TV channel from Dubai

A TV channel has been switched on for the sake of its dramatic soap operas. These usually feature a lot of sappy language, and then ten minutes of camera time lovingly focused on the unhappy heroine as she stands in her rich living room and observes her fearful expression in the mirror, all while gloomy music is playing. I'm not kidding: I actually saw ten minutes without an dialogue, just the heroine looking frightened and hopeless as she stood in the living room.

Then when the soap opera is over, they show about ten minutes of news. Yesterday, the headline was about government appointments made by Dubai's ruler. It sounded like he was appointing others amongst his family into certain positions.

Then, they talked about Palestine: the burned Palestinian teenager and Israeli rocket attacks into Gaza, but also mentioned Gaza rockets fired into Israel.

Then they mentioned the UN Secretary-General, but I don't remember what for.

Then they mentioned a bunch of attacks that took place yesterday in Uganda; but they did not mention attacks that occurred in Kenya yesterday carried out by Al Shabab.

One morning I saw a commercial on this channel about how three million children die every year from dirty water, and here is a list of organizations that you can please donate to during Ramadan.

The other day I was in a taxi and for the second time this whole time in Jordan, the BBC Arabic radio was on. But both times I've heard it, the sound has been so distorted that I couldn't understand what they were saying.

Another day recently the Jordanian morning radio was on in the taxi, and one of the headlines was that there are 6.6 million Syrian children living as refugees, or are displaced.

You're Beat by the Middle East

(February 7, 2014)

Throughout the world, the share of female internet entrepreneurs is 10%, but in the Middle East that number jumps to 35%. This is the highest rate in the entire world!

So the BBC Arabic did a segment where they interviewed women technology students and business owners throughout the Middle East. The over-riding consensus is that this unexpected turn of events is great for breaking down stereotypes regarding the poor, pitiable, helpless Arab woman (some of which I indulge in myself!)

These statistics were released by a company - that is, a firm - called Startup Compass.

This scene is from a technology college in the United Arab Emirates. Yes, all you see are male students at first, but that's just because the men/women are separated. The other side of the room is female, and in fact, the female tech students out-number the men.

 Even the instructor is female!

This is what the college grounds look like:

I can't tell if the columns are Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian; or maybe there are column types that are not Greek. 

This student says: I think tech work is really good work for women.

This lady says that they really support their female students. There's even scholarships:

And it's not just internet-based fields, but all sorts of engineering matters, such as this lady studying robots:

They said this robot is supposed to help kids with 'tawahid'. I'm not sure what that means. It might have something to do with loneliness or unity.

In the US, for sure, there's sometimes a bit of a slant against girls studying hard sciences, but this lady was saying that experience is completely opposite in the Middle East. There's no unspoken rule that women should not be engineers:

 Nice chalkboard whirls, by the way!

To be sure, there's other limitations placed against women working, but science and technology are preferred because they are seen as safe, flexible fields. When it comes to internet-based firms, the fact that you can work at home is an advantage.

There was a competition in the Middle East crowning the best new internet business, or something along those lines, and a girl called Lulu won it. I think they said she was 14!

Look at the gracious male losers congratulating her. I'll be jiggered!

These two women run an internet firm. I think they said most of their employees were women, and I think they said their female workers were better than the males (obviously), and they definitely said that a Saudi woman was working as a consultant or adviser for them, remotely.

And a final picture of everyone chilling in the start-up center. If I had not context, I'd think this was in the US somewhere.

Qatar Exploiting Workers

(September 25, 2013)

I don't think that Qatar has been putting in a good showing at the BBC Arabic news. The last time I remember a story about them, they were inviting Sudan's president and giving him kisses upon arrival, when he is wanted to stand trial on genocide at The Hague. No country is supposed to let him into their borders without arresting him, but many Muslim countries have been flouting this rule for the past ten years.

Now Qatar is in the news again because FIFA got wind that foreign laborers building all the Soccer World Cup stadiums and venues are being mistreated. So the BBC Arabic had a short clip about this running throughout the day:

I really should have checked Al-Jazeera that day to see if they bothered to mention it at all, or decided to sweep it all under the rug. 

I think the BBC Arabic should do a big investigative story about all the mistreatment of foreign laborers in all the Arab Gulf countries. That way they can do a close-up scrutiny on violations, and they can even mention what aspects are fairly practiced. We can get the whole story, instead of just bits and pieces like this. I don't remember seeing any other story on the BBC Arabic about mistreatment of foreign workers in the Arab Gulf countries in the past year that I have been paying attention.

Emirati angel in white

(July 17, 2013)

I know it’s crazy, but this Emirati guy is beating the Indian driver with the black circle that goes over his white head piece. 

Hand swing in action.

Then this guy came over to talk some sense. 

The best part of this picture is the hand of the guy in the plaid shirt. That is a classic Arab stance! You can't be a proper Arab unless you meet your quota of forming your hand like that at least, say, five times a day.

Oh, snap. The Emirati angel in white does not like the interference. Don't be cramping his style. 

Some in the car next-door in the traffic jam was the one taping it. Kept beeping his horn, to remind him people were watching, but the Emirati angel in white listens to no one except the instinct and impulses in his own heart.

His wardrobe firmly back in place, the Emirati angel is ready to be on his merry way.
He was arrested, that's good. And the guy who taped the scene, and posted it to Youtube, was arrested, too.

The United Arab Emirates has lots of foreign workers, and as you can see, they are treated with lots of respect. 

The Emirati police wants you to know that this incident does not reflect on the high moral character of the Emiratis.