A quick tour of stories related to Arab affairs:

- The BBC news magazine published a story entitled ‘Why is Beirut still a byword for chaos?’ The article mentions that the expression "it's like Beirut" is a much-used comparison for everything from violent riots to a teenager's bedroom. Although the Lebanese civil war ended in 1990, Robert Groves, the editor of Collins Dictionaries, records 50 usages of the phrase since 1991. This was seconded by Jad Aoun, a Lebanese blogger who records the usage of the phrase around the world.

The article then analyses the reasons for the continued use of the phrase, two decades after the end of the civil war. However, I did not find this analysis to be satisfactory. While I am well aware of this phrase through my stay in Washington in the eighties, during some of the worst years of the war and the Israeli invasion – when it was somewhat justified -, the world has witnessed since then many massacres in the Balkans, in Rwanda and then in the wars on Afghanistan, Iraq and in the war on terror. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in those conflicts, and yet, no one says ‘like Rwanda, Sarajevo or Fallujah’; however, everyone insists on saying ‘like Beirut’.

Beirut today is a beautiful and safe city. Although traffic there is complete chaos, it is not worse than New York City for example, and since I lived between London and Beirut for equal periods of time, I can authoritatively say that while my house in London was robbed three times, and while my daughter and I were mugged in broad daylight, when someone tried to steel my watch in a major London street, I never suffered anything similar in Lebanon, whether before or after the war. This is why I never look behind me when I hear footsteps coming while I am walking in the streets of Beirut.

Suffice to say that Beirut has the advantage over the remaining three quarters of the world, thanks to its climate, beaches and the nearby mountains. Hence, ‘like Beirut’ should only refer to something that is beautiful, pleasant or hospitable, and I want to say to anyone who thinks otherwise to go and ‘suck on a sour lemon’

- The news items published in the media are usually bad; for instance, we will never read anything about a woman who loves her husband, but will find many stories about her if she kills him. Similarly, the news published about Lebanon in recent weeks tackled the issue of the mistreatment of maids, which was brought back into the limelight following the crash of the Ethiopian airliner. Moreover, the Human Rights Watch organization protested the continued detention of convicts after they completed their sentences.

In Dubai, the destination of tourists from all around the world, the global financial crisis, which also affected this city, provided an opportunity for spiteful enviers to spill their venoms.

The New York Times and its correspondent Michael Slackman are certainly not among those enviers, as this newspaper has integrity and the correspondent is objective and balanced. However, I read an article he wrote in Cairo entitled ‘Entrenched Monarchy Thwarts Aspirations for Modernity’.

Is this true? First of all, the article contains accurate information on the errors in legal issues taking place in the United Arab Emirates, and the difference in the treatment of residents and citizens. Of course, these errors must be rectified so that justice can be applied equally on everyone, and also to prevent the enemies from exploiting these loopholes against Dubai and other places.

Nevertheless, the title, which is supposed to emphasize the most important part of the article as we learned in the school of journalist, was inaccurate. This is because the leadership in Dubai, or the rulers of the United Arab Emirates, are the ones who can be credited with admitting their country into the modern world, and helped spawn a generation or two of a highly educated population that can contribute to pursuing this march.

In fact, the people of this entire region are still conservative even today, and some of them in the Peninsula were in complete self-isolation. Hence, the rulers of Emirates like Abu Dhabi and Dubai, or Oman and Qatar are the ones who led the march and made ‘modernization’ possible.

This does not change the fact that the errors mentioned in the article do exist, and that they must be addressed.

- Egypt is the largest Arab country, and is therefore the constant target of the largest amount of negative news, or bad and offensive news, every day.

Some of the news have known sources and can be ignored, such as ‘Hope on the Nile’, an article by David Schenker from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. This pro-Israeli institute was founded by none other than Martin Indyk, while Schenker is a professional Israeli apologist. Furthermore, its main subject is the candidacy of Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei in the upcoming presidential elections in Egypt.

Schenker welcomes ElBaradei’s candidacy, and reminds us of his work as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and his Nobel Peace Prize.

I want to say here that Mohamed ElBaradei and his wife Aida are personal friends to me and my wife, and both are of the finest people. However, I recall that the senior figures of the Israel gang, especially in the United States, were attacking Mohamed ElBaradei time and again for his position regarding the Iranian nuclear program, and welcomed his departure as head of the IAEA, and now Shencker has come to exploit ElBaradei, in order to criticize the regime.

I have many similar criticisms in front of me, some of which involve the legislative and presidential elections published by the Carnegie Foundation, which is not as biased as the Washington Institute.

There were also other criticisms by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which must be addressed seriously, regarding the steel fence with Gaza, and accusations of torture and discharging firearms, as well as the conditions of the Copts.

Nonetheless, all the above and other criticisms do not invalidate my straight opinion, which is ‘a thousand times Hosni Mubarak and never Mohammed Badi’. This is neither a compliment to the President nor a derision of the Muslim Brotherhood leader whom I do not know; rather, it reflects what each of them represents for the present and future of Egypt.

khazen@alhayat.com