MUST-READS

• Refining Capacity
  Saudi Refinery Hits Capacity as Total, Vitol See EU Slump

  The Satorp refinery, a venture between Total and Saudi Arabian Oil Co., processed crude at full capacity of 400,000 barrels a day on Aug. 1, Patrick Pouyanne, Total’s president of refining and chemicals, said at a conference in Brussels today. Europe’s refineries are too small and not sophisticated enough to compete with new plants, Chris Bake, executive director at Vitol, the world’s largest oil trader, said at a separate conference in Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates.

• Afghanistan
  Afghan election body names ex-finance minister Ghani president-elect

  Afghanistan's election commission declared former finance minister Ashraf Ghani as the war-ravaged country's president-elect on Sunday after an acrimonious dispute over fraud, but did not give the final vote tally after a U.N.-monitory audit.

  • USA Today - Obama Team Applauds Afghanistan Power Sharing Deal
• Qatari Foreign Policy
  Saudi Qatari Dispute: Will Doha Abandon the Muslim Brotherhood?

  It is easy for Qatar to implement, for example, the point of ceasing to nationalize defectors from other Gulf States. But the tough nut for Qatar to crack is its policy towards Egypt. In this case, it is not merely an utterance by the Emir that may stop or continue this or that policy; it is the comprehensive approach of Doha to the Middle East.

• ISIS and Lebanon
  Leaks Claim 40 ISIS Cells Are Waiting to Strike Lebanon

  Six months ago anyone could drive through this exclusive part of town, framed by the elegant Lebanese parliament and the blue Mediterranean. Now army checkpoints and tanks block its wide boulevards. Heavily armed security squads guard its embassies and political centres, including the house of dynastic former prime minister Saad Hariri.

• Global Conference on Human Rights
  Opinion: Saudi Arabia: Champion of Human Rights?

  Given Saudi Arabia’s unsavory reputation on this subject—it is routinely denounced in the State Department’s annual human rights report and by activist groups such as Human Rights Watch—Riyadh might seem to be an unlikely venue for such an event. But the key to understanding the rationale for this conference lies in the announced theme: “Promoting a Culture of Tolerance.” This is not about individuals’ freedom of expression, or the status of women, or freedom of assembly. This is about the Islamic State, or ISIS.

• Intelligence
  NSA Says Intelligence on the Islamic State Could Have Been ‘Stronger’

  The question becomes, then, what could have made the intelligence gathering operation in Iraq more robust, allowing for better and earlier indication of the Islamic State’s capability? The panelists at the conference were in agreement: spies on the ground. “You have indirect capabilities in terms of intelligence, whether it’s overhead or from your sources. But unless you’re actually there, you’re getting second, third hand intelligence,” Brennan said. In other words, the haste of the U.S. withdrawal in Iraq in 2011 played a causal role in the intelligence community’s myopia.

• Labor Reform
  Labor visa limitations pose challenge for contractors

  Omar Al-Juraifani, CEO of Esad Manpower Company, pointed out: “The solution to the labor crisis is that companies should focus on their specialization; for instance construction companies shouldn’t do logistics.” “Foreign companies need to understand that the regulations are constantly evolving,” Al-Juraifani said, adding, “New laws are being introduced by the end of this year, which will give more rights to employees, wages protection, environmental and safety regulations.”

• Saudi-Iraq
  Saudi Arabia and Iraq to halt media attacks on each other

  Sources in both countries confirmed that relations were on the path of improvement as the countries were seeking reopening embassies, monitoring their international borders to stop infiltration and resuming work on security agreements which were all but suspended under the administration of former Prime Minister Noori al-Maliki.

• Yemen
  The Huthi Ascent to Power

  The Huthi movement defies easy definition;  it has changed dramatically in its short history and is subject to intense negative propaganda.  The Huthi movement’s origins lie in the Shabab al-Mumanin (the Believing Youth), which began in the early 1990s as a summer school program using modern means—videos and cassette recordings—to promote Zaydism among the literate youth of the north who had largely forgotten their ancestors’ religion.

• Afghanistan
  Afghan official says the government has nearly run out of money, needs U.S. bailout

  Afghanistan’s central government is nearly broke and needs a $537 million bailout from the United States and other international donors within “five or six days” to continue paying its bills, a senior Afghan finance official said Tuesday. Crippled by a growing budget shortfall, the Afghan government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars of easily accessible reserve funds this year, said Alhaj M. Aqa, the director general of the treasury at the Finance Ministry.

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