ReportWire

Tag: Saudi Arabia

  • Yemen: US and EU ignored our warnings about Houthis to court Iran for nuclear deal

    Yemen: US and EU ignored our warnings about Houthis to court Iran for nuclear deal

    [ad_1]

    “We have been saying this a long time,” he said on a visit to Brussels. “I have been here three times before and always we said if we didn’t do this … the Houthis will never stop. The Houthis have an ideology, have a project. Iran has a project in the region and unfortunately, the others do not respond.”

    He expressed frustration that the EU and U.S. spent years pouring their diplomatic energies into wooing Tehran for a nuclear deal, rather than exerting more pressure on the Islamic Republic to stop supporting their Houthi allies, fellow Shi’ite Muslims who were seeking to impose what he labeled a “theocratic, totalitarian” police state.  

    The idea behind the nuclear talks was that Tehran should limit its nuclear ambitions in return for sanctions relief, but an accord proved out of reach.  

    No one paid attention

    Bin Mubarak noted international momentum for action — which has included U.S. and British strikes on Houthi targets — did not finally come about “because of what [the Houthis] did to the Yemenis. They killed thousands of Yemenis. Not because of the atrocities they committed, raping women … jailing women … Just look at what Houthis did. No one is paying attention.”   

    He explained Western diplomacy toward Iran was supposed to have focused on three elements: the nuclear program, Tehran’s support for regional proxies, and its ballistic missile program. The fixation on the first, to the detriment of the other two, means the West is now facing an adversary in Yemen that has been very well armed by Iran, bin Mubarak complained.  

    “[Iran’s] Shahed drones, the first time we started hearing the European Union talking about it, they were being used in Ukraine. But before that, for years, we were saying Iran is supplying Houthis and drones are attacking Yemeni people. No one was believing [it],” he continued, adding that Houthi drone strikes stopped Yemeni oil exports in October 2022.    



    [ad_2]

    Christian Oliver

    Source link

  • Iran’s allies are attacking the West. What happens next?

    Iran’s allies are attacking the West. What happens next?

    [ad_1]

    Could the U.S. take a tougher line?

    While the scale and target of Biden’s promised response is not yet clear, any unilateral move is likely to draw blowback from key allies in the Middle East who worry about sparking a regional war.

    Saudi Arabia has pushed for restraint in dealings with Tehran and fears the economic cost of regional instability.

    Turkey, a key NATO ally, has denounced Israel’s campaign in Gaza, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has accused the U.K. and the U.S. of trying to turn the Red Sea into a “sea of blood.”

    “Turkey does not want to be drawn into this conflict because it shares a border with Iran,” said Selin Nasi, a visiting fellow at the European Institute of the London School of Economics. “If the U.S. as its main ally in NATO gets involved in this military conflict directly then Turkey has to choose a side, and that will mean it’s harder to maintain a balanced approach — like it has done with the war in Ukraine.”

    The challenge for Biden is how to retaliate without risking escalation by Iran and its partners in the region. Conversely, doing nothing — especially after having said he would avenge the deaths of the three U.S. soldiers — would leave him vulnerable to a charge of weakness from Trump.

    “Iran’s leadership probably calculates that the United States will be reticent to fulsomely respond in any manner that would risk escalation of tensions in the Middle East and spark the region-wide [conflict] the Biden administration has admirably tried to prevent the past three months,” said Jonathan Panikoff, a former U.S. deputy national intelligence officer.

    But the U.S. may have “to undertake a more fulsome response to restore deterrence,” he added.

    Jamie Dettmer, Jeremy Van der Haegen and Laura Kayali contributed reporting.



    [ad_2]

    Gabriel Gavin

    Source link

  • Saudi says escalating tensions amid Houthi attacks and US strikes are dangerous

    Saudi says escalating tensions amid Houthi attacks and US strikes are dangerous

    [ad_1]

    By Kanishka Singh

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said the kingdom was “very worried” that tensions in the Red Sea amid attacks by Yemen’s Houthis and U.S. strikes on Houthi targets could spiral out of control and escalate the conflict in the region.

    “I mean, of course, we are very worried. I mean, you know, we are in a very difficult and dangerous time in the region, and that’s why we are calling for de-escalation,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan told CNN ‘Fareed Zakaria GPS’ in an interview that will be aired on Sunday.

    Attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthi militia on ships in and around the Red Sea for the past several weeks have slowed trade between Asia and Europe and alarmed major powers in an escalation of the war in Gaza.

    The Saudi foreign minister said the kingdom believed in freedom of navigation and wanted tensions in the region to be de-escalated.

    “We of course, believe very much in the freedom of navigation. And that’s something that needs to be protected. But we also need to protect the security and stability of the region. So we are very focused on de-escalating the situation as much as possible,” he told CNN.

    The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, say their attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians under attack from Israel in Gaza.

    Since last week, the United States has been launching strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, and this week returned the militia to a list of “terrorist” groups. President Joe Biden said on Thursday that air strikes would continue even as he acknowledged they may not be halting the Houthi attacks.

    The confrontation risks an expansion of the conflict beyond Hamas-governed Gaza, where the local health ministry says over 24,000 people – or more than 1% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population – have been killed in Israel’s assault.

    Israel launched its offensive following Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group, which Israeli officials say killed 1,200 people.

    (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Americans are canceling trips that are thousands of miles from Gaza. Here's why

    Americans are canceling trips that are thousands of miles from Gaza. Here's why

    [ad_1]

    The Israel-Hamas war is affecting travel across the Middle East and beyond.

    International arrivals to the region grew in the fourth quarter of 2023 — mainly owing to an increase in visitors to Saudi Arabia — to a level that matched 2019 numbers, according to the travel data company ForwardKeys.

    But it’s a far cry from the 30% rise in inbound travelers the region was expecting compared to 2019 levels, based on the number of airline tickets purchased before the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the company said.  

    The outlook for 2024 doesn’t look much different.

