ICG reports

I can point you to the 2 latest ICG reports of interest to me, released this week.

The first is on Iraq, especially developments in the north, and the second on options for the future of Cyprus.

I look forward to reading both and have occasion to remember my strong feelings about our isolation from a strong presence of European heritage in the north of the island when visiting 2 years ago - photos in the archives from August 2007!

Travel stories

I stumbled recently over this travel memoir from the Middle East, definitely more verbal than mine here and infinitely more confused - quite amusing to this travel writing junkie. I just haven't tried it myself yet...

Reading Juan Cole

Another reading recommendation from the trend I hope to see, slowly nuancing the view of developments in the Middle East and of successful policies to further that.



Juan Cole was also one of the first bloggers I read, at the time of the Iraq war. Informed Comment is a stream of consciousness of enormous knowledge on the Middle East.

Treasures from Afghanistan!

This exhibition of treasures from the National Museum in Kabul is since last summer and for a few more months visiting the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. The National Geographic website linked above contains a lot of amazing features on the treasures and other Afghan heritage.

Inside the Palace

Inside the Palace lobby, all is gold that glitters!

Swedish Human Rights Forum

This year, the Swedish Human Rights Forum takes place 16-17 November, in Stockholm. Visit them also on Facebook.

Emirates Palace

Looking out from the fanciest hotel in Abu Dhabi, in the humid and blurry dusk of August.

Celebrating 4

Not until tomorrow actually, but it is our fourth wedding anniversary!

Reading the future?

I can't help but wonder what a coffee cup like this tells us?

Happy holidays to all!

Shana Tovah, Eid Mubarak, Iyi Bayramlar!

Eid/Bayram was proclaimed here tonight. We are also in the middle of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah this weekend.

Best of holiday wishes to all celebrators!

IKEA - art, design and commerce...

IKEA was the topic of this year's great exhibition ot Liljevalchs art gallery in Stockholm, widely commented also for it's commercial aspects. We saw it on it's very last day.





Speaking of IKEA, here in Abu Dhabi they seem to be moving out of town (which has been said for years).

Internet

Have reposted in the delicious-account (see to the left) a link to a June report on Internet usage in Iran. The topic of democracy and freedom on the net continues to be highly relevant also to other countries in the region, notably Azerbaijan these days. but examples could be innumerable.

Finland in Stockholm

To symbolize the partition of Sweden and Finland 200 years ago, but also our continued friendship and proximity. The Finland Institute in downtown Stockholm (2 houses down).

Excursion to Vaxholm

Photos from fancy archipelago idyll Vaxholm, taken on a later summer excursion with grandma!

Summer in Stockholm?

Can look also like this - photos from an August hailstorm in downtown Stockholm.

Building site

A peek at our own building site, destined to be a southward-looking balcony!

Middle East blogging

You can find some analyst's blogs in the left column (I've also highlighted some of them before, here) and here is one more: Reidar Visser on Iraq!

Siberian apples

Well not in Siberian Siberia, but in down-town Stockholm Siberia district, we found these apple trees about 2 weeks ago!

Late summer evening in Stockholm

A rainy mid-August evening in a Stockholm suburb produced this suggestive light over the lake.

Reading UAE

Have during the summer read the below titles by Chris Davidson, for once outlining all the bits and pieces on the UAE that are known but rarely compiled and analyzed. Recommended to those interested in the history and development of the UAE!

Anti-trafficking

The Stockholm Ethnographic museum sells artefacts against trafficking, quite nice actually!

Sad memorial

The 11th of September is a sad day for the world. For what happened and for the consequences. In Sweden it was made even sadder by the murder of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, to the day 2 years after the disaster in New York and Washington. I really wanted to erase the date from the calender.

The dhows waiting

for the goods heaped on the quay.

Boxes of stuff to load...

...on to the waiting dhows!

Exports

We've seen this before, the loads of stuff being loaded on to dhows in Sharjah.

Sharjah!

The skyline of Sharjah has a modern coastal look from afar, but looks more like old Dubai up close.

Modern graphic calligraphy

The creed of Islam in a supercool modern graphic format, by Mamoun Sakkal, exhibited at the museum.