Thursday, December 31, 2009

She Became a Celebrity..



She does not know how to speak, although been a journalist.. Not in Arabic, and certainly nor in English.. Using vulgar terms and vocabularies, which most illiterate commons are using.. Apparently, her UN Press position was a gift from someone.. The same mystery about the Sudanese Press League, which kept a silent despite who the whole thing provokes their credibility in the troubled, yet reading country..!!
She was a shock to our distinctive culture.. in Sudan, conservatism is potted with open-mindness, where sky is the limit for your imagination, yet respect the fundamentals of our grassroots and common perceptions..
She was not that moral-driven one, nor dressed as modest as shown in press.. Police had caught her at midnight in a suspicious club.. A witness claimed her dress was totally different, almost naked; yet some activists helped her to change all to embrace the government in highly charged time of politics and power game..
Regretfully, she ashamed her country, and aided who want to shame Muslims.. She is too small to be any player, yet a tool for big players.. Now, she is immunized in Europe, and will be forgotten shortly.. but the hurt she caused will be deeper and wider to heal..!!
Unfortunately, Sudanese Government was not such smart to leak the picture of her custody states.. which normally, any statesman would do, as precaution for foreseen political row.. I'm sure such a photo is there somewhere, awaiting someone to leak.. yet also awaiting for a particular deal to expire among the political players..!!





Sunday, December 27, 2009

Geopolitics..



The first lesson in Geopolitics; is to know how:
To read both historical and recent maps,
To understanding resources, relationships and communications; then
To position yourself according to best interests..!!


African Historical Colonies


Commonwealth World 2009


Sudanese Accessiblity 2009


Undernourished 2008


Peace in the World 2009


Oil concessions 1997


Arms Route for Hamas

In April 2009, Israeli planes had attached and destroyed truck convoy somewhere on the Egyptian Sudanese boarders.. Earlier an Israeli navel ship had attacked and sunk an unidentified cargo ship within Sudanese waters.. Certainly, none of such was revealed except within the international political publications.. This is how geopolitics works..!!

Friday, December 25, 2009

Chimamanda Adichie

It is sensibly lengthy, yet attractive and goes deep in analyzing how stereotyping is generated, enforced and affects our intellectual world.. so, no wonder that people go unwilling to discover the depth of each other…
Thanks Iyad for sharing..



http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html

If the World were 100 People..


(World map redrawn by wealth..)

The following statistics are an abbreviated version of the research that we commissioned from the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay. The detailed research and source information can be found here. The statistics contained in the email that originally inspired the project have been retired, but can still be viewed here for purposes of comparison.

If the World were 100 PEOPLE:


50 would be female
50 would be male



20 would be children
There would be 80 adults,
14 of whom would be 65 and older


There would be:
61 Asians
12 Europeans
13 Africans
14 people from the Western Hemisphere


There would be:
31 Christians
21 Muslims
14 Hindus
6 Buddhists
12 people who believe in other religions
16 people who not be aligned with a religion


17 would speak Chinese
8 would speak Hindustani
8 would speak English
7 would speak Spanish
4 would speak Arabic
4 would speak Russian
52 would speak other languages


82 would be able to read and write; 18 would not
1 would have a college education
1 would own a computer


75 people would have some supply of food and a place to shelter them from the wind and the rain, but 25 would not
1 would be dying of starvation
17 would be undernourished

15 would be overweight
83 would have access to safe drinking water

17 people would have no clean, safe water to drink

Sources: Fritz Erickson, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay and John A. Vonk, University of Northern Colorado, 2006; Returning Peace Corps Volunteers of Madison Wisconsin, Unheard Voices: Celebrating Cultures from the Developing World, 1992; Donella H. Meadows, The Global Citizen, May 31, 1990.
http://www.100people.org/statistics_100stats.php?section=statistics

Saturday, December 19, 2009

In Dubai; we Trust..



Across the board; three negative values had gradually concurred the business culture in Dubai during the decade of 2000th.. These had created the messy situation of 2009.. Root-cause is simply the improper planning for cultural foundations to synchronize the economic boom.. Neverthless, no economic breakthrough can be build on a real estate cycles.. The question: who to blame.. Apparently, every party; Indigenous, Expatriates or Rating Agencies; has his own legitimate excuses.. Yet, the commons are paying the cost of a roughly-shaken economic model..

(1) Greed; to make more money by salaries, bounces or any profits; which had crashed many good values.. That Greed had been created and mastered by the Senior Executives, who understood the value of Balance Sheets to boost their glamorous success.. Thus; their excessive moneys were justified; which fed both service and retail sectors with more than $ 50 billion a year; creating the great urban bubble in Dubai.. There were no tangible products to define the economic boom, but massive luxurious benefits and privileges.. In the process definitions were twisted and values were misspelled..

