U.N. Finds Fraud, Mismanagement in Peacekeeping Task Force Says 'Multiple Instances' of Corruption Have a Cost of $610 Million By Colum Lynch Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, December 18, 2007 UNITED NATIONS -- A U.N. task force has uncovered a pervasive pattern of corruption and mismanagement involving hundreds of millions
I would urge taking a look at a smart, savvy business daily that's just been launched in Dubai. It's called Emirates Business 24/7, and its Web site is: http://www.business24-7.ae. The paper's editor-in-chief is Riyad Mickdady, one of the best informed people in the Middle East, and the editor is Frank Kane, formerly business editor of The Observer in Britain. The pap
President's about-face on Iran By WAYNE WHITE (Note: The following article was published in the Pocono Record, Pennsylvania, and can also be accessed at http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071206/NEWS04/712060323. It’s reprinted here with permission.) The reversal of the Intelligence Community's judgment that Iran has an acti
The question of why the Saudis agreed to let Nawaz Sharif -- no special friend of the United States -- leave his exile in Riyadh and return home to Pakistan to confront President Pervez Musharraf, has not quite been adequately dealt with. Was there some "understanding" between Washington and Riyadh that Sharif's return would somehow boost America's already dismal stan
Full text: Bill Keller's Hugo Young lecture Not dead yet: the newspaper in the days of digital anarchy This is the full text of this year's memorial lecture which was delivered at Chatham House in London by Bill Keller, executive editor, New York Times (Courtesy of Guardian Unlimited, Thursday, November 29, 2007) It's an honour to b
The following is my posting today on G2K, a Web list maintained by Prof. Gary G. Sick of Columbia University: My first taste of Iranian pistachios was in December 1971, when an Air India flight I'd taken from New York to Bombay (now Mumbai) made an unexpectedly lengthy stop in Kuwait. Unbeknownst to passengers, the war between India and Pakistan had started,
The Spy Who Wants Israel to Talk By David Ignatius Sunday, November 11, 2007; B07 The Washington Post JERUSALEM -- Efraim Halevy, the former head of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, titled his memoirs "Man in the Shadows." But now that he's out in the sunlight, the 72-year-old retired spy chief has some surprisingly contrarian things to sa
The following is a response from Etihad Airways to my complaint about my BlackBerry being stolen aboard the carrier's Abu Dhabi-to-New York flight on business class: Dear Mr. Gupte, First of all, please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your email. I wanted to make sure that we had fully exhausted all avenues in an attempt to recove
I strong recommend Falu's new album, titled simply "Falu," which is available on iTunes and in record stores. She's of Indian origin, and has one of the most extraordinary voices I've ever heard. Her melodies are simply haunting, and my special favorite is "In the Rain."
Oil Price Rise Causes Global Shift in Wealth Iran, Russia and Venezuela Feel the Benefits By Steven Mufson Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, November 10, 2007; A01 High oil prices are fueling one of the biggest transfers of wealth in history. Oil consumers are paying $4 billion to $5 billion more for crude oil every day than they did just
May I recommend very strongly a great new media blog just launched by a good friend and former New York Times colleague, Charles Kaiser: www.radaronline.com/fullcourtpress.
(The following article appeared in The New York Sun on October 26, 2007, and is reprinted with the kind permission of the newspaper's editor.) By Pranay Gupte Special to The New York Sun ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – Of the 22 countries that constitute the Arab League, only three have formal diplomatic ties with Israel. The United Arab Emira
The following essay was written for a new book, "The Sands of Thought: Essays on The World of Ideas," by John Strassburger, president of Ursinus College. The published was published on the occasion of the Second Biennial Festival of Thinkers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, October 21-24, 2007. The Future Is Now By Pranay Gupte (Pranay Gupte is a vet
An Appreciation: James W. Michaels (published in The New York Sun, October 4, 2007) By Pranay Gupte Jim Michaels, who died late Tuesday night, liked to say that India was, for him, the cradle of civilization, and that India was also, for him, the cradle of his journalism. As a very young reporter for what was then United Press, he traveled t
Columbia University President Lee Bollinger's "welcome" of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran on September 24 at the university was about as insulting and demeaning as one could imagine (or not imagine). You simply don't insult yourguests in your own home, as it were. I am scarcely a fan of President Ahmadinejad, but I know Iran very well indeed -- and I seriously
The following is the text of the HCT 20th Annual Conference Opening Address by His Highness Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Chancellor of the Higher Colleges of Technology and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, United Arab Emirates, in Dubai, August 30, 2007: Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen, and welcome to the new academic year of the
In a recent posting on the prestigious G2000 List, Charles Naas raises some timely and fundamental questions regarding the "debate" over Iran. Before I address them, let me state my own position, having recently spent several months in the Gulf and in the Middle East (and having covered the region as a journalist since the mid 1970's): All the political posturing asid
The following is the text of a note I just received from Etihad Airways in response to my complaint about the theft of my US BlackBerry aboard Etihad's flight from Abu Dhabi to New York on September 5: Dear Mr Gupte Thank you for your e-mail dated 5th September, addressed to our CEO, Mr. James Hogan, who has asked that I investigate this matter on hi
The following is the text of an e-mail that I sent on Wednesday, September 5, to James Hogan, chief executive officer of Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. Mr. Hogan has yet to respond: Dear Mr. Hogan: I write this to alert you that my US BlackBerry was stolen aboard EY 101, which I took at 2 a.m. on September 5 from Abu Dhabi to New York. I was flying bus
The following is the text of the keynote address delivered by Dr. John Strassburger, President of Ursinus College, at the 20th Anniversary Conference of the Higher College of Technology in Dubai, August 30: I cannot fully describe how honored I am to be here. It is a privilege, Your Highness Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, to see this wonderful collection
Hmmmm, let’s see. Maybe Professor Fish should now also start predicting the monsoons in South Asia. This is August 2007; the elections are in November 2008. Those who, like Professor Fish, gaze so deeply into the crystal ball run the risk of needing sun glasses after a while. Blinded by Hillary, is it? Let’s see: What about those sleazeball Indian entrepreneurs around
A record number of Nobel laureates, and distinguished thought leaders and decision makers from all around the world are expected to participate in the Festival of Thinkers in October, the biennial event organized by the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates. Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Pri
A fundamental premise of modern-day nation building is this: a country’s wealth, especially accruing from its natural resources, must be put in service of economic growth. On the face of it, that premise seems to capture the obvious. What else would a country – in this case, the United Arab Emirates – do with its enormous revenues from pumping out 2.1 million
For the last several weeks, I have been traveling in the Middle East on journalistic assignments. I thought I should alert G2K members to one of the most remarkable people I've encountered in my very long journalistic career -- His Highness Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, the UAE's Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research. Almost single handedly he crea
I think this is the loveliest piece Seth Lipsky has ever written. Its cadences, its depth of feeling, the elegance of its sentences -- I hope Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel have read this, and I hope they were moved by Seth's prose. I'm not so sure that I fully understand the legal case against Black, so I won't comment on Seth's handling of the jurisprudence involved
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