SUSTG.com / Research
Discover stories, topics, and more about Saudi Arebia faster.
We can't find results matching your search.
Adjust your search and try again or browse topics and stories below.
Discover stories, topics, and more about Saudi Arebia faster.
Adjust your search and try again or browse topics and stories below.
The U.S. State Department said Thursday it named an Egyptian extremist group and a senior adviser to al Qaeda’s Yemen-based branch as terrorists.
Saudi Arabia and OPEC would find it “difficult, if not impossible” to give up market share by cutting crude production, the country’s oil minister said. Global oil markets are experiencing “temporary” instability caused mainly by a slowdown in the world economy, Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said, according to comments published yesterday by the Saudi Press Agency. He reiterated the country’s intention to maintain output amid plunging prices.
According to the World Bank’s 2013 figures, the U.S. GDP of $16.8 trillion made America the largest economy in the world by far, accounting for 22 percent of the world’s economic output of $78.8 trillion.6 It maintains one of the world’s largest and most capable armed forces, over 2.3 million personnel (active duty and reserves): most importantly, it can move that military thousands of miles from its shores and keep it in the field. Last, but not least, the dollar remains the currency of choice in the international system, reflecting the overall confidence of global markets (and states) in the unrivaled strength and stability of America’s political and economic system. The United States faces no direct military threats on its borders and no peer competitor to challenge its global preponderance over the next decade. Many of these realities seem lost, however, in the debate over America’s supposed decline.
On balance, the dark cloud that has formed over U.S.-Gulf relations probably does represent, as Prince Saud suggested, a transitory result of simultaneous unfortunate outcomes for which no country is entirely to blame. How long that cloud will hover depends on the outcome of the nuclear negotiations with Iran, the effort to contain ISIS, the dubious future of Yemen, the stability of Iraq, the situation in the West Bank, and as always in the Middle East, on the inevitable “black swan” events for which no one in the region, or in Washington, will be prepared.
Obama as an individual will not be fondly remembered when he leaves office, but he will be in good company. In the Gulf, it often seems as if the last prominent American policymaker still admired and respected is James A. Baker III, secretary of state at the time of Desert Storm.
There are powerful elements in both the United States and Egypt that would prefer a resumption of tight relations, but a heavy cloud of mutual suspicion will likely prevent the type of public partnership seen in the past, says CFR’s Steven Cook.
The GCC railway link project, which has been given top priority by the bloc’s leaders, would be completed by 2018, said Abdullatif Al-Zayani, GCC secretary-general. “The railway will increase trade and economic exchange between the member states,” he pointed out.
A top civilian coordinator for rebel forces estimated that the cutoff affects 8,000 of the estimated 10,000 fighters in Idlib and Hama provinces, where the so-called moderate rebels face a severe challenge from the Nusra Front, al Qaida’s affiliate in Syria. Commanders said CIA operatives told them the cutoff was the U.S. response to the Nusra gains, which have included the seizure of U.S.-supplied weapons from moderate rebel forces in recent weeks.
After Opec’s announcement that it would not be cutting production, oil prices fell dramatically. Given the significant global oversupply due to the US shale oil boom and decreased demand in China and Europe, this decision marks an historical moment in which Opec relinquishes its supply-based approach to price manipulation and embraces a market-based approach.
Since he was arrested, Rezaian’s family has reserved their calls for his release to only a few outlets, including the Washington Post, and CNN, which featured Rezaian and Salehi in the Iran-focused episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown show. Rezaian and his wife were detained shortly after the show was filmed in an arrest that reportedly involved a raid on their home, and Bourdain has since joined Rezaian’s family in calling for his release. A Facebook page and petition have also been put up for Rezaian.
The discounts on Saudi crude oil for Asian customers in January were the biggest since at least 2002, according to Reuters data, while prices were cut to the United States for the fifth month in a row. “(The) Saudis are making it clear they don’t want to lose market share,” Richard Mallinson, an analyst at consultancy Energy Aspects, told the Reuters Global Oil Forum.