    “The forward-looking situation for arrivals to the Middle East in the first quarter of 2024 as of 6 Oct. — the day before the recent conflict started — was very positive, with tickets issued up by 49% vs pre-pandemic levels,” said Olivier Ponti, the company’s vice president of insights. “Fast-forward to 5 Jan. … with tickets issued now up by just 9% vs. 2019.”

    Data showed air tickets to the Middle East purchased after the war fell 6% from 2019, with purchases to the United Arab Emirates down 8%, Morocco 15%, Turkey 17% and Egypt 21%. Tickets to Jordan were affected the most, falling 50% from 2019 levels, according to ForwardKeys.

    Canceling plans a continent away

    Yet, the war’s effect on travelers extends far beyond the Middle East, according to a survey from Morning Consult.

    The data research company surveyed some 2,200 Americans in November, with one in five people saying they have delayed, rescheduled or canceled a travel booking as a direct result of the Israel-Hamas war. 

    Respondents said these plans included visits to the Middle East (12%) and North Africa (7%), as well as Western Europe (14%), according to the survey. However, the bulk of the cancelations — 41% — were for trips within the United States, the survey showed.

    Cancelations were high for domestic trips because most Americans travel within the 50 states, thus “there are simply more trips on the table to disrupt,” the report stated.

    But as to why the war is making Americans feel uneasy about traveling in their own country, the report stated: “This is also emblematic of the larger tensions — for example, concerns related to antisemitism and Islamophobia — stoked by the conflict, and peoples’ resultant apprehension to venture far from home.”

    Following Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, tensions spilled over to college campuses, workplaces and suburban neighborhoods, with many countries reporting a rise in hate crimes against Muslims and Jewish people.

    A worldwide travel advisory, issued by the U.S. State Department less than two weeks following Hamas’ attack on Israel, may have affected traveler confidence as well, the report stated. Some 62% of respondents said they knew about it.

    Worldwide Caution

    “Due to increased tensions in various locations around the world, the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations or violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests, the Department of State advises U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution.” — U.S. Travel Advisory issued on Oct. 19, 2023

    In addition to weather and natural disaster alerts, the U.S. State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs’ account on X, formerly Twitter, has pushed out numerous security alerts in the months following the Hamas attack — for Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait and Turkey, among others — as well as demonstration alerts for cities in Turkey, Malaysia, Colombia, Oman, Egypt, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Poland and Denmark, some connected to rising anti-U.S. sentiment over the war.

    U.S. domestic travel in the fourth quarter of 2023 fell below 2019 levels, according to ForwardKeys. The downturn happened after the outbreak of the war, the company said.

    The day before the attack, the travel outlook for U.S. domestic travel in the fourth quarter of 2023 was positive (+4%), but it ended down (-5%), “highlighting the impact of the ongoing conflict in Israel,” said Ponti.

    More feel unsafe

    Numerous reports indicate Muslims and Jewish people worldwide no longer feel safe.

    Morning Consult’s survey indicated those who know about the war may be feeling less safe as well.

    Some 52% of respondents with knowledge of the war said they viewed traveling to the Middle East as “very unsafe,” compared to 29% of those who had not heard about it.  

    Those who had heard about the war also indicated that they felt less safe traveling to North Africa and Eastern Europe too, the survey showed.

    Zicasso’s 2024 Luxury Travel Report named geopolitical conflict as one of the three most significant obstacles to booking travel this year.

    In a survey of 200 global travel specialists, 18% said uncertainty and safety issues in certain regions may discourage travelers from booking.

    “After the October events in the Middle East, we did see a significant fall-off in trip requests to Israel and the surrounding region,” said Zicasso’s CEO Brian Tan. “Typically, when travelers have second thoughts about overseas travel to a certain region due to obstacles such as geopolitical conflict, we find that travelers will redirect to other international destinations.”

    He said the war in Ukraine hasn’t materially affected business since Zicasso doesn’t receive many requests for bookings there, but that his company is carefully watching the situation in Ecuador, where gang violence erupted last week.  

    Tan noted that his company has seen a recent rise in trip requests for Morocco, which he noted is thousands of miles from Jerusalem.

    Yet, according to Morning Consult, the Israel-Hamas war could reduce travel interest to the region “for months and even years to come.”

       

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Middle East braces for chaos as Iran and West square up

    Middle East braces for chaos as Iran and West square up

    [ad_1]

    Press play to listen to this article

    Voiced by artificial intelligence.

    Western warplanes and guided missiles roared through the skies over Yemen in the early hours of Friday in a dramatic response to the worsening crisis engulfing the region, where the U.S. and its allies are facing a direct confrontation with Iranian-backed militants.

    The strikes against Houthi fighters are a response to weeks of fighting in the Red Sea, where the group has attempted to attack or hijack dozens of civilian cargo ships and tankers in what it calls retribution for Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. Washington launched the massive aerial bombardment of the group’s military stores and drone launch sites in partnership with British forces, and with the support of a growing coalition that includes Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, South Korea and Bahrain.

    Tensions between Tehran and the West have boiled over in the weeks since its ally, Hamas, launched its October 7 attack on Israel, while Hezbollah, the military group that controls much of southern Lebanon, has stepped up rocket launches across the border. Along with Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis form part of the Iranian-led ‘Axis of Resistance’ opposed to both the U.S. and Israel.

    Now, the prospect of a full-blown conflict in one of the most politically fragile and strategically important parts of the world is spooking security analysts and energy markets alike.

    Escalation fears

    Houthi leaders responded to the strikes, which saw American and British forces hit more than 60 targets in 16 locations, with characteristic bravado. They warned the U.S. and U.K. will “have to prepare to pay a heavy price and bear all the dire consequences” for what they called a “blatant aggression.”

    “We will confront America, kneel it down, and burn its battleships and all its bases and everyone who cooperates with it, no matter what the cost,” threatened Abdulsalam Jahaf, a member of the group’s security council.

    However, following the overnight operation, Camille Lons, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said there may now be “a period of calm because it may take Iran some time to replenish the Houthis stocks” before they are able to resume high-intensity attacks on Red Sea shipping. But, she cautioned, their motivation to continue to target shipping will likely be unaltered.

