Shahmahmood Miakhel

Since the 1970s “oil boom,” Indian migration to the Gulf has served as a valuable source of income for the nation and as the backbone of the economies of high-migration states such as Kerala through the transfer of remittances. However, the outlow of Indian migrants to the region has recently slackened while return migration has increased due to economic slowdowns, fluctuating oil prices, and changes in Gulf labor policies. The future of India-Gulf migration is further clouded by the Coronavirus pandemic, which poses unprecedented health and livelihoods challenges for the millions of Indians working in the Gulf, as well as for the families and communities that depend on them — and presents a daunting test for the Indian government.

Both the coronavirus crisis and Israel’s year-long political crisis seem set to continue for the unforeseeable future.

Egypt’s three top sources of foreign revenue — tourism, remittances, and the Suez Canal — are likely to be hard hit by the crisis.

Despite his support, al-Kadhimi’s path to obtain confirmation of his cabinet from the Council of Representatives is riddled with challenges.

The ingredients that fueled ISIS’s explosive expansion in Syria in 2013-14 are not only still present today, they are worse.

The Houthis’ lack of interest in halting their military operations could displace millions of civilians in the midst of a potential COVID-19 outbreak, defeating the very purpose of the cease-fire.

The country faces no letup in either political squabbling or insurgent attacks.

The new cuts will likely not do much to shore up oil prices.

MEI’s Michael Sexton and Eliza Campbell join host Alistair Taylor to discuss the variety of new surveillance technologies deployed by governments in the region to track the spread of COVID-19, and the tension they are setting up between public health and privacy concerns in the long term.

Last Sunday, the pandemic claimed the life of the most internationally prominent face of the Arab Spring in Libya. The tragic death of former Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril in a Cairo hospital, at just 68 years of age, is in fact a fitting metaphor for the many stillborn aspects of Libya’s attempted political rebirth.