JEDDAH, 29 September 2006 — More than five million Saudis suffer from diabetes, which account for one fourth of the total population in the country, according to Dr. Waleed Fitaihy, chairman of the board of directors of the International Medical Center here. He said this at an international seminar on new insulin inhalers that could be used to replace injections, Al-Madinah newspaper reported yesterday.
Arab News publishes this squib. Diabetes has proven itself to be one of the serious consequences of rapid development as people begin to eat daily those foods—hyper rich and sweet—that traditionally were eaten only a handful of times per year.
See also this story: Excessive Spending on Food During Ramadan, as well as this one from Saudi Gazette: A Discipline for Body And Mind.
We Have Whined Enough; How About Some Action?
Lubna Hussain, lubna@arabnews.com“Did you hear that?†I asked referring to the sudden spontaneous round of applause that punctuated the comments of the last speaker.
“Yes,†replied my friend looking as surprised as I felt.
“But you have to admit, it was well-deserved.â€
We were watching “In God’s Name,†a live forum that was held under the auspices of the Clinton Global Initiative and Shimon Peres had just spoken. Admittedly I was shocked.
There he had sat throughout the debate with the studied composure of a hawk stoically deflecting the accusations leveled against his government.
Lubna Hussain slips into the old anti-Semitic trope of “The Jews own all the media,”—for which we scold her. Letting that go for the moment, she nevertheless makes some good points in this piece. Clearly, she doesn’t like the government of Israel, as is her right. But she voices her admiration for Jews and Israelis noting that rather than simply complaining about life’s unfairness, they have dedicated themselves to their purpose of improving their lot:
Jews have been targeted and persecuted since time immemorial but did they sit around coffee shops complaining? No. They didn’t have the time. They were too busy educating themselves, working hard and buying up those very media institutions that are now allowing them to influence the world. They counteracted systematic campaigns of disinformation by spreading their own information. They spent their holidays strategizing and planning for the future, not traipsing around the couture houses of Paris and Milan. They funded think tanks and lobbied important politicians, not hobnobbed with the jet set in the south of France. In spite of being surrounded by a sea of Arab neighbors, they didn’t complain about how they were unfavorably disposed but instead turned the situation around making sure that everyone in the region danced to their tune.
One of my friends told me recently that the true definition of insanity is repeating the same pattern of action again and again in the anticipation of expecting a different result. I don’t think I have to spell it out, do I?
Perhaps it would be useful for Saudi media to get an outside consultant who could prepare for them a list of anti-Semitic arguments, the use of which tends to make informed readers dismiss whatever else is in the article. Saudi voices would be heard more clearly if the signal wasn’t obscured by so much noise.
Kingdom Identifies 3 Locations as World Heritage Sites
Galal FakkarJEDDAH, 29 September 2006 — The Ministry of Education announced earlier this week that it is focusing on three historical locations to nominate as the first UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Kingdom: The ancient Nabataean city of Madain Saleh, Jeddah’s historic center, and the old neighborhood of Al-Dirriyah in Riyadh.
According to this Arab News article, Saudi Arabia has identified three historic sites to be included among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Madain Saleh is second only to Petra, in Jordan, as the most important remains of the Nabatean civilization. The Old City in Jeddah is one of the few remaining vestiges of traditional Arab architecture and city planning in Saudi Arabia. Al-Dirriyah is the ancestral home of the Al-Saud family as well as of Abdul Wahhab and his descendents.
Strategic Forecasting (STRATFOR) is a commercial source that provides its views of the global strategic security situation. Its analyses are generally interesting to read, even though I think they tend to be wrong on several opinions they hold toward Saudi Arabia.
Here, though, they offer a good analysis of the recent report of Bin Laden’s death. What’s particularly good is that it demonstrates the labyrinthine thought processes undertaken in trying to assess intelligence information. I have never worked as an intelligence officer, but have known many. I’ve also had “walk-ins” show up in my different offices, trying to offer information in return for different things. What this report, republished with Stratfor permission, gets right is how very difficult it is to understand just what a particular piece of information might mean, to figure out whether or not it’s true, and to determine the motives behind the release of that piece of information.
