Trump's contrasting avatars: Peace in Korea, World War in West Asia

The president giveth and he taketh away.

Donald Trump is a stern and wrathful leader. He thinks nothing of raining down fire and fury upon the enemies of his “chosen people.” Indeed, he even flirts with ending the world if he doesn’t receive due respect and the requisite number of burnt offerings. But he can also reward his followers, and those who curry his favor, with positions of power and untold riches.

This month, Trump will appear as both of these avatars. By meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump promises to wave his hand and create peace where before there was nothing but strife and dissension. At the same time, Trump the Destroyer has pledged to take the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal and bring the world that much closer to apocalypse.

It’s a peculiarly hypocritical position to take, but strangely consistent for a two-faced leader.

The deal with Iran closed off all possibility of the country going nuclear for a decade or more. A rich country, Iran could create quite a nuclear arsenal if it so wanted. Iran has abided by the terms of the current Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and yet Trump has called the deal “horrible.” Indeed, the president believes that he can “fix” the JCPOA. That’s quite a delusion.

Saudi to give bar codes to Air India, Jet crew, not retain their passports

The Saudi Arabian government has decided not to retain the passport of the Indian airline crew members on arrival in the country and issue a bar code instead, an Air India spokesperson confirmed.

The move comes as a big relief to the crew of Air India and Jet Airways, the two Indian airlines who fly to that country. Indian authorities had taken up the issue with the Saudi authorities and the decision not to retain the passport of the crews of Indian airlines came into effect from mid-February this year, the Air Indian spokesperson said.

The bar code given to the crew members will have a limited validity.

The development also comes against the backdrop of Saudi Arabia allowing a newly introduced Air India flight from New Delhi to Tel Aviv fly over its airspace, seen as a major diplomatic development in West Asia.

Will not bar Qatar from Arab summit in Riyadh, says Saudi crown prince

Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman says Qatar will not be barred from the Arab summit in Riyadh later this month but predicted the standoff with Doha could last a long time.
Prince Mohammed bin Salman's comments were made to local editors during a visit to Egypt this week and published today in the independent Al-Shorouk newspaper.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Qatar in June, accusing the tiny but super-rich Gulf state of supporting militant groups and forging close ties with Shiite Iran.
The prince described Iran, Turkey and militant groups as the "contemporary triangle of evil." He said Saudi Arabia was seeking to end the close relations between Iran on the one hand and Russia and Syria on the other.

Saudi Prince discusses economy on Egypt trip; pledges to invest $10 bn

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman continued a visit to Egypt today focused on economic cooperation, with Riyadh agreeing a $10 billion investment with Cairo for a futuristic mega city project.

Prince Mohammed accompanied Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to review construction projects near the Suez Canal before boarding a boat with the president to tour the waterway.
A Saudi government source said the two countries had agreed to set up a joint $10 billion fund to develop areas of Egypt linked to the NEOM project.

The $500 billion NEOM mega city, unveiled by Prince Mohammed last year, is planned to be a biotech and digital hub spread over 26,500 square kilometres (10,000 square miles) in an area facing Jordan and Egypt.

Saudi Arabia to invest $64 bn in Western-style entertainment in next decade

Saudi Arabia announced plans today to spend billions on building new venues and flying in Western acts, in a total overhaul of its entertainment sector that would be unthinkable not long ago.

Long known for its ultra-conservative mores, the kingdom has embarked on a wide-ranging programme of social and economic reforms driven by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
At a glitzy press conference in Riyadh, General Entertainment Authority chief Ahmad bin Aqeel al-Khatib told reporters the kingdom is set to invest $64 billion in its entertainment sector over the coming decade.

"We are already building the infrastructure," Khatib said, adding that ground had been broken for an opera house.
"God willing, you will see a real change by 2020," Khatib said, adding that more than 5,000 events were planned for the coming year.

As Saudis go nuclear, US seeks an edge over power rivals China, Russia

At a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna last September, word spread that Saudi Arabia had identified a handful of countries that could build two nuclear reactors in the kingdom. The US wasn’t among them -- until Energy Secretary Rick Perry buttonholed the Saudi delegates and told them America wanted in.

Within weeks, a mostly US consortium headed by Westinghouse Electric Co. had joined the race. Its executives have visited the kingdom. So has Perry, whose intervention was described by two people who attended the meeting. In the next few months, the Saudis are expected to narrow the field to two or three bidders.

A glance at the current list of contenders shows the geopolitical perils that accompany this business opportunity. American allies South Korea and France are on it -- and so are China and Russia, recently designated by the Pentagon as the main US threats. Reactor-building could become another arena of superpower rivalry.