    The Western strikes are “unlikely to immediately halt Houthi aggression,” agreed Jonathan Panikoff, a former U.S. national intelligence officer for the Near East. “That will almost certainly mean having to continue to respond to Houthi strikes, and potentially with increasing aggression.”

    “The Houthis view themselves as having little to lose, emboldened militarily by Iranian provisions of support and confident the U.S. will not entertain a ground war,” he said.

    Iran also upped the ante earlier this week by boarding and commandeering a Greek-operated oil tanker that was loaded with Iraqi crude destined for Turkey, intercepting it as it transited the Strait of Hormuz. The vessel, the St. Nikolas, was previously apprehended for violating sanctions on Iranian oil and its cargo was confiscated and sold off by the U.S. Treasury Department. Its Greek captain and crew of 18 Filipino nationals are now in Iranian custody, with the incident marking a sharp escalation in the threats facing maritime traffic.

    Israeli connection

    Washington and London are striving to distinguish their bid to deter the Houthis in the Red Sea from the war in Gaza, fearful that merging the two will hand Tehran a propaganda advantage in the Middle East. The Houthis and Iran are keen to accomplish the reverse.

    The Houthi leadership claims its attacks on maritime traffic are aimed at pressuring Israel to halt its bombing of the Gaza Strip and it insists it is only targeting commercial vessels linked to Israel or destined to dock at the Israeli port of Eilat, a point contested by Western powers.

    “The Houthis claim that their attacks on military and civilian vessels are somehow tied to the ongoing conflict in Gaza — that is completely baseless and illegitimate. The Houthis also claim to be targeting specifically Israeli-owned ships or ships bound for Israel. That is simply not true, they are firing indiscriminately on vessels with global ties,” a senior U.S. official briefing reporters in Washington said Friday.

    Wider Near East crisis

    The Red Sea isn’t the only hotspot where American and European forces and their allies are facing off against Iran and its partners.

    In November, U.S. F-15 fighter jets hit a weapons storage facility in eastern Syria that the Pentagon says was used by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Shia militants it supports in the war-torn country. The response came after dozens of American troops were reportedly injured in attacks in Iraq and Syria linked back to Tehran.

    Israel’s war with Hamas has also risked spreading, after a blast killed one of the militant group’s commanders in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, earlier in January. Hezbollah vowed a swift response and tensions have soared along the border between the two countries, with Israeli civilians evacuated from their homes in towns and villages close to the frontier.

    All of that contributes to an increasingly volatile environment that has neighboring countries worried, said Christian Koch, director at the Saudi Arabia-based Gulf Research Center.

    “There’s a lot at stake at the moment and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and others are extremely worried about further escalation and then being subject to retaliation,” he said. “Now, the danger of regional escalation has been heightened further, which could mean that Iran will get further involved in the conflict, and this is a dangerous spiral downwards.”

    While long-planned efforts to normalize ties between the Saudis and Israel collapsed in the wake of the October 7 attack and the subsequent military response, Riyadh has pushed forward with a policy of de-escalation with the Houthis after a decade of violent conflict, and sought an almost unprecedented rapprochement with Iran.

    “Saudi Arabia has had one objective, which is to prevent this from escalating into a wider regional war,” said Tobias Borck, an expert on Middle East security at the Royal United Services Institute. “It has attempted over the last few years to bring its intervention in the war in Yemen to a close, including through negotiations with the Houthis and actually from all we know from the outside, [they] are reasonably close to an agreement.”

    The Western coalition is therefore a source of anxiety, rather than relief, for Gulf States.

    “Saudi Arabia and UAE are staying out of this coalition because mainly they don’t want to have the Houthis attack them as they had been for years and years with cruise missiles,” said retired U.S. General Mark Kimmitt, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs. However, American or European boots on the ground are unlikely to be necessary, he added, because “our capabilities these days to find, fix and attack even mobile missile launchers is pretty well refined.”

    Far-reaching consequences

    At the intersection of Europe and Asia, the Red Sea is a vital thoroughfare for energy and international trade. Maritime traffic through the region has already dropped by 20 percent, Rear Admiral Emmanuel Slaars, the joint commander of French forces in the region, told reporters on Thursday.

    According to data published this week by the German IfW Kiel institute, global trade fell by 1.3 percent from November to December, with the Houthi attacks likely to have been a contributing factor. 

    The volume of containers in the Red Sea also plummeted and is currently almost 70 percent below usual, the institute said. In December, that caused freight costs and transportation time to rise and imports and exports from the EU to be “significantly lower” than in November.

    In one indication of the impact on industrial supply chains, U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla said Friday it would shut its factory in Germany for two weeks.

    Around 12 percent of the world’s oil and 8 percent of its gas normally flow through the waterway, as well as hundreds of cargo ships. Oil prices climbed more than 2.5 percent following the strikes, fueling market concerns of the impact a wider conflict could have on oil supplies from the region, especially those being shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, linking the Persian Gulf with the Indian Ocean and the world’s most important oil chokepoint. 

    The Houthi attacks on the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest waterways, have already caused major shipping companies, including oil giant BP, to halt shipments through the Red Sea, opting for a lengthy detour around the Cape of Good Hope instead. 

    According to Borck, the impact on energy prices has been limited so far but will depend on what happens next.

    “We need to look for two actors’ actions here. One is the Houthis, how they respond, and the other one is, of course, looking at how Iran responds,” he said. While Tehran has the “nuclear option” of closing the Strait of Hormuz altogether, it’s unlikely to do so at this stage. 

    “I don’t think the Strait of Hormuz is next. I think there would be quite a few steps on the escalation ladder first,” he added.  

    But Simone Tagliapietra, an energy expert at Brussels’ Bruegel think tank, warned that a growing confrontation with Iran could lead to tougher enforcement of sanctions on its oil exports. The West has turned a blind eye to Tehran’s increasing sales to China in the wake of the war in Ukraine, which has relieved some pressure on global energy markets. 

