainted by the man’s performances.
Surely the camel was just minding its own business? Why does it get condemned to death?
Burj Dubai
Monday, August 8th, 2005The BBC have a progress report on the Burj Dubai, to become the tallest building in the world on completion. 50 metres of the foundations have been completed, it is certainly an impressive looking building. I will try and get a closer look next time I am in Dubai.
The Burj Dubai is a supertall skyscraper currently under construction in the “New Downtown” of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Although not yet complete, it is currently the tallest high-rise building in the world. When it is completed, it will be the tallest man-made structure in the world. Scheduled for occupancy in 2009, the building is part of a huge development located at the “First Interchange”.
Today, Taipei 101 leads in the first category with 1,671 ft. The first category was formerly held by the Petronas Twin Towers with 1,483 ft, and before that by Sears Tower with 1,451 ft.
On 21st July 2007, the tower’s developers reported the Burj Dubai’s height as 512.1 metres (1,680.1 feet), with 141 completed floors, surpassing the Taipei 101 (509.2 m (1,671 ft) as the tallest high-rise building in the world.
In February 2007, the Burj Dubai surpassed the Sears Tower as the building with the most floors in the world.
Burj Dubai will make the biggest surprise when it complete in 2009. Even now – it is not completed yet, it already surpassed all the well known tall towers.
More crazy islands in Dubai
Monday, May 16th, 2005
Not happy with just the Palm Island, Palm Island Jebel Ali, and the World – Dubai are going to build two more, the half-moon shaped one to the left, and the Palm Island Deira to the far right. The first Palm has 100% of the groundwork done while The World is at 50%. Certainly makes the coastline more interesting anyway.
Wait goes on for Dubai drug woman
Monday, May 9th, 2005Many people might not realise it, but when visiting Dubai, never bring any painkillers that contain codeine.
The mother-of-two, a sports osteopath, was found with traces of the sedative temazepam in her system as well as codeine when she was arrested at Dubai Airport two months ago. She had faced a four-year jail sentence if found guilty and was held in prison before being released on bail on 30 April.
In fact the best rule of thumb is only buy medication while you’re there, that way you won’t get anything illegal. And you are likely to get it cheaper there anyway.
Embargoed book claims Saudi oil infrastructure rigged for catastrophic self-destruction
Monday, May 9th, 2005As I mentioned a couple of weeks back, Arianna Huffington planned to start a new website and blog, that was launched earlier today. Their first big scoop is a leak from Ger Posner’s new book:
According to a new book exclusively obtained by the Huffington Post, Saudi Arabia has crafted a plan to protect itself from a possible invasion or internal attack. It includes the use of a series of explosives, including radioactive “dirty bombs,? that would cripple Saudi Arabian oil production and distribution systems for decades.
Overall the story seems credible, Dick also picked up the story – but I was more interested in the new blog. There are some interesting faces and posts – including some posts that many people will recognise from people like Harry Shearer, radio show host and voice for half the characters on the Simpsons, including Monty Burns. David Frum is there too, as well as Hollywood actor John Cusask.
I like the layout and the writing, I will be a regular visitor.
Qatar blast kills Briton
Sunday, March 20th, 2005Worrying news indeed from Qatar. This would appear to be work of al-Qaeda, and if it is, is the first attack (outside of Iraq) for quite a while. As the Observer piece notes:
Al-Qaeda militants have staged attacks in neighbouring Saudi Arabia and Kuwait but Qatar, a key US ally, has seen no Islamist violence and prides itself on its security. Qatar hosts the US military’s Central Command, and two years ago was a launch pad for the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Most of the theatre’s members are from the UK, although other nationalities are represented, according to the Doha Players’ website.
What makes this more worrying is that Qatar is indeed the base for US military operation in the region. That the attack happened to a civilan target, on Western interests in the region, and in the country of US bases, and was a car bomb, seems to show that it was a planned al-Qaeda operation, and not the work of a lone bomber. This means that there is at least one active al-Qaeda cell in the country. I guess one of the results of the invasion of Iraq is that terrorists there are perfecting their bomb-making skills, and may be exporting this intellectual capital to other cells.
How long before an attack on my oft-visited city, Dubai? I can only guess, but Dubai has long served as a hub for al-Qaeda, so I would wonder if an attack there would be counter-productive. That said the Emirates are a target just like any other, with plenty of Western interests there extremely vulnerable to an attack such as this. The BBC has more.
