What's in a Name? The Streets of Abu Dhabi

It's not unusual in older Middle Eastern cities to find that a given street is usually known by a name other than its official one; older Cairenes long clung to pre-1952 names regardless of what the official nameplates said, and in the era of frequent Syrian coups in the 1950s and 1960s, streets might be renamed with each turn of the revolving door.

But one expects a bit less of this in the newer Gulf cities. Abu Dhabi was not much more than a small town until the oil boom; many of its streets were laid out after independence in 1971, and there were still vast areas of streets without buildings when I first visited in 1981.

But, as this article in The National notes, the official numbered streets system led to streets being known by what was on them or what they went to rather than by their official numbers; now, a new system of renaming streets after prominent personalities is adding to the confusion.

Sheikh Khalifa's Health

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, is recovering well from his January 24 stroke, according to Crown Prince Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed,, who yesterday described the Ruler's health as "stable and reassuring."

It had previously been announced that Sheikh Khalifa underwent surgery immediately after his stroke last month.

Dispatches from the Sidelines of the Culture Wars

It's been a while since we've looked at the lighter side of the culture wars in the Middle East. This in no way is intended to minimize the darker side, so visible in this weekend's drive-by shooting of a Coptic wedding in Imbaba, Egypt, presumably by Islamists, that left four dead, including a young girl. Those grim events are the front lines; these are reports from the less depressing sidelines.

• Usually, Arab countries carefully screen and censor movies before permitting their release. In Dubai, recently, however, a Sylvester Stallone/Arnold Schwarzenegger movie called Escape Plan was shut down halfway through. (I've never heard of the film, but given the age of these two action heroes, are they escaping from an old folks' home? Are there wheelchair chases?) (Before you complain, I'm a senior citizen myself. I just don't star in action films.) Anyway,  according to  The National, the showing at the Ibn Battuta Mall's Grand Cinema was stopped in mid-film when it was discovered a character in the film curses in Arabic. Somehow that had apparently been missed by the original censors.  The National does not enlighten us as to what was actually said.

•  You've probably already heard that the singer Rihanna is being criticized for posing at the Shaikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi. She was fully and conservatively covered but some of the shots are posed in ways the authorities did not consider appropriate for Abu Dhabi's crown jewel mosque.

•  In Paris recently, Egyptian novelist Alaa al-Aswany (The Yacoubian Building) was giving a talk to the Institut du Monde Arabe when demonstrators opposed to the Egyptian coup and apparently supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood interrupted and then disrupted his talk, leading to at least one broken window and Aswany being rushed out of the hall. (Le Monde's account, in French, is here.) Video: 

• "Turkey Opens First Online Islamic Sex Shop."  Another report here. Since I don't read Turkish, I can't comment directly, but quote from Ahram Online:

The "Halal Sex Shop" website presents its products as being "entirely safe," and in compliance with Islamic norms.

Internet users who enter the site find two different links directing them to separate sections for male and female products.

Other sections of the website are designed to discuss sex in the context of Islam under various headings: "Oral sex according to Islam", "Sex manners in Islam" and "Sexual life in Islam."

The anonymous founders of the website said they believed the online shop would help correct prejudices against Islam which they claimed is perceived as "against sex."

• Finally, the headline "Union Formed to Represent Tunisian Rappers," may strike you as funny at first, but perhaps not if you read it in conjunction with "Tunisia Rapper Acquitted on Appeal."

UAE Looking for Markets for Locally Built Missile Corvettes?

According to this story in The National,  the UAE is looking for possible foreign markets for Baynunah-class corvettes being built by Abu Dhabi Ship Building in partnership with France's CMN. The UAE is building six of the missile corvettes for its own Navy, The article mentions Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as possible markets.

For more on the class and its capabilities, see here.

The GCC Navies have all been eager to build up their capabilities in recent years, with an eye on Iran.

UAE: The Other Emirates

Dubai and Abu Dhabi are of course international superstars; the other five Emirates tend to get little attention, abroad or, to some extent, at home. Jenifer Fenton at The Arabist has a useful post on "The United (But Not Equal) Arab Emirates.  (Sorry, link was missing for a while. It should work now.)

