The Arab world

Dónde están los ladrones?

Dónde Están los Ladrones? is Shakira’s fourth studio album, released in September 1998. Recorded over nine months at Crescent Moon Studios in Miami—the studio of Gloria and Emilio Estefan—it features rock en español blended with Latin pop and Middle Eastern musical influences. Shakira led artistic production with full control over material, arrangements, and final approval; Emilio Estefan served as executive producer. Vintage equipment—including old amplifiers and a 40-year-old German microphone—was used alongside innovative instrumental mixes. Collaborators included Luis Fernando Ochoa, Lester Mendez, Javier Garza, Pablo Flores, and Estéfano Salgado. The album topped the U.S. Latin Albums chart for 11 weeks, sold over 7 million copies globally, and earned a 1999 Grammy nomination for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album. It represents the culmination of Shakira’s early Spanish-language career and the foundation for her subsequent global expansion.

Arabian Nights

Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1974 Arabian Nights is the final film of his ‘Trilogy of Life’, adapting fragments from the One Thousand and One Nights across real locations in Yemen, Iran, Ethiopia and Nepal. It abandons the frame narrative to focus on bodily pleasure, poetic recitation and episodic storytelling, using non-professional actors, long takes and Ennio Morricone’s sparse score. Though formally daring and visually rich, its resistance to psychology and narrative cohesion divides viewers. It won the Cannes Grand Prix in 1974.

Cairo Station

Youssef Chahine’s 1958 Cairo Station is a tightly wound drama set in Cairo’s main train station, following Qinawi — a lame newspaper seller whose obsession with a cold-drink vendor curdles into violence amid a backdrop of union organising and urban anonymity. Shot in Egyptian Arabic with neorealist restraint and noir-inflected tension, it treats environment as psychology made visible. Though initially controversial in Egypt, it has since been recognised as a landmark of Arab and world cinema.

Chronicle of the Years of Fire

Chronicle of the Years of Fire (1975), directed by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, follows Ahmed, an Algerian peasant, across seventeen years leading to the 1954 uprising against French rule. Structured in six chapters, it charts the slow, embodied formation of national consciousness under colonialism — through drought, conscription, broken promises and massacre. Shot by Marcello Gatti and scored by Philippe Arthuys, it favours duration over drama, collective experience over individual psychology. It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and remains a landmark of postcolonial cinema.

Trances

Trances (1981) is Ahmed El Maanouni’s docufiction portrait of Moroccan band Nass El Ghiwane, filmed in Morocco during live performances, interviews, and everyday moments. Blending contemporary footage with silent colonial-era archival clips, it foregrounds voice, rhythm, and communal presence over narrative or exposition. Restored in 2007 and distributed by Criterion, it remains a singular work of musical and cultural testimony.

Lawrence of Arabia

David Lean’s 1962 epic follows T. E. Lawrence’s immersion in the Arab Revolt during the First World War. Peter O'Toole stars in a performance defined by restraint and volatility, supported by Freddie Young’s monumental Super Panavision 70 cinematography and Maurice Jarre’s evocative score. The film prioritises atmosphere over exposition, using vast, still landscapes to chart internal collapse and reinvention. Though rooted in history, it functions as a psychological portrait — of identity, allegiance and the cost of translation between worlds.

Suez Crisis

A tripartite invasion that won every battle and lost every argument.

Baghdad

Baghdad’s founding in 762 was a decisive, documented act of imperial design — not evolution, not accident. It created a new kind of capital: planned, symbolic, and engineered for intellectual and administrative dominance. Its scale, longevity and influence are verifiable. Its motives and internal politics are not.

First Intifada

The First Intifada was a locally led, mixed-method uprising beginning in December 1987 in the Jabalia refugee camp, combining non-violent civil resistance (strikes, boycotts, tax refusal) with violent tactics (stone-throwing, Molotov cocktails, graffiti, barricading), and lasting until at least 1991.

Iraqi invasion of Kuwait

The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was a swift, centrally ordered act of annexation — verified by its codename, timing, troop composition, and administrative reorganisation. It triggered the first major test of UN collective security after the Cold War. The record shows no ambiguity in sequence or outcome — but also no evidence of motive, dissent, or alternative interpretations. Its legacy is procedural: it proved the Security Council could unify and enforce borders — but only once, under narrow conditions.

Insurgency (video game)

Insurgency (2014) is a tactical shooter defined by omission: no crosshair, no health bar, no minimap, no instant respawn. Players join Security or Insurgents in a fictional Middle Eastern conflict. At round start, they spend supply points on class-specific weapons. Guns kill fast. Death means spectating until their team completes an objective. Every design choice removes feedback to force presence, patience, and trust.

Saudi Aramco

Saudi Aramco is the majority state-owned national oil company of Saudi Arabia. It holds the world's largest proven crude oil reserves and largest daily oil production. It operates the world's largest single hydrocarbon network, the Master Gas System. Its shares began trading on the Saudi Exchange on 11 December 2019, reaching a market capitalisation of about US$1.88 trillion. Its origins lie in a 1933 concession granted by Ibn Saud and executed by Chevron Corporation.

Ibn Rushd al-Jadd

Muhammad

Arab Spring

Maqluba

Muhammara

Mujaddara

Lokma

Baba ghanoush

Brik

Falafel

Fatteh

Thawb

Keffiyeh