Italy disputes US hostage account
Wednesday, March 9th, 2005The Italians are now contradicting the US version of events in relation to the killing of Nicola Calipari. The other agent in the car has said that the car did come to a halt, but the car was fired on anyway. The investigation into the incident could take up to 4 weeks.
Over the top in Dubai
Wednesday, March 9th, 2005Steve Clemons, Senior Fellow at the New American Foundation has responded to my blogging about his post on tennis on top of the Burj Al Arab.
He rightly accuses me of over-reacting to a tennis match and over-reaching by using this as a metaphor of some of the problems in the Middle East.
Blogging never ceases to amaze. Cheers Steve.
Tennis in Dubai, theater of the absurd?
Tuesday, March 1st, 2005Steve Clemons got a bit peeved at seeing tennis being played on top of the Burj Al Arab, the hotel I blogged about after visiting back in October. He notes:
But this match in Dubai makes my head spin. It’s certainly dramatic to play a game of tennis on a building’s top floor heliport in a small middle east country. But how can this kind of exhibition game do anything but inflame the passions of Middle East “have-nots” against the arrogance and indifference of the “haves” throughout the region?
Isn’t this kind of theatre just a bit over the top given the convulsions going on in that part of the world?
Just struck me as intensely out of touch with the “hearts and minds” challenges we have in that region. But maybe I’m missing something.
Yes I think you are missing something Steve. Pretty crazy indeed. The commenters rightly complain to Clemons, it is a pretty weird comment to make about Dubai, a center of outright debauchery in the Persian Gulf. But what “we” does he refer to when saying the “challenges we have in that region”. It’s a big ass region. Is ‘we’ US foreign interests? And Dubai is probably the most Western city in the region – hence the debauchery. As well as that the Middle East bases for everyone from CNN to Microsoft to Oracle to Reuters are based in Media and Internet Cities in Dubai.
Perhaps a better example would be the two artificial islands currently under construction, almost all sold to Western investors, or maybe the World, a network of islands, again almost all sold to Western investors. Or maybe the Burj Dubai, set to be the tallest building in the world – Dubai Marina, thousands of apartments, massive yachts, and yes you guessed it, almost all owned by the “haves”.
Yes the imported Pakistani and Indian construction workers earn about $120 per month for 288 hours work, in temperatures reaching 50 degrees Celsius, but a tennis match on top of the Burj is nothing compared to the Burj itself, where a room can cost up to $10,000 per night, and where Agassi had the pleasure to stay.
And kudos to the Irish manager of the Burj, or whoever came up with the idea, it was a great marketing coup.
U.S. presses Europe to shun Hezbollah
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2005Europeans did do as requested in relation to Hamas, but now the US is demanding the same treatment for Hezbollah. The European argument for not listing Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation:
…some European countries are questioning whether Hamas should remain listed now that some of its members have won elections in Gaza.
This argument, pressed by Britain and others, is that the best way to lure Hamas leaders into the political process and have them abandon their militancy and their policy of trying to eradicate Israel is to offer the carrot of removal from lists as terrorist organizations.
The Bush administration strenuously opposes any such action. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was said by U.S. and European officials to have pressed for listing Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in practically every stop in Europe last week.
The Europeans are fearful about the affect it might have on negotiations with Iran on nuclear energy/weapons. The report continues:
The United States has rebuffed European appeals to become more directly involved in discussions with Iran over its suspected nuclear program.
The Hezbollah dispute now gets added to a long list of matters that divide Europe and the United States despite the new campaign that they share broad values of freedom and liberty.
The other issues that should come to the fore on Bush’s visit are the negotiations with Iran over its suspected nuclear program and American opposition to Europe’s determination to lift an arms embargo imposed in 1989 on China.
Also dividing Europe and the United States is the the issue of European support for the Kyoto treaty on global warming and the International Criminal Court, both opposed by the United States, and American opposition to another term for Mohamed ElBaradei as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The ElBaradei case, like Hezbollah, is related to the situation in Iran, because European diplomats are arguing that ElBaradei, a Muslim, is best suited to press the Iranians to cooperate with steps to dismantle its disputed uranium enrichment and plutonium reactor programs.
Veteran Gulf ruler Zayed dies
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2004What an interesting story. Rumours were circulating in Dubai when I was leaving there earlier this month that the Ruler of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, had died. The news of his death was apparently being kept secret for some reason. Today his death was officially announced, but the authorities are saying he, in fact, died today.