Wretched Excess Department: Abu Dhabi Moves into Caviar

From today's New York Times: "The Fish that Lay the Golden Eggs,": "Abu Dhabi is talking caviar on a scale that would make czars blush." They're building the world's largest indoor caviar factory which, at full production, could account for over a quarter of global production.

I guess if you're a major consumer you ought to get in on the production end as well, but so much for dispelling stereotypes about the lavish lifestyles of the rich and Emirati.

Weird Weather Reaches the Gulf

The weird weather that smashed into Egypt and the Levant over the weekend (see here and here) has reached the Gulf, though it's dried out by now. High winds (pic at left from The National) led to calling off a sea-kayaking event of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge.

Given the fact that Washington has been suffering from bitter cold and the winds are driving the wind chills into the single digits at night, I'd settle for Abu Dhabi's winds right about now, but I'm glad I missed the horrors farther west.

The GCC Summits and a Personal Reminiscence

The 31st summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council has just ended in Abu Dhabi. It has spurred some memories, since as it happened I had the opportunity to attend the first, founding summit of the GCC in May of 1981. It was also in Abu Dhabi, and marked my first ever trip to the Gulf. I was working for a small publication at the time, but the press advisor to the UAE Embassy was an old friend from grad school, and got me an invite. I found myself rubbing elbows with such legendary correspondents as Peter Mansfield and Patrick Seale (but few Americans were in attendance: I recall only John Duke Anthony and myself).

The founding summit was in May, though later summits have been in November or December, when the temperatures are more tolerable. Already then, when the UAE was not quite 10 years old, Abu Dhabi was building everywhere, though many streets were just pavement in the desert, awaiting houses. The airport was an earlier one, not the current one. The Iran-Iraq war was less than a year old, and was the catalyst for the formation of the GCC. Of the six rulers who attended that summit, only Qaboos of Oman is still on the throne.

It was still the era of filing by telex. Old timers like me will remember having to punch those tapes. The UAE telecom people gave us a press room with open phones and telexes: call anywhere you like. I called friends in the States just to check in. Trying to locate the home number of a friend posted to Riyadh, I called his father in Pennsylvania. He lived in the Philadelphia area. To my puzzlement, he asked me to drop by, "since you're close by." I noted that I was in fact in the Gulf. It turned out he'd heard "Abu Dhabi" as "Upper Darby." For 30 years now I can never pass Upper Darby, PA, without thinking of Abu Dhabi.

No great point to this post; just reminiscing.

Snakes on a Plane . . . and a SQUIRREL?

No, I never saw the movie of that name. But The National reports that Abu Dhabi airport had an interesting security event:

The Saudi passenger was said to have been carrying four snakes, two parrots and a squirrel in his hand luggage.

He was caught at the first security checkpoint after arriving at Abu Dhabi International Airport on Etihad Airlines flight EY471 from Jakarta, which landed in the capital shortly before midnight on Thursday.

The animals were not licensed for international transport. They had no health certification, nor confirmation that they were not on any endangered list.

Abu Dhabi police officials expressed surprise that the passenger had cleared security at Jakarta with the animals.

Perhaps Jakarta's version of the TSA isn't quite as intrusive. Also, I realize the snakes and parrots may be exotic and thus valuable specimens with a high resale value, but he was smuggling a squirrel? If he gets out on bail, he can have his pick of my backyard, no charge.

This is likely to be one of those stories where you never see a follow-up, and are left scratching your head forever.

UAE Independence, 39 Years On

Tomorrow will mark the 39th Anniversary of UAE independence. The National today has a nice historical section, including videos of the independence ceremonies, and of Oum Kulthum's concert celebrating independence. The videos don't seem to be embeddable, so follow the links. Being an Abu Dhabi paper, the late Sheikh Zayed gets all the attention.

China and the UAE

In a way this isn't news at all, since anyone who's been paying attention knows that China has been focusing closely on building up its presence in the Gulf. Still, reinforcing what we already know, here's a piece in this morning's The National of Abu Dhabi about China's concentrated interest in the UAE.

Admittedly, though, it's way down the web page from the lead, the Jonas Brothers' concert in Abu Dhabi. (And yes, with a 10-year-old daughter, I do know who they are.)

Somehow I think China's role in Abu Dhabi will last longer than the Jonas Brothers.

