Approach that combines vigilance and common sense

A funny thing happened on the way into the forum. Before leaving for Dubai, I had packed a couple of special things to make my first home here feel like … well home, until some other things arrived. Among these small items were three favourite knives - a silver bread knife, cheese knife and a sharp little item particularly good for chopping garlic.

For their safety, I transferred them from a suitcase to my briefcase, and it was this I passed through the metal detector at the entrance to the forum. The security men's eyes widened and they asked me to open the case. One by one the knives were removed. Other delegates looked on in disapproval. But the security men realised it would take a mighty effort to harm anyone with these implements. It would have been easier to batter a person to death with the briefcase. So they held on to the knives and let me through.

This approach to security, which combined vigilance with common sense, was emphasised by President Bill Clinton in answering a question from the floor. A country had to prepare to defend itself from people who would seek to harm it, he said. But it would be impossible to kill, jail or occupy all of one's enemies. What was needed was a combination of potential force and attempts to lessen the incentives to become an enemy in the first place. The security men would have been proud of him.

The 42nd President of the United States is good. His performance in Dubai made one hanker after the good old days when the serving president spoke in coherent sentences in the English language, even if it was the American version.

Not only was Clinton articulate, there was substance to his speech. Mind you, he could probably recite "Mary had a little lamb" and make it sound like the Gettysburg address. It is this relaxed fluency which earns him a rumoured $200,000 (Dh734,000) per speech. Whatever he receives, he certainly had a good day at the office yesterday.

The former president conceded that General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister, was a hard act to follow. And it was. Shaikh Mohammad, the forum's patron, pulled no punches as he set out his vision for the road to 2020. Anyone who thought this was going to be just another talking shop got a sharp wake-up call.

Then came an old-fashioned ding-dong political rumble. In one corner, an Arab American neo-con (Fuad Ajami), in the other an American Palestinian radical (Francis Boyle). Don't be confused by the labels or the names. It is far more rewarding to joust on the battlefield of ideas than on that of ethnicity, culture, nationality or religion.