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Home >> Middle East Arab World If they can't fool you, they can't defeat you
Prof. Barry Rubin - 3/13/2008
Radical forces in the Middle East have rewritten the international rulebook in a way designed so "they can't lose." That is, there’s no easy response to their behavior and strategies. Arab Ideological Doctrine Syndrome: A Crippling Plague
Prof. Barry Rubin - 3/6/2008
One of the things least understood by people in the West is the framework--or should I say straitjacket?--of the dominant ideology in the Arabic-speaking world in shaping thought, speech, and political alternatives. This shows up in the smallest of exchanges. But atoms, too, are very tiny yet make up all the wide variety of things in the world. Middle East Pressure Points
Prof. Barry Rubin - 2/28/2008
Ironic, isn’t it, that radical forces threaten a wide range of violence, sanctions, and other behaviors against democratic states while insisting—along with their Western apologists—that any attempt by their victims to put any kind of pressure on them is useless. War of Muslims Against Muslims, Arabs Against Arabs
Prof. Barry Rubin - 2/22/2008
Following up on article Who Owns the Palestine Card in which a high-ranking Iranian official claims the battle against Israel as a Shia and non-Palestinian monopoly now comes a Hamas statement which also indicates the deep divisions among Muslims and Arabs. At the same time, in contrast to the bragging (or is it whistling in the dark?) of Iran and Hizballah, it shows the high sense of despair among radical forces. Moroccan Democracy Process: The Will Needs Citizens’ Trust
Ahmed Jazouli, Ph.D. - 2/18/2008
On January 23th, the Moroccan Lower House closed its first session. Officially, the elections that led to its election knew the lowest after rates of participation in Morocco’s history (37 percent). Take Me To Your Leader!
Prof. Barry Rubin - 2/12/2008
The day of giants—though some of them were ogres—is certainly over among Middle East leaders. In fact, what is most remarkable fact is how unremarkable the current rulers are. There is both good and bad in this situation, since while there is no one capable of turning around a whole country Samson-like that also means there is no one likely to pull down the temple and crush everyone underneath. That is, with one possible exception we will discuss shortly. Morocco's 2007 Elections
Samir Ben-Layashi - 12/22/2007
This article discusses the social and political context of Morocco's 2007 parliamentary elections, which brought surprising results. It attempts to explain why the moderate Islamic party, the PJD, did not achieve an overwhelming victory as was expected. It also explores why the formerly undefeatable socialist party, the USFP, lost popularity. Finally, it examines the remarkable comeback of the historically conservative Independent Party, the IP. The article points out that while the PJD may have lost on the national scale, it won in most of the big cites--the political, economic, and intellect... Survivor, Gulf Style
Prof. Barry Rubin - 12/18/2007
Let's say you rule an Arab state in the Persian Gulf--Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, or the United Arab Emirates. How does the world look to you right now? How Arab Regimes Defeated The Liberalization Challenge
Prof. Barry Rubin - 10/13/2007
This article examines democratization efforts in the Arab world and how governments neutralized, utilized, or adjusted to them. The reactions of Islamists and the liberal movements themselves are also examined. In general, the regimes were able to defeat the demands for reform by using a number of classical techniques and new adaptations. Franchising & Novou-Consumerism in Middle East
Naseem Javed - 9/25/2007
Two things; firstly among all of the great business concepts of the last few decades the franchise model has always surfaced to the very top. Secondly, over the next decade the introduction of hundreds of fresh, locally nurtured franchise concepts emerging within Dubai and the Gulf States will set the stage for a great revolution of nouvo-consumerism. So what are the four key factors driving this movement? Nationalists Versus Islamists: The Middle East's Core Issue
Prof. Barry Rubin - 8/21/2007
The Middle East is in a new era, very different from the politics and strategic situation we have been used to for so long. For 55 years the region has lived under Arab nationalist dominance. Every Arab regime, except perhaps Sudan, is Arab nationalist, governed by that basic system and world view. Of course, these regimes have governed badly, not keeping pledges to unite the Arab world, minimize Western influence, destroy Israel, or bring rapid social and economic progress. Still, they know how to stay in power. Reading the Middle East in Bangkok
Prof. Barry Rubin - 8/5/2007
A fascinating way to try to improve one's own understanding of the Middle East is to try to explain the region to people from a totally different culture and history. I've done this in several far-flung places around the world but Thailand provides a particularly interesting example of the particularity and--in global terms--bizarre nature of the Middle East. Observations on Arabs