    A crackdown, he believes, “could see global oil prices rising substantially, pushing inflation higher and further complicating the efforts of central banks to bring it under control.”

    However, Saudi Arabia and the UAE could help compensate for such a move by ramping up their own production — provided they’re willing to risk the ire of Iran.

    Gabriel Gavin reported from Yerevan, Armenia. Antonia Zimmermann from Brussels and Jamie Dettmer from Tel-Aviv.

    Laura Kayali contributed reporting from Paris.

    [ad_2]

    Gabriel Gavin, Antonia Zimmermann and Jamie Dettmer

    Source link

  • House Report Finds Trump’s Businesses Made Millions From Foreign Entities During Presidency

    House Report Finds Trump’s Businesses Made Millions From Foreign Entities During Presidency

    [ad_1]

    A House Oversight committee report titled “White House For Sale” found evidence that former Donald Trump’s businesses received millions of dollars from foreign entities in 20 different countries during the time that he was president, including China and Saudi Arabia. What do you think? 

    “And people still have the nerve to say he’s xenophobic.”

    Jasper Gerke, Technical Poet

    Whites Ousted From Role As Master Race After Racist Past Comes To Light

    “How else would he pay for his legal defense for accepting money from foreign countries?”

    Amanda Cherniak, Unemployed

    “Those mini-bar prices will kill you.”

    Stanley Romero, Wire Detangler

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • The Gaza war is escalating. How bad will the Middle East crisis get?

    The Gaza war is escalating. How bad will the Middle East crisis get?

    [ad_1]

    Press play to listen to this article

    Voiced by artificial intelligence.

    On October 7, Hamas fighters launched a bloody attack against Israel, using paragliders, speedboats and underground tunnels to carry out an offensive that killed almost 1,200 people and saw hundreds more taken back to the Gaza Strip as prisoners. 

    Almost three months on, Israel’s massive military retaliation is reverberating around the region, with explosions in Lebanon and rebels from Yemen attacking shipping in the Red Sea. Meanwhile, Western countries are pumping military aid into Israel while deploying fleets to protect commercial shipping — risking confrontation with the Iranian navy.

    That’s in line with a grim prediction made last year by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who said that Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza meant an “expansion of the scope of the war has become inevitable,” and that further escalation across the Middle East should be expected. 

    What’s happening?

    The Israel Defense Forces are still fighting fierce battles for control of the Gaza Strip in what officials say is a mission to destroy Hamas. Troops have already occupied much of the north of the 365-square-kilometer territory, home to around 2.3 million Palestinians, and are now stepping up their assault in the south.

    Entire neighborhoods of densely-populated Gaza City have been levelled by intense Israeli shelling, rocket attacks and air strikes, rendering them uninhabitable. Although independent observers have been largely shut out, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry claims more than 22,300 people have been killed, while the U.N. says 1.9 million people have been displaced.

    On a visit to the front lines, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that his country is in the fight for the long haul. “The feeling that we will stop soon is incorrect. Without a clear victory, we will not be able to live in the Middle East,” he said.

    As the Gaza ground war intensifies, Hamas and its allies are increasingly looking to take the conflict to a far broader arena in order to put pressure on Israel.

    According to Seth Frantzman, a regional analyst with the Jerusalem Post and adjunct fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “Iran is certainly making a play here in terms of trying to isolate Israel [and] the U.S. and weaken U.S. influence, also showing that Israel doesn’t have the deterrence capabilities that it may have had in the past or at least thought it had.”

    Northern front

    On Tuesday a blast ripped through an office in Dahieh, a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut — 130 kilometers from the border with Israel. Hamas confirmed that one of its most senior leaders, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed in the strike. 

    Government officials in Jerusalem have refused to confirm Israeli forces were behind the killing, while simultaneously presenting it as a “surgical strike against the Hamas leadership” and insisting it was not an attack against Lebanon itself, despite a warning from Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati that the incident risked dragging his country into a wider regional war. 

    Tensions between Israel and Lebanon have spiked in recent weeks, with fighters loyal to Hezbollah, the Shia Islamist militant group that controls the south of the country, firing hundreds of rockets across the frontier. Along with Hamas, Hezbollah is part of the Iranian-led “Axis of Resistance” that aims to destroy the state of Israel.

    In a statement released on Tuesday, Iran’s foreign ministry said the death of al-Arouri, the most senior Hamas official confirmed to have died since October 7, will only embolden resistance against Israel, not only in the Palestinian territories but also in the wider Middle East.

    The Israel Defense Forces are still fighting fierce battles for control of the Gaza Strip in what officials say is a mission to destroy Hamas | Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

    “We’re talking about the death of a senior Hamas leader, not from Hezbollah or the [Iranian] Revolutionary Guards. Is it Iran who’s going to respond? Hezbollah? Hamas with rockets? Or will there be no response, with the various players waiting for the next assassination?” asked Héloïse Fayet, a researcher at the French Institute for International Relations.

    In a much-anticipated speech on Wednesday evening, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah condemned the killing but did not announce a military response.

    Red Sea boils over

    For months now, sailors navigating the narrow Bab-el-Mandeb Strait that links Europe to Asia have faced a growing threat of drone strikes, missile attacks and even hijackings by Iran-backed Houthi militants operating off the coast of Yemen.

    The Houthi movement, a Shia militant group supported by Iran in the Yemeni civil war against Saudi Arabia and its local allies, insists it is only targeting shipping with links to Israel in a bid to pressure it to end the war in Gaza. However, the busy trade route from the Suez Canal through the Red Sea has seen dozens of commercial vessels targeted or delayed, forcing Western nations to intervene.

    Over the weekend, the U.S. Navy said it had intercepted two anti-ship missiles and sunk three boats carrying Houthi fighters in what it said was a hijacking attempt against the Maersk Hangzhou, a container ship. Danish shipping giant Maersk said Tuesday that it would “pause all transits through the Red Sea until further notice,” following a number of other cargo liners; energy giant BP is also suspending travel through the region.

