UAE Land of Sun Slow to Tap Green Energy

One can understand why a country awash with oil that has been selling at record prices has been slow to diversify its energy sources.

A recent poll conducted by Leaders Presents reports that 92% of Middle Eastern regional business leaders believe the UAE should invest in the research and implementation of alternative and renewable energy in the form of solar or wind power, bio-fuels or other sources. A peaceful Atomic Energy program came in as a close second option, with 69% in agreement.

To read more of the survey and views on the energy options see:
92% of Regional Business Leaders Say the UAE Should Invest in Alternative Energy, Albawaba, 2 September 2008.

Dr Geoff Pound

Abu Dhabi Purchase of Foreign Footy Club Impedes Emirati Identity

The Abu Dhabi United Group led by Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, purchased Manchester City Football Club and then boldly bought the Brazilian superstar Robinho as the first of many football players on his coach’s shopping list.

“Our goal is very simple,” said Al Fahim – “to make Manchester City the biggest club in the Premier League, and to begin with, to finish in the top four this season.”

Al Fahim, added, “This is a great event for both the club and Abu Dhabi.”

What is in it for Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates?

Al Fahim said "Our main objective is to publicise Abu Dhabi as a capital for sports, education and culture in the Middle East, in addition to giving the UAE people and residents the opportunity to train and interact with players from Manchester.”

The businessman who has been dubbed the ‘Donald Trump of Abu Dhabi’ admitted he thought the purchase was a way of getting Abu Dhabi footballers off the ground too.

This move may be a good investment financially and it is positive for Manchester City but how much will this help develop Emirati football players, especially as contenders for the team will be selected upon their own worth?

Abu Dhabi has purchased a branch of the Guggenheim Museum, a franchise of the Louvre and now an English football club.

In industry there has been a move towards Emiratization but in entertainment, the arts and now in sport it is a case of buying-in foreign products which ultimately impedes the development of a unique UAE national identity.

Dr Geoff Pound

Image: Sulaiman Al Fahim

Ramadan Reflection on Building for the Homeless

Ramadan is a time for reaching out to others and Indian newspapers are reporting today the outworking of the Ramadan spirit.

A leading United Arab Emirates real estate developer will be building houses for the homeless in India and three other countries in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

The Dubai-based ETA Star signed an agreement Sunday with US-based not-for-profit organisation Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI).

ETA Star is being partnered by its new development Dubai Lifestyle City, home furnishing chain Homes r Us and cement manufacturer Star Cement.

The property developer will donate one percent of its total earnings during Ramadan towards building homes for the destitute in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Ethiopia, according to the agreement. “The holy month of Ramadan is considered the time for giving, helping the needy,” Abid Junaid, executive director of ETA Star, said while announcing the initiative at a press conference here. “There certainly would be no better way than to help provide shelters to those underprivileged for which the sky is the only roof they can call their own,” he added.

According to Rick Hathway, area vice-president for Asia-Pacific at HFHI, the ETA Star contribution will be used in two projects in Delhi and Maharashtra. “Around 1,000 families will benefit from this,” he said. HFHI India managing director Felix Fernandes added that these projects would come up in a slum area on the outskirts of Delhi and a tribal community in Maharashtra.

Each house HFHI builds in India costs around Rs.70, 000 to Rs.120, 000.

Source: UAE Developer to Build Homes for the Homeless in India, India Real Estate Tracker, 2 September 2008.

Dr Geoff Pound

Image: Jimmy Carter, one of the many well-known identities, who are involved in building people’s lives.

UAE takes Tough Stance on ‘Indecent Acts’ and Homosexuality

News services around the world have posted the story, reporting the court case and appeal of two women who were jailed for a month for kissing, fondling and engaging in “indecent acts” on a public beach in Dubai.

The story that was supplied by the UAE media to foreign news services had a certain spin.

The report specified that these were two foreign women (not UAE nationals) and it mentioned their nationality.

The articles underlined the point that “this was the first case of its kind in the United Arab Emirates,” or at least this was the first case to come to trial.

The point that the kissing and fondling took place not only between two people of the same sex but between two women appears to have heightened the indecency of the action.

The fact that the Dubai Court of Appeal upheld the one-month jail sentence followed by deportation handed down by a lower court to the women, who both pleaded not guilty, underscored the determination of the UAE courts to eradicate this behavior by tough sentencing.

The many foreign papers that ran the story, such as the Melbourne Age, concluded their reports with the line, “It [the UAE] maintains a conservative social order, repressing homosexuality and prostitution.”

The story sends a signal to tourists to be aware of the UAE laws regarding modesty of dress and touching in public.

Whatever view one takes on homosexual relationships and particularly lesbianism, the strong position of the UAE will curb the substantial gay or ‘pink’ tourism market. This may be completely intentional.

