In 1990, Raed Barqawi was a reporter for Arabic newspaper Al Khaleej when the First Gulf War broke out.
As a wave of panic spread across the region and people sought to travel abroad in fear of an expanding conflict, Barqawi received news from the office of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid – then the country’s Minister of Defence – saying he was planning on building a second golf course in Dubai.
Barqawi could not discern why the future Dubai Ruler chose that specific moment in time to announce the project.
“There was war going on,” he tells The National. “Embassies wanted to evacuate their staff from here and from Saudi Arabia. Everybody was scared.”
Sheikh Mohammed took Dubai to another level. He was a leader and a dreamer
Raed Barqawi,
author of 'Dare to Dream: How Mohammed bin Rashid Made His Dream of Dubai Come True'
It was a question that stayed with him for nearly a decade.
“I didn’t have an answer because I didn’t have any connections with His Highness,” Barqawi, who is now the editor-in-chief of Al Khaleej, says. “I finally met him in 1999 and I asked him.”
Barqawi says Sheikh Mohammed remembered that decision well, and that the announcement was a symbolic way of alleviating the propagating anxiety.
“He said he wanted to give a message to the world that we are not worried,” Barqawi says. “That everything will be fine. It was a way of saying: 'If you want to leave, leave, but you’re doing the wrong thing because we are not worried. We are building and our battle is with developing the country, not with war.'”
This foresight and steadfast dedication to Dubai’s development fascinated Barqawi, and inspired the veteran journalist to write a new Arabic-language book about Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai.
Dare to Dream: How Mohammed bin Rashid Made His Dream of Dubai Come True launched on Sunday at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature and highlights how the vision and leadership of Sheikh Mohammed turned Dubai into a success story and leading global hub.
The book is divided into three chapters: “Working Wonders”, “A Man Destined to Lead” and “The Oasis of Imagination”. It also includes an introduction, “The Wind Beneath His Wings”, and an epilogue, “Life is a Story of Our Dreams”.
Barqawi dives into the history of the UAE and explores Sheikh Mohammed’s childhood, analysing the factors that helped to shape his personality.
“Sheikh Mohammed took Dubai to another level,” Barqawi says. “He was a leader and a dreamer. His Highness travelled with his father in the late 1960s, early 1970s all over the world. He went to New York and saw the Empire State Building, which was then the tallest building in the world, and asked why we couldn’t have something like that in our country. He went to London and saw Heathrow Airport, the face of the town, and asked the same question. We can do this, he said. He was dreaming when he was young.”
Barqawi says he tried to address two key questions in his book: how Sheikh Mohammed managed to turn Dubai into a unique global role model and how he empowered “a culture of dreaming in the Arab world, a world that had stopped dreaming decades ago”.
However, Barqawi says his book is as much about the history of the UAE as a whole as it is an homage to Sheikh Mohammed and the city he built.
The reason he focused the work on Dubai’s development is because he witnessed it first-hand during his three decades of experience as a local journalist.
“It is fascinating to be around a personality like His Highness, who has been racing against time to improve the present and future of not just Emiratis but all Arabs."
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Januzaj's club record
Manchester United 50 appearances, 5 goals
Borussia Dortmund (loan) 6 appearances, 0 goals
Sunderland (loan) 25 appearances, 0 goals
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
McIlroy's recent struggles
Last six stroke-play events (First round score in brackets)
Arnold Palmer Invitational Tied for 4th (74)
The US Masters Tied for 7th (72)
The Players Championship Tied for 35th (73)
US Open Missed the cut (78)
Travellers Championship Tied for 17th (67)
Irish Open Missed the cut (72)
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Austrian Grand Prix race timings
Weekend schedule for Austrian Grand Prix - all timings UAE
Friday
Noon-1.30pm First practice
4-5.30pm Second practice
Saturday
1-2pm Final practice
4pm Qualifying
Sunday
4pm Austrian Grand Prix (71 laps)
Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
TOUR RESULTS AND FIXTURES
June 3: NZ Provincial Barbarians 7 Lions 13
June 7: Blues 22 Lions 16
June 10: Crusaders 3 Lions 12
June 13: Highlanders 23 Lions 22
June 17: Maori All Blacks 10 Lions 32
June 20: Chiefs 6 Lions 34
June 24: New Zealand 30 Lions 15 (First Test)
June 27: Hurricanes 31 Lions 31
July 1: New Zealand 21 Lions 24 (Second Test)
July 8: New Zealand v Lions (Third Test) - kick-off 11.30am (UAE)
if you go
The flights
Fly direct to Kutaisi with Flydubai from Dh925 return, including taxes. The flight takes 3.5 hours. From there, Svaneti is a four-hour drive. The driving time from Tbilisi is eight hours.
The trip
The cost of the Svaneti trip is US$2,000 (Dh7,345) for 10 days, including food, guiding, accommodation and transfers from and to Tbilisi or Kutaisi. This summer the TCT is also offering a 5-day hike in Armenia for $1,200 (Dh4,407) per person. For further information, visit www.transcaucasiantrail.org/en/hike/
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 480hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 570Nm from 2,300-5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 10.4L/100km
Price: from Dh547,600
On sale: now
Five expert hiking tips
Always check the weather forecast before setting off
Make sure you have plenty of water
Set off early to avoid sudden weather changes in the afternoon
Wear appropriate clothing and footwear
Take your litter home with you
Most wanted allegations
- Benjamin Macann, 32: involvement in cocaine smuggling gang.
- Jack Mayle, 30: sold drugs from a phone line called the Flavour Quest.
- Callum Halpin, 27: over the 2018 murder of a rival drug dealer.
- Asim Naveed, 29: accused of being the leader of a gang that imported cocaine.
- Calvin Parris, 32: accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it on.
- John James Jones, 31: allegedly stabbed two people causing serious injuries.
- Callum Michael Allan, 23: alleged drug dealing and assaulting an emergency worker.
- Dean Garforth, 29: part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns.
- Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30: accused of trafficking heroin and crack cocain.
- Mark Francis Roberts, 28: grievous bodily harm after a bungled attempt to steal a £60,000 watch.
- James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson, 56: for arson and over the seizure of a tonne of cocaine.
- Nana Oppong, 41: shot a man eight times in a suspected gangland reprisal attack.
