A recent column I wrote detailed the warm relations between the United States and the United Arab Emirates. It’s been a wonderful love affair that has been financially and strategically beneficial for both countries.
Here’s the downside.
There’s an American in prison in Dubai who the UAE says has...
Someone who has read my columns about the Middle East asks: “Are they doing anything right over there?”
Well, it depends on who among the “they” you are talking about. The important “they” are the Gulf Arabs and, yes, they are doing many things right.
They sell us all the oil we want when we want it...
These are the 2011 records for Florida’s professional football teams: Miami Dolphins, 5-10; Jacksonville Jaguars, 5-11; Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 4-12.
I have a solution: find an Arab oil sheikh.
I have no interest in soccer, but I’m living in the United Arab Emirates among lots of people who do....
When you hear the term “blood money” in the U.S., you think of a reward paid when the hero in a cowboy movie brings the sullen bad guys into town and turns them over to the sheriff.
But here in the Middle East and other Muslim countries, blood money is the law.
I live in the United Arab Emirates. This...
If you’re having a backyard barbecue and your neighbor shifts the conversation from Ozzie Guillen’s affection for Fidel Castro to the brouhaha over the Formula One race in Bahrain, you might need a tutorial. Everyone is not up to speed on the mess there.
In other words, it’s time for another Middle East Q&A.
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I know Florida legislators sometimes run amok and odd bills result. Lawmakers want to outlaw droopy pants and keep people from buying junk food with their food stamps.
But those guys are in the minor leagues compared to our friends here in the Middle East. As you no doubt realize, the Arab Spring has backfired on the democracy crowd. They drove the dictators out, but Islamists, not the educated Facebook...
The next time a Florida Highway Patrol trooper pulls you over for speeding, try this argument:
“Officer, I’m sorry but God does not want me to comply with traffic laws. He considers it an insult. My life is in his hands and if I’m to die in a traffic accident, it is his will.”
Goofy, right?...
I recently returned from six days in Israel. Great place to visit, but if you’re American you don’t want to keep spending billions of tax dollars there.
I stipulate that Israel and its place in the Middle East is a complex issue and that I’m no expert. But you don’t have to be a policy wonk to know this: the status quo is really bad for the United States.
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Dear Tom,
Q. Sometimes I go to a cocktail party and some wise guy starts talking about the Arab Spring and I get confused. Can you help me?
A. Yes, with very little information you can hold your own in five-minute conversations. You simply have to know about Sunnis and Shiites and Islamic...
My son Patrick just spent nine days with me here in the United Arab Emirates. He arrived with a decent understanding of the place but he was surprised by the big cities -- Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
He had expected them to be more like Miami or Tampa or Orlando, real cities despite the theme parks and gated communities. But Abu Dhabi and Dubai are more like glitzy construction sites. You can see construction...
