US bans large electronics from carry-on luggage from major Arab airports

Update: The UK has followed with a similar ban, and has warned that other EU countries may follow suit. This seems to indicate that there is some kind of real security concern.

The US government has once again wowed the world by initiating a ban on large electronics, including laptops and anything else bigger than a phone, on all flights that go directly to the US from the following airports:

1. Mohammed V International, Casablanca, Morocco
2. Ataturk Airport, Istanbul, Turkey
3. Cairo International Airport, Egypt
4. Queen Alia International, Amman, Jordan
5. King Abdulaziz International, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
6. King Khalid International, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
7. Kuwait International Airport
8. Hamad International, Doha, Qatar
9. Abu Dhabi International, United Arab Emirates
10. Dubai International, United Arab Emirates

Note that this list includes some of the major transit airports, and if you're flying in from Asia or Africa, you're pretty likely to stop over at Istanbul, Doha, Abu Dhabi, or Dubai. You're still technically allowed to pack them in your checked baggage, but you're not allowed to check a lot of things that have big batteries, (I've been told to remove my computer in the past), so I'm not sure how well this would play out. Is security really going to make the ultra-rich, ultra-important businessmen from the gulf states throw away their laptops because they can't be checked or carried on? I guess we'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, you can try to schedule a stopover somewhere else, as this ban is only on flights directly from those airports to the US. Consider a day in Europe, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, literally anywhere else.