There is a tower on a country road between Groß Gleidingen and Broitzem. The fact itself might not be something special. But for me it is. The building fascinated me from the first encounter because it reminds me the “bagdirs” I have seen on the Arabian Peninsula. Most probably the tower here is just a silo but for me it
So it happened that last week was stamped by some cinematic events which gave me food for thought. In retrospect all movies had things in common: They were about culture. They were about money. They were about power. They were about ‘walking in somebody else’s shoes’ and about understanding. First of all there was “The pig from Gaza”. What the
Spiegel Online recently published the article “Trüffelpasta mit Wüstenblick” about the alleged highest restaurant of the world and its extravagaces. The article itself does not reveal anyhing new besides the usual superlatives upon which Western press has zeroed itself when it comes to oddities from the desert state. The respectable amount of comments at the end of the article, however,
Sometimes, inconsiderable sentences turn out to be avalanches in disguise. What am I talking about? An article called “Carrot and Stick Diplomacy” by Matthias Sailer. The paragraph: “Bearing this in mind, it does not come as a complete surprise to discover that the Emirate of Dubai has refused to extend the licence of the Gulf Research Centre, one of the
Dubai seems like still air for the time being. No spectacular new buildings and the end time catastrophe predicted by many publications in 2009/2010 stayed away. Recently, the German online magazine „Spiegel Online“ tried to revive the old times by launching a lukewarm extraction. „Oasis on a drip“ that is the infamous name. The whole thing sounds like a mixture
My first real contact with the phenomena of “binational” marriages was full of clichés and a big success in the western hemisphere being approved in its stereotypes: “Not without my daughter” was the name of the hieß das pretentious novel which was later on picturized with Sally Field playing the leading part. The Arabic or better Islamic world opened up
The caravan moves on, the topics remain the same. Whereas Dubai is still economizing its big brother Abu Dhabi is firing on all cylinders. Last year it was the Formular-One-Circuit on Yas Island, now it’s the completion of the new Sheikh-Zayed-Mosque which is called a “magnificient building of a majestic size and oriental beauty”, newspapers like “Neuen Züricher Zeitung” (NZZ)
It keeps bothering the German Journalist’s mind: The real estate crisis – whether true or fake – in the gulf. Is it due to the still existing summer slump or is it that the idea of the failing gulf states it just to tempting to be let go? Well, that’s pure gambling. It is a fact however that interesting things
The good news is: Dubai has made it into an international study comparing 21 global cities with each other. Given the ambitious goals the city-state has set itself will they be happy with rank 15th out of 21 cities? Since late September 2009 things seem not to turn out as they were meant to be for Dubai. What happened and
There is more to the Gulf than the highest tower of the world, the only seven star hotel in the world or a metro that moves without a conductor. Thinking of the Gulf states is often synonymous with thinking of Dubai – the most prominent state. However, there are only a few who are aware of the fact that also