Stephen W. Browne - 7/11/2007
Well, the war has come, as some of us knew it would. We have fearlessly trodden into a conflict in a region that God’s holy angels have regarded as a punishment post for millennia. And libertarians, though we appear to be divided on this issue, have typically produced a crop of military and Middle East experts – most of whom have never served in the military or lived in the Middle East. It's Hard to be an Arab
Prof. Barry Rubin - 7/5/2007
Once, many years ago, I stood outside the door of a Middle East Studies Association meeting addressed by the late Edward Said as he thundered against those he deemed "the enemies of the Arabs." He even provided a list of names. Strange it was to think this was supposedly an academic meeting, not a rally of some extremist totalitarian political party. Where Are The Billions? Saga Of Misisng GCC $542 Billlions
Iqbal Latif - 6/12/2007
From 2002-06, the six countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) made about $1.5 trillion from oil exports, twice as much as they made during the preceding five years. Around $1 trillion of that cash was exhausted on imports. The rest—a snowballing current-account surplus of $542 billion—went abroad. Where? Theme-Based Real Estate Branding in the Middle East
Naseem Javed - 5/23/2007
With some one thousand theme-based-cities being developed at a phenomenal rate here in the Middle East, the branding and name identities of such projects become nightmares. As in size, except a very few, they range between a few acres to even a single large dwelling. Now this requires a new definition of the term 'city' so not to confuse the customers with other traditional metropolises. For example, the introduction of Dubai Media City has become great success story, which extends the souk concept to its infinite extremes. But with the emerging jigsaw of cities, it will make it difficult to d... The SME Revolution Begins in Dubai and GCC
Naseem Javed - 10/13/2006
The Western economies realized decades ago that small and medium enterprises are really the main drivers of the economy. While big businesses are necessary to preserve and maintain structure within the economy, surely they have considerable problems of their own. Mega corporations of the earlier era have increasingly lost their edge to smaller, nimbler organizations, which have spouted all over the Western landscape. The Middle East is now a new turning point for SME’s to begin a grassroots revolution. Economies of the Middle East
Sam Vaknin, Ph.D. - 11/18/2005
On February 24, 2003, in the Islamic Financial Forum in Dubai, Brad Bourland, chief economist for the Saudi American Bank (SAMBA), breached the embarrassed silence that invariably enshrouds speakers in Middle Eastern get-togethers. He reminded the assembled that despite the decades-long fortuity of opulent oil revenues, the nations of the region - excluding Turkey and Israel - failed to reform their economies, let alone prosper. Middle East: Polls Alone Don't Make A Democracy
Ahmed Jazouli, PhD - 10/15/2005
Whenever elections are held in any Arab country, there is the fear of the Islamist majority. Democrats are ready to turn to dictators when assumptions give these movements an up-coming strong force !! Al-Jazeera Presents Arab Point of View, Not Bias
Samer Zouehid - 6/9/2005
The Arabic language news channels have come under fierce criticism recently from the American administration for their portrayal of events in the Middle East, especially in Iraq. The criticism seems to be getting louder and louder, and it appears as if a full-fledged campaign by different parts of the American administration to discredit Arab media stations such as Al-Jazeera and Al Arabiya are underway. A Window Into the Middle East: Interview with Haim Harari
Ryan Mauro - 4/13/2005
In 2004, internationally known physicist Haim Harari was invited to address the advisory board of a major multinational corporation. In a short speech he offered a penetrating analysis of the components of terror, and presented a passionate call for a new era in the Middle East. The speech, entitled "A View from the Eye of the Storm," was not intended for publication, but when a copy was leaked and posted onto the Internet, it caused a worldwide sensation, eventually being translated into more than half a dozen languages. In his upcoming book "A View From the Eye of the Storm,", Harari includ... Russian Stereotypes of Arabs
Aliheydar Rzayev, Ph.D. - 3/22/2005
Following the breakup of the USSR, one of the countries where tens of thousands of Soviet-born people, including myself, made residence has become the United Arab Emirates. Close examination of the laws, traditions, customs, religion and the style of life in UAE and the Arab world in general, shakes the generalized stereotype of the "Arab" created over the decades in the Soviet Union. |
