MUST-READS

• India and Pakistan
  Tensions Rising Dangerously in South Asia

  Although Modi made a big gesture in May when he invited his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, to his inauguration, since then Modi has canceled routine diplomatic talks with Pakistan on Kashmir and signaled a tough line toward terrorism. He also appointed a very experienced intelligence chief, Ajit Doval as his national security adviser. Doval is known as a hard-liner on terrorism—and on Pakistan.

• Energy Conservation
  Thermal Insulation and Energy Conservation

  Given the extraordinary level of electricity consumption in Saudi Arabia, the government is getting around to requiring thermal insulation in new buildings. At present, most dwellings in Saudi Arabia are made of either concrete block or poured concrete. Neither is particularly noted for its insulation qualities, though they are good at heat retention. But heat retention is not what’s desired or needed in Saudi Arabia, where air conditioning is a major source of energy demand.

• NCB
  Saudi Bank Posts Higher Profit Amid First Share Sale

  Net income rose to 1.87 billion riyals ($500 million) from 1.73 billion riyals a year earlier, the country’s largest bank said in a statement today. Total assets increased 19 percent to 438 billion riyals. The bank’s loan portfolio rose 15.8 percent to 214 billion riyals while deposits were 16.7 percent higher at 295 billion riyals.

• Sukuk
  Saudi Arabia’s Advanced Petrochemical plans sukuk investor meetings

  Saudi Arabia's Advanced Petrochemical Co. will begin meeting investors from Sunday ahead of a potential sale of a sukuk denominated in riyals, it said on Wednesday.

• U.S.-Iran Relationship
  Why Iran views Islamic State fight through a conspiracy lens

  Iran’s top leadership blames the US, CIA, Israel, and America's Sunni allies such as Saudi Arabia for “creating” the IS as a tool to undermine Iran. It's a way to ensure a permanent US troop presence in the Middle East and to create chronic regional tensions that benefit Israel, according to Iran.

  • Reuters - Iran supreme leader blames West for Islamic State rise, wants regional solution
• Iran Negotiations
  Iran acts to comply with interim nuclear deal with powers: IAEA

  Iran is taking further action to comply with an interim nuclear agreement with six world powers, a monthly U.N. atomic agency report showed, a finding the West may see as positive ahead of a November deadline for clinching a long-term deal. The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), seen by Reuters, made clear that Iran is meeting its commitments under the temporary deal, as it and major powers seek to negotiate a final settlement of a decade-old nuclear dispute.

• Riyadh Metro
  Metro project to bring Riyadh on par with world’s great cities

  Work on the project is under way. It includes 756 metro cars, 85 stations, 6 metro lines and 176-km. network. It will also include 3,853 bus stops and stations, 24 bus routes, 1,150 km network and 956 buses. Three foreign groups have been awarded contracts to build the project.

• Syria
  In the Syria We Don’t Know

  ISIS came along to supersede the FSA, as the FSA had replaced the protesters. ISIS was more combative, more ruthless, better financed, and more effective, using mobility across the desert in Syria and Iraq to launch surprise attacks. It used suicide teams in bomb-laden trucks to open the way into regime strongholds that its rebel adversaries had merely besieged. Moreover, it has achieved the one objective that eluded the FSA: it brought American airpower into the war, but not in the way the FSA wanted. Instead, the Syria war has produced an opposition to Assad so repellent and so antagonistic to Western allies in the region that when the air intervention came, it arrived in the guise of the regime’s ally in all but name.

• Saudi Survey
  High cost of living plaguing Saudi youth: Poll

  Nearly 60 percent of young Saudis ranked the high cost of living as one of their top three issues. Regional disparities are quite apparent: respondents from the east and the south were more likely to cite this as a top concern than were those from the center. In the focus groups, many young Saudis expressed fear that the high cost of living would limit their ability to marry and have children.

• Iran Negotiations
  Reading Between the Red Lines: An Anatomy of Iran’s Eleventh-Hour Nuclear Negotiating Strategy

  After yet another round of negotiations on the Iranian nuclear issue this week in Vienna, Tehran is simultaneously reinforcing its red lines while raising expectations that a final agreement remains within reach. While these might sound like mixed messages, in fact they are part of a sophisticated, multi-prong strategy aimed at pressuring Washington and its negotiating partners to accede to Tehran’s stipulations for a deal.

  • Defense One - The Last Step to an Iran Nuclear Deal
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