(2) Selfishness; as companion to Greed and on contrary to praised causes; yet it had created a layer of incompetent executives; who would do anything to maintain their personal gains.. The absence of Cultural Mandate had enable all streams of thoughts to exercise, conditioned to run parallel the legal and political red tapes.. Even so, some professionals, who are the true fuel of the happenings, had went the extra mile to create legacies and myths; which had spelled magic on minds and hearts.. It was all around the ego: I & Us; against We & Them.. Regretfully, Dubai alike most Arab, Islamic and underdeveloped nations lacks those Sociologists; who can draw the navigation routes in the challenging world of fast foods and fast assembly..

(3) Disloyalty; as very few had cared about the consequences of her/his inputs on future and sustainability of public interests.. The graffiti’s which been circulated in emails, describing the chaos of Dubai and awaited dark future; were expression of extreme disconnect between the system and its aggregates.. Discomfort and disbelief was growing along the sharp curves of revenues, as no substantial efforts proven critical for the astronomical gains.. In a City-State, no secrets, and many shared the true stories of misconduct, yet everyone set himself distant from the story..



Regretfully to say; when the Financial products took it over from the Engineered ones.. there was no rationale lift to wrap the economic consensus.. Same, when the flood of many nationalities and cultures take over the city, no culture framework was there to wrap up the urban glance.. Yet, I need to condemn all so-called professionals, who shared directly or indirectly in turning the dear dream to make things right into a chaos.. This would including me as well..!!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Are you “Professional” ??



Are you “Professional”??


Probably not..!!

Many of claims to be professional, after earning a degree, spent some years working, and wrote few mails, or attended few meetings.. The fact that all these exciting venues are not sufficient to designate anyone as “Professional”..


Professionalism bridges yourself into the corporate and business world, where you are not yourself anymore, but part of a machine.. These machines are mostly for money making, some for regulating and governing our world, and few for building a goodness: knowledge, charity or priesthood..!! Notably, money making in some sectors means Money Saving/Controlling; which includes hospitals, low class housing, free schooling and subsidized food.. This is the Art of Enterprising..

My many years had been among many unintentionally unprofessional and few truly professional, yet, had inspired this heat-generating article.. Despite the many write-ups on the subject, apparently, little value is there, as the big words, double meanings and controversial definitions, had twisted the value, and misplace the message to the reading eyes, not the realizing brains.. Therefore, I will try my bet.. Hopefully will work..!!

 1. Just be on Time: No excuse: if this needs clarification: Forget it..!!

2. Swift Action. Swift Actions: When the exciting and enthusiasm are gone, things will inevitably taste different; and so the results..

3. Sorry; you have to please the Boss: This is not for debate, argument or research.. Take it or quit..!!

4. Do not mix Personal with Business: This is the black spiral hole that most are sunk in.. Do not claim emotionless because we all slip into this paradox. Not a shame to work on yourself, but do not expect quick results. It is almost a life time endeavor..!!

5. Do not misuse Physical Attributes: Handsome men are more trustworthy in business than pretty women.. Simply; most women cannot easily gear out of bed and be in their way to office in 15 minutes, but men can.. Dress attire is meant for women rather than men; yet it is easy for men to follow, but women try many tricks to work around it.. Maybe most women should stay at home..!!

6. There is always something new to know: Knowledge grows faster than our ability to acquaint. No one knows everything; yet many contrarily acts. Listen to everyone carefully; then elaborate and ask.. Later you can put your wonderful smashing smoking-guns statement..!!

7. Do not underestimate potentials: As a senior executive, I carefully listen to my clerk on file-labeling..!!

8. Communications Etiquette: Simply; either coming from a tropical jungle, or down town Manhattan..!!

9. White, Gray, Black or fashioned: I’m from an old school.. it is all about your hair.. BTW; Bold is white.. Ranking is the backbone of organizational structure.. Please; do not reinvent the wheel..!!

10. Look positively good and Fresh: Personally, I choose my city, wife, company, secretary and car; to express good karma..!!



Good Professional Luck...!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

The Gration Hearing..



Only, 12 hours ago, I posted my comments on Prof. Mamdani incorrect assessments on Sudan.. Today, I received support from The Capitol on some items..

There is no defined Policy on Sudan,
There is no Annex of comprehensive Incentives and Measures
Gen Gration is just clowning around, and
Thick fog is covering the whole thing..!!

