Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi

In the business world it is said that there is no such thing as a merger, there is only a takeover: the stronger party amongst the two ultimately ends up in power. The same can be applied to the world of politics. Islamists, traditionally the most organized group in the...

Another crisis is brewing in the Middle East, this time between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Iranian president Ahmadinejad took the unprecedented step of visiting the disputed Gulf island of Abu Musa that both countries claim along with two other islands of Lesser and Greater...

Making my way down the corridor of the magnificent Stadhuis, Rotterdam's city hall, a pre-First World War architectural landmark, towards the office of the mayor, I was greeted with the familiar words, "As Salaam Alaikum." The Stadhuis, office of the mayor of Rotterdam, is, sadly, one of a very few...

In the mid 20th century a majority of Arabs lived in monarchical states, some dating as far back as several centuries. However, by the 1960s, the monarchies of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Iraq and Yemen had transformed into republics. Today, eight Arab monarchies remain, namely, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain,...

A video taken in the late 1990s shows Sheikh Zayed standing in his majlis talking to Mohammed Khalifa Al Habtoor, the speaker of the Federal National Council who served from 1997 to 2003. I vividly recall watching that video when I was a teenage student in Paris. Sheikh...

Something special is happening in Boston, a good omen for things to come. Young men and women from across the Arab Gulf states started holding regular meetings over a year ago. Every fortnight like clockwork they gather with a set agenda and discuss pressing topics affecting their region.

Three pillars...

Turkey and Saudi Arabia sit on opposite sides of the spectrum, the first a Sunni state defined by its secularism, the latter a Sunni state defined by its sect, and yet the countries have never been closer. This closeness is due to a series of steps that both states have...

Several dozen obituaries were written about Ghazi al Gosaibi in the week following his death on August 15th 2010. The Khaleeji literary giant had passed away in Riyadh at 70 years of age after decades spent in public service.

He held a number of posts: as Saudi Arabia's Minister of...

"May you live in interesting times" goes a Chinese saying that usually has negative connotations. The emerging UAE political scene is nothing if not interesting, though.

I will attempt to shed some light on this emerging political scene by highlighting a number of "champions" who have both expressed their willingness...

Last week, the United Arab Emirates government announced the names of citizens who would be eligible to participate in parliamentary elections to be held on Sept. 24. The announcement was generally met with enthusiasm, given the fact that the pool of voters has been increased from around 6,000 to almost...

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In the past few months, the potential of social media outreach in the Gulf hasn't only been noticed and exploited by marketing firms but also by regional governments and officials. After all, there were a staggering 7.4 million Facebook users in the Gulf as of May this year, according to...

In countries the world over, from the US to Russia, and from the Philippines to South Africa, citizens look forward to an annual statement that outlines the state of the nation in the past year and highlights plans for the coming 12 months.

This custom started in the US, although...

The news of the Kingdoms of Jordan and Morocco possibly joining the Gulf Cooperation Council states was met with shock and awe amongst users of social media networks within minutes of its announcement. The new Secretary General of the GCC, Abdul Latif Al Zayani, barely a few weeks into his...

The governments of the Arab Gulf states have been skeptical of the Arab Spring. For many political observers this skepticism stemmed from the fact that most of these states enjoyed strong personal and political relations with the presidents of Egypt, Yemen and Syria.

Others contend that commercial ties and...

For ten years millions of Arabs were held hostage due to the acts of a minority. During this time tens of thousands of lives were lost in senseless violence that only a megalomaniac would be able to justify.

Even for Arabs who had not lived in the West, essential movement...

Post-Second World War America was a period of economic growth and prosperity for many citizens but it was also a dark period in which a powerful U.S. Senator by the name of Joseph McCarthy initiated a process of publicly accusing individuals of harboring communist tendencies without regard for evidence.

In no other region of the world does the tired old cliché that "behind every great man is a great woman" hold more true than in the Middle East. And yet women have not always played a role only from behind the curtains that are their men but have also...

A single incident that took place in the Egyptian city of city of Alexandria on June 6, 2010 anticipated the wave of protest in the country that was to explode in January. It involved the arrest of 28-year-old Khaled Saeed, who was detained on his way to visit an internet...

Back in August, 2009, I touted the benefits of the close ties between Canada and the United Arab Emirates. Flash forward to today and things seem quite different. A commercial dispute escalated into a diplomatic incident between both countries in which no one party can emerge victorious. In...