Connect the Gulf

02/06/2021

UAE has signed a tax treaty with Israel
-->It signals the UAE’s growing link with Israel was not derailed by Israel's attacks on Gaza and in Jerusalem last month

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02/06/2021

The Saudi government is requiring mosques to set the volume on external loudspeakers to 1/3 of the maximum.
-->Some see the move as a sign of the diminished influence of conservatives.

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02/06/2021

Who built a mystery airbase on a volcanic island off Yemen that allows control over a stretch of a key shipping route?
--->Some clues point to the UAE.

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31/03/2021

Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, has announced an ambitious roadmap designed to transform the kingdom into a global environmental leader.
→ The proposed initiatives stand in contrast to Saudi Arabia’s longstanding status as one of the world’s largest oil producers.
→ Saudi has a history of announcing headline-grabbing environmental initiatives, then failing to follow through.

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31/03/2021

There has been a significant boost in marriages in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar during the COVID-19 pandemic, even amid intermittent bans on weddings.
→ The boom is perhaps driven by couples in the Gulf taking advantage of reduced wedding costs – pandemic restrictions mean the lavish and expensive weddings many families once expected are impossible to stage.

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31/03/2021

Human Rights Watch has called on Qatar to dismantle a set of male guardianship rules that, it says, prevent women from making independent decisions on issues like marriage, work, travel and reproductive healthcare.
→ Women currently must seek a male relative’s permission to pursue basic rights, in contrast with the highly publicized steps Qatar has taken to improve women’s rights, especially in education and the workplace.

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17/03/2021

The UAE’s controversial Barakah nuclear power plant will begin supplying electricity to the national grid at the end of this month.
→ When it is fully operational, Emirati authorities hope the plant will supply a quarter of the country’s peak energy demand, enough to power 500,000 homes for a year.
But, neighbouring Qatar and others have raised questions about the safety of nuclear energy as regional tensions run high.

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Image credit: "60 Years 60 Pictures (48 use)" by IAEA Imagebank is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

17/03/2021

Dubai’s new master plan aims to improve residents’ quality of life by more than doubling green spaces in the city, concentrating housing within 800 metres of public transit hubs and extending beaches by 400%.
→ Authorities hope the plan will help attract new residents: they predict a population boost of 76%, from currently about 3.3 million to 5.8 million people by 2040.
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Image credit: Shutterstock.com

17/03/2021

The UK government is banning all passenger flights from Qatar and Oman, starting on Friday, in a bid to prevent new variants of the coronavirus from being introduced to Britain.
→ This move leaves two flights per day between Bahrain and London as the only direct passenger links between the Gulf and the UK.
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Image credit: Fasttailwind / Shutterstock.com

10/03/2021

Vaccine ‘wasta’: A string of powerful figures – including royalty, business executives and politicians – have travelled to the UAE and used connections to secure early access to the COVID-19 vaccine.
→ The UAE has enough vaccines on hand to jab its entire population, so senior officials and royals are securing exemptions to give excess vaccines to influential non-residents.

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Featuring reporting by Simeon Kerr and others in the Financial Times

10/03/2021

A campaign calling on European teams to boycott the FIFA World Cup in Qatar is slowly gathering speed, 20 months ahead of the tournament.
→ These are the most concerted calls to boycott the tournament since Qatar surprisingly won the bid to host the tournament more than a decade ago.
How might authorities in Qatar — or fans — react if footballers just decide to ‘take a knee’ in silent protest, Colin Kaepernick style?

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03/03/2021

Filmmakers are at work on a documentary about the underground music and arts scene that emerged as a generation of third-culture kids came of age in Dubai between 9/11 and the big crash of 2008.

--> DXB – Kids aims to take a rare, nostalgic look at the culture that emerged when 20-somethings from all over the world found each other – largely at villa parties in Jumeirah – during Dubai’s boom years.

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03/03/2021

Members of the British royal family have held more than 180 meetings with Gulf royals over the past decade. Almost half these official engagements were conducted by Prince Charles.

--> Critics argue that close ties between Buckingham Palace and royal courts in the Gulf mean that the UK royals turn a blind eye when Gulf rulers behave disturbingly at home.

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03/03/2021

The United States is importing barely any Saudi crude oil, with shipments at their lowest levels in 35 years — a major reversal from just four years ago, when the US imported some 1.5 million barrels of Saudi crude per day.

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02/03/2021

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24/02/2021

New Chart | Tracking the Gulf's vaccination drive

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24/02/2021

Abu Dhabi is luring the world’s leading eSports and gaming companies to establish outposts in the emirate. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has acquired more than $3bn worth of the world’s major gaming companies.

For more on the scramble for the Gulf gaming market, check your inbox for today’s edition of Connect the Gulf or, if you haven’t yet signed up for our 5-minute free newsletter, click here: http://bit.ly/CTG-15

Welcome to this week’s new subscribers from Brunswick Group, Emerson Consulting, Fitch Solutions and many others. Thanks for joining the conversation!

24/02/2021

Al Jazeera — which bills itself as a “voice for the voiceless” — is launching a right wing media platform for US republicans who feel left out of mainstream media. Some Jazeera staffers are expressing dismay.

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"Al Jazeera English Newsroom" by mohamedn is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

24/02/2021

A pair of German beach volleyballers are boycotting the FIVB World Tour tournament, which will be held in Qatar next month, because organizers have banned bikinis on court.

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24/02/2021

Qataris are speaking out against a clumsy analysis by The Guardian that attempts to link the 2022 World Cup to the deaths of more than 6,500 South Asian migrants in Qatar.

