“You Westerners get it wrong,” he told me. “You think what’s going on here is all about religion and extremism. But that’s a problem that can probably be solved. The real issue – he said – was accountability. If the princes responded to pressures for change by democratising, they would end up losing their power …
Month: November 2003
An Egyptian poet will defy an edict by Muslim authorities calling for his latest book to be withdrawn because of its explicit sexual nature. Ahmed Shahawi said the ruling against Commandments of Love for Women had nothing to do with religion. The book’s publishers argue Al-Azhar University can only recommend what books people should read, …
GCC interior ministers have recommended that a single passport be adopted at the next summit, secretary-general Abdulrahman Al Attiyah said. The ministers “have recommended that the next summit, scheduled for December in Kuwait, adopts a single passport” for citizens of the GCC states, he said. Source: Bahrain Economic Development Board Oh no.. that means that …
It’s been some time since I visited A’ali, one of the most ancient towns in Bahrain. It’s about 15kms from the capital Manama and famed for their pottery industries and burial mounds. The reason I went is that Frances was opening her shop and she needed some pillars to use as display stands in her …