Much attention in the Middle East over the last three years has focused on the Arab uprisings -- on the political transformations, good and bad, that have remade the future of the region. Yet, much less attention has been paid to the small, but growing economic revolution brewing throughout the Arab world. Startups, internet companies, and the technology sector more generally are beginning to lead the way in the Arab world’s economic transformation. The question is, can the Arab world parallel its political revolutions with a new economic paradigm? Tel ...

Twenty-six countries walked out of Sochi sporting shiny new medals, but MENA nations weren’t part of that elite club. Kudos to our athletes for their courage and stamina, but the Olympics are yesterday’s news and we don’t need no stinkin’ medallions to show our competitive prowess! Middle East contenders have been setting Guinness World Records (GWR) for as long as the records have been kept. Last year, GWR, the global authority on record breaking achievement, set up Middle East operations with a Dubai office dedicated to working with future record-breakers ...

Every year, in February and March, activists and ethically-minded organizations all over the planet will be talking about boycotting Israel, kicking off proceedings with the tenth annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW). This comes at a time when the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement has seen unprecedented growth and attention from world media as well as from within Israel and the governments and institutions complicit with its ongoing crimes against Palestinians. IAW, an international series of peaceful protests, has become a major catalyst for rallying support and encouraging action for BDS ...

The Ides of March now marks a new era of uprising and tragedy: the ongoing Syrian Civil War . In March 2011, pro-democracy protests in Syria’s southern city of Deraa launched the country a civil war - a major turning point not only in Syria’s history, but that of the region and the world as well. The conflict - that has been drawn on sectarian lines and has regional powers dabbling in it - has never been anything less than complex. However, with international media outlets and world leaders touting ...

Andrew Harper, the UNHCR Country Representative for Jordan, recently spoke at an Amman international school, part of an ongoing series on topical issues which, in this region, usually boils down to Syrian refugees. Harper arrived in Jordan in early 2012, coincidental with with Syria’s escalating war, and was soon at the helm of a new camp for Syrian refugees in Zaatari, about to become the world’s largest. His candid description of the worst humanitarian displacement in history was stunning and difficult to digest - events happening less than 50 kilometers ...

The first Thursday of March is World Book Day , a yearly event organized by UNESCO to promote reading, publishing and copyright. What started in 1995 as a single day has ballooned into a week - and sometimes month! - long series of international book-based happenings to encourage us to step away from the keyboard and drop that remote control. Use the event as an excuse to tuck into some new reads; what better way to crack the incomprehensible nut that’s called the Middle East? Well, for starters you might ...

Forbes Business Magazine released their famous billionaires list this week for 2014, featuring a total of 1,645 billionaires with a collective net worth of $6.4 trillion! Try to wrap your humble heads around that figure! U.S. billionaire Bill Gates “bought out” the competition earning the top spot on the famous list with a net worth of $76 billion, up a whopping $9 billion from last year. While the U.S. might have led the way with Gates’ fortune, MENA representation on the list was not so far behind. A total of ...

Last week marked Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) , the annual international series of awareness-raising events that shines a media high-beam on Israel’s escalating apartheid policies towards Palestine. Click back three decades to 1985’s Artists United Against Apartheid , one of the most effective projects to incite non-violent support for human rights campaigns - quickly politicizing people around the world who might not otherwise have South African apartheid on their playlist. Founded by activist and performer Steven Van Zandt and record producer Arthur Baker to protest South Africa’s treatment of its ...