The Russia-Ukraine war forces Egypt to face the need to feed itself: Infrastructure, international partnerships, and agritech can provide the solutions
After 500 days of coping with the debilitating impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Egypt’s economy is faltering. At the core of the crisis is its fragile food security. Now, the Egyptian economy is fast approaching a tipping point and Cairo has no alternative but to boost its domestic agrifood production. In addition to building out its infrastructure, Egypt must also adopt cutting-edge agritech solutions to improve the water-use efficiency of the crops themselves.
الحجاج والأرباح: الأردن يتطلع إلى موقع المعمودية المقدس لتعزيز السياحة الدينية
سعت الحكومة الأردنية إلى تطوير موقع المعمودية في بيت عنيا عبر الأردن في محاولة لتعزيز قطاع السياحة والاقتصاد بشكل عام. لكن تحقيق التوازن الصحيح بين الاعتبارات الاقتصادية والدينية والسياسية والبيئية لن يكون أمراً سهلاً.
Changing dynamics reshape power networks in Yemen’s “two Hadramawts”
Since 2015, Yemen’s largest governorate, Hadramawt, has been informally divided between two distinct centers of power with different military loyalties and external backing. The balance of power within the governorate is no longer fixed, however. Changes in Hadramawt’s military, political, and economic dynamics are reshaping power networks in the governorate and beyond, with implications for the conflicting agendas of the Saudis, Emiratis, and Houthis.
Turkey's role after the Black Sea grain deal collapse has become even more critical
During the 500 days since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Middle East avoided a catastrophic food crisis, thanks in part to the Black Sea grain initiative. Russia’s decision to cancel that agreement is raising fears that the return of supply shortages and skyrocketing wheat prices could quickly plunge the most vulnerable countries of the region into crisis.
Climate Change Threatens Turkey’s Role as a Food Supplier to Europe and the Middle East
The persistence of high food inflation in Turkey belies a deeper problem. Turkish agrifood production cannot adequately cope with increasing water scarcity due to climate change. Challenging Turkey’s own food security, the growing crisis also threatens Turkey’s role as a food supplier to Europe and the Middle East. Regional food supply chain breakdowns due to a decline in Turkish production would create a debilitating economic impact on both regions.
The new wave of dealmaking by Gulf sovereign wealth funds
For resource-rich countries such as Gulf oil and natural gas producers, sovereign wealth funds have emerged as promising tools to save for future generations, mitigate the effects of outsized economic shocks, and/or be deployed as reserve investment and strategic development funds to spend on human, natural, social, and physical capital.
سورية التي أسست للخلاف بين قوات فاغنر والحكومة الروسية
لم يكن تمرد مجموعات فاغنر العسكرية على الحكومة الروسية ووزارة الدفاع وقادتها العسكريين مفاجئاً، خاصة في الفترة الأخيرة من الحرب الروسية الأوكرانية مع الظهور المستمر لزعيم تلك القوات يفغيني بريغوجين، الذي تكرر ظهوره خلال الأشهر الماضية منتفداً تارة ومهدداً تارةً أخرى للقادة العسكريين الروس، بسبب ما قال إنه نقص في الذخيرة والمعدات المقدمة لقواته على جبهات أوكرانية وخاصة باخموت، ما تسبب بمقتل العشرات من قواته على مدار الفترة الماضية.
Syria is where the conflict between Wagner and the Russian government began
The conflict between the Wagner Group and the Russian government was not born out of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, though the war there caused the rift to widen and tensions to explode publicly in the form of an armed rebellion. Instead, the discord actually started in Syria back in 2017 and has intensified since then.
في السنوات القليلة الماضية، تغيرت التوقعات العالمية في مجال الطاقة. فقد أدى صعود السياسات الشعبوية وتزايد الشعور بضرورة اتخاذ إجراءات عاجلة بشأن تغير المناخ إلى إثارة جدل حول سياسات الطاقة في البلدان الغنية، مما أدى إلى ظهور مزيج مربك من السياسات الصناعية الجديدة. وجعلت جائحة كوفيد-19 من الصعب للغاية التنبؤ بأسعار الوقود وأنماط الاستهلاك، وأجبرت العديد من البلدان على مواجهة ارتباطاتها بسلاسل التوريد الهشة التي تشمل عدة دول وبالدول النفطية القديمة.
Coercive deprivation: Unraveling the Assad regime’s policy on domestic reconstruction
Since the early years of the Syrian conflict, the Assad regime has systematically diverted local resources dedicated for reconstruction purposes to rehabilitate facilities in areas and sectors that benefit it and its inner circle, as well as placed the burden of rehabilitating properties onto Syrians themselves. To finance this policy, the regime has exploited four key resources, including imposing multiple reconstruction taxes, diverting U.N. and INGO early recovery and rehabilitation projects, capitalizing on local-led crowdfunding campaigns, and forcing Syrians to bear the cost of repairing their own damaged properties.
The false promise of Washington’s foreign military sales reforms
Over the past few weeks, the US State Department and the US Defense Department released separate but similar statements about the changes each organization has instituted to the Foreign Military Sales, or FMS, process. There are 80 recommendations coming out of the Pentagon, but in short, they all advocate for less bureaucracy and more speed.
Georgia the interconnector — but where’s Washington?
For the sake of safeguarding transatlantic — and thus also American — security interests in the South Caucasus, it is becoming increasingly imperative that the United States better anchor itself economically, politically, and militarily in the eastern Black Sea region, especially strategically placed Georgia.
إخفاقا الخليج المزدوجان: الابتكار وتوظيف المواطنين في القطاع الخاص
خرجت دول الخليج من الجائحة العالمية برياح اقتصادية مواتية. لكن الأحداث البارزة مثل استضافة قطر لكأس العالم لكرة القدم وإكسبو الدولي في الإمارات العربية المتحدة استمرت في إخفاء نقطتي ضعف خفيتين ولكنهما مهمتين عانت منها هذه الدول لعقود. لماذا تفتقر اقتصادات الخليج إلى الابتكار؟ ولماذا تكافح من أجل خلق فرص عمل في القطاع الخاص للمواطنين؟
Saudi Arabia can alleviate US concerns over its civilian nuclear energy program. Here’s how.
Saudi leaders have stepped up their plans for developing peaceful nuclear energy, inviting technical bids to the planned construction of two 1.4 gigawatt-electric nuclear reactors and restating the kingdom’s intention to use domestic uranium resources for producing low-enriched uranium as nuclear fuel.