And let there be no mistake about it: often, here lies madness, too. It can truly turn into a “Wilderness of Mirrors”.
Rumors of bin Laden’s Death: Truth, Lies and Audio Files
By Fred BurtonA regional French newspaper, L’Est Republicain, recently published a report claiming that Osama bin Laden died in Pakistan on Aug. 23 after contracting typhoid fever. The newspaper cited a document it obtained Sept. 21 from the DGSE — the French foreign intelligence service — that quotes a Saudi intelligence report that mentions bin Laden’s death.
The French government quickly called for an investigation of the leak (suggesting that the DGSE document was authentic). The Saudi government said it has no evidence bin Laden is dead and that the information reported “is purely speculative and cannot be independently verified.” Two days later, on Sept. 26, a Taliban official called Al Arabiya News Channel’s Pakistan bureau to report that bin Laden is alive and healthy. He said the Taliban verified this through some of its members who are close to al Qaeda. Meanwhile, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan (which has the best human intelligence coverage of al Qaeda in the region bordering Afghanistan) also has stated his belief that bin Laden is alive — possibly (and conveniently for a Pakistani leader) in Afghanistan’s Kunar province. However, there has not yet been a public response from al Qaeda or bin Laden himself.
Considering that intelligence agencies frequently obtain odd reports on a wide array of topics, it is not the report of bin Laden’s possible death that is truly interesting, but rather the reactions to it. Though it is not inconceivable that a French intelligence report accidentally made its way to the press, it seems much more likely that it was deliberately leaked. If so, it is a leak that, at this time, raises a number of intriguing questions.
Filmmaker Looks at Muslims in America Observing Ramadan
Greg FlakusHouston: Later this month, Muslims around the world will begin a month-long fast to observe Ramadan. During this time, they fast all day long and then eat in the evening. A Muslim-American filmmaker has chosen this as his subject in a new film about how five American Muslim families practice their faith and how non-Muslims relate to their traditions.
The director of the feature-length documentary American Ramadan is Naeem Randhawa, who was born in Pakistan, raised in Canada and, for the past eight years, has made Dallas, Texas his home.
As a thoroughly American Muslim, he was distressed by the distorted image of Islam many Americans have, partly because of conflict in the Middle East and terrorism, but also because of negative images in movies and television shows. He wanted to find a way to bridge the gap between people of his faith and other Americans, most of whom, he says, hold the same basic family values as Muslims.
I missed this Voice of America (VOA article that came out earlier this month. The film “American Ramadan” shows how five American Muslim families, each from different ethnic backgrounds, celebrates the month of Ramadan. The film has been shown at several film festivals and some Public Broadcasting channels have picked it up. Unfortunately, I can’t find any useful links to direct readers to an upcoming broadcast. I guess we’ll have to keep an eye open for it.
16 Gitmo Saudis to Arrive Sunday
JEDDAH: Sixteen Saudis detained at the controversial US holding facility at Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay are expected to arrive in Riyadh next Sunday, Al-Watan, the Abha-based Arabic language daily reported Wednesday.
The 16 returnees represent the sixth batch handed back to the Kingdom by American authorities. Once the 16 make it home, that will leave some 75 Saudi nationals under incarceration at Guantanamo Bay – who Riyadh insists on repatriating.
Meanwhile, Guantanamo Saudi detainees lawyer Clive Stadford said US interrogators tried to extract a confession from him to prove that he had a role in persuading two Saudis to commit suicide.
He said the interrogators asked his client Muhammed Al-Qarni about his role in the suicide, saying Stadford had asked his two clients to kill themselves to force the American administration to shut down the prison.
This article, from Saudi Gazette cites the Arabic daily Al-Watan as the originator of the article. I find the comments by the attorney to be pretty bizarre. Perhaps something got lost in the translation…
Shariah courts must set up family counselling centres
Habib ShaikhJEDDAH — A call has been made to set up family counselling and guidance centres in Shariah courts in Saudi Arabia.
”Such offices are necessary considering the rising number of domestic abuse cases,” Jawhara Al Anqari, chairperson of the National Human Rights Association (NHRA), who made the call, was quoted as saying in the Arabic daily Al Madina.
