Summary: an Omani peace initiative and Saudi eagerness to end the war may possibly start Yemen on the road to peace but Emirati ambitions and Houthi gains complicate further an already intensely complex crisis.
Summary: Oman is well placed to move by incremental, evolutionary steps towards a democracy rooted in Islamic values but is Sultan Haitham ready to take those steps?
Summary: as the Gulf states seek to shift away from oil dependency, Oman is uniquely placed to diversify its economy and transition to a green energy future.
Arab Digest editor William Law in conversation with Jim Krane, an energy research analyst at Rice University’s Baker Institute in Houston.The podcast focusses on the Gulf’s national oil companies and the challenges they and the MENA region share with the rest of the world as climate change ramps temperatures up. In the Middle East, unless temperature rise is slowed whole regions will become uninhabitable.
Arab Digest editor William Law in conversation with Helen Lackner. Her book “Yemen in Crisis: the Road to War”, published by Verso in 2019, is a seminal study of the current war and what lies behind it. Today’s podcast looks at the ongoing battle for Ma’rib, the failed efforts of the UN special envoy and the fragile hope that Oman’s recent intervention in efforts to get effective peace talks underway may bear fruit as the conflict grinds on in its sixth year.
Summary: the battlefield success of Turkish drones in Libya, Iraq and Syria are changing the way that Middle East wars are being fought and regional geo-political ambitions are being realised.
Summary: the battlefield success of Turkish drones in Libya, Iraq and Syria are changing the way that Middle East wars are being fought and regional geo-political ambitions are being realised.
Arab Digest editor William Law is joined by the author and academic Christopher Davidson. He’s written several books on the Gulf, the latest, just published by Hurst, is titled From Sheikhs to Sultanism. Their conversation is about two crown princes and their transformation into regional power players. Mohammed bin Salman enjoys playing on the world stage while Mohammed bin Zayed takes a more quiet road but both have consolidated power in an unprecedented manner as they shift from sheikhs to sultans.
Summary: as the US continues to pivot away from the Gulf and the wider Middle East and Iran remains a significant regional threat the GCC, approaching its 40th anniversary, sees strategic sense in patching up differences.
Summary: heroin mostly enters the Arab world from Afghanistan via Iran enroute to markets in Europe. Arab countries close to the main smuggling routes are the most impacted by the trade. The Syrian war has led traffickers to re-route heroin shipments via the Black Sea and Africa.
