Desert Pundit

Long break from blogging

2007-02-10T04:56:00.000-08:00

It has been over three months since I last posted, and while I was aware of the time lapsed, that did not mean I was happy about it.

Obviously I have been super busy with my job duties, jumping around the region making my employer even more money (and helping spend it sometimes).

The other reason for my silence is a bit more complicated. Like a majority of the Arab population, I have been extremely depressed by the events taking place in the region, in my homeland, in Lebanon, in Iraq, the war trumpets sounding about Iran. I have so much frustration and rage, and for once, I decided not to share it with what remains of my readership.

Now, I have taken a decision to post at least weekly, even if it cuts into my sleep time, as the bottled rage is not good for my blood pressure!

I will try to post my review of the film "Last King of Scotland" soon.

Peace.

Q

Almost one year

2006-11-11T22:44:00.000-08:00

Almost one year ago, I started blogging, and even my posting has been scarce of late, I am still very committed to this project of extreme exposure, it gives me an outlet and a megaphone to scream through.

I am hoping that I will recover to my earlier posting schedule and have interesting things to say!

My November 2005 posts

My second post is still my favorite

Playing the villain!

2006-11-04T05:32:00.000-08:00

People who know me usually refer to me as a somehow nice sort of a guy, reserved, a bit aggressive, but not really nasty or obnoxious.

In the last 2 weeks I have deeply hurt a person I truly care about, and this has cast me in a very negative light to this person and to myself, and needless to say, I did not enjoy my newfound notoriety.

There are benefits to being a scoundrel, utmost of those are decreased expectations, which I could use at my current state, nevertheless, that is not enough to justify the sense of disappointment surrounding my "halo".

So right now I am trying to shake the new found persona, and revert to my usual defects and shortcomings, which I learned to embrace by now.

The Ramadan of delirium

2006-10-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

Ramadan 2006. Days go fast, you work less hours yet you feel more tired even when you are religiously not fasting. Things don’t get done, document drag without a new redline version for the eternity of 72 hours, sacrilegious state of affairs!

What is it with this month that makes you so angry and you chafe easily when people rub you the wrong way. You are trigger happy with expletives; tolerance level in down to micron level, smoking gun is in your first drawer. You go up to 220km/hour at Iftar time trying to reach the meal in time, even when you snacked an hour ago, the mindset is one of little patience and even less decorum.

You lose track of your priorities in the haze of the shisha smoke, you relate to current event only on subliminal level, you are dehydrated of energy, soul, and intelligent thinking. You blame the TV series, the occasional indulgence of Katayef, the constant Sahar to wee hours, and the bipolar extremes of feigned piety and indulgence, ever in their weird tango.

The region’s multiple sores of conflicts becomes the daily routine and the news reel sounds recycled from yesterday or 25 years ago, the Lebanonization of Iraq, the Iraqization of Palestine, the polarization in Lebanon, and a silent shameful murder in Sudan. You lose track of who requested a national unity government whether it was Abbas or Michel Aon, who is the puppet and who is the puppet master in Iraq. You are bombarded by the defiant words of Nasarallah,Sadr, Hanieh, and Ahmadi Najad. The distinction between a historic victory and an unmitigated disaster depends on your political affiliation.

You look abroad and see millions of Europeans genuinely afraid of the Islamic war of conquest, the tyranny of the sword as the voice of the religion and the hordes of immigrant on their doors, of the Hijab as the face of the difference, and of potential enemies in their midst. In your region, the feeling of siege is also omnipresent, the religion is attacked as fascist, the prophet is ridiculed, and the image of the ordinary citizen is equated with the suicide bomber. And both are right.

In the midst of this weird concoction, you travel around the region and see booming cities, rising middle class (despite all the argument to the contrary), and an advance of many aspects of modernity. Nothing is pure of distortion and substance is often lacking, but the progress is real. Same time, political, social, and often psychological progress is retarded. Is it bread before democracy? Or bread sans democracy? Right now in Palestine democracy has brought hunger and anarchy, and in Lebanon it brought stalemate. In Doha, Riyadh and Kuwait city, the boom is a new Arab renaissance, as demonstrated by glass and steel towers designed by westerners and built by Indians.

You process all of the above, and the anger is explained, but if the region has succeeded in producing (and exporting) a product, it is angry young (and graying) men and women. Can anger be channeled in a positive way, does it always has to be directed against a real or an imagined enemy? Can hope be extracted from the jaw of inertia?

No use, more questions than answers. In an environment where you usually go straight on a T-junction, that is typical currency of discourse.

Will the Eid bring hope, truces and some national and regional consensus? Will we break the soul’s fast with a feast of mediocrity, as always? Is status quo ante better than what tomorrow will bring us on the screens of Al-Jazeerah?

Eid’s new clothes will be regular ones in a week, that is all the answer that I know.

2006-09-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

A great view from Montefalco, Umbria

2006-09-30T09:26:00.001-07:00

A big lake in Umbria

2006-09-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

A wall in Chianti

2006-09-30T09:25:00.000-07:00

Yours truly in a Chianti winery

2006-09-30T09:24:00.001-07:00

View in Siena

2006-09-30T09:24:00.000-07:00

Siena main piazza

2006-09-30T09:20:00.000-07:00

Rome alleyway

2006-09-30T09:15:00.000-07:00

An old printing machine in Foligno

2006-08-16T05:16:00.000-07:00

My beloved Dorothy, note the flowers by the steering wheel, a Beetle trademark.

Dorothy is leaving home!

2006-08-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

After much introspection, I have decided to sell my beloved blue VW Beetle affectionately known as Dorothy.

She has been a very faithful mate, demanding at times, expensive to please, occasionally high maintenance, but she always delivered in grace and in speed, and she always suffered in my absence as a true devotee would.

Today I am placing a classified listing her, and I have prepared a poster to be placed at supermarket bulletin boards that goes like this:

"A beauty like no other, with love in her eyes and flowers in her hair.
Her mate (owner) has grown promiscuous, but she has stayed true
She is looking for loving commitment"

Obviously I am having issues with letting go, for many reasons, but it is time to set her free, may she find greater love beyond my shores.

Leaving for holy Land!

2006-07-27T07:01:00.000-07:00

Later tonight I will be leaving Dubai to go to Ramallah with brief stop in Jordan, it has been 13 months since I've last visited Palestine, and while I do not miss conflict or the daily grind, I miss the land and the people, they just have that effect on you.

Hopefully I will be able to post from Amman and Ramallah, the trick is to say something interesting.

Peace

Mad world!

2006-07-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

I am not referring to the Tears for Fears song, I am referring to the my region, people usually complain about my harsh criticism of the Arab reality, they should eat their words right now.

I do not know where to start, as with most people in the region I have been subjected to the distant trauma (compared to far more real direct trauma) of watching the events unfold in Gaza and now Lebanon.

I have never supported the forces of hate and dogma in my society, but the sheer hatred and vindictiveness of Israeli state, supported by its population, that justifies killing hundred of innocent civilians, make me full with loathing for our "neighbor's". They have invested in the myth of their army morality and the righteousness of revenge to a dehumanizing degree, the blood of 'goyim' does not count, only Jewish victims count. Right now I cannot even imagine the term 'peaceful co-existence", right now this mean that they happily co-exist with our corpses.

A lot has been written about the Iranian and the Syrian interference and how these two states are happy to divert attention from them for the price of Palestinian and Lebanese blood. My 10 cents worth: blood begets blood, unleashing hell in Palestine and Lebanon will transpose itself to Damascus and Tehran, and when it does, nobody will lend a hand, the region has had enough despots and adventurers. You have two dictatorial regimes inflicting damage ontwo democratic societies, all in the name of helping resistance.

As a Palestinian, I consider armed resistance useful as long it can lead to a political goal that is an independent state. The realities of the region has made resistance obsolete and counter productive since 1991, just no body bothered to tell that to many elements of my society. The use of suicide bombers (a Hezbollah export) has tinged the whole Palestinian struggle with terrorism and helped set back our national goals by many years. It seemed that the political Islam forces were more invested in perpetuating the clash of the civilization than winning it, and as news report suggest, somebody like the current Iranian President believes that victory lies in inducing doomsday, I can say no more.

Again, I am sad, angry, agitated, this summer of discontent is becoming the summer of slaughter.

Gaza, again and again!

2006-06-28T03:03:00.000-07:00

I have said before that in Palestine, there is never a dull moment, and the last few days has been far from dull.

I have to say that I was dismayed by the attack on the Israeli base, because it was outside of Gaza, so in front of everybody, they left our internationally recognized area and we crossed over to their territory and attacked them. Also, the people who have done this wanted to abort the national dialogue and now completed national consensus on recognizing the reality of Israel existence, so it was directed more internally than externally.

The people who did this, brave as they maybe, did not stop to think of the repercussions this will bring to the people of Gaza. I was horrified to see the bridges and power station hit, and responsibility clearly lies with the Israelis, but those geniuses in Hamas could clearly foresee a harsh reaction that spread the suffering upon the civilian population, as if they needed any more.

