Morocco-Qatargate
Summary: as a key defendant agrees to cooperate fully with Belgium prosecutors, the full extent to which the EU parliament was allegedly corrupted by Qatar and Morocco is set to be revealed.
Arab Digest Newsletter Archive
Summary: as a key defendant agrees to cooperate fully with Belgium prosecutors, the full extent to which the EU parliament was allegedly corrupted by Qatar and Morocco is set to be revealed.
Summary: with the Saudis and the Houthis continuing to negotiate directly on a peace deal, little thought has been given to the negative implications of such a bilateral agreement for the people of Yemen.
Summary: Britain bears a significant responsibility for the Palestine-Israel conflict but successive governments have chosen to ignore that responsibility while giving strong support to Israel. A distinguished Arabist and retired British diplomat argues that has to change and the first step is to recognise the state of Palestine.
Summary: the lenders who are bankrolling Egypt’s President Sisi, principally the Gulf states, are growing uneasy as Egypt’s currency woes and ever-mounting debt signal an economic crash is on the horizon.
Summary: Algerian authorities unleash a campaign against rainbow symbols; the Algerian LGBTQ+ community continues to be subjected to discrimination, abuse and sometimes violence.
Summary: 2023 promises to be a very difficult year for many MENA countries with only the Gulf states escaping the long shadow of a deep economic slowdown.
Summary: OPEC+ is due to convene next in early June but with a bull market resurgent the date may need to be pushed forward; however, right now is not the time.
Summary: with the appointment of the boss of the UAE’s national oil company to head up COP28, critics say it’s a sell out to big oil interests while others argue the choice of Sultan al-Jaber is a shrewd and positive move.
Summary: as the online information war rages on, dissidents inside Salman’s Electronic Army counter its “counter extremism” by leaking information about its activities to the Saudi opposition.
Summary: Trump’s granting Morocco’s claim to the Western Sahara looked a clever stroke and a big win for Israel but the road to final diplomatic recognition has hit a bump or two.