    On Wednesday the Houthis targeted a CMA CGM Tage container ship bound for Israel, according to the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea. “Any U.S. attack will not pass without a response or punishment,” he added. 

    “The sensible decision is one that the vast majority of shippers I think are now coming to, [which] is to transit through round the Cape of Good Hope,” said Marco Forgione, director general at the Institute of Export & International Trade. “But that in itself is not without heavy impact, it’s up to two weeks additional sailing time, adds over £1 million to the journey, and there are risks, particularly in West Africa, of piracy as well.” 

    However, John Stawpert, a senior manager at the International Chamber of Shipping, noted that while “there has been disruption” and an “understandable nervousness about transiting these routes … trade is continuing to flow.”

    “A major contributory factor to that has been the presence of military assets committed to defending shipping from these attacks,” he said. 

    The impacts of the disruption, especially price hikes hitting consumers, will be seen “in the next couple of weeks,” according to Forgione. Oil and gas markets also risk taking a hit — the price of benchmark Brent crude rose by 3 percent to $78.22 a barrel on Wednesday. Almost 10 percent of the world’s oil and 7 percent of its gas flows through the Red Sea.

    Western response

    On Wednesday evening, the U.S., Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom issued an ultimatum calling the Houthi attacks “illegal, unacceptable, and profoundly destabilizing,” but with only vague threats of action.

    “We call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews. The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways,” the statement said.

    The Houthi movement insists it is only targeting shipping with links to Israel in a bid to pressure it to end the war in Gaza | Houthi Movement via Getty Images

    Despite the tepid language, the U.S. has already struck back at militants from Iranian-backed groups such as Kataeb Hezbollah in Iraq and Syria after they carried out drone attacks that injured U.S. personnel.

    The assumption in London is that airstrikes against the Houthis — if it came to that — would be U.S.-led with the U.K. as a partner. Other nations might also chip in.

    Two French officials said Paris is not considering air strikes. The country’s position is to stick to self-defense, and that hasn’t changed, one of them said. French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu confirmed that assessment, saying on Tuesday that “we’re continuing to act in self-defense.” 

    “Would France, which is so proud of its third way and its position as a balancing power, be prepared to join an American-British coalition?” asked Fayet, the think tank researcher.

    Iran looms large

    Iran’s efforts to leverage its proxies in a below-the-radar battle against both Israel and the West appear to be well underway, and the conflict has already scuppered a long-awaited security deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

    “Since 1979, Iran has been conducting asymmetrical proxy terrorism where they try to advance their foreign policy objectives while displacing the consequences, the counterpunches, onto someone else — usually Arabs,” said Bradley Bowman, senior director of Washington’s Center on Military and Political Power. “An increasingly effective regional security architecture, of the kind the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are trying to build, is a nightmare for Iran which, like a bully on the playground, wants to keep all the other kids divided and distracted.”

    Despite Iran’s fiery rhetoric, it has stopped short of declaring all-out war on its enemies or inflicting massive casualties on Western forces in the region — which experts say reflects the fact it would be outgunned in a conventional conflict.

    “Neither Iran nor the U.S. nor Israel is ready for that big war,” said Alex Vatanka, director of the Middle East Institute’s Iran program. “Israel is a nuclear state, Iran is a nuclear threshold state — and the U.S. speaks for itself on this front.”

    Israel might be betting on a long fight in Gaza, but Iran is trying to make the conflict a global one, he added. “Nobody wants a war, so both sides have been gambling on the long term, hoping to kill the other guy through a thousand cuts.”

    Emilio Casalicchio contributed reporting.

    [ad_2]

    Gabriel Gavin, Antonia Zimmermann and Laura Kayali

    Source link

  • One year of Cristiano Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia

    One year of Cristiano Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia

    [ad_1]

    It was one of those rare days when nothing comes off for Cristiano Ronaldo and he cannot conceal his rising frustration.

    An offside flag denied him a goal and a VAR intervention denied him a penalty before he sent a wild shot and two headers off target in the closing stages of a crucial game. At one stage, he wrestled an opponent to the ground and was perhaps lucky to avoid a red card. As the game slipped away, he kept grimacing, looking to the heavens in disgust, as if to ask what he had done to deserve this.

    It was another blow for Al Nassr’s Saudi Pro League title hopes and, walking off the pitch at the final whistle, Ronaldo heard mocking chants from the jubilant Al Hilal supporters. “Messi, Messi,” they shouted, trying to taunt him with the name of his great rival.

    Grinning, he twice grabbed his crotch in what looked like a pointed response to his hecklers before disappearing down the tunnel.

    The incident attracted widespread media coverage, not least in Saudi Arabia during the holy month of Ramadan. A Saudi lawyer, Nouf bin Ahmed, described Ronaldo’s gesture as “a crime of public dishonour and (…) one of the crimes that entails arrest and deportation if committed by a foreigner”, adding that she intended to file a complaint to the Saudi public prosecutor.


    (Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images)

    For this particular foreigner, there was no danger of deportation. Al Nassr responded by issuing a statement saying Ronaldo was in fact suffering from an injury because a tussle with Al Hilal midfielder Gustavo Cuellar had started with a blow in a very sensitive area.

    “This is confirmed information,” the club added — and that was the end of the matter.

    But that incident last April was part of a difficult period early in Ronaldo’s first year in Saudi Arabia. A week later, Al Nassr suffered a shock defeat to Al Wehda in the semi-final of the King Cup of Champions, leaving Ronaldo to vent his displeasure at his team’s coaching staff as he left the pitch.

    In a column for Arabic-language newspaper Al Madinah, Dr Saud Kateb, a former minister at the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asked whether the government-backed acquisition of Ronaldo might have been “a losing bet”. He suggested that “excessively focusing on attracting the most famous and the biggest” was a “double-edged sword” because there was a downside to the global exposure that Ronaldo and other superstars bring with them.

    “I think that it would be better to attract more useful players,” Kateb said, “whose excessive fame does not constitute an unnecessary burden for their clubs and the league as a whole.”