Also, it is totally ludicrous to think that they are in the same negotiating position as Hezbollah regarding the kidnapped soldier, unlike Lebanon, Israel hold the whole Palestinian population as a hostage by the reality of occupation in the West Bank and the surrounding of Gaza and control of its airspace and shores. So it is quite easy for the Israelis to refuse to negotiate and start hitting civilian facilities and say we will only stop once you return the soldier. I am not a defeatist, but you should only play a game you have a chance at winning.

This development have shown a big fissure between Hamas the political entity inside Palestine and outside leadership and the militia they control inside Gaza primarily. The prime minister was reduced to pleading with his own organization to release the Israeli soldier. The Hamas government are now tasting some of their own medicine, the same disruptive process they applied to the Late Yasser Arafat is now applied to them by their own people.

I am just sad and angry (and worried about my father who is in Gaza at the moment), because somebody with a non-Palestinian agenda sitting outside Palestine has made a decision that will impact more than a million Palestinians in Gaza negatively, and they defend this decision on TV screens without flinching, shame.

Ahmad Humeid's misplaced idealism!

2006-06-24T06:23:00.000-07:00

Anyone who read Ahmad Humeid article (A question for the Israeli Blogsphere!!) must have been as dismayed as me by the quality of comments that this post generated, , it went from the Israeli apologist for the occupation's crimes to Arab absolutists who espouse blatant anti-Semitism. Needless to say I don't care for neither.

Now Ahmad Humeid is one of my closest friends, and I admire him for his ability to have the highest hopes in Homo Sapiens and generally have a positive outlook on humanity, and unlike me, he has not one iota of prejudice in his body. Hence, he had the mistaken notion that it is possible to have a rational and objective discussion about what is happening in Palestine, and actually invited Israelis to share their opinions. The result he got was predictable, of people seeing the world from their side of the Wall, and no one dares venture into "unsafe" territory.

Unlike Ahmad, I lived in Palestine for several years and experienced the first 3 years of the 2nd Intifada, what I have seen in those years have killed any hope of being able to communicate with the other side without emotional issues and flag waving sabotaging the argument. Before the start of the Intifada, I used to socialize with many Israelis, and called some of them my friends, and in many ways, I am not proud to say, I was culturally closer to them than to the majority of my countrymen.

The Intifada changed all of that, while anybody who read my posts know how critical I am of those in my society who propagate hate and murder of innocent Israeli civilians, what I saw of my Israeli "friends" in that period was a total withdrawal to traditional stance, accepting the official line of propaganda, and totally justifying all action by the occupation army, regardless how vile. There were always explanations of clearly intentional murder of civilians, the prized Tsahal is above targeting civilians, even when I saw tank gunners with my own eyes doing just that during the invasion of Ramallah in 2001. I proudly say that I tried my best to attend the funeral of Smadar El-Hanan, an Israeli teenager (and daughter of an acquaintance) murdered with several other innocent Israelis in West Jerusalem by a Palestinian suicide bomber, I was stopped by the same roadblocks that failed to stop him.

I simply lost hope that there can be an objective and dispassionate discussion with the other side, and unlike Ahmad, I no longer venture out of my own way to engage with Israelis, and I guess that I will probably never again sit to dinner with one, or have any view of Israelis other than the soldiers who man the roadblock who take special pleasure in humiliating Palestinians like me.

So Ahmad, it is far better for us to keep observing, analyzing and criticizing our own society and governments, there is a good chance of inducing change there, and some of it is happening already because of people like you. As for the "other side", I abandoned all hope, and I regretfully advise you to do the same.

Tired thoughts.

2006-06-18T00:19:00.000-07:00

I have been though another reflective period, agonizing over macro issues, reading abstract political theory and depleting my tiny "cellar".

I have been working non-stop for a while, and while work is definitive instrument of reaching your objective in life, it is not sufficient by itself. The more I work, the more I feel something is missing, whether it is intellectual fulfillment, more permanent companionship, less whimiscal friendships, the ability to wear my identity on my sleeve, and the search for the perfect pants to cover my ever expanding "back area".

Some friends have left this country for good, and more are leaving in the next 30 days, and with them goes lots of hopes and emotions, I just said goodbye to a Lone Star State native, so goodbye Mitchy-Lee, our loss is Austin's gain.

I have been doing some wandering lately, physically and mentaly, in quite despicable territory, yet I chose to wade into the swamps for some unknown higher reason. The search for intelligent life continue.

The near prospect of "losing" a sibling to matrimony also brought home to me my distance from my family, physical and otherwise, and I cannot say that the exile is involuntary, it is definitely by choice, and a well thought one. Yet I ponder whether shaking off all the expectations and burden of the first born son was done in too harsh a way, whether by carving out my independent zone I dug a gulf of estrangement, way more question than answers. I have no regrets, but no satisfaction either.

attachment, or the lack of it figures large in my mind, upon taking on my current job, I took a decision to withdraw from the "scene' and not to pursue anything half-way serious until I reach a stable point in my job when I can give proper time and attention. The downside is, I am less and less satisfied with non-serious encounters, which leaves a bitter aftertaste most of the time.
Another question to chew on.

A series of unfortunate events

2006-06-14T00:53:00.001-07:00

Last week has bee rather eventful, all but one of the sad kind, and they had an adverse effect on my outlook and disposition.

The massacre on the beach in Gaza: I could not help but tear up at the sight of Huda Ghalia, the 11 years old girl that lost almost all of her family, their only crime was being Palestinian and imagining that they are entitled to a family picnic on the beach. The Israeli shells sought to end that transgression, to the result we all saw. My dad have met the girl in Gaza City 3 days ago and told me that she is totally dazed and lucid, very sad indeed.

The death of Zarqawi was the only positive development of the week, while it is not right to celebrate a state sanctioned murder, if anybody deserved it, that murderer did. I am against the American occupation of Iraq, but if Zarqawi is the alternative, I never want the Americans to leave. His victims were mostly innocent Iraqis, and his takfiri discourse is the most dangerous element in the Iraqi swamp. I will shed no tears on account of this zealot, I actually had a toast to the F16 that caught the bastard, even that I felt bad about it afterwards.

The shameful chaos and internal fighting in Palestine is driving me into depression, insane acts as torching the parliament building, shooting at a security HQ, firing those idiotic rockets at Israel that bring back ample death, the media war, the people left without salaries, the desperation, the Israeli pleasure at our situation, I could go on for ever, I am just sick of it. I am actually dreading my trip back to Ramallah in late July.

I will post again when I am in slight better state of mind.

Qais

Democracy but no democrats!

2006-06-07T02:56:00.000-07:00

One of the sayings of Azmi Bishara that stuck with me (I am not a Bishara fan usually) is that you cannot create a true democracy in the Arab World without democrats, i.e. a political class that believes in and practices democratic values, most importantly the concept that the power resides with the people.

That is especially true in Palestine today, with the simmering crisis over the referendum to be called by President Abbas, for the life of me I cannot understand how Hamas can explain their opposition to it. A party elected to government by the people should not fear consulting them about a major decision, especially when it can serve as a face-saving way to make a compromise that is anathema to the dogmatic bunch in Hamas leadership.

An absolute majority of the Palestinian people inside the West Bank and Gaza support a recognition of Israel within the Green line in return for a Palestinian in the whole of the West Bank and Gaza and a just solution to the refugee issue. A Palestinian in Tul Karem does not need much imagination to recognize that Israel exist, he can see it with his own eyes.
While the counter argument that the Palestinians outside Palestine are the majority and they should have a vote is valid as well, the politics of dispossession inside the camps and the realities of the 'host" states makes consulting the whole population impossible, besides, the people under the occupation are for better or worse, the last standing presence on historical Palestine, and hence, they are its custodian, almost by default.

Mahomud Darwish once commented on the difference between "Al-haq" what is right, and "Al-haqiqa" the reality, the reality is, through a great historical inequity, our land was taken from us unjustly, but in order for us to continue to exist as a nation, we must recognize the current realities, and realize that Israel cannot be "wiped off the map", once we do that, we have a frame of reference of a compromise with our "neighbors". This does not imply that we have accepted their historical right to what is our land, but we have accepted the fact that they are there right now, and we have to live next to them, rather than to die under their fire.

In this light, the Hamas dogmatic stance stands hollow, they refuse to acknowledge the majority acceptance of the realities, and are fiercely against a referendum that will formalize the public will and turn it into a de facto national policy. They cannot claim public mandate without listening to the people.

I am afraid that this argument will be settled with guns rather than by compromise, which is why the referendum is a good idea, and that is exactly what scares Hamas.

One thing that you can say about Palestine is that there are never dull moments.

Back from the (near) dead!

2006-06-03T05:22:00.000-07:00

I am finally back to posting after a hiatus of almost two months, as I fell sick and my new job has taken all the time I could spare, so all my energies were focused on that.

A lot has happened in the past two months, a family member got engaged, to be married very soon, so I have to travel home for the ceremony, some friends are leaving the country, others settling here. An uncle of mine came here with the intention of setting up shop in the UAE and leaving his business in Palestine, a very depressing thought.

