Previously known as the Trucial States, the United Arab Emirates was formed in 1971 comprising of  seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al Qaiwain. The president of the United Arab Emirates is Khalifa bin  Zayed Bin Al Nahayan, who was elected president after the death of his father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in November 2004. The UAE residents have a high standard of living and level of education, and the country is investing a great deal in transforming the desert into a green and pleasant land.

While addressing at the opening of UAE consultative assembly, the Federal National Council, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan said:

Despite its negative effects, the global economic crisis has demonstrated the strength of our economy. Our economy is complementary, headed by the federation … which organizes all aspects of our lives and which takes on all the challenges we face.

Earlier this year when speculation mounted that the Emirate of Abu Dhabi sought to lay hands on several ailing companies in Dubai, the UAE president intervened to assert that the two emirates needed cooperation to face the financial crisis.

Dubai announced in February this year a plan to issue treasury bonds worth twenty billion dollars. The UAE central bank subscribed half of the treasury bonds.

The woman police officer has filed a formal complainted against the policeman. It will be interesting to see what will be the outcome of the complaint.

The women police officers were graduated on March 25, 2009 and have been facing such problems since then. One Ministry of Interior (MoI) official has been quoated saying that the ministry is considering the options of paying female officers an additional KD 50 on top of their wages for every salute which male colleagues refuse to give them or imposing administrative penalties on the male police officers in question.

Source:gulfnews

He said, “Israel must decide whether they want to observe this opportunity and become integrated in the region or whether they want to remain a fortress … and keep the Middle East hostage in conflict.”

The king met Romanian President Traian Basescu to discuss bilateral issues and the need for peace in the Middle East.

The Arab peace initiative offers Israel recognition by all Arab countries in exchange for her withdrawal from territory captured during 1967, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital and a just solution to Palestinian refugees problem.

Israel most probably will not withdraw from the captured territory due to fact that this way it can keep its control over water. However, on the other hand withdrawel can establish peace in the region.

 Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate experts has pointed out in a recent report that Saudi Arabia has a large domestic economy and is less dependent on global flows of capital and labour.

There are also many opportunities for investors, developers and occupiers with a recent snap poll finding that Saudi Arabia is expected by the construction industry to take centre stage in the coming period.

He called Israel’s three-week assault on Gaza which killed more than 1,300 Palestinians in the densely populated enclave, “barbaric” and a “catastrophe.”

He further said, “President Obama can do something and gain the confidence and support of the Arab and Muslim nations by showing that he has done things on the ground and not simply expressed a wish for that.”
He wrote in the daily Financial Times,

“If the US wants to continue playing a leadership role in the Middle East and keep its strategic alliances intact — especially its ‘special relationship’ with Saudi Arabia — it will have to drastically revise its policies vis a vis Israel and Palestine.” 

He concluded with writing,

Let us all pray that Mr Obama possesses the foresight, fairness, and resolve to rein in the murderous Israeli regime and open a new chapter in this most intractable of conflicts.

Does US really care about its relationships with Saudi Arabia as there is already some planning to break Saudi Arabia into small states along with some other countries like Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. You can see the redrawn map for Middle East.
Source: Yahoo News

Fourteen of the council’s 15 members voted in favour of the resolution. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a speech,

“In the night between Thursday and Friday, when the secretary of state wanted to lead the vote on a ceasefire at the Security Council, we did not want her to vote in favour.”

“I said ‘get me President Bush on the phone’. They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn’t care. ‘I need to talk to him now’. He got off the podium and spoke to me.”

“I told him the United States could not vote in favour. It cannot vote in favour of such a resolution. He immediately called the secretary of state and told her not to vote in favour.”

Though US official, of course on condition of anonymity, has denied it and said that Israel’s prime minister is wrong. “The government of Israel does not make US policy,” he said.

It shows who dictates USA policy on Middle East and who is incharge.  souce: AFP

Nearly 300 of those killed are children and at least over 500 are civilians. The only crime of the civilians was that they elected Hamas as their ‘democratic’ government. The countries which claim that they are for democracy in Middle East refused to accept the democratically elected government of Hamas. And as far as children are concerned, their crime was that they were born in Gaza which is the largest outdoor prison on globe controled by Israel.

 Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, speaking at the news conference has accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields by saying, “And at the end of the day, even though we try to avoid civilian casualties, these things happen.” 

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said its compound, where up to 700 Palestinians were being sheltered, was hit twice by Israeli fire and three staff members were injured.