Furthermore, this action reinforces the law prohibiting homosexuality in the UAE and continues to make it extremely awkward for American Universities setting up branches in the Emirates who are turning a blind eye to their equal rights and anti-discrimination policies.

Related articles:
New York University Abu Dhabi Campus has not clarified Human Rights Issues, ETE
US Colleges have Interest in UAE and Possibly Conflict of Interest, ETE

International Report: Women Jailed for ‘Indecent Acts’ on Dubai Beach, Melbourne Age, 2 September 2008

Dr Geoff Pound

Image: Some of the many reports in international papers.

Ramadan Reflection on Giving up Serving Petrol

Mention was made earlier of the ENOC experiment currently in the UAE in which they are trialing self-service petrol stations.

The rationale behind conducting this experiment in the hottest and harshest months was to receive the reactions of consumers in the United Arab Emirates in the severest time of the year.

But is there further rational in doing this over the month of Ramadan? That in addition to giving up food and drink they have instituted a ‘petrol service fast’ in which people deny themselves this convenience and put the gas into their cars to achieve a spiritual blessing.

According to my earlier survey drivers were voting about this innovation with their cars and simply filling up at service stations that were real service stations.

On a trip last weekend from Fujairah to Dubai the do-it-yourself petrol stations were absolutely deserted. I stopped at one to talk with the attendant on duty and he said that sales of petrol (and presumably food) were down by 50%!

It would be good to receive from ENOC a progress report on how they think the experiment is going.

They still have not come up with an effective way in which motorists can offer detailed feedback.

Dr Geoff Pound

Image: ENOC filling station

Abu Dhabi to Buy Manchester City Football Club

An Abu Dhabi-based company aiming to buy Manchester City from former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra signed a memorandum of understanding with the Premier League club on Monday 1 September 2008.

Announcing the memorandum in a short statement, City added: "A period of due diligence for all parties, including the FA Premier League has now been entered."

Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment board member Sulaiman al-Fahim said he wanted to turn City into one of the top clubs in the league.

"The UK is the best league in the world and the idea is that Abu Dhabi would like to position itself as a sports and cultural hub," Fahim said, declining to give a value for the deal. Fahim also said the group planned to buy players before the transfer window closed later on Monday.

"We are trying to be in the top four this season and will buy whatever is needed," Fahim said.

The UAE is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and the capital controls 90 percent of the country's oil reserves.

Flush with petrodollars from soaring oil prices, Abu Dhabi has been investing abroad to diversify its economy.

Gulf-based investment firms have poured billions of dollars in recent years into businesses ranging from Western banks and stock exchanges to sports clubs and circus troupes.

Fahim said the group also planned to use Manchester City's coaching set-up as a way of developing local players from the United Arab Emirates.

Buoyant about the club's prospects, Fahim said: "I want you to see the value of the club within three years."

Fahim, chief executive officer of local real estate firm Hydra Properties, is already building a football academy in partnership with Italy's Inter Milan.

"Our goal is very simple - to make Manchester City the biggest club in the Premier League," Fahim told local magazine Arabian Business earlier on Monday.

The deal was struck late on Sunday night between Thaksin and the Abu Dhabi group, the magazine said.

Fahim said Thaksin would continue at the club as an a honorary board member.

City have long lived in the shadow of Manchester United and have not won a trophy for 32 years. They were last champions of England in 1968.

Thaksin bought City in July 2007 after being deposed as Thailand's prime minister in a military coup, hiring former England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson as manager and bankrolling a string of foreign signings.

However, despite a promising start, City faded last season and Eriksson was replaced by former Manchester United striker Mark Hughes in June.

Gulf states have a keen interest in the top-flight of English football.

Dubai International Capital, a government-run investment fund, was involved earlier this year in drawn-out talks to potentially buy Liverpool from its U.S. owners, while Dubai-bases Emirates airline is a major sponsor of Arsenal.

Manchester United last month signed a marketing deal with a Saudi Arabian telecommunications firm.

Source: Reuters News Agency, 1 September 2008

Dr Geoff Pound

Image: Manchester City Football Club logo.

Ramadan Reflection on Banning Music Videos

The Middle East’s new youth entertainment and lifestyle TV-channel MTV Arabia announced that it is marking the holy month of Ramadan by refraining from screening music videos.

Some call it “religious censorship over music videos”. Others appreciate that the TV channel is showing sensitivity towards the solemnity of the Islamic month of fasting.

MTV Arabia’s manager Samr Al Mazouqi expanded on this decision by saying: “The Holy Month is a time for introspection, and we would like to offer our viewers a break from the ordinary fare. ... MTV Arabia is conscious of regional sensitivities and we are keen to respond to the needs and desires of viewers in the Middle East, the vast majority of whom will be fasting, spending time with family, and focusing on their spiritual lives.”

During Ramadan, the MTV Arabia channel will continue to play programmes from MTV’s international roster of reality shows, celebrity news and pop culture documentaries.