I also got to go and see Chicago the Musical, which was swell, it was refreshing to see this amusing tale of notoriety and infidelity displayed in all its "glory", fishnets and all.

Yesterday I made the mistake of going to see the Da Vinci Code, I should listen to critics more, as I will never get those two hours plus back, all I can say that it was a one dimentional performance, shame.

I am back to my posting schedule, so I will be posting again by the middle of the week.

Peace

Predictions of my demise are a tad premature!

2006-05-21T02:25:00.000-07:00

For all my loyal readers (all 3 of them), any reports of my sudden death by chronic respiratory failure are a little bit premature, I have been extremely sick for the past 30 days, it started with flu and developed to acute bronchitis, I had to work seven days a week during this period which did not help my health, but I have started the road to recovery and I hope to be better by next week.

I hope that once my health recovers a little bit more I will be back back to posting 2-3 times a week, as I still have a lot to say about white shoes.

The travelling flu show!

2006-04-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

For the last 72 hours, I've been a victim of a severe bout of flu, I've tried to brave my way out of the first 36 hours with no medication, and you guessed it, it got way worse, with burning fever.
Yesterday I gave in and went and got my self several off-the shelf flu medications, which have made life a little more bearable, but only suppressed the symptoms, lets see how it goes.

To make things even more interesting, I have to make a two-day business trip to recruit senior staff, and I have to leave on very early morning flight and return on a red-eye. I cannot cop out of this trip because I am the organizer and the interviewer, so I have to grit my teeth and bear it.

Did I mention that I cannot have any drinks during the whole period of medication, not amusing!

Robbie Williams in Dubai

2006-04-22T04:51:00.000-07:00

Last night I went with a couple friends to the much hyped Robbie Williams concert in Ned Al-Shiba race grounds in Dubai, and beside the nightmare of parking in a swamp by mistake (really) and trying to get my tiny New Beetle unstuck from the shifting mud, the concert was a breath of fresh air.

I have never bought an album by Robbie, but I don't dislike his music either, it is a bit of fluffy anthems and occasionally inspired songs. Where Robbie excels, is showmanship, and in that department, he was in top form last night.

Robbie danced, posed, and managed to insult and mimic a dozen singers, all while entertaining the 25,000 people nonstop. His Sexy Camel pose was a crowd favorite and his barb against JLo was hilarious.

The Crowd: Down in the trenches, it was an odd mixture of people, noticeable though, was the obnoxious attitude of the relocated cream of the council estates. The sheer rudeness of some people never cease to amaze me. A particular pikey yob had the nerve to yell "yella, move from here", well, I must congratulate you for your linguistic achievements, you came all the way from Hull to learn the equivalent of Oi! Despite the chavs being in force, we managed to enjoy the concert and badly accompany the man in singing the crowd pleasers of Feel, Mellinuim, and Angels.

Final verdic: a truimph, but with this kind of crowd, I will go for seated tickets next time.

The comfort of strangers

2006-04-21T23:29:00.000-07:00

One of the artist I've been following quite avidly over the last 4-5 years has been Beth Orton, her vocals are amazing, heartbreaking and trance inducing at the same time. She is also a first rate songwriter and musician. So I had quite a lot of expectation for her new album"The Comfort of Strangers", especially when her previous one, "Daybreaker" broke new grounds for me. All reviewers emphasized that this was the milestone 10th year album, and compared it with such gems as "Blood on the tracks"

At first I found it very hard to judge the album, while I've read the reviews that described it as minimalist effort, I was not really prepared to the extent of it. The album is recorded in Analog, with no more than three instruments, and with Beth playing most of them.

The first impression is that it was too folksy and too self-indulgent, if you know Beth's vocal you will appreciate how hard is it to exactly make out the words, but after several listening, the flowers blossomed so to speak. The obvious truth shone, that Beth does not need a horde of musicians and mixing to make her mark, she is an accomplished artist and she can carry a whole album with only her vocals. The album is a gem, songs such as "Worms" and "Absinthe" brought tears to my eyes with their disarmingly simple premise and their heavy subtext, the title track "Comfort of Strangers" is the most approachable track for non-Beth fanatics.

I still missed the hinge of electronica that gave Beth her "Queen of comedown" moniker, but her courage and absolute integrity in doing this album really touched me. Now I have to make do with yet another favorite Beth Orton Album.

NY Times article on Arab democracy

2006-04-10T14:39:00.000-07:00

No comment really. No suprise either.
Article is here

Quick comment on Israeli elections.

2006-03-29T03:55:00.000-08:00

It is very interesting to note the surprising victory of the Pensioners party, a single issue party that was formed less than 45 days before the elections.

The party has only one declared position, that of giving every Israeli citizen a pension. It has declared no position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its leader is an enigmatic ex-spy who was protege of Sharon.

Appearantly, the party only came to the attention of the public two weeks ago when it ran ads encouraging people to vote for them as the equivelent of putting in a white slip.

So much for advanced democracies.

Very sad week

2006-03-17T23:23:00.000-08:00

This week has been devastating for me, my mentor, ex-boss, and very good friend Faisal has passed away unexpectedly on Wed. Morning, all of us were in state of shock, and I don't think it has sunk in yet.
I traveled to Jordan with friends and Faisal's family to say goodbye to him, and it was very very sad.
Things were compounded by hearing that a close family friend that I call uncle, is in critical condition in the hospital in Jordan after an emergency surgery to remove a tumor that was just discovered in advanced stage. I could not get to see him unfortunately, but I was thinking about him and his family the whole time.

I came back to Dubai early this morning, at 10:30 am today, my parents called to say that my grandmother has just passed away in the West Bank.

I just want this week to end.

Just Back from Qatar

2006-03-14T21:58:00.000-08:00

I had to fly to Doha, Qatar for a short business trip, and while I don't enjoy the travel very much (had to wake before 5 am to catch the plane), it was nice to see different scenery. A part of the different scenery was nearly missing the plane because a huge convoy of over 100 US military (Army) vehicles was passing from the port to the bases, and of course the domestic civilian traffic has to be held until all the troops has passed.

I have never in my life seen anything like this, that must have been a full battalion with their complete gear, Tanks, APCs, Bradley fighting vehicles, supply trucks, C&C Humvees, the whole load, I was tempted to take pictures but did not want to risk arrest. It was obvious that these troops have just arrived from the US or Europe, looking fresh and the armor was all new and shiny.

A lot of things happened while I was away, the UAE market fast-forwarded its meltdown (ouch!), the Israeli election campaign started with a show of force and Palestinian blood being spilled (and further humiliation to the Palestinian Authority), the death of the Tyrant of Belgrade, and several other things worthy of notice. I promise to provide my usual irritating commentary of those items once I recover a bit.

It feels good to be back (home).

Excellent op-ed!

2006-03-11T23:54:00.000-08:00

I can only say that I totally agree.
This is a link to the Op-Ed in the NYT.

An Arab heroine!

2006-03-11T03:03:00.000-08:00

When things get too dark that you lose the tiny bit of hope that you harbor about Arab society, voice of reason and modernity come out, defying the fear barrier, declaring to all, that being Arab and Muslim is not interchangeable and that the image of monolithic society is a mirage, and that there are many secular Arabs who refuse to be hushed by the oppressive force of the organized (and televised) religion and conformist pressure..

Dr. Wafa Sultan is a heroine of mine, I just wish that there are many Wafa Sultans in the Arab World, enough to remove the veil of ignorance.

This is a link to her profile by the New York Times.

Make a quilt out of these thoughts!

2006-03-10T03:35:00.000-08:00

Wakeup call: A serious blow to ego and confidence gives a new lease on life, with clearer goals and less illusions, focus and purpose is restored.

Reunion: A homage trip to the East provide many moments of clarity, with few epiphanies thrown in for good measure. Domo Arrigato Gozaimashta Hakkai-san.

Defensive morons: I hate it when people think that any body criticizing his society is only concerned with his image in the west, rather than how the society is looking to him/her. There is a clear possibility that I actually care about this society's direction!

Haunting Past: I hate it when more than a year later, "moving on" is a daily struggle, even when others came and went.

Age: Yet another birthday passed, with more candles than I care to count, surprisingly, I feel fine, with no rush or urgency or any ticking biological clock.

Human weaknesses: This goddamned body lets me down every once in a while, and is less and les tolerant of the abuses I heap upon it. I cannot wait for the first bionic shop to open.

Calling: A thing to ponder on, am I destined to roam the business world, or should I walk away to write or create, in relative poverty, but possibly happier?

Home: Is becoming more and more a hypothetical place, even when I am paying for an apartment (at home) that I have no intention to ever live in. Maybe Mahmood Darwish was wrong for me, and my home(land) is my suitcase, and I am a traveller.

Senses: It is amazing how sensory signal reignite memories, the smell of fresh towels, a sip of purple Shiraz, the sound of hissing wind, all have attachments to certain people and places that flood back uninvited.

A post about not posting!

