No Nobel Prize for Philip Roth

• Last Updated: November 25. 2009 7:42PM UAE / November 25. 2009 3:42PM GMT

With reference to David Mattin’s article Creative Force (November 22), he is the first person I can recall stating that Philip Roth is America’s greatest living writer and that Roth’s winning the Nobel Prize is long overdue. Really? First of all, forget the Nobel Prize. Sad to say that Mr Roth’s work pales in the international world of letters.

Yes, he does have “a prodigious output” but output isn’t part of the consideration. He only seems to be America’s greatest writer to some because the great ones of his generation (Styron, Vonnegut, Heller, Mailer) are gone. There are newer voices in American letters. Mr Roth will be remembered for one or two books, but like his characters, his time in the light and giving light has come and gone.

Franz Douskey, US

First anniversary of the Mumbai massacre

Apropos the article Gunman embarked on a killing spree on way to the capital, (November 4), it’s been a year since the Mumbai terror attacks took place and apart from the media, which is again bringing to the fore those tragic events, and the loved ones of those who lost their lives, 26/11 has been relegated to just another milestone event in the history of global terrorism. 

Immediately after the terror strikes,the Indian prime minister and his administration promised strict and swift action against those who plotted and planned these attacks from Pakistani soil. A year down the road, they are blowing hot and cold, asking Pakistan to abjure violence while calling for greater people-to-people contact to improve bilateral ties between the two countries.

This is quietly forgetting that on 26/11 one such unilateral “people- to-people contact programme” by 10 foreign nationals resulted in the massacre of about 170 innocents in Mumbai and brought India’s financial capital to its knees for close to three days.

The wheel has also turned a full circle for Pakistan, which kept denying that its soil or nationals had any role in the Mumbai terror attacks, and then finally admitted limited liability and promised action in the face of international pressure. Still, the government took no concrete steps to arrest the kingpins and is currently in the middle of unprecedented attacks by homegrown terrorists, so much so that a  bomb blast a day is almost commonplace. As always, it’s the innocents like women, children and the elderly who bear the brunt of these deadly attacks.

Only those who witnessed the event at close quarters or lost their near and dear ones will continue to be haunted and traumatised by the memories of 26/11.

All in all, it’s business as usual for all the players until the next big terror strike kills scores of innocents during prime time television and pushes the Mumbai terror attacks to the background.

Amitabh S, Dubai

Faith in economic rebound

In reference to Crown Prince tells World Economic Forum UAE economy is ‘humming’ (November 21), Sheikh Hamdan has a point. Government, viewed as a burden under the Reagan doctrine, showed its usefulness again in a crisis, much as the economist John Maynard Keynes said it should.

All of the BRICK (K= Korea) and GCC economies have smartly rebounded, mainly because of prudent fiscal policies, as opposed to free-for-all Wall Street theories.

My recent UAE trips showed that my faith last year in a GCC rebound wasn’t misplaced. Real estate is a drag, but there is good recovery from government spending on infrastructure. If the UAE population too has expanded, well, that’s a home run then. The demise of Dubai, as predicted by Johann Hari of The Independent back in March, has been greatly exaggerated.

Athar Mian, Abu Dhabi

Dubious plan for grassy car parks

The article Dubai hopes it’s easy being green (November 24) described a municipal plan to plant grass in car parks. The amount of water that will be required to irrigate and maintain these “green” car parks will by far exceed the amount of water that will be absorbed back into the groundwater if you consider the amount of rainfall this country receives. This is an absolute waste of water resources. Cultivated areas are meant for cultivating crops, not for parking cars on top of them. What about those rare times when it does rain in Dubai and the green car parks turn muddy? I guess there will be many people walking around with muddy shoes. I urge the authorities to re-think this decision.

Zainab Mubarak, Dubai

How is it smart to plant a golf course and then let cars park on it? That will turn it into a mud area and it will cost so much for maintenance. It’s grass, so it will die. Why don’t they plant grass in all the sandy areas in front of the buildings in Dubai? That’s what they should do. Not turning car lots into golf courses and ruining them again. How is that supposed to be a good idea?

Sara Sharrouf, Dubai