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17/02/2021

In Connect the Gulf this week: Biden snubs MBS
In a move to “recalibrate” US relations with Saudi Arabia, President Joe Biden will conduct diplomacy directly with King Salman bin Abdulaziz, cutting out Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s powerful crown prince and de facto ruler.

Click here for this story and more, and to subscribe to our 5-minute newsletter: http://bit.ly/CTG-14

17/02/2021

In Connect the Gulf this week:
Traffic at Dubai International Airport plummeted by 70% in 2020, and both Oman Air and Etihad announce plans to scale back operations when the coronavirus pandemic eases.

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17/02/2021

In Connect the Gulf this week: Riyadh's ultimatum to Dubai multinationals
Saudi Arabia’s government is pressuring international companies to move their Middle East headquarters to the kingdom by 2024, pledging to halt state contracts for companies whose regional offices remain elsewhere.

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10/02/2021

In Connect the Gulf this week: http://bit.ly/CTG-12
→ The UAE’s space ambitions reach Mars
→ Food delivery disruptors take on Talabat & Deliveroo
→ Oil hits $60 per barrel
→ Cash crisis grips Kuwait
→ And more

Check out this week’s newsletter and sign-up: http://bit.ly/CTG-12

03/02/2021

This week's Connect the Gulf has landed.

Check out the full newsletter and sign-up to have every edition delivered to your inbox, for free: http://bit.ly/CTG-11

This week's stories:

--> COVID-19 surge strains Dubai’s hospitals
--> Madonna, Cardi B & other stars to make Gulf inroads
--> UAE to supply BMW with world’s first solar aluminium
--> Justice-seeking Yemenis petition US
--> And more...

Good morning | Today’s newsletter is dedicated to parents, pupils and teachers across the Gulf region, who are staring down another period of home-learning.

02/02/2021

Sign up now to receive Connect the Gulf in your inbox first thing Wednesday morning: https://connectthegulf.co/

In this week's newsletter:
--> COVID-19 surge strains Dubai’s hospitals
--> Madonna, Cardi B and other stars to make Gulf inroads
--> UAE to make world’s first solar aluminium
--> Justice-seeking Yemenis petition US

27/01/2021

Connect the Gulf landed in subscribers' inboxes this morning, with these stories:

--> Vaccinations slow in some Gulf states, hit warp speed in others
--> Football's Ronaldo rebuffs $7 million Saudi offer
--> Aramco understates its carbon footprint by ±50%
--> Sheikh Tahnoon: MBZ's point man behind the scenes
--> And more.

Read the full newsletter and sign up to have Connect the Gulf delivered directly to your inbox: http://bit.ly/CTG-10

22/01/2021

Part 3 of Gulf Traveller's "21 short-haul explorations for 2021" landed in subscribers' inboxes this morning.

http://bit.ly/CTG--9

Click ☝️ to subscribe and to read more in today's email about:

🏍️ Motorbiking along North Indian caravan routes
⛰️ Getting lost in the Troodos Mountains of Cyprus
🧆 Palestinian food tours in Bethlehem

20/01/2021

Excerpted from this week's Connect The Gulf email: http://bit.ly/CTG-8 (Click to Read and Subscribe)

US arms sales to the Gulf soared during Trump’s presidency, with American manufacturers shipping more weapons to the region than ever before.

-->President-elect Biden has signalled he will curtail the expansive arms trade that Trump pushed in the region.

35% more US weaponry flowed to the Gulf in the first three years of Trump’s mandate, compared to the last three years of Barack Obama’s.

-->Biden pledged to end support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, which depends on American weaponry.

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest importer of weapons, with 73% manufactured by US firms.
🇦🇪The UAE, which has scaled back its role in Yemen, is the world’s eighth largest importer of weapons. 60% of its weapons come from the US. -SIPRI

As the Trump era ends, the Gulf states have huge and sophisticated arsenals.

-->This flood of weapons has made the region’s wars in Yemen, Libya and Syria longer and deadlier than ever before. -Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center

In Yemen, US-built weapons systems have targeted schools, hospitals, marketplaces and funerals.

Next steps: Will Biden block the deals Trump attempted to push during his last weeks in office?

For more smart, factual news from the Gulf read and subscribe: http://bit.ly/CTG-8

19/01/2021

This week, Connect the Gulf examines the impact of the US arms trade with the Gulf Region, which has boomed during the Trump Presidency.

We also look ahead to the issues that loom for the Gulf Region at Joe Biden assumes office.

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Smart, factual news from the Gulf Region.

15/01/2021

15/01/2021

This morning, the all-travel edition of Connect the Gulf landed in our subscribers’ inboxes.

It features #4, 5 and 6 on our list of 21 short-haul explorations for 2021:
4 | A slow boat up the River Nile, featuring Nour El Nil
5 | Exploring layers of architecture in Baku, Azerbaijan, featuring Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts Baku, Fairmont Baku Flame Towers
6| A dip in Djibouti’s salt water lake, featuring Djibouti Palace Kempinski and Qatar Airways

bit.ly/CTG-7

Check out the newsletter 👆and subscribe for more travel stories next Friday.

bit.ly/CTG-6
While you’re here, you should also check out our Wednesday morning email 👆 designed to keep you informed about the biggest stories shaping the Gulf Region in just 5 minutes.

Good morning | So, Djibouti? Hit reply and let us know if you’ve ever visited Djibouti or even thought about spending a long weekend there.

02/12/2020