2006-03-05T21:16:00.000-08:00

As my regular readers (all 3 of them) have noticed, I have been slow to post lately, taking an average of 10 days between posts.
This forced scaling down of my blogging schedule is the result of two things, a new job which is proving very challenging, and a recurrence of a medical condition that has impacted me badly once again.

As I deal with these twin challenges, I am sure I will find my rhythm again and get back to posting 3-4 times a week.

For the mean time, you just have to bear with me!

Very interesting article

2006-02-26T22:27:00.000-08:00

I recommend the story in NY Times magazine about how the former mouthpiece of the Taliban is attending undergraduate college at none other than Yale University. Here is a link to the story

Late night rambling

2006-02-25T11:20:00.000-08:00

Everyday I wake up in this region, my region, I am still amazed how the tangled web of craziness, brilliance, fanaticism, ignorance, brutality and grace weaves itself around us.

Lots of times I wonder why am I still here, I like my culture, yet despise our “reality”, I had many opportunity to set sail, yet always my anchor pulls my back. This accursed attraction to what I define as my land, the one that mistreat me, and yet, like an abused child, I cling to the memories of a happy childhood that never was.

A lot of that is a question of timing, I was born in the seventies and became aware in 80s. The fire of the second Arab renaissance was waning already, Marx has failed to predict “historical certainty” with regard to Arab society. Arab nationalism became a whip in the hand of military tyrants. The wars of 67 and 73 has destroyed the “progressive” appeal of the left, the madness of the Lebanese civil war and the Arab impotence with regard to 82 invasion has sealed the deal.

I am not going to run amok with history, but my region grew darker and darker, all the “gains” of the 50s and 60s were erased, many will argue that we are at Europe pre-reformation level, a quite depressing thought.

Which bring us to now, I stand here, a very “westernized” Arab, wondering if I belong here anymore. I wake up to hear about mosques being blown up and reprisal killings, about journalists being executed, about death cultists who wanted to blow an oil facility. In my land everything changes but the pattern persist, new government in Palestine, 5 dead from an Israeli “incursion”, people making money of booming stock & property markets, while thousands of poor workers drown out of sheer negligence.

The craziness of my region even afflicts the outsiders, who promote democracy while practicing torture, who promote free trade, unless Arabs want to by their ports. They demand stable oil supplies while declaring their intent to reduce their consumption by 75%.

It saddens me to see “my people” angry, misinformed and only roused to vent intolerance. I die inside when I hear young educated people repeat ludicrous conspiracy theories. I hurt when I hear xenophobic and anti-Semitic speech. I don’t like most Israelis, but I cannot blame everything that is wrong with my world on a “Jewish conspiracy”.

So I sit and fume at TV, switching between incendiary (and heavily editorialized) news coverage and mindless entertainment, as if the only two choice are to be angered and roused or brainwashed by Nancy Ajram clones. I read the written media, regional and international, search for conciseness, and I find plenty of it, and yet we are stuck here, on roadside, getting more insular and misunderstood. Believing only in our victimhood and that our only salvation is something to be delivered from above.

I am a stranger in my land, at exile in my home, chained by my identity to a destiny that isn’t mine, and yet I don’t leave. As a son of an olive growing family, I believe in deep roots, and I dream of the sunrise that will open eyes and mind, of my people becoming aware, of themselves and the world. I guess the hope keeps me here and mobile, like my nomad ancestors, between the corners of my region, retracing Alexander the great, dreaming of Gilgamesh and precious indigo, and ships and many songs and books and happy lives, of Baghdad before Hulako, of fishing boats in Acre, of rich harvest and clean streets, of horses that know the road home, and of people who smile at strangers.

As with all romances, reality is harsh antidote, the magic that was, simply was. I get restless, I start researching house prices in Sydney, Cape Town, Vancouver, and New Canaan, Connecticut. I enquire about shipping rate for my precious books, I weigh paying off the car loan. Then I somehow get sucked into a typical maelstrom, and things slip, and I smell home while passing a neighbor’s door, I hear my area accent and I turn my head, I play with friends children and I am overjoyed. I call home and bitch about my latest pet peeves.

This cycle apparently has no end, despair is not an option, neither is dilution of identity. Truthfully though, my identity has less and less to do with my region and more to do with me.

Back to square minus one.

The road to hell is paved with best intentions or is it worst intentions.

2006-02-20T10:16:00.000-08:00

I just finished another important book, The Assassins Gate: America in Iraq by George Packer. This book is quite eye-opening, it traces the beginning of the Iraq war to its ideological birth in the neoconservative camp, and also in the Iraqi exile community.

While the role of Wolfowitz et al is quite well documented, the idealistic Iraqi exiles (to distinguish them from opportunists, Iranian stooges and ex-Baathists) has been sort of overlooked, and the author highlights that.

After reviewing the stirrings that led to the war, the author offers a very objective view of the mistakes that America has committed in Iraq since the fall of the Saddam regime. The Author himself is not anti-Iraq war, and as a New York Times and The New Yorker correspondent, he kept going to Iraq, spending his time outside the "Green Zone"

The book recounts a very sad story, on how the "perpetrators" of the war in the Pentagon wanted to just depose Saddam, impose Ahmad Chalaby, and then leave within 90 days. The refused to plan for the aftermath of the war, and were ideologically opposed to "nation building", this intentional failure of planning, led to many missed opportunities for the US and led to many calamities that mainly afflicted the poor Iraqi people.

The author document how inept the American CPA (Coalition Provincial Authority) was and how removed from the Iraqi population and the situation on the street. How the untrained US army and basic failure to deliver security wasted all the goodwill that came with "liberation". Also how the American rash moves have turned an entire community of Iraqis (Sunnis) into losers, and how that strengthened the hand of extremists and old regime supporters.

The story goes on, with extensive details and impressive reporting, with stories of Iraqis from all walks of life and of Americans in the middle of the quagmire (my description, not the author's), the big conclusion you get out of the book is, while the US will go home in a few years and study the 'lessons of Iraq", it is the Iraqis will suffer for ages from the Americans' mistake, many of them committed by incompetence rather by malice, and often with the best intentions.

While I do not agree with the author on that point, I highly recommend the book, it gives a lot of insight into the inner works of the US government and its internal battles. It also documents from an American view the first 2 years of occupation, and its many mistakes.

This is a link to the book on Amazon.

Book Review: Confessions of an economic hit man by John Perkins

2006-02-10T10:07:00.000-08:00

Those who know me best know that I despise conspiracy theory as an explanation of history, especially in our region. Unfortunately for me and my presumable solid logic, for the last couple of years, more and more revelations of plots and conspiracies have seriously undermined my argument, this book is a case in point.

The book is a an autobiography and/or expose of what the author refer to as EHT, an economic hit man. That refers to high ranking consultants and business executive in the US who deal with developing countries, often in collusion with the US intelligence community and international financial institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF and so on. The author refers to this "Cabal" as the Corporatocracy.

The author start his story by telling how he was interviewed by the NSA (the biggest US intelligence agency), then was approached by an international consulting organization based on the agency recommendation. Upon joining, he is put through an induction process that rival James Bond training, he is told that he will be an economic hit man. That means that he will travel to "Third World Countries" on behest of the World Bank et al, and basically convince the developing countries to ask for huge loans that they can never repay in order to build huge (and far exceeding need) infrastructure projects to be built by American firms that will send all of the money home to the US. When the countries understandably default of the debt, they become under the thumb of the corporatocracy and more importantly, politically in the US pocket.

The Author then recounts his first assignment in Indonesia, where he was tasked to estimate the country's need of electric power. He was pushed by superiors into grossly overestimating the growth in consumption to justify bigger loans and thus bigger bounty for US construction and power companies. When a senior expert refuses to toe the line, he is fired and replaced by the author, who despite misgivings, deliver what is expected of him. As reward, he is given a promotion and the title Chief Economist, even when he obviously does not have the qualifications.

This story repeated in many countries, and the result is always similar, the population suffer, while the multinational corporations and the local elites make billions. It is quite depressing to read how the "fruits of modernity" never reaches the average citizen in the developing world even when they are burdened by the debt assumed in their name.

A notable mention is the author dealing with Saudi Arabia, which he refers to as the Saudi Money Laundering Affair, if this is true, it tells alot about the problems Saudi Arabia faces today. The Author recounts how the Saudi government has agreed after the Oil Shocks to use the majority of its petrodollars to purchase US treasury bonds. The US treasury will then use the interest on these bonds to execute mega projects in the Kingdom, all by US companies and designed by the corporatocracy. Projects were designed with the interest of the US companies in mind, not the Saudi citizens!

In short, the book is eye opening, and in a way explains why the rich stay rich in this world, mainly because they make the rules of the game and it is extremely in their favour. Whatever you think of the author, most of his arguments and statements are backed up by facts, and it tells a depressing story, it also explain why some developing countries (especially in Latin America) are rejecting to be in this system anymore, and more frequently, they are rejecting American style democracy that came with loans and promises of development.