Prof. Mamdani on Darfur & Sudan

One of the repeated and inevitable mistakes in today’s politics; is the referral to academic professors as advisors on setting strategies and roadmaps. It is a mistake, as people and communities are not constant matters with sustainable probabilities and predictable reactions. Human nature would drive a community to diverse its course of actions due to uncontrolled circumstances, including rumors and gossips. These facts, and others came bright to my mind when watching a JSC interview with Professor Mahmood Mamdani of Columbia University, as a world leading expert of African Studies, debating on backgrounds, developments and predictions of future of Darfur, Southern Sudan, and International Theater.. I have no doubt on his vast experience and knowledge about structures of African geopolitics and socio cultural compositions. Certainly, he advises authorities, think tanks and development institutions, as such academic credentials are the most reachable to get prepared for any actions. Yet, as always; there is blank black holes, which make most of this intelligent analysis and predication unreal, and rarely matching the forthcoming people’s actions or on-ground activities. No wonder, the common say on academic ivory chairs or watch towers..!!

I went thru his last book; Saviors and Survivors.. which is a very nice work, advocating the conspiracy behind Save Darfur Coalition, and explaining how historical the fights between various tribes over water and land, not on racial facts. Yet, his book, alike many other writers; is not addressed to Sudanese readers, but those Westerners who are thousands of miles away from battle zone or drought regions. Discussions on their strategies, not ours.. on their interests, not ours..!!


Nevertheless, the deliberate mindset of Al-Jazeerah (JSC) to only host controversial guests, who should have a definite criteria of expressing against the general consensus of any issue; is long questioned, and rather discomfortable to me on a personal level. This is well known to any observer who knows the history of lunching its service, and the agreed challenges for funding and promoting certain political visions. The aim is never to promote the truth, but the channel itself.. Then its commercial viability works..!!

Prof M. had summarized the situation in Sudan as follows in Italian Bold, followed by my comments:

1. Darfur victims and causalities are exaggerated in numbers for political purpose, against WHO data..
Darfur is not only count of displaced or murdered or raped, it is a count of brutality and systematic armed vacation of land and villages. Yes, both parties; rebels and government-backed militia had contributed to the bloodshed, but Government is meant to govern, and control escalation of matters that would fuse any threats to national settlement and way of life.. Darfurese escaped to every direction, as Southern Sudanese done earlier, even Israel was forced to host some.. No one can say that nothing happened there, or demount the magnitude.. The same applies in events in Bor, Awerial, and many more to come..!!


2. Bush Administration had great role in igniting and blowing up the crisis in Darfur for particular agenda..
Yes, Decomposition of Sudan was an old plan, as part of the then called: United States of East Africa.. It is strategic plan, which serves higher targets than any administration would occupy the white house. Changing US Presidents doesn’t mean changing strategies, particularly the main ones related to resources, political controls and opening markets; otherwise the famous American Dream would fail. Changes are limited to how to execute strategies, not to set them.. USEA is coming like it or not; sooner or later..!!

3. Save Darfur Movements are currently frozen without support from Obama’s Administration..
Accordingly, Decomposition of Sudan was an imminent quest few years ago, yet been delayed till circumstances and environments are more adequate. Meanwhile; to serve multiple and complex interests, a joint venture was lately planned and negotiated to partner both Sudanese government and rebels in a mega enterprise to utilize the resources, defuse both local and regional tensions, and draw a big pretty picture to calm the poor illiterate (and literate as well) people with physical attractions that would last only for few decades. Not only Save Darfur slogan is dying, but also ICC plea. This reminds me with an old school punishment, to order the bullies to stand on their toes for a while..!!

4. Referendum of Jan 2011 will certainly come with voting for independence of Southern Sudan ..
Democratic election is a global phenomenon since 1990th. The merit is never to get people share the ruling process, but to get them shut up, as their voice had brought their rulers.. Sounds crazy, but very true.. Natural carve had clearly defined the majority as incapable to wisely choose, while only direct voting is used in Switzerland. Elections are great festives everywhere on earth, an opportunity to get everyone busy, while all critical decision and covert operations are done away from reports, politicians and public realization. Sorry Guys, these are the facts of life.. Therefore, no wonder about the amount of parties in-formation, candidates in-negotiations, and the dead who suddenly come alive, and deployed battalions to register the confused voters, and great chaos in every corner.. Outcomes would change or deliver nothing but tearful patriotic speeches, and sky-rocketing circulation of newspapers..!!


