Johannesburg is a city of contrasts. There are the rich areas and the poor areas. There are the posh suburbs with huge homes, electric fences running around them and the townships made up of thousands of tin huts surrounded by huge mounds of garbage waiting to be cleared. An aerial view of the city shows the hinterland as dry grasslands...

Dr. Muthanna Al-Omar and Dr. Hossam Hamdy are not only accomplished scientists in their specialized fields but they have also contributed to technological discourse in the Middle East. Dr. Muthanna Al-Omar is the former Executive Director of the Arab Science and Technology Foundation, an establishment that has made pioneering efforts to stimulate intellectual growth in Arab countries through financial and information resources. Dr. Hossam Hamdy is the Vice-Chancellor for Medical Colleges and the Dean of the College of Medicine at Sharjah University. I met them recently at their offices in Sharjah University.

Ambassador Ortwin Hennig is the Vice President and the Head of Conflict Prevention Program of the East West Institute at Brussels. His previous assignments include the Commissioner for Civilian Crisis Prevention, Conflict Resolution and Post-Conflict Peace Building in the German Government; diplomatic postings in Afghanistan, Russia, German Representation at the European Commission and the OSCE in Vienna. He has also served the Office of the German Federal President as a Foreign Policy Advisor. Ambassador Hennig is an alumnus of the NATO Defence College in Rome having specialized in arms control and security policy matters.

Yemen Times editor-in-chief and publisher, 29-year-old Nadia Al-Saqqaf won the first �€œPulitzer of the Arab region�€ in December, the 2006 Gebran Tueni Award. The dynamic change maker spoke to SFG about the prize, the realities of the region and profession she works in and her future plans�€�

Bashir Goth is a veteran Somali poet, journalist, freelance writer, the first Somali blogger and the editor of the popular and controversial website Awdal News. In his essays and other non-fiction work he poetically examines ways that can contribute to political, economic and social progress in the Middle East and Somali-land. He is also a regular commentator for The Washington Post�€™s dynamic online platform, PostGlobal. Mr. Goth shares his views on various subjects with SFG.

This New Year is special for all of us at Strategic Foresight Group as we complete five years of an exciting journey. We celebrate it by presenting a new thought to the world �€“ An Inclusive World. It is the concept of a world where practical political processes help to replace despair by hope, polarisation by the spirit of humanity and cleavages by a common space in which you, I and everyone have a stake. We have presented it in the form of an essay prepared with input from all continents.

It turns out that Leonardo Da Vinci, may have had a Turkish mamma. A 60% chance that his mother was of Middle Eastern Origin, according to Luigi Capasso, the director of the Anthropology Research Institute at Chieti University, Italy. The mere possibility that the master of the High Renaissance in Europe had Eastern roots put a completely different spin on the �€œclash of civilizations�€ and the tired homilies we are so used to accepting. 

�€œThe US looks at the US-Russia relationship of the 1990s as model to be preserved. For us in Russia, this was our weakest moment, a disaster, never to be repeated�€, said Dr Alexei Arbatov, when I met him in Moscow last month. Dr Arbatov is member of the Russian Parliament (State Duma) and the Program Chair for nuclear non-proliferation at the prestigious Carnegie Moscow Center.