I greatly encourage you to read this book, this a link to the book on Amazon

2006-02-07T05:58:00.000-08:00

Water fountain- Kyoto

2006-02-07T05:57:00.001-08:00

Famed Gion area- Kyoto

2006-02-07T05:57:00.000-08:00

A crane in a river in central Kyoto

2006-02-07T05:56:00.001-08:00

Heian Shrine- Kyoto

2006-02-07T05:56:00.000-08:00

Traditional house in Gion- Kyoto

2006-02-07T05:55:00.001-08:00

Shrine in Gion- Kyoto

2006-02-07T05:55:00.000-08:00

Traditional street- Kyoto

2006-02-07T05:54:00.000-08:00

Zen Garden- Kyoto

2006-02-07T05:53:00.000-08:00

Roppongi Hills (Video projection on Metro Hat)- Tokyo

2006-02-07T05:52:00.001-08:00

Temple Moat- Kyoto

2006-02-07T05:52:00.000-08:00

Roppongi Hills Mori Tower- Tokyo

2006-02-07T05:50:00.000-08:00

Roppongi Hills Building - Tokyo

2006-02-07T05:49:00.000-08:00

Roppongi Hills Office Building- Tokyo

2006-02-07T05:48:00.000-08:00

Bike parking lot in Kyoto

2006-02-07T05:47:00.000-08:00

Roppongi Hills Metro Hat

Back in Dubai!

2006-02-07T03:50:00.000-08:00

I am home! Yes, Dubai became home for me, in a real sense, and homecoming was sweet, even after a long vacation.

I spent 20 days away, half in Japan, half in Malaysia, and it was incredible fun, it makes me wonder what made me neglect Asia for 9 years and and stick to Europe and North America, Asia is amazing, I witnessed Chinese New Year celebrations, which was swell.

This is a short post, I will post again tomorrow with pictures and some commentary and book reviews on the 9 (yes 9!) books I read while away.

Exporting our intolerance and censorship to Europe!

2006-02-01T20:03:00.000-08:00

Although I am on vacation and away from the region, I just cannot keep my mouth (and keyboard) shut about the Danish Cartoons fiasco.

First of all, I am against offending people for offense sake, but for anybody who lived in the West (especially western Europe), freedom of expression is sacrosanct, not religion and prophets and texts, freedom is sacrosanct.

This freedom did not come easily, the Vatican (and to a lesser extent other churches) was a dominating presence that strangles any questioning of its dogmatic view. Newspapers had to battle this influence and many people went to jail for the offense of mocking a cardinal, a pope, and occasionally Christ!

As the values of democracy and human rights became the de facto religion of Europe, religious texts, figures, and practices came into a multitude of criticism, and that at times took the form of mockery, no religion suffered this as much as the local dominant one, Christianity, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Disciples, Apostles, and so on were mocked non-stop. The cross, the ultimate Christian religious symbol became a fashion statement devoid of any significance.

The church tried to fight all of these trends, but the civil society won, and rightly so, to censor the freedom of expression in the name of respecting religious sensitivity was deemed unacceptable, Christ simply has to turn the other cheek, so to speak.

That brings us to the Danish Cartoons, I was disgusted by the Arab reaction, not because it rejected the cartoons, which is a right, but how it was non-discriminating, and ignorant in the way it expected the state (Denmark) to control it media the way they do in the Arab World.

In the Arab World eyes, each Dane (and later Scandinavian) became responsible. Not only we don't understand the other, we project our own (rather ugly) image on it -the way a journalist is jailed for critiquing another Arab leader for example-.

The Western world is expected to censor itself when it comes to our values and beliefs, how ridiculous! If the Danish Prime Minister is unable to stop the newspaper mocking Jesus, he should not be able stop that being done to Prophet Mohammed, just because we are offended!

I think that the Arab World should take a serious look at itself before start criticizing others for intolerance, our textbooks and media is full of extremely xenophobic and religiously intolerant speech, and the answer is not in censoring the West, it is in opening up freedoms at home.

My point simply, is that we Arabs are always choosing to be more emotional than rational, and in the case there was a failure to distinguish what is in poor taste from a Western attack on Islam, prudence people!

From Kuala Lumpur

2006-01-28T19:47:00.000-08:00

Early yesterday morning, I left the lovely (but cold) Kyoto, took a fast train to Kansai International Airport, and took a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I arrived here in early evening, and the change is absolutely dramatic.

For once, the city is all red, since I came in the middle of the Chinese New Year celebration (Year of the Dog, woof woof), and the place is a real festive mood teaming with tourists (both internal and foreign), I am staying a stone throw away from the petronas towers, which I am writing this post from, these are magnificent buildings, and at night, absolutely jaw dropping.

I will keep this post short, and I know that you got tired of my travelouge and would rather read my abnoxious commentary on current events and an expanded catalouge of my pet peeves, so I leave you in peace, and this will be my last post until I am back in Dubai.

Hamas in Power !

2006-01-26T05:57:00.000-08:00

First of all, it must be said, the choice of the people must be respected, regardless of if we like it or not, Hamas has appearantly won a democratic election, we have no choice but to acknowledge the people's vote.

Second, I am sad today, in my tiny hotel room in Kyoto, not because Fatah lost, they deserve to, but because in protest at Fatah corruption and mismanagement, the Palestinian people (in West Bank and Gaza only, the majority of Palestinians did not get to vote as they are refugees outside of Palestine) chose a faction with very narrow minded ideological (even dogmatic) direction, and socially (and probably politically), this is a step backward, not forward.

I don't claim to represent the majority of Palestinians (the vote today clearly shown that), but I am really concerned about further conservative shift in the Palestinian society, which will make us more insular, less accepting, more fearful of the outside world and its influences. Unfortunately, if the clamp down on individual freedoms that I see coming does happen, most of the people who could pick up and leave will simply do that, rather than to stand up to it. On that count, I don't think that Hamas actually has a majority, but that no longer matters.

I hope that I am wrong on this, but this event has finally solved dilemma for me, when I get back to Dubai, I will start the application process for immigration, which I long resisted. I have no tolerance of ever living under a theological regime ala Iran, even if it was made of my own people. Pitty the people who don't have that choice.

From Kyoto!

2006-01-23T23:34:00.000-08:00

I just arrived in Kyoto, checked into my hotel, and was pleasantly surprised to find a free 100Mbps ADSL in the room, what a relief!

As you can see I managed to post some pictures of my first 3 days in Japan, covering parts of Tokyo I posted about earlier.

Last Sunday, Jan. 22nd was my birthday, I went on nice walks in Tokyo, then treated myself to dinner with a friend from the top of the Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills, I think it is the world 6th tallest building, and the 52nd floor is an observatory called Tokyo City View, offering a 360 degree view of Greater Tokyo, it was amazing, the only problem is my usually trusty Nikon was not up to the task of photographing from behind glass, so the pics came out, lets say, artistic!

Yesterday I went on another kind of pilgrimage, I traveled to Urasa, Niigata Prefecture, to visit my Alma Mater, I gave a talk (attended by 15) to current students about how to develop their career and how to equip themselves for outside world.
As my luck will have it, I arrived and left in a middle of snow blizzard of epic proportions, there is more than 4 meters of snow in the ground, street needed to be dug out every 30 minutes!
That did not stop me going out to dinner with one of my mentors, and we had long discussion and that alone was worth the trip.

I woke up early this morning, took the shinkansen (bullet train) 350 KM back to Tokyo, and then took another shinkansen for a further 550 KM south to Kyoto, the old capital of Japan, the combined trip took 3 hours and a half, I love fast trains, but again, mishaps happen, I fell asleep for only 10 minutes after we left, and I missed seeing mount Fuji!! the train is so fast that landscape really rush by you.

I will take it slow today, and post new pictures hopefully tomorrow.

2006-01-23T23:33:00.000-08:00

Yasukuni Shrine

2006-01-23T23:32:00.000-08:00

The (dark) walk to Yasukuni shrine, center of the current contervorsy

2006-01-23T23:31:00.000-08:00

Imperial Palace Plaza

2006-01-23T23:29:00.001-08:00

Tokyo Metropolitan government buildings

2006-01-23T23:29:00.000-08:00

A bit of more modern buildings!

2006-01-23T23:28:00.000-08:00

A view from the top of Tokyo

2006-01-23T23:26:00.001-08:00

Roof at Meiji-Jingu

2006-01-23T23:26:00.000-08:00

Meiji-Jingu Shrine

2006-01-23T23:25:00.000-08:00

Torji at Meihi-Jingu Shrine

Quick post from snowy Tokyo!

2006-01-20T20:16:00.000-08:00

It is snowing heavily in Tokyo, while Tokyo is usually very cold in the winter (Same average tempeture as Stockholm), snow is quite unusual.

My laptop is refusing to work from the same freespot that I used earlier, so I am using am internet cafe until I remedies the situation. That also means that pictures have to wait, I spent over an hour handling the pics to make them blog ready, and that have to be frozen for now.

On thursday night, I went out in Roppongi, and I had a very wild time, but it took me 36 hours to recover, and my bank account might never do. :-(

Friday, I went to pay a visit to the Imperial Palace, and the close-by Yaskuni Shrine, the center of controversy between Japan and neighboring countries, because the shrine is dedicated to all Japanese war dead, including the convicted war criminals.