Abu Dhabi's Highest Ranking Female Cop

At least until late afternoon, I'm going to be tied up volunteering to help out with "colonial day" at my daughter's grade school. I hope to have more posts before the end of the day, though. (Later: The hope wasn't fulfilled. I'm off for the weekend, barring something major.)

But to get you going, an inspirational article about Abu Dhabi's highest ranking female police officer, Lt. Col. Eman al Jaberi, the only female lecturer at the Abu Dhabi Police College, holder of a doctorate in law, and, obviously, a Lieutenant Colonel of Police.

I know, I know. The article is full of sterotypical and condescending stuff, though I suspect it means well. Examples:

“They immediately stopped and realised that who was standing in front of them was not a weak woman, but a military figure as adequate as any of my male counterparts,” she said.

“After that, I started using a motherly approach with them, so they turned to obedience out of love.

“I treat them like my own children and guide them to success. I used to have one son, but now I feel that the thousands that graduate each year are all my children. During graduation they address me as ‘my mother’.” . . .

“The toughest job I ever had was dealing with other women,” she said.

“Females do not like to be supervised by another female – they prefer men. It was a maze. If I were kind to them, they would consider me weak, and if I tried to be smart or strict they would rebel.”

But this is the Gulf. That a woman has reached a lieutenant colonelcy in the police is worth noting, even if the newspaper account has a whiff of the condescension of Boswell's conversation with Dr Samuel Johnson:

I told him I had been that morning at a meeting of the people called Quakers, where I had heard a woman preach. Johnson: "Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."

Though at least the article isn't that condescending. In fact, brava for her putting up with all she must have had to put up with.

More after Colonial Day, I hope.

Oddities of International Wheeling and Dealing: Sheikh Khalifa and Two Russian Bosses

Via a reader who follows the intricacies of international finance, an odd report of how Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayid, President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, was apparently involved as a middleman between the famous/or notorious Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky and another Russian wheeler-dealer.

Make of it what you will. I wouldn't have ever seen this without my readers (it's on the NASDAQ site), so I assume some of you won't have either.

Sex and Some Other City

Some of these links are from back in April, but heck, I'm an old married man with a kid who doesn't keep up with the whole Sex and the City thing (though at least I no longer have to watch Dora the Explorer cartoons), and it took a younger colleague to flag this issue for me. As apparently everyone on earth and several of the inner planets knows, the forthcoming movie Sex and the City 2, opening soon, is at least partly set in Abu Dhabi.

Except that both Abu Dhabi and Dubai declined the honor of allowing filming in their fair cities, since, as certain British and Pakistani couples have learned recently, and despite a general sense of openness, and some locals who know how to get around the rules, there's no sex in those cities. At least not officially, and especially not on the beaches. So Morocco is playing Abu Dhabi for the movies. What part of Morocco is not specified in the material I've seen, and it's been a long time since I've been in Morocco, but I'm guessing there's a lot of computer graphics backgrounds in use, unless Casablanca has gone all Shanghai on us, or they just figure nobody knows what Abu Dhabi looks like. (Anybody want to bet there are camels in it? Gotta be camels or you'd think it was Palm Springs, right? Our heroines are going to ride camels, right? Isn't that how you get from the airport to your hotel in Abu Dhabi? It was the last time Wilfred Thesiger was there. Except there was no airport. I'm ranting. Sorry.)

It would be interesting to know why the brains (if that was the bodily organ involved) behind Sex and and the City 2 decided to set the story in Abu Dhabi in the first place. Was it a Maurice Chevalier "Come wees me to ze Casbah" thing? Except for the old fort and a mosque or two, the oldest building in Abu Dhabi dates from the 1980s (oh, sorry, that one was just torn down to build a new one: make it the 1990s: wait, here come the bulldozers) so it's not exactly Casbah country.

The National, Abu Dhabi's increasingly lively English daily, has been on the case, with an early take here; an article here on potential tourist boosts, and a piece on films made in locations other than their alleged setting here (familiar to Washingtonians who've seen plenty of films and TV shows where the chase passes the Lincoln Memorial and then the Sierra Nevadas show up in the background).

