Muslimedia.com: "The oil-rich countries in the Gulf region as a whole are well-known for employing and abusing huge numbers of foreign workers, who contribute to and sustain the boom in their economic, industrial and building development. Yet the international community (including the UN), press and broadcast media have ignored the plight of these workers even though in many cases they outnumber the indigenous populations. Even human-rights organisations seldom pay enough attention to what amounts to serious denials of basic human rights – and indeed torture– of so many 'guest workers'. But now there is even greater need to not ignore the issue, as the guest-workers in the UAE have directed attention to their conditions themselves by challenging the ruling sheikhs in a conflict that has so far led to a few negligible concessions and very little media coverage."
Broken Spring? : Information Clearing House This is a sequel to my June 2011 article, ‘After the spring’, on the upheavals in the Arab world. It is an article that has been painful to write, because it brings bad tidings and offers a pessimistic analysis of the upheavals, at least in the short term, in a number of Arab countries. The outcomes and potential outcomes of these uprisings have also acquired new, very significant dimensions. These include a complex entanglement with the accelerated preparations for a possible attack on Iran, and a poisonous, sectarian aspect that could have the consequence of ripping Syria and the Middle East apart.
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