Summary: despite what was, by all accounts, a challenging discussion at the OPEC+ table last weekend, Saudi Arabia appears to have engineered a pragmatic outcome consistent with its drive to stabilise the oil price.
Summary: as his allies and former Arab critics rally around the Syrian president he is using the lure of lucrative reconstruction contracts to strengthen his position.
Summary: as outside players become more engaged and the violence in Sudan gathers pace so too does the risk of a major conflagration that could engulf the region.
Summary: with civilian casualties mounting two generals battle for supremacy while Abu Dhabi watches with growing concern as the military leaders it has backed and the country it has heavily invested in threatens to slide toward all-out civil war.
Summary: the Syrian president who has conducted a ruthless and bloody war now appears poised to be welcomed back into the Arab fold by fellow dictators and authoritarian ruling families.
Summary: what is being called the worst leak of top secret documents since Wikileaks has caused concern in DC and provoked swift denials in Egypt, the UAE and Israel.
Summary: the UK government and the MoD say only one civilian has been killed by an airstrike it carried out during the campaign against the Islamic State, a claim that Airwars has shown to be demonstrably wrong. Despite that the UK continues to hold to the claim.
Summary: as is generally the case with surprises, markets have almost certainly overreacted to the latest OPEC+ cuts in oil output, the timing of which probably owes more to Saudi/US tensions than it does to global economic prospects. They will almost certainly be more than reversed in 2H2023.
Summary: Saudi Arabia’s crown prince is using giga-projects to drive forward his plan to wean the kingdom off its dependency on oil revenues; the results thus far of his Vision2030 project are mixed but if oil prices hold steady MbS may yet see some of his hugely ambitious schemes come to fruition by the end of the decade.
Summary: as Washington pushes forward on a UN plan for an election this year in Libya, the Biden administration once again dictates that personalities rather than the interests of the Libyan people will prevail.
