Riyadh, Saudi Arabia by Lucia Dore The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is well placed to deal with the impact of COVID-19, according to a report by Oxford Business Group (OBG) entitled "How is COVID-19 impacting the ICT sector in Saudi Arabia?" The report says that KSA 's response to the COVID-19 pandemic was "aided by sustained investments in health...
New Zealand PM bows out
Here's an article from The Economist which, while talking about John Key's resignation, states that NZ is "one of the most successful countries in the world. While this is debatable, there is no doubt that Key has had successes- namely international recognition- along with failures, housing, immigration and the environment. We have yet to see whether the new Prime Minister, John English, will have the same success.
I wrote this article two years ago. It is just as relevant now as it was then. Not much has changed. by Lucia Dore To what extent is communication the key to a successful organisation and to great leadership? How does good communication make an organisation great? And what difference does good communication make to the implementation of a public re...
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected major cities around the world, including those of the Middle East, such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Muscat, Beirut, Doha and Tehran. What will happen to these cities? Will they bounce back? Will the importance of cities like Dubai continue, especially as a financial centre? Countries that thought they beat ...
Israel's urge to annex the West Bank is causing concerns for Jordan. The country's King Abdullah II has refused to meet with Israel's PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, because it continues to annex the West Bank. Abdullah refused to take the call from Israel's PM to discuss its plan to annex parts of the West Bank in July, a big part of the US President's Pe...
There is little to suggest that the Syrian War, which has run for nine years, is likely to end soon. Nonetheless, the US State Department is expected to announce on Wednesday (US time) the first round of targets under the so-called Caesar Act. One of the aims of the sanctions is to stop the Syrian regime from seeking foreign investment to rebuild t...
The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has brought about huge implications for Turkey. It has to confront its own racism- which it is reluctant to do. The Gulen movement and the Kurdistan Workers Party (the PKK, which is deemed a terrorist organisation in the United States and Turkey) are among the parties that are accused of bringing about the upri...
Living in any country in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) - - no matter for how long it is- will not allow you to acquire a passport. I have a New Zealand (NZ) passport and lived in the United Kingdom (UK) for long enough that I could get a passport there- and that was after only five years. Of course, I lived there for much longer. Coming from ...
What Benjamin Netanyahu does regarding the annexation of the West Bank by Israel is anyone's guess. Will he go ahead with the move? The problem that is he is counting on the US and President Trump to approve it. President Trump, has other things on his mind, however. It's not just the COVID-19 pandemic with which his administration has to deal but ...
Seniors, like most people, around the world are struggling with the current lock downs. What of their future? Lucia Dore looks at the economic implications of COVID-19 for seniors and what may happen in the future. The future economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on seniors varies between countries - from Europe and the Americas to Asia/Pacific....
The killing of George Floyd by a white policeman in Minneapolis, USA, has reverberated around the world. One of the places where significant parallels are made is in Israel, where the Arabs feel marginalised and are targeted indiscriminately by police. The killing of autistic Palestinian man Iyad Hallak is arguably a perfect example of brutality by...
How the Gulf economies will get their economies back on track as COVID-19 numbers reduces is a dilemma I have been mulling over for some time. In the past, most of the countries have relied on oil to keep their budgets in order. Dubai, of course, is dependent on logistics, and on oil from Abu Dhabi. Qatar is reliant on natural gas of which it is th...
Saudi Arabia will be sterilising all its coins and notes in circulation as a way of stemming the growth of the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be put the money in sealed envelopes, which will be out of circulation for 20 days. I'm unconvinced that such a measure works, although South Korea and China have done this. However, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Au...
I was interested to read that all conflicts are not always between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East. Sometimes they are between Arabs and Italians. This article explains the problem that erupted in Turkey. May 22, 2020 in Al Monitor IZMIR, Turkey — Residents in several districts in the Turkish city of Izmir could hardly believe their ea...
I am interested to know how robots can help fight coronavirus, and other diseases. This article discusses how the building of a robot and its use has stopped the spread of coronavirus in Jordan's largest refugee camp, the Zaatari camp. Syrian refugees in Jordan build robot to fight coronavirus by Mohammed Ersan for Al Monitor In Jordan's Zaatari re...
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the Middle East hard, in the same way that the rest of the world has been hit hard. The economic implications of lockdown are severe. The resumption of economic activity across economies is not easy. Most governments are cautious about the relaxing of economies. It is happening slowly. Could governments have done anyth...
What is the relevance of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC)? Does it affect intra-regional trade? With only 10% of intra-regional trade being between the GCC countries, is the GCC past its sell-by date? Saudi Arabia has also raised VAT by 300% to 15%, somewhat higher than the 5% in the UAE and the still-zero-rating in Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. With ...
What will be the impact of COVID-19 on people-powered protests in the Middle East? That was the topic of the discussion of the latest installment of Foreign Policy (FP) Virtual Dialogues, in partnership with the International Republican Institute. This session examined the impact of COVID-19 on protest movements in the Middle East. The panel discus...
One of the repercussions of COVID-19 in the Arabian Gulf countries is the impact that it's having on migrant workers. They do most of the work in these countries- especially in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar, (the latter two countries are heavily reliant on migrant labour, particularly for Expo 2020 and Qatar 2022 respectively...
Supporting SMEs which contribute around 60 per cent of non-oil economic output and employ around 90 per cent of the private workforce is critical. This article was published in the Abu Dhabi- headquartered The National newspaper. Zak Hydari May 5, 2020 Covid-19 is the most serious public health and economic emergency the world has faced in modern t...
This article from New Zealand's Super Fund crossed my desk yesterday and I wanted to share it with you. - Formosa Golf Course reopens under Level 3 restrictions The new owner of a large block of land at Beachlands says it looks forward to engaging with the local community on the area's future. A partnership comprising the NZ Super Fund and parties ...