    A year on from Ronaldo’s extraordinary move, that is not a view shared by Saudi Arabia’s modern ruling class.

    Whatever “burden” Ronaldo might carry is far outweighed by the profile and glamour he brings not just to Al Nassr and the league, which has been transformed over the past 12 months, but to the kingdom: visiting historic sites, opening a “CR7 Signature Museum” at the futuristic Boulevard World, wearing traditional Saudi dress to commemorate national holidays and signing up to promote numerous events, usually in the company of Turki Al-Sheikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s general authority for entertainment and one of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s most trusted advisers.

    Today (Saturday, December 30) marks the anniversary of the moment Ronaldo put pen to paper for Al Nassr, signing a two-and-a-half-year deal worth up to £173million ($210m) a year. Al Nassr called it “history in the making”, a deal that “will not only inspire our club to achieve even greater success but inspire our league, our children, our nation and future generations, boys and girls to be the best version of themselves”.

    No pressure, Cristiano.

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    Rejection, revenge and soft power: Inside Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr

    Pressure? By the start of February, Ronaldo would have been forgiven for feeling it.

    His Saudi Pro League debut had initially been delayed by a two-match suspension dating back to his final months at Manchester United. He scored twice for a Riyadh all-star team in an exhibition match against Paris Saint-Germain and Messi, but he drew a blank on his Saudi Pro League debut against Al Ettifaq (four shots, no goals) and again four days later as Al Nassr lost to Al Ittihad in the Saudi Super Cup semi-final four days later.

    Next up was a game away to Al Fateh. Again nothing was coming off for Ronaldo: a goal disallowed for offside, a wayward first-time shot, another one rattled against the crossbar, an over-ambitious 35-yard free kick that went straight into the wall, another 90 minutes without a goal.

    And then, in stoppage time, a gift: a penalty kick for Al Nassr following a crass challenge on his team-mate Jaloliddin Masharipov. Brazilian midfielder Anderson Talisca stood on the penalty spot, holding the ball, but he knew to hand it over when his more celebrated colleague stepped up behind him. Everyone knows to defer to Ronaldo.

    A buzz went around the Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium. Young boys were hoisted upwards by their fathers, eager for them to share in their moment in history. Ronaldo briefly closed his eyes and exhaled in the manner of an action-movie hero who knows he has one chance to save the world.

    He did it. He saved the world. Well, he saved a point against Al Fateh. The 17,631 crowd — by far Al Fateh’s biggest attendance since their title-winning campaign a decade earlier — rose to acclaim a goal by an opposition player. Some of them called for him to perform his famous “Siiiiiiuuuu” celebration, but Ronaldo was already racing back to the halfway line, hoping there was still time for a winner. (There wasn’t.)


    Ronaldo sprinting back to the centre circle after scoring his first goal for Al Nassr in February (Ali Aldaif/AFP via Getty Images)

    In many ways, that game against Al Fateh last February summed up Ronaldo’s Saudi experience to date: a lot of attempts, at least one goal, a crowd desperate to see him play the hits (the stepovers, the flicks, the powerful long-range shots, the towering headers and, of course, the celebration) and an athlete in the twilight of his career determined to give them what they want, but above all, determined to get what he wants: even more goals, even more wins, even more trophies, even more glory.

    Towards the end of his first year in Saudi Arabia, Ronaldo submitted to a lie detector test as part of a marketing campaign for a cryptocurrency venture he was promoting.

    A cryptocurrency venture? That is a whole other story, and not a pretty one, but the lie detector test was a nice gimmick. It suggested he was totally convinced of his greatness — quite right, too — but not when he said he believed Portugal would win the World Cup.

    Then came the question of whether, at the age of 38, Ronaldo thought he would still be “playing at the highest level” in his 40s. He dwelt on this one, closing his eyes, before delivering the answer: “Yes”.

    This time, the polygraph reflected little or no change in Ronaldo’s body response, suggesting he was telling the truth. Ronaldo smiled, looking relieved, as if reassured by the feedback.

    The obvious thing to say here is that the test — or the premise of the advert — was flawed because, quite clearly, a player in the Saudi Pro League cannot claim to be operating at the highest level of the sport.

    But the point of a polygraph is not to establish truth or falsehood. It is to try to identify the physiological changes — rises in blood pressure, pulse, respiration, skin conductivity — associated with deceit.

    And everything Ronaldo does, on and off the pitch, is consistent with the belief he is still at the very top of the game.

    With one game remaining, away to Al Taawoun on Saturday, Ronaldo has scored 53 goals in 2023, one more than Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane and his highest total in a calendar year since 2017 when he was at Real Madrid. Ten of those goals have come in nine appearances for Portugal and 43 of them in 49 matches for Al Nassr, including 19 goals in 17 league games so far this season.

    The latest of them came away to Saudi champions Al Ittihad on Tuesday. Needing to win to keep the pressure on league leaders Al Hilal, his team fell behind before Ronaldo held his nerve to equalise from the penalty spot in the first half. A second Ronaldo penalty midway through the second half put Al Nassr 3-2 up and, eventually, they ran out 5-2 winners. “We’re not stopping!” he said on Instagram afterwards.


    Ronaldo celebrates a goal against Al Ittihad on December 26 (Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)

    Those 19 goals put him clear at the top of the Saudi Pro League scoring charts, two ahead of Al Hilal’s former Fulham forward Aleksandar Mitrovic. He also ranks highest for assists (nine). In terms of goal contributions (goals plus assists), he is on 28 for the season, seven ahead of second-placed Mitrovic.

    It adds up to 1.65 goal contributions per 90 minutes — or, to put it another way, a goal or assist just over every 54 minutes — and it strengthens the view that Ronaldo is inspiring his team to new heights, even if the reality is not quite as straightforward as that appealing narrative suggests.

    Al Nassr were top of the Saudi Pro League when Ronaldo signed for them last December. They were still top, two points clear of Al Hilal and Al Ittihad, when he made his debut more than three weeks later.

