MUST-READS

• Iraqi Army
  Why Iraqi army can’t fight, despite $25 billion in U.S. aid, training

  "The army became Maliki's private militia," said retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton, who was in charge of military training in Iraq in 2003 and 2004. Iraqis in Shiite-dominated greater Baghdad generally support the army, he said. But he also acknowledged that the army cannot defend the surrounding "Baghdad belt" without the help of thousands of Shiite militiamen Kamil calls "volunteers," particularly because areas just to the north, west and south have a Sunni majority.

• Refining Capacity
  Saudi Arabia adds to oil power with new refineries

  "One thing I think is very sure you are going to see in the next 3-5 years is going to be a shift in Saudi exports away from crude and towards products," Bob McNally, a White House adviser to former President George W. Bush and now president of the Rapidan Group energy consultancy, said after a recent trip to Saudi Arabia.

• Oil Slump
  U.S. Oil Falls to 4-Year Low on Saudi Price Cut

  West Texas Intermediate crude dropped to the lowest intraday level in three years as Saudi Arabia cut prices for crude exports to U.S. customers amid speculation that stockpiles increased. Brent extended losses in London.

  • WSJ - Prices Raised for Asian Markets
  • CNBC - Is the crude market calling Saudi Arabia's bluff?
  • Reuters - Saudi trip to Latam evokes 1990s oil troika with a new rival: U.S.
  • WSJ - Saudi Oil-Price Cut Upends Market
• World Trade Center
  World Trade Center reopens for business

  Some staffers of publishing giant Conde Nast began working at 1 World Trade Center on Monday. The 104-story, $3.9 billion skyscraper dominates the Manhattan skyline. The publishing giant becomes the first commercial tenant in America's tallest building. It's the centerpiece of the 16-acre site where the decimated twin towers once stood and where more than 2,700 people died on Sept. 11, 2001, buried under smoking mounds of fiery debris. The area has prospered in recent years beyond anyone's imagination. About 60,000 more residents now live there — three times more than before 9/11 — keeping streets, restaurants and shops alive even after Wall Street and other offices close for the day.

• Saudi-US
  Saudi student in US jailed for 25 years

  The 25-year-old Saudi had been studying at the University of Northern Iowa and had crashed his car prior to attacking the woman.

  • Arab News - Saudi scholarship students’ troubles in the United States
• Tadawul Opening
  Saudi’s index records worst month in 2014

  Saudi’s stock index registered its worst month this year, on the heels of slumping oil prices.

• Global Oil Markets
  Crude control

  “China has been the key driver of global growth since 2009 and its slowdown will be a drag on the global economy,” said a research note from QNB Economics last week. “Weaker demand from China is also likely to be a drag on international commodity prices, including oil prices, for some time to come.” After several years of prices hovering around $100 a barrel, seemingly entrenched at that level, the sudden decline has exposed how volatile Gulf budgets remain.

  • Kansas City Star - Dark side of the boom: Diving oil prices could curb U.S. production
  • Business Insider - America's Path To Energy Independence In One Chart Read
  • WSJ - Energy Boom Can Withstand Steeper Oil-Price Drop
• Water Conservation
  Saudi’s NWC says $693m saved by plugging water leaks

  The company said the savings were made possible by the NWC's application of radar technology, audio devices and the use of helium to monitor leakage for the first time in the Middle East.

• Iran and China
  Iran and China deepen a ‘blue water’ friendship

  Last month, visitors to Bandar Abbas on Iran’s southern coast gathered to witness a never-seen-before event: two Chinese warships pulling into port. It could be just the start of a budding naval alliance stretching from the Pacific to the Persian Gulf. Iranian and Chinese commanders last week announced plans for greater maritime cooperation. While the details are vague, it clearly touches ambitions on both sides: Expanding the reach of their warships into faraway seas and new ports of call. And, at the same time, giving a jab at the United States and its preeminent naval power.

• ISIS Origins
  Video: The Rise of ISIS

  FRONTLINE investigates the miscalculations and mistakes behind the brutal rise of ISIS.

  • Washington Post - Wishful thinking in the U.S. plans against the Islamic State
  • War on the Rocks - Strategic Overstretch and the Jihadist Generation Gap
  • PBS - In Their Own Words: Sunnis on Their Treatment in Maliki’s Iraq
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