5. None of the surrounding countries, nor US is interested in dividing Sudan in smaller ethnic or cultural states..
Yes, no one cares about partitioning Sudan, same as done in India or Iraq. Ironically, the books-worms in Sudan did not realize the true political world around. Geopolitics means focal interest on your own national interests, National Security requires defining that National Interests, and threat opportunities they confront. Both are not available in Sudan: What we care for? and what risks associate? I doubt that any of the so-called political institutions or parties has a detailed document on any; therefore, we have chaotic and unsystematic choice of friends, aliens and enemies, as how it comes.. driven by personalities of Rulers, Ministers, Executives, or Police Officers; not the national consensus, or at least the intelligentsia’s..!!

6. Arabs are not interested in Sudanese politics, apart from direct economic and investment benefits..
Certainly, Arabs and any other, only see in Sudan appealing business and investment opportunities, not more. Global politics does not recognize emotional or cultural attachments. Grand Turkey, Grand Israel, Grand India, Grand Russia, United Germany, Grand Morocco, United Ireland, Grand Armenia, etc; are examples of political projects that never fade despite all wars, hardships, and conflicts. Strategists worldwide are setting their schemes based on such understanding and realization. This is how the other would value our existing and capacity; or to ignore it.. This is the roadmap for our Sudanese Strategy and existence on the globe.. No one would love you, but respect or disrespect you..!!


7. Egypt is certainly concerned on Nile issue, and already extended its hands to Southern Sudanese politicians and movements..
Egypt Quest should be the biggest in Sudan. Forget those emotional conversations, or Egyptian ads in Sudan TV, but look to it strategically. Assume; no language, religion, culture or history, but series of hostilities between Sudan & Egypt. What you would draw in your Egyptian policies? Should Sudan exercise his water rights the same Turkey done to Iraq and Syria? Or should trade its water rights with Egypt the same European countries are doing? What is the value of water if we lack adequate infrastructure to utilize our fertile land? What the parameters of any deal can be reached with Egypt, as it already uses the Sudanese surplus on top of its quote? Let’s admit it: Egyptian are far advanced, and historically as well in defining their national interests and security, and this is the core of their relation with Sudan.. In politics; there is no Love..!!

8. Finally, US Envoy driven by personal passion to support Sudan’s unity..
Finally, his great mistaken statement, which overturn any creditability of his talk.. USA has stable, fixed, defined institutions and decision making process.. Appointed envoys or ambassadors are not free to draw or plan, but to execute, observe, and justify changing recommendations. Their personal value or weight will never come to an effect, unless proven extraordinary politicians or visionaries. Even so, they have to confront the Congress Committees..!!


Dear All:
I think there is nothing new in all what he said; yet sounds great and amazing for anyone who is not updated on the whole quest. On the contrary, I think he already missed critical issues; either not familiar with, or does not want to speak about. In addition; some of his statements are not precise as should academically be, nor set grounds for any strategic understanding or processing..

Regretfully, our politicians are not geared up to build our country.. None of them is a Statesman.. This is a big problem, and the true obstacle towards the future.. Mercy For All of Sudanese..


Wednesday, December 2, 2009

15 Years in Dubai; and Counting..



Today, UAE celebrates the 34th National Day..
It was the 18th, when I landed in Dubai 16 years ago..
During the years, I did not realize what I was losing.. nor what I gained.. Belonging to those "Intellectual Temporary Immigrants" is a very tricky thing..!!
Streets and Places around remind me with efforts and years invested to build something others will be proud of.. You are not allowed to feel the same.. nor to claim it yours..!!
This is the principle difference in such forced Diaspora..
Those ITI had never lift homeland seeking wealth, but opportunity to share their passion to deliver rightful things.. Yet; the little savings they made are much less than their natives back home..
The true merit of saving is not money or assets, but emotional.. You save a relationships for time of need, passion for time of loneliness, and love for time of getting old..
Being here: You are simply: Homeless.. You belong to nowhere..!!
If you may complained; answered: why you came in..?

If a person is sick, hungry or naked: Charities and NGOs will help.. But if Homeless: the entire globe is too small too tight..!!

Homelessness is a state of mind and soul, not body..
It is the forced Diaspora from the places you know..
It is the walk into continuous uncertainty..
It is the endless search for warmth and content..
It is ugliness of being permanent stranger..
It is the unmarked grave awaiting in the middle of nowhere..
It is the optimum challenge to know that life is worthless if you are not a believer..
It is a fate more than 130 million share worldwide..!!
They call them "Temporary Immigrants.."









I do respect a lot the western systems that declared their need for immigrants to maintain the urban civilization they created.. Mostly as Gears n Fuel, occasionally as Operators, and rarely as Planners.. In all levels, your value as a human being, a member of a community, and a tax-payer is fully respected, honored and considered.. Therefore, who had made it into there, are no longer Homeless.. Yet; bitterly, we are..!!