Friday night I met an old friend, Kiyomi (Kim to her friends) and her 9 months old baby, I visited her apartment (much bigger than mine in Dubai) and we went on an increasingly desperate quest to find a Japanese restaurant with vacant table on friday night. After 13 trials, we struck gold in the 14th place, a traditional Japanese Izakaya, the food and the drink was marvellous. After a wondeful catching up session and a great meal, it was time to go back. For about 10 seconds I considered going out again, but the cooler bald head prevailed.

Tonight I am meeting another old friend and we are going out together later, I think I have the energy for another bender!

I will try to find a way to post the pics very soon.

In Tokyo!

2006-01-19T00:24:00.000-08:00

I am finally here!

After an 18 hours journey, I had to really sleep off the jet lag, and it took 11 hours of sleep to do that.

Japan took me with open arms, and I reverted to behaving like a resident, my limited vocabulary flooded back, I asked for directions in Japanese and understood the answers (at least the important part of them)!

Tokyo is as seductive as ever, I did my obligatory pilgrimage to Meji-Jingo, one of the most beautiful Shinto shrines in Japan, located in the heart of Harajuku, spilled the water, clapped my hands and wished a wish. The feeling of peace was unbelievable while walking the long wooded path.

Went to Shinjuku, and to my favourite garden on the roof of Tokyo, located at the roof of Takashimaya Town Square Department Store, and saw the skyline again, it is little changed, but still as stunning. Took loads of pictures.

Walked to Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices, the twin futuristic building, and I had a totaly different appreciation for them 10 years after I first saw them. Thank you Ahmad for teaching me how to appreciate modern architecture!

Now I am sitting of all places in a Seattle’s Best Coffee outlet (Free Hotspot!) in the amazing Roppongi Hill complex. I just cannot describe how post-modern this edifice is, pics will have to tell the story!

I will post again in 2 days with pictures!

Sayonara

Back to blissful exile of yesteryear!

2006-01-15T22:51:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow’s night I am getting on a flight to go to Japan, the country that “took me in” 11 years ago, and I enjoyed that hospitality for more than 2 years. It has been almost 9 years since I was there last, and I am really looking forward to the experience of re-acquaintance.

I have to say that the Japan experience changed me in many ways, as Arabs and Middle Eastern, we are very Eurocentric by instinct, our perception of the world is colored equally by our own culture and by the Western influence that came through geographic proximity, trade and cultural (and sometimes military) interactions, and finally the legacy of European colonialism.

To live in East Asia in general and in Japan in particular is challenge the core schools of thought, paradigms, and norms of behavior that was programmed into us by western-influenced education.

The shocking difference begins with how foreign the place is, almost nobody speak English, the streets layouts is maddening, there are no recognized brands in the supermarket, the restaurant does not have forks or knifes for you to use. Then it goes deeper, the map is the world has Asia in the middle, work-based groups are more important than individual, decision making has different routes, perception of the world and our place in it is markedly different.

I could write pages on how many differences people encounter in Japan, the real eye opener for me, is to see how Japanese have two very peculiar characteristics; first, they collect the best of the world and then make it Japanese in a way that you will doubt that it was not invented there. The other trait is, Japanese have amazing ability to peacefully combine what you will consider to be diametrically opposed values. In Japan, you could be Buddhist, Shinto, Christian and any other religion at the same time.

The last 10 years have not been easy on Japan, with the economy mired in a slump, in typical Japanese fashion, adversity led to a wave of reinvention and creativity that has just started to blossom, like the famous Japanese Sakura or Hana, after a long bitter winter.

In this context I flying back to Yamato land, I missed it like a lovelorn lover, I am looking forward to our amorous embrace, I the returning gaijin, and the reborn land of eternal rising sun. I am looking forward to rush hour on the subway, the greeters at the department stores, to alcohol vending machines on the sidewalk, to ramen, to the hot Onsen bath, to the all sights of beauty, craziness, and post-industrial chaos.

I will hopefully post couple of entries from Tokyo, Yamato machi, and Kyoto, and hopefully pictures as well.

Confessions of an Eid hater!

2006-01-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

I never really liked the Eid, while it implied couple of days off and the chance to go out and have some fun, the societal obligation that came bundled with that made the two Eids two holidays to loath for me.

Even as a kid, I was rather ambivalent about it, while it meant acquiring a new set of cloths (the obligatory Eid costume), and a feast of food and sweets to last a century, the constant flood of people coming in to greet and the obligatory return visit ruined the chance of the family spending a quiet quality time together.

Then there are our own family Eid’s tradition, the 6 am visit to the martyrs cemetery on the first day, the constant traveling (for hours) to visit rather unpleasant relatives that we avoid like the plague for the rest of the year. Even collecting the small change that kids get (Eidieh) was not really big thing for me (and my mom usually confiscated that later anyway!)

I know that many people find the chance to reconnect with the relatives and the extended family pleasant reminder of belonging to a bigger entity than you small nuclear family, and I agree if it happens in small doses, and if you actually get a chance to have a meaningful conversation with anybody. Regretfully, at Eid, you only get the downside, there are far too many people around and the visits are usually quite short, so people travel vast distances to come drink their coffee, eat their sweet and then move on to the next chore! Absolute madness!

One of the reasons of me “turning against” the Eid is that I have a large extended family, which means that you waste the three days of Eid in order to be able to visit everyone. I mean really large extended family, I have 11 uncles and aunts on my mother’s side, and 7 on my father’s side, I do have a grand total of over 107 first cousins. Just imagine that when we visit my grandmothers on the Eid, there are usually over 20 children running amok at the same time, it drive me nuts.

I know that I am not alone, a growing wave of people in my age group (early 30s) are deciding each year that they’d rather travel abroad than face all the obligations of the Eid. I am an extreme case only in the sense in that I wear my Eid loathing on my sleeve.

Living here in Dubai, the Eid for me is just another Friday, a time to disconnect and spend time at home reading or watching TV, I make couple of phone calls, but that is about it, I totally relax and let my hair down (this is an inside joke!)

Now that I stated my manifesto against the Eid, I must admit that I miss the date Mamoul that my mom, aunts, and grandmother are so good at, but I think that the sacrifice is worth it.!

On self-hate and mortality!

2006-01-05T22:50:00.000-08:00

It has been quite frustrating and depressing to be Palestinian these days, the scenes of anarchy and absolute chaos on TV is revolting, screaming out to the whole world “these people are not worthy of independence”, sitting here in Dubai, I can only fume and occasionally call home and scream at my poor dad, who is part of the political establishment.

I was at friend’s place yesterday, and he was sick with anger at what transpired 2 days ago in Rafah, where the Fatah gangs (under one of there multiple and interchangeable names) took over the crossing into Egypt, and then breached the barrier into Egypt, and were firing on Egyptian security (they killed 2 of them!). All of that was done to force the Palestinian Authority to release a lowlife who was responsible for kidnapping the three UK pro-Palestinian activists. The blackmail worked, he was released yesterday!

I am almost speechless, what kind of mockery is this? we are going into parliamentary elections in scene rivaling Liberia, absolute absence of any security, and in Gaza at least, we only have ourselves to blame. Nobody will be surprised when Hamas wins the elections. As secular man, I dread that outcome, but I cannot be democratic in name only, if the people choose them, then they deserve to rule, nobody expect them to do any worse than this.

To a related subject, Sharon’s medical condition, I never cared for the man, but there is no reason to be happy that he is finished. The situation will get even more complicated, if our Palestinian house was in order and we don’t interfere in the Israel elections (via suicide attacks), then the Israelis might choose “pro-peace” government that we can negotiate with and reach a long-due settlement. However, with our internal chaos and the idiotic rockets telling Israelis that even if they leave us alone, we won’t, I am not optimistic. Again, I am not very proud of being a Palestinian right now.

Also on mortality, the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Maktoum passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday, and the Ruler seat, along with the Premiership of the UAE, has passed to Sheikh Mohammed. The transition was seamless, the funeral very simple, all affairs were taken care of extremely efficiently. I can only admire that.

I was raised in a Marxist family with great disdain for royalty everywhere, yet, here in the UAE, and especially in Dubai, I am amazed by how high-quality the leadership is, Sheikh Mohammed & the family has been working relentlessly to make this place world class, his leadership not only ahead of his own people’s expectations, it is also ahead of the performance of any other leader in the Middle East, elected or not. If I had a vote and they have elections here, I will vote for Sheikh Mohammed without a doubt.

The reforms he instituted in the government sector, his relentless campaign to make Dubai even more attractive to investors, and the sure way in which he encourages UAE citizen to take leadership by working rather than talking are a testament that good governance pays off handsomely. It is not a surprise that Dubai has not seen any indigenous extremist organizations, the people are well led and well fed, when democracy comes, they will be more ready than most.

A peak inside my sick head!