 Is firing at UN shelters is avoiding civilian casualities? If he is so concerned about civilian casualities then why Israel is even blocking the humantarian aid to Gaza? Israeli navy threatened to open fire on a vessel carrying doctors, aid workers and medical supplies to Gaza. The Greek-flagged ship had to return.

The United Nation has failed to stop these deaths. It took weeks to even condemn Israel’s action and on the other hand the same UN is very quick to issue statements if rockets are fired from Gaza.

The advocates of Israel tell the world that Israelis phone Palestinians before attacking so that Palestinians can take shelter, wounded Palestinians are treated in top notch medical facilities of Israel and Israel takes all the precautions to avoid the common palestinians. Hamas fired over 6000 rockets into Israel since 2005.

How many of the over 3000 wounded are being treated in top notch hospitals in Israel? Israel phones Palestinians to hide in shelters and then start shelling those shelters as many of the Palestinians died as a result of shelling of UN built shelters. Only bombardment by Israel in last few days is way more than that of 6000 rockets in three years. The comparison of death and destruction is not even possible.

Eric Margolis in his column “Israel strikes at Obama“,

“Israel believes its mighty information machine will allow it to weather the storm of worldwide outrage over its Biblical punishment of Gaza. Who remembers Israel’s flattening of parts of the rebellious Palestinian city of Jenin, or the U.S. destruction in Falluja, Iraq? As Stalin liked to say, “the dogs bark, and the caravan moves on.”

He further writes:

“Though Israel’s use of American weapons against Gaza violates the U.S. Arms Export Control and Foreign Assistance Acts, the docile U.S. Congress will remain mute. Hamas, the militant but democratically elected government of Gaza, is even less likely to compromise. Its rival, the lapdog Fatah regime on the West Bank installed by the U.S. and Israel after Arafat’s mysterious death, will be further discredited.

Syria has broken off peace talks with Israel. The Muslim world is in a rage. So what? As long as the U.S. gives Israel carte blanche, as the outgoing Bush administration did once more over Gaza, it can do just about anything it wants. Let the dogs bark. “

This is exactly what Israel is doing and US is poisoning relationships with Muslims around the globe to safe Israel’s interest in Middle East region. It did not matter before nor it will make any difference in future to Israel or US even if the rest of the world is against the attacks and wants it to stop.

“I think it’s a monstrosity; there’s no other way to name it. Once again, the world is watching in dismay the dysfunctionality of the Security Council.”

The Security Council once again failed to reach an agreement as US once agained blocked any consensus during the late-night emergency meeting. US blames Hamas for all the violance in Gaza stating Hamas must stop smuggling arms into Gaza and cease rocket attacks on Israel, which were the “root cause” of violence in the region. However, at the same time US ignores that how Israel has been keeping a tight squeez on Gaza during the so called truce. Israel repeatedly invaded Gaza during the truce did its best to make the life miserable for Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel has said its air strikes were prompted by rockets fired into its territory and by Hamas breaching a six-month ceasefire. But the Commissioner General of the UN Relief and Works Agency, Karen Abu-Zayd, said last week the rocket attacks followed a covert raid and assassinations by Israeli forces.

Over 500 Palestinians have been dead and thousands have been wounded. There has been large protests in all major cities of the world. However, UN has failed to even issue a statement.

The basic question is if Palestin was doing what Israel is doing, will the UN or USA has acted the same way?

The way world leaders and United Nation has reacted so far on this Israeli massacre in Gaza, it speaks of double standards on terrorism. No matter how condemnable firing of rockets by Hamas in Israel is, Israel’s reaction cannot be justified at all. However, these world leaders are trying to advocate Israel’s brutality as a right of self-defence.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has urged an immediate end to Israel’s ground offensive in the Gaza. However, it means nothing to Israel as these are just words.

Thousands of protesters in most of the major cities of the world gathered and chanted slogans such as “End the siege on Gaza” and “Stop the massacre.”

UN security council is holding a special meeting to discuss the situation.  What will be the outcome of the meeting is anybody’s guess.  Everybody talks about rights of Israel but in doing so clearly ignore the rights of Palestinians. Gaza is the largest prison on earth controled by Israel and now Israel is proudly killing those Palestinians. If UN is serious in rresolving the issue then start considering Isareli and Palestinian people as equal. The life of an Israeli is equally important as of Palestinian. Palestianians also have the right to live free of fear and in freedom. 

Lets ask Hamas to pay for the damage inflicted by its rocket and Israel pays for all the destruction and killings in Gaza.

The death toll is now more than 500 palestinians in Gaza. How many more destruction and dead bodies UN require to act on this situation?