Saudi women no longer need husband or male guardian's consent to start biz

Saudi women will from now on be allowed to open their own businesses without the consents of their male relatives, media reports said on Sunday.

Besides the opening up society Saudi Arabia seeks to achieve, especially integration of women in different walks of life, the decision also comes to meet the requirements of the fast-growing private sector, Xinhua reported.

"Women can now launch their own businesses and benefit from (governmental) e-services without having to prove consent from a guardian," the ministry of commerce and investment said on its website.

The change in policy is also a step forward away from the strict guardianship system imposed on women for decades.

Saudi gives its women first motorshow after granting the right to drive

Women flocked to Le Mall in Jeddah on Thursday to check out the kingdom’s first car exhibition aimed at women, a few months after Saudi Arabia granted them the right to drive.
Pink, orange and yellow balloons hung in the mall’s showroom as women posed for photos and selfies in front of the cars. One woman in the driver’s seat fixed her face cover. Another wrapped her turquoise-painted fingernails around the steering wheel, feeling it out.
In a decree issued in September, King Salman ordered by June an end to the ban on women drivers, a conservative tradition that has limited women’s mobility and been seen by rights activists as an emblem of their suppression.
Saudi Arabia is the only country that banned women drivers. The landmark royal decree has been hailed as proof of a new progressive trend in the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 32, is the face of that change.

Many young Saudis regard his recent ascent to power as proof their generation is taking a central place in running a country whose patriarchal traditions have for decades made power the province of the old and blocked women’s progress.
“I’ve always been interested in cars, but we didn’t have the ability to drive,” said Ghada al-Ali, a customer. “And now I‘m very interested in buying a car but I would like the payments and prices to not be very high.”
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Saudis, Turks voice alarm over US move to mark Jerusalem as Israel capital

Saudi Arabia on Monday voiced "grave and deep concern" over possible US plans to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital, saying the move could have serious implications for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

President Donald Trump faces a key decision this week over Jerusalem's status, potentially reversing years of US policy and prompting a furious response from the Palestinians and the Arab world.

"Saudi Arabia (expresses) grave and deep concern over reports that the US administration intends to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem," the official Saudi Press Agency said, citing a foreign ministry source.

"This step will have serious implications and will further complicate the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It will also obstruct the ongoing efforts to revive the peace process."

The status of Jerusalem is one of the most contentious issues of the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Facing dark warnings of a historic misstep and widespread unrest, Trump on Monday delayed a decision on whether to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and move the US embassy there.
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UAE's move of forming separate group with Saudi could worsen Gulf crisis

The United Arab Emirates today announced it has formed a new economic and partnership group with Saudi Arabia, separate from the Gulf Cooperation Council, a move that could undermine the council amid a diplomatic crisis with member state Qatar.

The Emirati Foreign Ministry announcement, just hours ahead of a GCC meeting in Kuwait, said the new "joint cooperation committee" was approved by the UAE's ruler and president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nayhan.

Saudi Arabia did not immediately report on the new partnership.

It wasn't immediately clear how the development could affect the six-member GCC meeting, which is expected to focus on the Qatar issue. Half of the GCC members are boycotting Doha in a dispute that's cleaved the Arabian Peninsula.

The Emirati ministry said the new "committee is assigned to cooperate and coordinate between the UAE and Saudi Arabia in all military, political, economic, trade and cultural fields, as well as others, in the interest of the two countries."

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have cultivated even-closer ties in recent years. Emirati troops are deeply involved in the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
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New Islamic military alliance will wipe out terrorists: Saudi crown prince

Saudi Arabia's assertive crown prince on Sunday opened the first high-level meeting of a kingdom-led alliance of Muslim nations against terrorism, vowing that extremists will no longer "tarnish our beautiful religion."

Mohammed bin Salman's words come as the Islamic State group, which sparked the creation of the alliance, has been driven out of Iraq and lost its self-described capital in Syria.

However, the alliance doesn't include Iran, Iraq or Syria, while member nation Qatar sent no one to attend the one-day Riyadh gathering amid a diplomatic standoff between Doha and four Arab nations led by the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia announced the alliance in December 2015, when the crown prince was still only the kingdom's defence minister.

Since then, his father King Salman has elevated the 32- year-old prince to be next in line for the throne in the oil- rich kingdom. The crown prince also recently put a number of wealthy princes, businessmen, military leaders and others under arrest over corruption allegations at various luxury hotels in Riyadh.

