Bolsters my thesis that DubaiExpo is fabulous microcosm for parsing UAE foreign policy. Turkey pavilion foyer features drone, which seemed weirdly hostile at first but like good product placement in retrospect. Helpful info here from @NailOlpak dailysabah.com/business/econo…
Slight tangent: I’d worried DubaiExpo might be a little too family-fun-fair for me, but have absolutely loved visiting bc it opens fascinating vistas into the tone & substance of diplomatic ties. Can teach TONS about how countries perceive & advertise themselves to Gulf/world
Some countries have far larger pavilions than you’d expect (Angola, Serbia, Kazakhstan). Others have surprisingly small ones (Turkey w/ its petite drone-displayed-by-the-doorway pavilion here pops to mind). Exploring why can illuminate bilateral relations in fascinating ways.
Some countries’ pavilions embody practical, Powerpoint-esque product placement. Others craft more subtle visions of what they claim to stand for or might offer the world. Saudi Arabia’s pavilion arguably advances stunning symbolism of innovative, artistic modernity for example
Israel & “State of Palestine” pavilions are barely a block away from one another. Visiting these back-to-back offers rich insights into self-perception & external goals/ representations of both actors here in the Gulf. Plus the mana’eesh at the Palestine pavilion is to die for.
I could drone on (no pun intended) forever about the wonders of DubaiExpo for politics nerds—seriously, one could write a book on this—but I’ll end w/ an ode of gratitude to my very favourite pavilion so far. The one & only Turkmenistan. Here’s the screen you see at the entrance:
And here’s a shot of the 360° screen video shown inside. Needless to say, this experience instantly skyrocketed Turkmenistan to the top of my “countries I must visit forthwith” list.
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Breaking: Tunisia military court just sentenced independent MP Yassine Ayari to 10 months prison in retaliation for July 25 Facebook post in which he denounced Kais Saied's takeover as a "coup."
On July 30, just two hours before I was due to visit Yassine & his family, he was extrajudicially abducted from his home by plainclothes forces in an unmarked van-- just as so many Tunusians were abducted from their homes in the Ben Ali years.
Yassine was held without due process in brazen violation his basic civil rights for two months at Mornaguia Prison outside Tunis. He said the conditions in prison were terrible, that he was harassed by prison guards almost incessantly, & that his health deteriorated rapidly.
Tunisia’s seemingly formidable civil society is on the dictatorial chopping block. Saied is toying w/ a decree that could send CSOs back to the Ben Ali era. This excellent statement from Geneva-based @fidh_en & @omctorg explains why. fidh.org/en/region/nort…
Anyone interested in learning more about/ covering this should follow Amine Ghali, Program Director at Kawakibi Center. He has immense expertise on Tunisian CS & was first to shine the spotlight on this draft decree in this Feb 2 interview on Mosaique FM mosaiquefm.net/amp/fr/video/6…
Amine’s insights & very justified alarm-ringing formed the basis of this excellent piece of reporting on the issue from @nawaat journalist Rihab Boukhayatia @rihabbk, published last week.