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A perspective on the cities of the Arab world that I found helpful:[1] An old Arab saying goes, 'Cairo writes, Beirut publishes and Baghdad reads.' These three

A perspective on the cities of the Arab world that I found helpful:[1] An old Arab saying goes, 'Cairo writes, Beirut publishes and Baghdad reads.' These three capitals, along with Damascus, were long the hubs of culture and education in the Arab world. ... a new set of cities started to emerge in the Gulf, establishing themselves as the new centers of the Arab world. Abu Dhabi, its sister emirates of Dubai and Sharjah and the Qatari capital, Doha ... [1] I have no idea how accurate it is: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/abu-dhabi-dubai-doha-arab-centers.html http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/abu-dhabi-...

IkmoIkmo 11y ago
You just named some of the most culturally devoid places on the planet, if you ask me, these cities are jokes compared to the old arab world. But then, the arab world is a joke right now, it's hard to really point out what the center of the arab world is, other than to really just look at a proxy of who has had the most oil money and oil geopolitical relations with the west the past 50 years, which are the places you mentioned. Take away the oil and these cities are nothing, attract no academics or entrepreneurs, engineers, medical professionals or journalists. As for artists, writers, film makers, it's tiny. Of course after some time, an oil-subsidised society attracts enough talent to be meaningful without oil, but if you visit these places I still think you'll find a pretty empty place that runs on fossil riches. Although to their credit, they're aware of this and are trying to diversify. Take Abu Dhabi, they mentioned having a GDP larger than any arab country save for Suadi Arabia. It's economy consists 85% of oil exports, a place of 2 million people. To act like that's some kind of cultural capital like the journalist does is a joke. It's a fluff piece by a journalist from the Emirates if you ask me.
- sndean 11y ago
  > It's economy consists 85% of oil exports, a place of 2 million people. To be fair, you could also say that many nations are very dependent on digging things out of the ground. That probably isn't related to whether they're cultural capitals. Russia https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Russia_Export_Treemap.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Russia_E... Norway https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Norwar_Exports_Tree_Map_(2009).pdf/page1-1333px-Norwar_Exports_Tree_Map_(2009).pdf.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/No... Mongolia https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Mongolia_treemap.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Mongolia... Colombia https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Colombia_Export_Treemap.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Colombia...
  - vixen99 11y ago
    its economy. It's = it is or it has.
- hackuser 11y ago
  This comment offers no basis or substance; it's just ignorance and ridicule. Why do people think the latter is a substitute for the former? The less they know the more hyperbolic they are.

IkmoIkmo 11y ago

You just named some of the most culturally devoid places on the planet, if you ask me, these cities are jokes compared to the old arab world. But then, the arab world is a joke right now, it's hard to really point out what the center of the arab world is, other than to really just look at a proxy of who has had the most oil money and oil geopolitical relations with the west the past 50 years, which are the places you mentioned. Take away the oil and these cities are nothing, attract no academics or entrepreneurs, engineers, medical professionals or journalists. As for artists, writers, film makers, it's tiny. Of course after some time, an oil-subsidised society attracts enough talent to be meaningful without oil, but if you visit these places I still think you'll find a pretty empty place that runs on fossil riches. Although to their credit, they're aware of this and are trying to diversify. Take Abu Dhabi, they mentioned having a GDP larger than any arab country save for Suadi Arabia. It's economy consists 85% of oil exports, a place of 2 million people. To act like that's some kind of cultural capital like the journalist does is a joke. It's a fluff piece by a journalist from the Emirates if you ask me.

sndean 11y ago
> It's economy consists 85% of oil exports, a place of 2 million people. To be fair, you could also say that many nations are very dependent on digging things out of the ground. That probably isn't related to whether they're cultural capitals. Russia https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Russia_Export_Treemap.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Russia_E... Norway https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Norwar_Exports_Tree_Map_(2009).pdf/page1-1333px-Norwar_Exports_Tree_Map_(2009).pdf.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/No... Mongolia https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Mongolia_treemap.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Mongolia... Colombia https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Colombia_Export_Treemap.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Colombia...
- vixen99 11y ago
  its economy. It's = it is or it has.
hackuser 11y ago
This comment offers no basis or substance; it's just ignorance and ridicule. Why do people think the latter is a substitute for the former? The less they know the more hyperbolic they are.