THE VISION THE LEFT AND FAR RIGHT OPPOSED IN THE PORT KERFUFFLE:

A Vision in the Desert (NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF, 2/04/07, NY Times)

FIFTY years ago this modest slice of the Persian Gulf coast was a sleepy settlement of palm-front huts and Bedouin encampments, its few thousand inhabitants mostly subsisting on fishing and the pearl-diving trade. Oil changed all that of course, and since the 1960s Abu Dhabi has morphed into a modern capital of hotels and high rises, fulfilling the economic vision of the United Arab Emirates' ambitious former leader, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan.

Now the city is on the verge of another audacious leap. Over the next decade or so it aims to become one of the great cultural centers of the Middle East: the heir, in its way, to cosmopolitan cities of old like Beirut, Cairo and Baghdad. [...]

Some will dismiss this kingdom of culture as a mere tourist development in which art, history and regional identity are reduced to marketing commodities. But those who view it as an exercise in global branding or as a feel-good story about an Arab country willing to embrace the values of Western modernity are missing the point.

With once-proud cities like Beirut and Baghdad ripped apart by political conflict bordering on civil war, Abu Dhabi offers the hope of a major realignment, a chance to plant the seeds for a fertile new cultural model in the Middle East.

It's easy to be skeptical. But judging by the designs released so far, the buildings promise to be more than aesthetic experiments, outlining a vision of cross-cultural pollination.

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America-bashing has gone far enough (Khalaf Al Habtoor, 2/04/07, Gulf News)

You can't tune in to an Arabic channel nowadays without coming across analysts, former politicians and ex-generals moaning and groaning about America and the West. Their views almost always paint the Middle East as a terminal victim of neo-imperialism, corporate greed and raw aggression.

In the world of the professional pundit we are always the innocent bystanders. The conflicts besetting this region are not of our making, they say. Everything is America's fault. Few ever come up with viable solutions. [...]

Let's ask ourselves these questions. Do we really want to sever or water down our alliances with the world's superpower? And if we were to do something that foolish what might be the economic, political and strategic consequences?

With regard to the GCC states it would be nice if we could emulate stand-alone, neutral Switzerland. The problem is we can't. Our countries are blessed - some might say cursed - with the world's most coveted resource: oil. Everyone wants a stake in it and we need to protect it. In truth, we cannot do this alone.

So, like it or not, we need to cooperate with a friendly foreign power at least until such time as we are set-up militarily and technologically to stand on our own feet. Imperfect as it is, the US is the only superpower in town.

There are pretenders, countries that aim to muscle out the West and which are currently out to woo us. But their challenges are fragile and, in any case, their world view, ideologies and agendas are not ours.

To be painfully frank, if America and the West were to dump us we would soon be saying 'Come back, all is forgiven'.