I am at present in Oman, part way through a 10 day tour which includes Muscat, Salalah and more remote areas. Hence, the lack of postings recently. What a contrast Oman is to the rest of the Gulf. In many ways Oman today reminds me of Bahrain and Dubai when I first knew them almost 40 years ago. Everything still seems to close for a siesta between 1 and 4 pm, even the shopping centres – very civilized and so different to Dubai. The tallest building is a mere 12 floors and most are no more than three or four stories. Oman is one of the few places in the area where you will find citizens actually working in jobs other than the civil service and, maybe, banks and they outnumber foreigners four to one in the country, again a contrast to the UAE, where there are some four foreigners to every citizen.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese political crisis runs on. The election of a new president, scheduled for tomorrow, is certain to be postponed yet again and a French Foreign Ministry official has been outspoken enough to blame the lack of progress on the Lebanese political leaders themselves, rather than the outside influences that usually said to be the culprits.
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