    After that stuttering start, the goals soon flowed for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, but then came a game against Al Batin, the league’s whipping boys, when Al Nassr trailed 1-0 until a dramatic turnaround in stoppage time. Ronaldo didn’t score in that game. He had seven shots, just one of them on target.

    A week later came what was effectively the title-decider against Al Ittihad. Al Nassr went into that game top of the table, but they were beaten 1-0 and were overtaken. Again hearing chants of “Messi, Messi” from the home crowd, he stormed off the pitch at the final whistle, kicking water bottles as he went.

    Then came that chastening defeat by local rivals Al Hilal: the one with the headlock, the offside goal and the crotch-grabbing gesture. By the end of the season, he had scored 14 goals in 16 Saudi Pro League appearances, but those goals (four against Al Wehda, three against Damac, two against Al Adalah) came largely against the league’s struggling teams. He racked up eight or nine goal attempts in some of those games. In two different matches, damaging 1-1 draws at home to Al Khaleej and away to Al Ettifaq, he took eight shots without scoring.

    They ended up finishing five points adrift of Al Ittihad having performed better without Ronaldo in the team (33 points from 14 games) than with him (34 points from 16 games). Their top scorer was Brazilian midfielder Anderson Talisca, but 13 of his 20 goals had come when his more celebrated team-mate was not playing.

    It has become a familiar question in the later years of Ronaldo’s career: whether there is a price to be paid, in terms of fluency and cohesion, for trying to play to his strengths.

    But after his miserable final months in Manchester, there have no been questions or criticisms about his attitude or application in Riyadh. On the contrary, his influence on the team is said to have been entirely positive.

    “Cristiano has responded very positively since day one,” Al Nassr sporting director Marcelo Salazar tells The Athletic. “Not only him but his family and his staff as well. And this is a very important factor in his good performance inside the field since his debut with us. Check the number of goals and assists he has made since his arrival. It’s huge. Check out the game against Al Wehda last season when he scored a ‘poker’ (four goals) and we won 4-0.

    “When he came, we already had very good professionals like Luiz Gustavo, David Ospina and Alvaro Gonzalez, who are role models, but nothing can be compared with the impact that comes with Cristiano’s absolute commitment and care about every detail that has an impact on his performance — and the impact that causes in a changing room. He puts the bar very high and this causes a cascade effect.”

    That has been more apparent since Ronaldo was joined by highly experienced players like Aymeric Laporte, Marcelo Brozovic, Sadio Mane and Portugal midfielder Otavio and since Rudi Garcia was replaced as head coach by the experienced Luis Castro, a long-time Ronaldophile. “(Ronaldo’s) relationship with Luis Castro is the best possible,” Salazar says. “Honest, close, direct and professional.”


    Sadio Mane has joined Ronaldo at Al Nassr this season (Francois Nel/Getty Images)

    But, like last season, Al Nassr have been left trailing. This time it is Al Hilal, reinforced by the summer arrivals of Yassine Bounou from Sevilla, Kalidou Koulibaly from Chelsea, Ruben Neves from Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic from Lazio, Malcom from Zenit and Mitrovic from Fulham as well as coach Jorge Jesus.

    Mitrovic’s strike rate (17 in 16 Saudi Pro League matches) has been metronomic, scoring in almost every game. Ronaldo’s has been a little more fitful. In no fewer than 10 of his 17 league appearances this season (against Al Fateh, Al Hazem, Al Raed, Al Tai, Abha, Damac, Al Fayha, Al Okhdood and Al Riyadh) he has had at least six goal attempts. In three of those games he took at least 10 shots; against Al Tai he made it 11th time lucky from the penalty spot with three minutes remaining.

    Last season, the title was effectively decided by results in the games between the big two or three teams: in Al Nassr’s case the defeats by Al Ittihad and Al Hilal when Ronaldo could not find the net. A 3-0 defeat by Al Hilal on December 1 continued that unhappy trend. A 5-2 victory away to Al Ittihad, featuring two Ronaldo goals from the penalty spot, was a significant step in the right direction.

    When Ronaldo stroked home each of his two penalty kicks on Tuesday, he embarked on a now-familiar celebration, running towards the corner flag, pointing to himself, slowing down to a trot and leaping into the air and making a “spin” gesture with his hand as he pirouettes mid-flight and then flings his arms down and outwards as he lands, shouting “Siiiiiiuuuu”.

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    How Ronaldo made iconic ‘SIU!’ celebration his personal calling card

    The crowd shouted it with him, which is normal enough until you consider that this was a home game for Al Ittihad, one of Al Nassr’s fiercest rivals.

    There is a desperation to see Ronaldo play — and not only in Riyadh. Six of the nine away games he played in the Saudi Pro League last season attracted the home team’s biggest attendance of the campaign. One of Al Nassr’s away games this season, against Al Fayha, was attended by just 5,400 spectators, but Al Fayha have frequently played in front of three-figure crowds. Many clubs move home games against the bigger clubs, such as Al Nassr, to bigger stadiums to try to meet demand.

    Al Nassr’s results have not necessarily improved since Ronaldo’s arrival, but their attendances have. In the opening months of last season, they frequently drew crowds below 15,000. This season their average league attendance is 20,308.

    But even with Al Awwal Park holding just 25,000 spectators, there are still tickets available for most Al Nassr home games. A few days before their home game against Al Ettifaq, their last game before the winter break, tickets were available from SAR 35 (£7.30) behind the goal to SAR 650 (£135) for the sports lounge and SAR 1500 (£313) for the most expensive lounge. They are still selling half-season tickets to cover the final eight games of the campaign, ranging from SAR 4020 (£837.58) for the sports lounge to SAR 17258 (£3,595.77) for the membership lounge.

    More than in the stadiums, the real difference Al Nassr has felt — which has extended to the league as a whole — is via Ronaldo’s vast fanbase on social media.

    On December 29 last year, the day before the deal was announced, Al Nassr had just over 823,000 followers on their main official Instagram account. Within four days, that had risen to 7.8 million. A year on, it is 22.4 million. To put that in context, it is more than all but five clubs in the Premier League — and almost as many as Tottenham Hotspur (16.5 million), Aston Villa (3.7 million) and Newcastle United (2.6 million) combined.