So Morocco, which has played a lot of other Arab countries in films before (as has Israel, for that matter), may drive a tourism boom to Abu Dhabi. But to paraphrase the title of a famous British play: no sex, please, we're Emirati.

Late Addition: A commenter has noted that my 1) CGI Abu Dhabi and 2) camel comments are not only dead on, but in the trailer (1:17, 1:23). So I have no alternative but embedding the trailer:


Forgive me. It's worse than I'd imagined.

Trying to Find Avocados for Cinco de Mayo in Abu Dhabi

Happy Cinco de Mayo to all you non-Mexicans who use it an excuse (as if one were necessary) to drink Dos Equis and eat enchiladas. Here's an article in The National about the problems of making real guacamole in Abu Dhabi, where avocados can be in short supply (they import them from Kenya), among other things related to Mexican food in the Gulf. The article notes, correctly, that Cinco de Mayo tends to be partied heartier outside Mexico than at home, where September 16 (Independence Day) is bigger, so I'll wish Mexican readers an early independence day instead. (Saint Patrick's Day in Ireland is somewhat parallel: people go to church in Ireland while in Chicago they're dyeing the river green. And the Irish Prime Minister never gets to be at home on the saint's day since he traditionally visits the US President then.)

Anyway, I thought the guacamole shortage in Abu Dhabi was appropriate for today. I'll be at this event through the morning, so posting's likely to be thin till later.

¡But at least I found a Middle East link for Cinco de Mayo!

Traditional Storytelling in Abu Dhabi

Traditional Arabic storytelling — the Hakawati tradition — is being celebrated as part of the Abu Dhabi Festival. It's good to know that one of the richest and most modern of Arab countries is also preserving its traditional language arts traditions. (Oops. The editor in me just noticed the redundancy.)

Abu Dhabi Fund Chief's Body Found

UPDATE: Here's an appreciation from the Business section of The National, which of course has all the objectivity you'd expect of an Abu Dhabi newspaper when the Ruler's brother dies, but also offers more detail.

Four days after his ultralight aircraft plunged into a Moroccan lake, divers have found the body of the head of the Abu Dhabi Investment Fund, Sheikh Ahmad bin Zayed Al Nahayan, who is also the brother of the President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Fund is the Emirate's sovereign wealth fund, reportedly the world's largest.

Abu Dhabi: Closing Shisha Cafes?

From Abu Dhabi's The National: a new tobacco law affecting restaurants may force shisha (water pipe) cafes in many neighborhoods to close.

While banning tobacco in restaurants is doubtless a good idea, the shisha cafe is such a social center — particularly for Abu Dhabi's large expatriate Egyptian, Palestinian, Lebanese etc. workers — that this seems rather draconian. Even in the US, restaurant smoking bans seem to exempt the little Shisha places patronized by young Arabs (though perhaps they just don't enforce the law here, I'm not honestly sure).

(Even here in Northern Virginia, there are a number of them. One strip mall I know of has one that's clearly patronized by Egyptians, another by Maghrebis.)

Now it's the Burj Khalifa bin Zayed

Okay, it's not the Burj Dubai anymore. It's the Burj Khalifa bin Zayed, named for the President of the UAE who also happens to be the ruler of Abu Dhabi. What makes Dubai name its pride and joy for the ruler of Abu Dhabi?

Twenty billion here, twenty billion there, pretty soon you're talking about real money, to paraphrase the late Senator Everett Dirksen. And money talks. Debt walks. Beggars can't be choosers. Now we know the interest on the bailout, I suspect. Or else it's really just excessive Arab politeness. Or flattery. And the ruling families, the Nahayans and the Maktums, are distant kinfolk, both members of the larger Bani Yas tribal group. Maybe it's just cousinly compliments.

I'm still betting some of the debt will get canceled. Call me a cynic if you must.

Later: a commenter sends me to Qur'an Sura II (Al-Baqara), aya 280:

2:280 If the debtor is in a difficulty, grant him time Till it is easy for him to repay. But if ye remit it by way of charity, that is best for you if ye only knew.

Abu Dhabi Bailing Out Dubai World

Abu Dhabi is providing a $10 billion lifeline to Dubai World, easing fears a bit. To update a famous remark by the late Senator Everett M. Dirksen: $10 billion here, $10 billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money.