Sultan al-Qassemi makes a compelling case in his "Gulf Cities Emerge as New Centers of Arab World" for the Arab Gulf cities of Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi as the new commercial, cultural, educational, media and diplomatic centers of the Arab world. He asserts that the traditional Arab metropolises of Beirut, Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad are fading away as centers of creativity.
But in his "Arab Cities Have a Long Way to Go Before Leading Arab World," Abbas al-Lawati seems to disagree with this proposition. He maintains that while Gulf cities have succeeded to move beyond the status of “cities of salt,” they cannot rise to become regional centers of excellence based on the achievements of foreign talents.