Al Anqari said that the association has looked into 6,000 complaints, of which 40 per cent relate to family problems. She also called for raising the amount of Nafaqa from the present SR500. Nafaqa is a monthly financial aid given to a child of a divorcee according to Islamic law.
In another plea, she urged speeding up the establishment of family courts. There has been an increase of attention and media focus on violence against women and children in Saudi Arabia in the past few years.
The story of Saudi anchor woman Rania Al Bazz, who was brutally beaten up by her husband, and the Raffa case in Taif of a six-year-old girl beaten and tortured by her stepmother, have increased public outrage and focus on domestic abuse.
Since there aren’t any official shelters for abused women or children to go to, many end up temporarily in charitable organisations, or in reform centres for women.
Interesting piece in Khaleej Times about Saudi efforts to both reform the courts and to protect victims of abuse. Abuse is not Islamic, no matter what theory of “rights of the father/husband/brother/uncle” might be used.
Judge Rejects Ashcroft’s Immunity Claim
REBECCA BOONEBOISE, Idaho (AP) — Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft could be called to testify in a lawsuit that claims a student was wrongly imprisoned in a computer terrorism case, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge rejected Ashcroft’s argument to toss out the lawsuit because he was entitled to absolute immunity since his position at the Department of Justice was prosecutorial.
I offer this article from The Washington Post as an example that US law does not uniformly discriminate against Muslims or Saudis. This court case arises out of an issue in 2003 which saw the detention of Abdullah al-Kidd, an American convert to Islam, as a material witness. Kidd has filed suit against former Attorney General Ashcroft for the detention and the damage it has done to his life. The US District Court has sided with Kidd to permit his case to proceed. [You can find an ACLU press release about Kidd's earlier legal victory to obtain release from jail here.]
The outcome of the original issue was not satisfactory to the Saudi student, Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, who was deported from the US just months before completing his PhD program. Despite having won acquittal on various terrorism charges, Al-Hussayen agreed to be deported to avoid retrial on several immigration law violation charges.
If nothing else, this article and this case show that the issue of “profiling” and detention are being hotly debated in the US. It’s not all one-sided and against Muslims.
[UPDATE: You can read the court's decision on Al-Kidd here (23-page PDF document).]
Saudi Arabia to Archive Entire Population’s Fingerprints
Majid al KinaniJeddah, Asharq Al-Awsat- The Saudi Interior Ministry intends to start archiving the fingerprints of all Saudis through the civil records departments in the various administrative regions, Asharq Al-Awsat has learned.
A source in the ministry’s civil records department told “Asharq al-Awsat” that work is underway on a plan to archive Saudi citizens’ fingerprints through the civil records department’s branches when the recently-adopted new identity card is issued or renewed.
The plan aims to archive and store all fingerprints as a reference when there is a need to identify persons, missing people, or for any emergency circumstances required by the authorities. Another beneficial feature is that they will be included in the smart chips for use in the electronic identification of citizens, which will facilitate many of the measures at airports, border points, and so on.
The Saudi authorities announced at the beginning of this year that they were about to implement the fingerprint system at all Saudi Arabia’s land and air outlets for foreigners arriving or leaving the country. They added that this measure would be implemented to curtail any security violations that might happen and eliminate many of the security violations.
This is a move certain to upset civil libertarians, but we knew that. There’s always one group that will focus on the potential for malfeasance while another focuses on the potential for good. It’s not an issue I get particularly upset about, however, since I was first fingerprinted in 2nd Grade as a security measure, when the city I was living in was undergoing a rash of child abductions. Since then, as a government employee, there’s not been a whole lot about my life that was not pretty much a matter of public record. Even my DNA resides in a government database–that was done as a precaution, in case DNA was the only way to identify my remains following a terrorist act.
So here, I’ll be among those that focus on the potential good that can come from this step, particularly since biometrics of one sort or another are definitely going to become part of the process of international travel. Arguing that its okay for a foreign government to have and use such data while prohibiting one’s own government from having it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
No Water in Ramadan?