2006-01-03T11:07:00.000-08:00

I am afflicted, unfortunately, by the misfortune that led to many mortal ends, this disease, this cross that I bear, my secret burden, is that my head sometimes gets swarmed with words and ideas so maddening that I feel forced to expunge it, to force it, by traumatic osmosis, into speech, paper, or computer screen lest my head explode and beside my definite demise, will lead to my heirs losing the apartment deposit because of all the mess on the wall. I used to call the times I have recurrence of my ailment, my “reflective” seizures, as they coincides with periods of extreme self introspection.

As for speech, I have learned, by the force of grave incidents, that speaking (or shouting) the hurricane winding through my head during these times is ill-advised. The audience invariably took it as the beer or the pill talking, or worse, me trying to impress them by speaking in tongues! Hence, unleashing the beast must be restrained in human company, and I resorted to cocooning myself during these times to avoid the inevitable conflagration.

Writing down the barrage which is disjointed words, streams of emotions, and bottomless anger and frustration that manifest itself in the melon above my shoulder was exit from the dark tunnel. I will write down thoughts, doodle indecipherable sketches and generally fill pages of worthless crap. The only problem for me, because of my horrid handwriting in both languages, that I could barely make sense of what I wrote later, I have no sense of glue that connected all of rivers of information.

During a long introspective period in the early 90s, I used to “write” almost daily, and after a while, I could mould the outcome of the “seizures” into something that hinges on the understandable. I worked this clay into a deformed form of poetry, which only grew with each bout, more and more flowed, it never really came out voluntarily, there was pain involved, lots unpolished thoughts, and extreme fatality, which greatly bothered me. Nevertheless, it was totally therapeutic, I felt great after “giving birth” to each new poem, and somehow, my medicine became my language!

By the mid 90s, my “seizures” decreased as my time filled up with work, and my dissatisfaction with my “poetry” greatly increased as I came acquainted with great poets such as William Blake, T.S Eliot, and Allen Ginsberg. For a while I published the disjointed poems online on Geocities under the title “Wings of Wax and Feather”, how very original! Of all the heroes and villains of mythology, I chose the hapless Icarus as my avatar, a testament to my self image as wayward son!

I will be lying to say I did not have “seizures” between 1997 (the date of last “poem”) and now, I had quite a few. I willed them away with alcohol, TV, or any other distraction, at certain times I did download the virus unto paper, but kept none of it post coitus. I somehow managed to cram the genie back in bottle most of the time. On times that it did escape, the chimera shifted shapes, instead of overly sentimental and self-focused mediocre poetry, rage filled articles and commentary came out! A few of those made it outside a small circle of friend (reminding me of the REM song), one of these “manifestations of the serpent” was an article widely published online and offline, read by over 500,000 sorry readers.

This bring me to why I am writing this quite lengthy post, lately, the demons have awakened, the fire that never quite died was fed somehow, and I have been trying to put it down. Unfortunately for you, my reader, this blog is becoming my outlet, the backroom where the monster is let loose, where some collateral damage is tolerated, and sometimes encouraged.
So the doors of the Colosseum are hereby opened!

Trippin!!

2005-12-29T02:23:00.000-08:00

I am in planning madness zone, as I decided to make the long-delayed trip to Asia, spending 20 days, 10 days in Japan (which will be bitterly cold) and then 10 days in the tropical paradise that is eastern Malaysia.

I know that I am being self indulgent and such a trip wipes out serious amount of savings, but it has been long 8 years away from Japan, and reading all the news about the economic revival and all the exciting things happening there made me determined to witness these events first hand.

I will be leaving town on January 17th, returning only on Feb. 6th, and my vacation continues until Feb. 14th. Yeah, you might as well go for broke!

King Kong!

2005-12-20T05:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know this is the second movie review in a row, I promise that this will not turn to an entertainment blog!

So, I saw King Kong, all 3 hours 15 minutes of it, and it delivers! Except for freakishly large insects scene, I enjoyed every second of it, it was OTT at times, but I went in with the expectation that it is a popcorn action movie, with no redeeming values, and I was not disappointed.

This will bring to an end my brief acreer as a movie critic, I will keep my impressions of Harry Potter to myself!

Seeing broken Flowers

2005-12-15T04:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was lucky enough to get a chance to see Broken Flowers, a flim by iconoclast director Jim Jarmusch, playing as part of the Dubai International Film Festival, the experience was absolutely worth staying up past the 23:30 start time of the film!

The film, starring Bill Murray, incorporates Jarmusch usual theme of a journey undertaken at a critical time in the subject life. Murray is such a great actor that he does not need lots of dialogue to express himself, his deadpan stare and expressionless face are absolutely priceless!

I highly recommend the film, it is a great antidote to the usual Hollywood fluff, and it is quite funny to boot!

Also, I want to note that I was really impressed by the organisation of the festival, and the cheap tickets encouraging people to attend world class cinema, well done people, I am sure that in the near future this will be an important festival on the world circuit, especially if they keep this level of organization and good films.

2005-12-11T06:44:00.000-08:00

TGI Friday has a cool view!

2005-12-11T06:42:00.000-08:00

Snowy trees

2005-12-11T06:41:00.000-08:00

The View from Below

Skiing in Dubai!

2005-12-11T06:21:00.000-08:00

Defying geography, upholding gravity, if not good taste! That sums up my repeated visits to Ski Dubai indoor skiing arena.

First on the place, all jokes aside, the place is fantastic, even with the misfortune of being attached to a shopping mall. The environment is as true to skiing environment as can be created indoors. I have been to an indoor skiing slope in Tokyo, and this looked and felt better.

On coldness: The place was a genuine -4 C cold, I felt it in my bones, coming from the pleasant 28 C outside is quite a shock. The snow looks and feels absolutely normal, and I could not discern any difference while skiing on it.

While I practiced skiing for two seasons while in Japan, the last time I did that was in Feb. 1997, quite a long time ago. While I was at best considered intermediate skier, while I dabbled on visits to Europe and the states, I never skied purposely after Japan. In the spirit of starting over, I took 2 skiing group lessons (beginner and Level 1) with a friend of mine. I am glad I did, because my form was horrific, I was always a kamikaze skier, but now you can add bulky to that.

It was fun to have the lessons again, and to be the best in class for a while, what was interesting, is the mix of people taking the lessons, especially interesting was the UAE local women, who looked normal in skiing attire, then transformed into national dress after the lesson, quite a transformation.

Massacre on the trading floor!

2005-11-29T11:36:00.000-08:00

The last couple of weeks has been brutal for the stock markets in the UAE. Yesterday (Nov. 28) alone, the Dubai market went down more than 3%, the cumulative losses to date approaches 15%, the correction is well underway, and the trend is continuing!

What is absolutely noteworthy, is how fearful and dejected everybody around is about the stock market slide. Taken with a pinch of salt, the markets still made stratospheric gains this year, and has pushed valuation to a ludicrous level, just imagine, I have heard CEOs saying "My company is not worth that much".

The main cause of this slide was not a sudden awakening and re-acquaintance with investing sense, it was a movement of liquidity (mainly from other GCC speculators) towards other opportunities. That showed how much the liquidity and the demand on instruments rather than underlying assets influences this market.

I think there are several deficiencies in this market that are making it more exposed to wild swings and boom and bust cycles.
First of all, around half of the shares listed in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi are nearly never traded, that makes the market a hostage to handful of wildly swinging stocks. I think that the authorities should make sure that listed securities are liquid through a specialist market maker system. For example, Mashreq bank is one of the stars of the banking sectors, but is almost never traded as most of its stock is closely held. I think that the investment community can be better served if guaranteed access to the leading stocks is assured.

Second, the physical setup, open cry and current broker system encourages speculators who place themselves on the floors and brokers who service them without any value added. A move toward complete electronic trading will force rationalization, will force brokers to invest in better staff, facilities and customer service, and will distance speculators for the rumour mongering at the DWTC as it is right now.

Third, I think that the disconnect between the Dubai and Abu Dhabi exchanges is not serving the market or the investors. While the historical reasons for the existence of the two exchanges are clear, their continued rivalry is illogical. If they both turn to electronic trading, a merger will make total sense without any loss of face. If that is not politically possible, I think that Dubai Financial Market should move most of its listing to DIFX, the rest to Abu Dhabi, and go to international level exchange in one swoop.

I can list 10 more shortcomings, but I think I made my point, it is wild west situation right now, and while we can all preach about fundamental analysis and core investment values, structural changes have to be made to make the market and thus the economy less prone to boom and bust cycles.

The earth did not move and I did not have cigaratte afterwards!

2005-11-27T04:57:00.001-08:00

I know that the title sounds like my typical Thursday night date, but bear with me a bit ….

Utter panic and pandemonium, hordes of frightened residents running in all direction, buildings shaking so hard that bird-flu infected dead pigeons are raining from the sky! Speed cameras flashing at stalled traffic catching Jumeira Janes in a bad hair day! Punters leaving 5 star restaurants in hotel towers without having to pay for the Lobster and the single malt whiskey!

It sounds fun, unfortunately, it did not happen in Dubai! There was a 5.9 earthquake in Bandar Abbas, Iran, over 140 KM away, we got a mild tremor here that barely registered, and everybody is blowing the whole f--ing thing way out of proportion. Radio is talking about people who will camp outside for the night (who should be thankful that they are not in Pakistani side of Kashmir), mass evacuations and people falling off chairs.