“We have high censorship on what goes on air in terms of language, images, everything has high censorship,” the station’s head of productions and promotions, Rasha Al Eman, told Communicate Magazine in December 2007.

Different Views
Perplexed MTV-viewers such as Samir, an IT consultant, was quoted as saying:

“This is just an empty gesture which will not have any lasting impact. People will just switch on to other channels and watch music videos there. If we really believe in the idea that music videos are ‘bad’, they should not be aired all year through. I think it’s better to leave it to individuals and let them decide whether they want to watch ‘bad things’ in Ramadan or not.”

The Middle East Business News website KippReport.com opened an online debate page with the question: “Why is MTV Arabia stopping music videos, the USP of the channel, during Ramadan?”

Samir has got a point. Not all shops close their doors throughout Ramadan but they have different hours and they throw the responsibility on people to decide what they will and will not purchase.

Doesn’t fasting bring greater benefits if it is a matter of self-denial or self-censorship rather than having others decide what you can tune into?

What is the actual point of this decision? Is the music harmful or is the ban an imposed ‘fast’—to give up things that can distract people from Ramadan’s central theme. Is the music more harmful or distracting than the reality shows, celebrity news and pop culture documentaries which will still go to air?

What do you think about this decision?

Link: MTV Arabia Refrains from Playing Music Videos, Freemuse, 1 September 2008.

Dr Geoff Pound

Image: MTV Arabia logo.

Gustav Affecting Oil Flow and World Oil Prices

Even before Hurricane Gustav struck land around the Gulf of Mexico it has had an enormous impact on the oil industry, including the price of oil in the world.

According to Reuters, the Gulf is the source of 25 percent of domestic oil and 15 percent of the natural gas. More than a third of U.S. refining capacity is on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The ports of New Orleans and South Louisiana (which is the largest U.S. port in tonnes handled) have been effectively closed.

The U.S. Minerals Management Service said Sunday 1.25 million of 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil production (96.3 percent) and 6.1 billion of 7.4 billion cubic feet per day of gas (Bcfd) production (82.3) had been shut in anticipation of Gustav.

People have been evacuated from oil production platforms and drilling rigs. There is great fear being expressed as to the damage that Gustav might do to the US oil rigs.

Crude oil around the world has surged over $2 a barrel to more than $117 a barrel in trading on Sunday.

Ports such as the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which is the gateway for half of America’s imported oil, stopped unloading ships Saturday and has shut the flow from storage on Sunday.

Dr Geoff Pound

Image: The Gulf of Mexico accounts for a quarter of US oil production. (Photo courtesy of AP)

UAE and USA Linked by Gonu and Gustav

The community of Beyond Katrina-The Voice of Hurricane and Disaster Recovery linked with us in June 2007 when we in the United Arab Emirates and Oman faced the damage caused by Cyclone Gonu.

We want Americans to know, especially those in the Gulf region, that we in the United Arab Emirates are uniting with you in our memories, hopes, concerns and prayers as you now await and endure the ravages of Hurricane Gustav.

Dr Geoff Pound

Images: Beyond Katrina logo and images of Cyclone Gonu on the UAE’ east coast in Fujairah.

Descriptions and photos of Cyclone Gonu commence at this link and extend for the next 50 postings.

Ramadan Reflection on Simplifying Life

In Judith Viorst’s book, How Did I get to be Forty & Other Atrocities she has a poem entitled, Self-Improvement Program.

In these lines Judith Viorst recites all the new activities she has taken on in an effort to become successful—needlework, guitar lessons, advanced Chinese cooking, primal scream therapy—and dozens of other things.

And then with a sigh she concludes,
“And I am working all day and I am working all night
to be good looking,
healthy and wise and adored
and contented
and brave
and well-read
and a marvellous hostess
fantastic in bed,
and bilingual,
athletic,
artistic—
and then she cries out,

‘Won’t someone please stop me?’”

Ramadan can be a time to slow down, stop and be still.

This does not happen immediately especially if we have been running at a great pace.

This does not happen easily as society often grades us on the basis of what we do, how much we achieve and according to key performance indicators.

The Ramadan invitation to stillness is a wonderful gift.

Stillness is valuable for the rest and freedom it offers but also for the time and space it creates to gain a new perspective on our cluttered lives and drivenness.

Reflecting on the title of Judith Viorst’s poem, Ramadan is ultimately not about self-improvement but positive changes gained by drawing on the resources of God and of others.

The slowing down that Ramadan offers is useful for reflecting on the pace of our lives.
To ask, “Who is setting the pace?
To delete things in our diaries, to thin out our timetables, to live more centered and satisfying lives that are helpful to others.

Source of the poem:
Judith Viorst, How Did I get to be Forty & Other Atrocities (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973), 40.

Dr Geoff Pound

Image: ‘Won’t someone please stop me?’