The alliance initially announced with 34 nations, now includes 41, according to the Saudi government. Addressing the defence ministers and other high-ranking officials, Crown Prince Mohammed said today's meeting sends "a strong signal that we are going to work together and coordinate together to support each other."
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Lebanon crisis: PM Saad Hariri suspends resignation, vows to protect nation

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday said he was suspending his surprise resignation, pending talks, providing a potential way out of a political crisis that has rocked the country.

And in a rousing address before large crowds of supporters gathered outside his Beirut home, he pledged he would stay in the country and protect its "stability."

Lebanon has been thrown into turmoil by Hariri's shock November 4 announcement from Saudi Arabia that he was stepping down, as well as his prolonged absence afterwards.

The resignation was seen as a ratcheting up of tensions in the long-running rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and raised fears that Lebanon would be paralysed by regional tensions.

Hours after his arrival back in Beirut, Hariri met with President Michel Aoun, who had refused to accept the premier's resignation until he returned to Lebanon.

"I discussed my resignation with the president of the republic who asked me to wait before submitting it... and allow for more consultations," Hariri told reporters afterwards.
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Ready to share intelligence on Iran to Saudi: Israel's military chief

Israel's military chief of staff said in an interview on Thursday that his country was prepared to cooperate with Saudi Arabia to face Iran's plans "to control the West Asia."

"We are ready to exchange experience with the moderate Arab countries and exchange intelligence information to face Iran," Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot was quoted as saying by Elaph, a Saudi-run news site.

Asked whether any information had been shared recently with Saudi Arabia, he said "we are ready to share information if necessary. There are many common interests between us and them."

Israel's army confirmed the contents of the interview, which was rare as Israel and Saudi Arabia have no official diplomatic ties.

Sunni Muslim powerhouse Saudi Arabia has long been at loggerheads with Shiite, non-Arab Iran but friction has spiralled in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri announced from Saudi capital Riyadh that he was quitting, citing Iran's "grip" on his country.

The leader of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite group supported by Iran, has accused Saudi Arabia of pressing Israel to launch attacks against it.
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Saudi Arabia calls on its citizens to leave Lebanon

Saudi Arabia on Thursday urged its citizens to leave Lebanon "as soon as possible", days after Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri announced his resignation while visiting the kingdom.

A foreign ministry source, quoted by state news agency SPA, also called on Saudis not to travel to Lebanon because of "the situation" in the country, without elaborating.
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A 5-star prison: Ritz-Carlton is a gilded cage for Saudi royals

From the stately rows of palm trees on its 52-acre grounds to the grand double staircase to the glittering ballroom chandeliers, it is easy to see why the six-year-old Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, has played host to billionaires, heads of state and members of the Saudi royal family.

Which is why it is all the more jarring that former government ministers, prominent businessmen and members of the royal family — the House of Saud — are being held captive in the five-star hotel, which was swiftly converted over the weekend into what is almost certainly the world’s most luxurious prison.

In a shaky video that appears from its metadata to have been shot early Monday morning in the hotel’s Ballroom B, people can be seen lying on mats covered with brightly colored blankets in floral motifs while guards in dark uniforms are visible in the background. In a corner stands a rifle, which appears to be an American standard military-issue M4, its civilian variant or a copycat.

The ballroom appeared to be a makeshift barracks for guards, while the V.I.P. detainees were being held in some of the hotel’s 492 guest rooms and suites. A search of the hotel’s reservation page on Tuesday showed that it was “not available for check-in” until December 16.

Saudi Arabia finds itself in the midst of a crackdown on corruption that began on Saturday night with the arrest of dozens of people, at least 11 of whom were princes, including the billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. By Monday, American officials tracking the situation said that has many as 500 people had been rounded up in the ongoing sweep.
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Saudi money fuels the tech industry. It's time to ask why

We need to talk about the tsunami of questionable money crashing into the tech industry.

We should talk about it because that money is suddenly in the news, inconveniently out in the open in an industry that has preferred to keep its connection to petromonarchs and other strongmen on the down low.

The news started surfacing over the weekend, when Saudi Arabia arrested a passel of princes, including Alwaleed bin Talal, the billionaire tech investor who has large holdings in Apple, Twitter and Lyft. The arrests, part of what the Saudis called a corruption crackdown, opened up a chasm under the tech industry’s justification for taking money from the religious monarchy.

Then there’s Russia. My colleague Jesse Drucker reported on Sunday that Yuri Milner, the Russian billionaire who plowed early investments into Twitter and Facebook, had been funded in part by companies controlled by the Kremlin. DST Global, Mr. Milner’s company, defended the arrangement as just business, and noted that DST had divested from Facebook and Twitter years ago. DST had appeared to go to some lengths to hide the source of the funds through many offshore companies.

