Global Voices Online

Nouri Lumendifi writes about officials speak Arabic. Nouri says that the US can compete with China in the Arab World. All it needs to do is get in the ring and change some time honored traditions like staffing embassies with people who can speak German or Italian but not Arabic. If the US keeps on its current path it is going to accomplish very little, comparatively speaking, while China makes monumental gains in the region.

Recent Links also in Middle East & North Africa

samuraisam, from the UAE Community Blog, asks: “Has anyone else found the Israeli TLD to be unblocked from the UAE? On my Etisalat connection it seems to be open.”

UAE blogger An Emirati's Thoughts calls for action following the “recent slump in the confidence in Dubai's debt management capabilities.”

Yemeni Omar Barsawad shares with us information on the Yemeni capital San'aa. “Be it in Sana'a Old City or the mud bricked houses of Hadhramout, Yemen's architecture remains very much traditional and unique. And is still being preserved in most parts of the country,” he notes.