One hundred years ago, on February 7, 1917, the United States Congress passed an immigration act that included the notorious Asiatic Barred Zone, a huge area of the world from which migration was banned. The zone stretched from what today is Turkey through the Middle East and Central Asia to Malaysia and Indonesia and beyond. The zone covered the Muslim world apart from Africa, from which continent apparently no migrants were expected at the time.
President Woodrow Wilson sought to veto the bill, but congress overruled him, testifying the strength of “nativist” opinion – those who felt American society and its prosperity were at risk of being overwhelmed by immigrants. To recall this grim centenary serves as a reminder that the welcome to the world’s “huddled masses” promised by the Statue of Liberty was frequently not offered. This seems particularly true of the administration of president Donald Trump, who came to power having promised a total ban on Muslims entering the US “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on”.
This campaign pledge has morphed into an open-ended halt to accepting refugees from the Syrian conflict pending a revision of security screening, a 120-day suspension of all refugee arrivals, and a 90-day travel ban on passport holders from seven Muslim-majority countries. Due to its chaotic implementation, the travel restrictions have spread alarm and confusion around the world, dividing families and stranding people with valid entry documents at airports.
Most seriously, it has compromised the US claim to inclusivity by establishing Muslims as potential enemies, in line with the views of Mr Trump’s chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, who believes America is at war with “Islamic fascism”.
Put more simply, Washington seems to be doing the work of ISIL, whose goal is to end the “grey zone” of coexistence where Muslims coexist with non-believers in western society. Mr Trump’s supporters do not see things this way.
They voted to make America “great again and get control of immigration”. They are happy that a document signed in the Oval Office has sent shockwaves around the world. The White House now asserts that the travel restrictions are not anti-Muslim nor do they amount to a travel ban. This is a hard sell: Mr Trump issued a tweet referring to the order as a “ban” and has suggested that Christians will be favoured in asylum applications.
Claims that there is no anti-Muslim intention have been undermined by Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and an early Trump supporter. Mr Giuliani told a TV interviewer that Mr Trump asked him to form a committee to implement the ban on Muslims that he had promised. Mr Giuliani replied that to discriminate on the grounds of religion would be illegal.
The closest he could get would be to implement the travel ban on the basis of threat, he said. That is why passport holders of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen – which were on an Obama administration list of “countries of concern” – were singled out.
A more sophisticated defence of the travel bans holds that what Mr Trump is doing is just a big reality show to prove he is implementing his campaign promise and enforcing “extreme vetting”. In four months normal travel conditions will be restored.
The only long-lasting effect will be that the total number of refugees arriving in the US over the year will drop from the predicted 110,000 to around 50,000.
Things may turn out like that, but this argument ignores the mindset of the Trump White House where there is an apocalyptic sense of doom surrounding the fate of America which can be rescued only by curbing the influence of foreigners.
The Trump persona as revealed in the campaign sees foreign countries as intent on doing America down – China is “raping our country” economically, Mexico is sending its worst criminals over the border and the European Union is a Trojan horse set up to destroy US manufacturing. The mass of Muslim people are now included in this basket of hostile forces. It seems inevitable that the admirable record of accepting refugees is a thing of the past. In 2015, the US admitted 85,000 refugees, almost half of them Muslims, which is a higher proportion than Christians.
The conservative US commentator Christopher Caldwell has pointed out that the opponents of mass immigration will not be satisfied with mere words: “They see the US as a nation-state, not an agency tasked with fulfilling the dreams of Poles or Pakistanis.”
This not just a question of xenophobia; there is harsh political imperative for republicans. The US is becoming a country where the minorities outnumber the white majority. As the democrates draw support from minorities, this signals the death knell for the republicans and all supporters of conservative values.
The idea of illegal immigrants voting is something which seems to keep Mr Trump awake. He has launched an investigation into claims that three million illegal immigrants voted, thus depriving him of a victory in the popular vote, in which Hillary Clinton beat him by a margin of almost 2.9 million votes. Mr Trump revealed that his concerns about illegal voting were prompted by a third-hand anecdote in which it is said that people “who did not look as if they should be allowed to vote” were allowed to cast ballots in Florida.
Mr Trump has been accused on social media of paranoid tendencies about these fictitious illegal voters. But in his view, America is changing, and will be further changed, by mass immigration.
The events of the past week have shown to the public what “people who do not look as if they should be allowed to vote” look like. So the mood of America today is not so different from 1917, even if the passing of a bill as blatantly discriminatory as the Asiatic Barred Zone is unthinkable today.
Alan Philps is a commentator on global affairs
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
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- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
'Manmarziyaan' (Colour Yellow Productions, Phantom Films)
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal
Rating: 3.5/5
'The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey'
Rating: 3/5
Directors: Ramin Bahrani, Debbie Allen, Hanelle Culpepper, Guillermo Navarro
Writers: Walter Mosley
Stars: Samuel L Jackson, Dominique Fishback, Walton Goggins
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Abaya trends
The utilitarian robe held dear by Arab women is undergoing a change that reveals it as an elegant and graceful garment available in a range of colours and fabrics, while retaining its traditional appeal.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
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