But mostly we need to talk about this money because, boy, is there a whole lot of it — and as the world’s moneyed dictators, oligarchs and other characters look for more places to park their billions, mountains more will be coming to Silicon Valley.

This presents a conundrum. Tech companies are fond of pseudo-revolutionary mission statements that extol the virtues of diversity, tolerance, freedom of expression and other progressive ideals. They have argued that their technologies are part of a force for global liberation — that forging more open communication and economic productivity through technology will loosen the grip of tyrannies across the globe. For much of the last year, Silicon Valley has also promised a revolution in its own culture, with large and small companies alike vowing to become more inclusive of women and minorities.
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Bahrain seeks Qatar's suspension from GCC

Bahrain's foreign minister on Monday suggested suspending Qatar's Gulf Cooperation Council membership until it accepts the demands of its Arab adversaries in the region's worst crisis in years.

"The correct step to preserve the GCC would be to freeze Qatar's membership until it sees reason and accepts the demands of our countries. If not, we will be fine with it leaving the GCC," Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said on Twitter.

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt on June 5 severed ties with Qatar over accusations of supporting extremism and being too close to Shiite rival Iran, charges Doha has denied.

Founded in 1981, the GCC is a political and economic union that includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, as well as Oman and Kuwait.

Experts have warned that the nearly five-month-long diplomatic crisis could cause the six-nation bloc's demise.

Saudi Arabia and its allies in June issued Qatar with a list of demands including shutting down Doha-based broadcaster Al-Jazeera, curbing relations with Iran and closing a Turkish military base in the emirate.

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Saudi Arabia announces $500-bn investment city linked to Egypt, Jordan

Saudi Arabia, seeking to free itself from dependence on oil exports has announced on Tuesday a $500 billion plan to build a business and industrial zone extending into Jordan and Egypt.

The 26,500 square km (10,230 square mile) zone, known as NEOM, to be powered entirely by renewable energy, will focus on industries including energy and water, biotechnology, food, advanced manufacturing and entertainment, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said.

The announcement was the highlight at the opening of a three-day international business conference drawing over 3,500 people from 88 countries.

Prince Mohammed, in a rare public address, hailed it as an example of the innovative high tech future he has promised his highly conservative country.

Speaking on a panel, he said young Saudis and the promotion of moderate Islam were the key to his modernising "dream" for his country, the world's largest oil exporter. In a brief political comment, he said the country would eradicate extremism soon.

The stakes in the country's rapid modernisation were high.

"This is a double-edged sword. If they (young Saudis) work and go the right way, with all their force they will create another country, something completely different ... and if they go the wrong direction it will be the destruction of this country," he said.
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China offers to buy 5% of Saudi Aramco directly: Sources

China is offering to buy up to 5 percent of Saudi Aramco directly, sources said, a move that could give Saudi Arabia the flexibility to consider various options for its plan to float the world's biggest oil producer on the stock market.

Chinese state-owned oil companies PetroChina and Sinopec have written to Saudi Aramco in recent weeks to express an interest in a direct deal, industry sources told Reuters. The companies are part of a state-run consortium including China's sovereign wealth fund, the sources say.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said last year the kingdom was considering listing about 5 percent of Aramco in 2018 in a deal that could raise $100 billion, if the company is valued at about $2 trillion as hoped.

"The Chinese want to secure oil supplies," one of the industry sources said. "They are willing to take the whole 5 percent, or even more, alone."

PetroChina and Sinopec declined to comment.

The initial public offering (IPO) of Saudi Aramco is the centrepiece of an economic reform plan to diversify the Saudi economy beyond oil and it would also provide a welcome boost to the kingdom's budget which has been hit by low oil prices.
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Oil prices rise as Saudi Arabia plans to cut exports in November

Oil prices extended gains with the US crude posting best daily gain in two weeks, after Saudi Arabia said it would cut oil exports in November.

The West Texas Intermediate for November delivery on Tuesday increased $1.34 to settle at $50.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for December delivery rose $0.82 to close at $56.61 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

According to media reports, Saudi Arabia would cut its November crude oil allocations to customers by 560,000 barrels a day, according to Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and several other producers have cut production by about 1.8 million barrels per day since the start of 2017.

Lipow said the potential impact of maintenance season on demand for Saudi supplies but said any drop in exports from OPEC's biggest producer is bullish to the extent it takes oil off the market.
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