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Al Karama, the lost capital of the UAE
Abu Dhabi is known as the political capital of the United Arab Emirates, and has held that position for the 39 years that the country has existed. But it wasn’t supposed to be that way. Under Article 9...
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Where can an international lawyer go adventuring?
As some readers may know, Curzon is a lawyer — qualified in the US, but working first in Japan and now in Dubai. A common question that I’ve heard through my years of practice is, “How do you practice...
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The ingredient in Mummia is…
In 1867, a jar was found in a Paris pharmacy with the inscription “Remains found under the stake of Joan of Arc.” The jar contained a blackened human rib, carbonized wood, a piece of linen and a cat...
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The Educators
Henry Kissinger and Donald Rumsfeld are the two most reviled men to have served in the position of Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense. Yet the irony — and majestic genius — of the careers of...
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The British Evacuation of Japan and Bahrain, compared
This is rather amusing. Britain has warned all of its citizens to evacuate, and flights have been chartered to evacuate citizens back to Britain. Enough flights have been chartered to bring 17,000...
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Trip to the Enclave of the Enclave
I previously posted on the pages of these blog an explanation of the enclave of an enclave (or is that an enclave of an exclave?), by which a small part of the UAE, called Nahwa, is located in a small...
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Fourteen Centuries of the Arab Homelands
In my trip to Lebanon last year, I spotted in an Arabic language school this timeline of the Arab world since the growth of Islam. The chart was published in the late 1980s, and the timeline goes up...
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OPEC, Evil Genius Cartel?
I was somewhat surprised to see this recently appear in a report on the future of energy published by HSBC. In a summary of that report just provided to me: OPEC plays a tantalising game of making oil...
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Kuwait House of National Memorial Museum, Part 1
Kuwait is not well known for its tourism. Indeed, I have heard it called one of the most boring countries you can visit. (When I visited, I was most excited by the ruined oil fields.) Yet one of the...
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In Defense of Dubai
Reuters has as one of its “pictures of the day” a photo of Sunil. Sunil is a 14 year-old working at a brick quarry in western India. He is paid two Indian rupees ($0.04) for each brick he carries out...
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How a lone hen turkey saved our relationship with the Saudis
This is a story from more than six months ago being noticed in the Middle East — how a lone hen turkey on Bush’s ranch saved our relationship with then Crown Price and Regent of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah...
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Another connection between the Royals in Jordan and Britain
Last year, I wrote about how Jordan’s King has an English mother. Now, we see a somewhat similar reversal — the newest member of the British Royal Family, and the likely future queen, spent...
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The 2011 Geography of the Mexican Drug War
STRATFOR has a status update on the Mexican drug cartel wars, with an interesting animated map on developments over the past year. The full report is only for subscribers, but the most important point...
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How Osama Bin Laden was found and killed
It was announced several hours ago that Osama Bin Laden was killed in a raid on his private compound on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan. The raid was almost a year in the making, but the raid...
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Koizumi Yukon: Canadian General Election 2011
Yesterday was the 41st Canadian General Election to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada in which the conservative government won what I would call a Koizumi-esque victory. The election saw...
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Osama’s Will, Arabic Names, and Romanization of Arabic
Osama’s “Will” was recently released by a Kuwaiti newspaper. The title of the document is misleading — a will, as a document that distributes assets and property, is not recognized in Islam, as...
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Expanding the GCC
I previously described the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) as the future EU of Arabia. It is certainly the most successful multinational cooperative body outside the EU, and is made up of the six...
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RIP Patrick Leigh Fermor
One of Robert Young Pelton’s favourite authors — and I am certain referenced by Robert Kaplan — Britain’s greatest travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor has died. He was eulogized this week by none other...
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Genocide in Sudan, Part 2? The Worst Case Scenario for Southern Sudan...
Sudan is scheduled to be cleaved in two, as previously posted on here, here and here. While many are celebrating this as a great move for freedom, the problem from the beginning has been deciding where...
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Interview with Edward Luttwak
Interview here with the always wise and insightful Edward Luttwak. A rather humorous selection: There have been many different explanations given over the past 10 years for the strength of the...
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robertdkaplan.com unveiled
CA patron saint Robert D. Kaplan has an official home on the web! Check out robertdkaplan.com to learn about his history, see all his articles and books, and to contact his assistant.
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Big Things Have Small Beginnings
What led to the revelation of the affair that brought down General Patraeus? Turns out it was a Lebanese-American Florida housewife… Jill Kelley, a 37-year-old mother of three, became close with the...
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Are the Gulf Countries “Realist Anomalies”?
Stephen Walt, writing in Foreign Policy, is titled “The curious case of small Gulf states” and asks if the UAE, along with countries such as Qatar, Bahrain, and Brunei are realist anomalies: The puzzle...
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From Belletrist to Blogger: What progress, and the internet, has done to...
I wrote this essay on my personal blog, but when it was retweeted by Adam Elkus, our old friend of Rethinking Security, I thought maybe the (remnant) audience here might appreciate it, or have some...
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