People, if you put down your crack pipe a little bit, you will discover that it was no big deal, yes, nature can affect Dubai, accept it, improve your taste in shoes, and move on!

On truimph and affliction

2005-11-26T00:22:00.000-08:00

The last week has been quite mad. I have been running around like a headless chicken trying to organize a launch for one of our company's projects.
At the same time, I have been suffering from medical condition that has impacted my quality of life in a serious manner.

The combination of the two was not very fortunate, as my condition worsened considerably due to stress and lack of sleep, and the people around me suffered from my mood. I hereby apologise to all of them, next time, learn to stay away you dimwits $#*&^%
As our launch took place last Tuesday, and it was a great success, and most of my work stress ended by Thursday morning, I was expecting a better week.

Alas, this optimism was mitigated by one unforeseen event. To pursue an important project, I was re-located temporarily to Sharjah, the armpit of civilization, bereft of that important lubricant of intelligent conversations, Alcohol! I have to endure this torturous decamping for 2-3 weeks, I am hating the commute already, even that it took 17 minutes today!

The big air show

2005-11-20T10:35:00.000-08:00

As residents of this over-developed plot of sand -which I grudgingly adore-, we became accustomed to the succession of exhibitions that graces this town, infusing more hype and commerce if that is possible!

However, even while aware of the enormous economic benefits of this, I cannot but bitch how such events has became complete nuisance to residents, especially me.

To me, a big event like the Dubai 2005, the Ninth International Aerospace Exhibition which starts today means endless traffic jams, extra security at hotel entrances, fully booked restaurants, and a million other things I would gladly do without. The exhibition becomes a ready excuse for all you suppliers and service providers, who could not deliver because of the show, I fail to see why the Air Show has caused a printer cartridge shortage! The word even has it that the infamous Cyclone ladies raise their prices by 30-50% during the such exhibitions, to the delight of local companions.

I know that all big and thriving cities have a bustling convention trade, I have been in the Jarvis Center, Hanover Expo, Tokyo Dome, etc, but no where was the effect so overwhelming on the city as I see here, maybe I notice this because I live around, but I think that until they get the infrastructure sorted out, Dubai authorities should take a couple of years breather from the damn convention business!

An Ode to the Dubaian tribes

2005-11-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

Dubai has been called many things, miracle, debacle, glitzy, sleazy, civilized, novae riche, ostentatious, ambitious, etc etc etc
Maybe Dubai is all of that and more, few scholarly work has addressed the glue that holds the city together: the Nass of Dubai, its inhabitants, the consummate nomadic tribes that are the resident population, national and foreign alike.
Like or not, these tribes, as disjointed and ghettoed as they are, still have some shared attributes that amazingly enough, creates a sense of belonging for whoever pass the Dubai test of the first 3-4 months. These attributes are a mix bag of melodies and maladies, fantastic calamities, optimism and dogma, togetherness and exclusion, and of the endless search for a better present, let alone the future.

Some of these attributes are:

Multiculturalism (and its discontents): One of the things that people cite about Dubai, is how ethnically and culturally diverse this place is. In a way, it is, and yet it is sort of fishbowl diversity, where experience is only skin deep. You meet many types of people, but you live and interact within “your own kind”, unabashedly discriminatory, sexist, ageist. You choose to overlook how other groups are treated in your “playgrounds”. You don’t notice how your favorite places have only very narrow diversity, unless you count the staff. In a way, you are accustomed by being served and pampered by people of different origin, but not to report to them at work.
In this charged atmosphere, you still see shining example of inclusion that Dubai excel at, which makes morally comfortable for you to hire a driver and a maid for a pittance.

Political incorrectness (and cultural inclusiveness): The Dubian is a gruff individual, who enjoys snide remarks, innuendo and derogative labels. Who mock people as Porsche jockeys, Jumeirah Janes, trolly dollies, snake charmers and Russian pros. Who gesture like Luigi, shake their head sideways, inject Inshallah and Khalas unnecessarily, wear sunglasses in dark clubs, and do insensitive ethnic impressions “Fife Khundred Dirkham, no kissing”.
Cussing is extremely acceptable, even endearing, it shows your true proletarian colors while sipping your Moet. Screaming obscenities on your mobile halfway during the movie, is expected, anybody who dare shush you is threatened with bodily harm, or worse “deporting you back to jungle you came from, cargo!” All in all, the pace of the place dictate the jettisoning of niceties, good manners are speed pumps on the road to development!

Personal distinction (also known as “the VIP syndrome): In Dubai, everyone is a VIP, unless they are VVIP! The true Dubian considers queuing below him/her, honk his/her horn at the petrol station if the attendant does not appear in 15 second. Always trying to be on the guest list, in the VIP section, in the opening, the first row, you get the drift. Damned is the person who deny you your earthly entitlements even for a minute, you holler, make a racket and start dialing while asking for the manager. The food, drink, and even the attire of the staff should be customized to suit your impeccable taste, with dire consequences otherwise. Dubai is a place where Panache is awarded with Pizzazz, Oompa Loompa style.

Addictiveness (Tequila!): The Dubians are addictive bunch, constantly dependent on their doses of the poison of choice. Be it liquid nectar, nose candy, house music, leggy bottle blondes (I plead guilty!). The Dubian will sacrifice all rather than go into withdrawal shock. You have your local where your tap is open and you usual is served, where the same crappy music send you into orbit, what goes for friends here are also found loitering around the same haunts, bitching about heat, traffic jam and overpriced lager. The scene is conductive to physical addiction, you inject you bloodstream with sand, rest your mind with your shisha and exhale the fume of your absinthe shot. Yet, you never think you lose control while driving home, under the Dubai high, Hurray!

Diabolical nature (usually disguised as open-mindedness): Dubians are all born Geminis in this La La land. They live two lives. They enjoy the lifestyle (and high life) of Dubai while retaining the trappings of home. They go to mosque or Sunday service then meet at night at York’s infamous club. They complain constantly about high prices (that are cheaper than home) and rude help (which they cannot afford at home). They have road rage at the jammed traffic, even when they still enjoy the stratospheric speeding frequently, which at home will lead to being somebody’s toy in 6X6 cell. Dubians embrace each other success with amazing grace and magnanimity “she was a checkout girl before that Sheik spotted her”, “brown noses get BMWs”, “ I bet those legs paid for the Manolo Bahlanik she’s wearing”. Embracing diversity, while retaining paucity.

Optimism & ambition (and its shaky underpinnings): Dubians are an optimist bunch, who else in the world will buy a jetski with next year’s bonus. At lunch tables all around the Sheikh Zaid Road, you hear about new projects, Initial Public Offerings, Emaar share price skyrocketing, new plastic surgery clinics, and bargain basement Bentlys. Ambition run amok in Dubians’ veins, nothing could stop the city getting bigger, higher, better, so why should anything stop them! You fudge your CV, creatively account for your company’s performance, and jump ships every 9 months for a 40% increase in salary, and a golf club membership to boot.
Dubai is where dreams come true, if they don’t, you can always flee the country (business class, of course).

Consumerism (and its victims): Yes, I have to admit, being a man, that I only found out about Jimmy Choo in Dubai, not to mention Vertu mobile phones and the curse that is delicious Iranian Beluga. If Consumers Anonymous had a chapter here, they should issue you an invitation with each driving license/ residency card.
To live here is to be engulfed in endless race to acquire the wanted (vs. the needed) regardless of how ridiculous the cost is.
The true Dubian will pay nearly half of his income on rent, almost the same on the convertible/monstrous SUV payment (stretched to 5 years by the helpful banker, don’t you love him?). With what’s left he/she makes the minimum payments on his/hers 7 credit cards, one of which is maxed out because he/she had to get the 5th mobile this year, wasting enough dough to feed a starving child in Africa for a couple of years, let alone saving for the toddler’s education.
There are enough gadget and expensive shoes here to bankrupt nations, and come on, do we even have an option of not indulging, not when you can only pay 1.25% interest on revolving balance?
Dubai is where the Yin has bought the Yang out, leveraged buyout style.

To sum it up, it is not as bleak as it seems, this mix urban inhumanity and caffeinated insanity has blossomed into a Medusa of opportunities, even with many shortcomings and chronic mass dysfunction, the Dubian tribes are uniquely alive with their own delusion of grandeur, waiting for their Godot, who in this place, is more likely to show up than not.

My first post!

2005-11-19T13:43:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know, somebody (like me) with an opinion on every conceivable subject is born to have a blog! and yet it took several years of cajoling from friends to start posting my own!

So Mazen, thanks for the push, I am sure that you (and possible all other readers) will come to regret this decision.

Living in Dubai is a constant whirlwind, the pace gets quicker by the minute, the pace of development is absolutely amazing, and even chronic cynics like me have to admit sometime that we have something extraordinary happening here.

I will try to keep posting regularly, and to share my opinion and frustration, and move from the repressed pundit to a globally ignored one.