Opinion

It was the sort of invitation most people would avoid at all costs: ‘Please come and spend two hours flying on a plane that seats 550 – and end up …

Not many international meetings close in an optimistic mood.The phrases “failed to agree” or “agreed to meet again” are mentioned far too often at the conclusion of such events.But last …

It was recently announced that beginning next year on May1, workers in the United Arab Emirates will be honored liketheir colleagues elsewhere in the world. For until now, theUAE has …

Now that Paul Wolfowitz has been driven from his position at the World Bank, insiders here in Washington concur thatAmerica’s neocon moment in the Middle East is officially over. So …

Last June I left Egypt after eight years as CNN’s Cairo bureau chief and correspondent. I wrote this back then, but never finished it as I was buried under an …

So far this has not been a good year for President Bush.First, his plan to pacify Iraq by “surging” more Americantroops appears to have backfired. Since the surge beganIraqis have …

Here in Washington, the winners of the 2006 mid-termelections had just started to enjoy their spoils when the2008 presidential campaign already started to heat up. Nosooner had Nancy Pelosi finished …

Arab political unity, from being a mantra in the 1950s,has turned into a joke, and today the Arab world’s 22″sister” countries regularly bicker in an endless politicaltragic-comedy. Politically, fragmentation of …

The United States’ cold war with Iran has taken aseries of sinister turns in recent weeks. Hopes of regionalco-operation over Iraq’s future are just one victim ofWashington’s drive to apply …

When US oil services behemoth Halliburton said this springit was moving its corporate headquarters to Dubai, exudationof praises ensued at full throttle. Maestro developerMohammed Alabbar of Emaar grandeur for example …