Notions

Darling, we need to talk.  Never a good sign, but at least it paves the way for an amicable, quasi-consensual agreement to part ways or to solve differences. Why can’t this approach be applied in politics? Iran – AKA the root of all evil and malice according to a certain camp in the Middle East the Western world – has been fighting a proxy war in Yemen throughout the past decade or so. The alleged ultimate goal of Iranian intervention in Yemen and other neighbouring Arab states is to bolster Iranian hegemony in the region, and the easiest route to follow is to employ agents that abide by the same theological and ideological beliefs. The most sensible course encountered to fend off such expansionism is the coalescence of like-minded regimes that share common self-serving interests and the subsequent employment of religious rhetoric and exaggerated security threats.   Since 2015, the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen  attempted – with the aide of lo...

A picture has been circulating on social media of Princess Haya bint Al Hussein with her brother Prince Ali bin Al Hussein. The siblings are the offspring of late King Hussein of Jordan, and their brother is King Abdullah of Jordan. Princess Haya is married to the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum – a prominent political and business figure. Owing to marital disputes, the princess left the United Arab Emirates and sought refuge in the United Kingdom to initiate divorce procedures. Clearly, she would not have been able to launch such procedures in the UAE or in any other neighbouring Arab country, mainly owing to political pressures, bias towards male spouses in most Arab civil case-law, and lengthy, complicated, flexible , and opaque procedures. The decision to leave the oil rich Emirati nation was brave, intelligent, and reflective of a high level of determination, integrity and self-respect. Nonetheless, that is what one expects of a princess. Afte...