Now that's What I call Qatar 31: Sadam aka Jaguar Paw

Dear All,

Its been a while since my last entry, I am back in the State of Qatar, therefore back to my usual titles of 'Now that's what I call Qatar'...

Well I was a extremely busy bunny when I went back to the UK, I went to Amsterdam and Brussels for day trips with Shamina which was so nice, and was really cool to get away from the hustle and bustle of London, even if for a day. Though I have grown to love London(still not a touch on the north though) there are many aspects I cant stand, one such aspect is TFL(transport for London) its so busy, so expensive its ridiculous, and constantly has engineering work or delays or some sort. I really despise it! However saying that, at least their is a public transport system, where in the Gulf there is no infrastructure for anything like that of London. Saying that Knutsford, which if I say so myself, is one of the nicest places in the UK has very little public transport, and considering the whole global warmin thing, its starting to get quite worrisome.

Amsterdam is a great city(not for the reasons that many of you think I say it for...though it is for those reasons as well) but in terms of the way it looks and it is, it seems so carefree, like Madrid, yet has the gothic feel of Prague, and it is surprisingly a clean city considering the activities its famous for. I have to say that the Museums their are really cool and there is a lot to learn. However me and Shamina, were thinking how hard must it be to bring up Children (Muslims ones in our case) with the things around, I mean girls in the windows, drug users and alcoholics everywhere, it must be such a surreal place to grow up with and have those morals, which are in direct contrast to most of the major faiths in the world.

Brussels was quite different, it felt like I was in the poor mans Paris, it was nice in a European way, and contained one of the coolest structures I have seen in my life, 'The Atom' (you have to check it out on line!) however I wouldn't recommend it, as to be honest the only thing special it really had was waffles and chocolate, the rest that is on offer is not worth going for.

Last night I went to see Apocolypto, it was awesome, I read the reviews and I was expecting alot, and thankfully it delivered. Usually I get disappointed when I look forward to a film, as it usually fails to deliver, however this film was so well shot, and so well filmed, it already for me makes it one of this years hits. The men in the film resemble the Brazilian football team with the main guy (thus this entries name) Jaguar Paw looks like Ronaldino, its uncanny and one of those against him looks ALOT like Roberto Carlos. Pretty much the whole Brazilian football team has a look-a-like and all the women in the film look Indian oddly. Anyhow, the film without ruining too much of it, is based on native America, and the wars that exist between different tribes, I wont say anymore except go see it!

I saw a film when I was in the UK with Shamina, called Perfume, A murders story, which is another crazy film with the most bizarre ending of a film I think I have ever seen, just for the ending its worth seeing the rest of the film. However something about the film and if you continue reading this paragraph I will ruin a little bit about the story so be warned! Well this man creates a perfume that is basically the ultimate aphrodisiac, and means that anyone who smells it wants to have sex, and basically it results in a priest and a nun having sex, which personally I find terribly insulting. I mean though im not Christian, I feel that too often especially Priests and Archbishops and Nuns are ridiculed in this manner, I mean you go to a fancy dress party, and your likely to see a tart in a nun outfit, or a guy in a monk outfit, with snide innuendos attached. I accept not everyone believes in God however for me its disrespectful to mock the religion or make it perverted, I mean the same goes for Muslim headscarves/jilabs(the long black gown worn by Muslims) there is supposedly Porn that contains images of women dressed in this manner, which I again find extremely disrespectful, It doesn't happen as much with Islam as it does with Christianity but with this subject I feel all religions are being targeted by the secular society growing around us.

And finally as many of you have asked me thoughts on the biggest news of the year so far, Sadam's Hanging. Well as a Sunni Muslim you may think I am being biased in what I say, however its not really anything to do with the Sunni/Shia divide that is occurring right now, as I am a big fan of Iran, and though it is supposedly behind all the actions of Shias in Iraq I think it is the only country to stand up for what it truly believes in the middle east. Unlike those of Saudi and Jordon and Egypt, which are so blatantly being forced to think and act differently to how the people of those country want them to act. This time however, it seems that everyone, the west and the sunnis are teaming up against the Shias about the hanging, and this will further cause conflict and I believe this year we will see the violence in Iraq spill over the region and will see new battles along the lines of Sunni vs. Shia, Fatah vs. Hamas, Israel vs. Hezbollah part 2, and I think the two major countries involved will be Saudi and Iran. They both will have a large role to play in the battles, and though Saudi has been relatively calm, its clear from the statements coming out of Riyadh that they are not comfortable with what is happening in the region and they must take a stand. There is no love lost between Iran and Saudi, and though millions of Iranians go to Saudi each year(for pilgrimage) the authorities are clearly not happy, as when I was there, it was clear they were did not approve of how the Iranians would treat certain things and pay respect to much to other things. Its a difficult time ahead in this troubled region and I don't see anything getting better with or without Sadam...


Well that's all folks and thank you for reading. Take care

Asif