Archive for May 2012

Earth wars: Attack of the drones

May 13, 2012 Aysha Taryam Comments Off

Aysha Taryam

The Gulf Today

May 13, 2012

Buttons, every single moment of our waking lives is controlled by buttons. When we wish to be entertained we click a button and on comes an onslaught of channels designed to keep us transfixed for hours. When we are running low on energy we push a button and out pops our replenishment in whatever form we desire. At the end of our hectic day and after having pushed, pressed and clicked our way through a thousand buttons we flick the all important one, the button that allows for darkness to fall and envelop us as we lay our weary heads to sleep.

Yet we have not restricted buttons to controlling our lives for they control our death as well. Just as we have created buttons to push us forward we have created ones that could bring us to a complete stop. Man has waged war for the pettiest of reasons and from the beginning of time, yet in the past winning wars was measured by the amount of blood spilled in attack and defence of the so-called cause. It meant armed men going face to face with whoever the enemy may be, looking him in the eye and pulling the trigger.  Read more

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Revolutions and Counter-Revolutions

May 13, 2012 Hichem Karoui Comments Off
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Hichem Karoui

The Gulf Today
May 06, 2012
In the mid-1990s, the German social scientist, Gunar Heinshon, coined the term “Youth Bulge Theory,” to describe a trend in demography. The theory will eventually be developed by American political scientists, Garry Fuller and Jack Goldston. They argue that “developing countries undergoing demographic transition or those moving from high to low fertility and mortality rates, are especially vulnerable to civil conflict.” As we know since the great Ibn Khaldun , the conjugated effect of social and economic oppression and political repression is the gravedigger of any regime. Read more

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Is business apolitical?

May 13, 2012 Hichem Karoui Comments Off

Hichem Karoui 

The Gulf Today
April 28, 2012
Israel and Egypt officials are both downplaying the decision to cancel the gas deal contract, claiming that it has nothing to do with politics. Thus, they probably think it is the best way to ease the tensions between them.

However, the realities are there, and the denial may turn out to be self-delusion. The fact is that Israel is unhappy about the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak, while  Egypt is unhappy about so many Israeli attitudes that their listing could make a whole book. Read more

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