Dr. Rakan Habib, Al-MadinahIt is the beginning of Ramadan and there is a water shortage in Jeddah. The problem is a big enough reason for the residents of Jeddah to enlist the services of an investigative agency to probe the truth of the explanations given by the Water Department each year. Hearing the same reasons year after year is as tedious as listening to the same CD repeatedly.
After this continuous suffering for the past 20 years, it is imperative for people to question two important issues. First, why have the problems at the desalination plants not been fixed after all these years? Secondly, is it logical that there is a water shortage at a time when the summer heat has decreased by seven degrees centigrade and when Saudi holidaymakers have left the city in large numbers?
For the past week or so, the Saudi media has been running articles about a shortage of water in Jeddah, a particularly onerous condition during Ramadan, when the only time one may drink is between sunset and sunrise. This article, from the Arabic daily Al-Madinah notes that the problem isn’t new; it’s been getting worse for the past 20 years. Rather than shortages in the resource, the writer suggests, there’s a shortage of competence in the water authority.
Another article, from Arab News, points out how the shortage particularly affects women. They’re the ones responsible for running the house. Problems are theirs to deal with:
Women Suffer in Quest for Water
Hassna’a Mokhtar & Somayya Jabarti, Arab NewsJEDDAH, 28 September 2006 — Women, some old and barely standing, others with their children, crowded the six-by-six room at the Aziziya Water Distribution Center here in the late afternoon on the fifth day of Ramadan.
Jamming up against a barred glass window, the women shoved and shouted struggling to reach toward a small circle cut into the glass through which male employees would pass them their coupons — water coupons.
A middle-aged woman, pregnant in her eighth month, beads of sweat trickling down the sides and front of her face said: “I’ve been standing here since 12 noon. I’m here because my 15-year-old son couldn’t get a coupon even after he waited for more than five hours. I came here in a taxicab. I’m still empty-handed.†Women mostly ranging from lower to middle class filled up the room with many young girls still in their school uniforms.
“Where is the press?†asked one. “The newspapers should come — see what’s happening and write about it,†another woman quickly added. In almost three hours only five out of 50 women were able to get water coupons. Out of those five women only two got their water tanks. However, obtaining a water coupon and matching it to a water tanker still does not guarantee water for your home.
The “Magic Kingdom” isn’t so magic if one doesn’t have money to hire staffs to do this kind of work, or to find ways around the problems.
Bin Laden: Enlightenment Remains the Protector
Tariq AlhomayedAfter a report was leaked and statements were made concerning the confirmation or refutation of the death of Osama Bin Laden, which prompted French President Jacques Chirac and U.S Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to comment, the following thought came to mind: What if the Al Qaeda leader released a videotape in which he reveals that he has been suffering from depression and distress for some time and that he has chosen to review what is happening in the world as a result of his ideology and that of his followers?
Tariq Alhomayed, Editor-in-Chief of Asharq Alawsat, has this piece. He says that it doesn’t really matter if Bin Laden is dead or alive; his toxic ideology is loosed upon the world and needs to be dealt with. He notes that were UBL to recant his previous tirades against the world, the only effect would be for those caught up in the ideology to cast him out, among the sinners.
Worth reading.
Female Arab Sportscasters Dominate the Field
Huda al SalehRiyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- Two years ago, Saudi Arabia witnessed its first female news presenters with the launch of the new Saudi channel Al Ekhbariya. Anchorwomen have proved to be competition for their male counterparts as well as for prominent and distinguished female newsreaders around the Arab world even in the field of security which is considered internally to be dominated by men. More recently, Saudi women have entered a field from which they were completely absent, namely, sports-related news and programs.
Nada Al Daham has presented the sports news for Al Ekhbariya news channel for three months and told Asharq Al Awsat that the decision to appoint her to this position was taken as a result of her personal ambition and that the channel’s administration encouraged her choice of work. Al Daham is critical of those who associate news genres with a certain sex and those who claim that the use of female news anchors is a marketing ploy. Al Daham’s personal support for this career path has been met by reservation and disapproval from society.
Stories as this, from Asharq Alawsat ought to help dispell some stereotypes. But then, there are still those who object to female sportscasters on American TV, so maybe not…