Gaza and the war in Syria
Summary: last week, we looked at current theatres of war in Sudan, Libya and Yemen. Now, as the Gaza war rages on, we turn to Syria.
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The Cairo link in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi
Summary: five years ago this week the journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered. Did New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez’s alleged corruption include helping Cairo avoid scrutiny for its putative role in Saudi Arabia’s assassination of Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul?
Syria’s water nightmare
Summary: like other MENA countries Syria is in an existential water crisis, one that is made worse after more than a decade of civil war and that has been exacerbated by Western aid projects.
Arab Digest’s New Top Ten Podcast Countdown: #6
Summary: in the wake of Putin’s war Iraq faced uncertainty and anxiety with Iran continuing its oversized presence and parliamentary parties jostling for advantage even as the vast majority of Iraqis suffered the ongoing consequences of massive corruption.
Arab Digest’s New Top Ten Podcast Countdown: #9
Summary: the UAE and Saudi Arabia took stock of America’s declining status in the Middle East, saw Washington seemingly ready to do a deal with Tehran that once again cut them out and decided that they needed a fresh approach and new strategies in dealing with the threat of Iran.
This week in MENA
Summary: the ever-increasing danger of dust storms, Iraq’s marshlands dying, a Lebanese journalist jailed, Foreign Office fall-out from a piece of anti-BDS legislation, a Palestinian family evicted from their East Jerusalem home and Black African migrants targeted in Tunisia.
Shifting sands and a surprise Turkish move
Summary: President Erdoğan’s decision to allow Sweden into the NATO club points up the challenges the GCC faces as it attempts to play its geopolitical hand in a multipolar world.
Iraq’s Water Crisis
Summary: Iraq’s water security is poor and – absent urgent action – is set to get much worse.
Is Iraq ready for the next big challenge?
Summary: after eight months in office the Iraqi prime minister can point to a period of calm, increased FDI and a building boom in Baghdad as signs that his country is moving in the right direction but many Iraqis do not share his optimism.
Assad and the ICJ
Summary: while Syria’s Bashar al-Assad basks in the mostly friendly embrace of his Arab counterparts, Canada and the Netherlands are taking the dictator and his regime to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.