    It is also considerably more than Al Hilal (10.1 million) and Al Ittihad (4.1 million). Those clubs have enjoyed huge surges in social-media following over the past 12 months but, while this can be indirectly linked to Ronaldo’s arrival in the league, Al Hilal’s big jump (from 4.5 million to 8.7 million) came in August after the signings of Bounou, Mitrovic and particularly Neymar. Al Ittihad jumped from 1.5 million to 3 million in June as they agreed deals to sign Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante and others.

    As for the league, although it has always attracted passionate interest within the region, the market for its global media rights pre-Ronaldo was almost non-existent, but now the league claims to have international broadcast with 38 broadcasters across 140 territories. It also expects to become the world’s third most profitable football league in terms of sponsorship revenue — and while that is down to more than just one new arrival, it can all be attributed to the “Ronaldo effect” which helped persuade so many other big names to follow the path to Saudi Arabia.

    When Ronaldo signed for Al Nassr, Amnesty International issued a statement urging arguably the world’s most famous athlete to use his platform to highlight Saudi Arabia’s appalling human rights record.

    “Cristiano Ronaldo shouldn’t allow his fame and celebrity status to become a tool of Saudi sportswashing,” the charity’s Middle East researcher, Dana Ahmed, said. “He should use his time at Al Nassr to speak out about the myriad human rights issues in the country.”

    Ronaldo, like so many other high-profile athletes and figures from the entertainment industry, has done nothing of the sort. Visit Saudi, the tourist board, is among the government entities helping finance his enormous contract and so, like Messi, Ronaldo has been photographed visiting tourist attractions, most recently the oasis city of AlUla where he declared himself “amazed by the extraordinary human and natural heritage … where ancient history meets a modern (heart emoji) story”.

    As for the idea that Ronaldo might take the Saudi leaders to task over their human rights record, he took to Instagram in October to say it was an “honour to meet again with his Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman and great to be part of this panel today discussing the future of esports and the launch of the first-ever #esportsworldcup that will be held in Saudi Arabia next year”.

    While much was made of Ronaldo’s awkward ringside encounter with Irish mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor at last week’s “Day of Reckoning” boxing event in Riyadh, not too many people outside of Saudi Arabia paid much attention to the figure on the other side of Ronaldo: MBS’s trusted adviser, Turki Al Sheikh.

    Some of those players moving to Saudi Arabia, such as former Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson, have talked — rather naively, as it has turned out — about trying to bring “change” in the kingdom, particularly where the oppression of LGBTQ+ rights is concerned.

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    Jordan Henderson: I strongly believe that me playing in Saudi Arabia is a positive thing

    Ronaldo made no such pledge. He has been effusive about the hospitality extended to him and his family. On the kingdom’s founding day and national day he, like many other of the league’s high-profile imports, wore traditional Saudi dress and performed the Ardah dance. Ronaldo took it further by incorporating the dance into a goal celebration.

    From the moment he arrived, spending the first weeks with his family in the vast, opulent kingdom suite at the Four Seasons hotel, Ronaldo has enjoyed life in Riyadh. He is far more positive about his life experience than he was in Manchester.

    Even during his first spell at United, never mind his frustrating second spell, Ronaldo used to hate the Manchester weather. Manchester has, on average, 45 hours of sunshine in December and 50 hours in January. Riyadh has more than 200.

    Manchester is an industrial English city which has evolved over centuries and has all the quirks associated with that. Riyadh, too, has existed for centuries, but it has been revolutionised by the extreme financial investment of recent years. Its restaurants, hotels, entertainment complexes and shopping malls are geared towards a VIP crowd in a way big European cities, generally, are not.

    Ronaldo says Riyadh has “some of the best-quality restaurants I have come across”. He and his partner, Georgina Rodriguez, have been seen at Le Maschou (French), Lavash (Armenian) and Clap Riyadh (Japanese), as well as Patel Riyadh (Spanish), in which he is one of the investors.

    He has visited Boulevard World with his family and described it as “very beautiful”. Naturally, he enjoyed his trip to the CR7 Signature Museum. He has praised the standard of his children’s schooling in Riyadh.

    His enthusiasm for Saudi life appears entirely genuine. Life in Riyadh would not be to everyone’s taste — and that is before we get to the restrictions still faced by women and members of the LGBTQ+ community — but Ronaldo and Rodriguez are able to live the A-list lifestyle they could never really enjoy in Manchester.

    They have even been granted the freedom to live together unmarried, a right not extended to Saudi couples. Ronaldo is unlikely to spend much time worrying about human rights. He has everything he wants in Riyadh. Well, almost everything.


    Ronaldo was a high-profile attendee at Day of Reckoning: Fight Night earlier this month (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

    When Ronaldo talks about “still performing at the highest level”, he is referring to his own standard rather than Al Nassr’s or the league’s. In body, he is still the same supreme physical specimen. In his mind, he is still the same insatiable, supremely driven, ultra-professional athlete.

    Europe’s top clubs were not exactly queueing up to sign him last winter after his acrimonious departure from Manchester United, but Ronaldo is not the type to waste time thinking about that. When asked why he had moved to a league that European players have previously regarded (if at all) as a graveyard, he said he was in Saudi Arabia because “in Europe my work is done” and “this is a new challenge”.

    The standard wasn’t what he was used to. If he was critical of the training facilities and the professionalism of his team-mates at Manchester United second time around, he has had to make allowances for some aspects of life at Al Nassr. Salazar spoke about how Ronaldo had “put the bar very high” in terms of professional standards, but he has had to do so in a gentler, more compromising, more inclusive manner than he did in his second spell in Manchester.

    Ronaldo has never tried to claim the Saudi Pro League is equal to the leading European leagues. From an early stage, he said he expects it gradually to become one of the top five leagues in football, but “step by step”. “They need time, players and infrastructure,” he told Saudi TV station SSC at the end of last season, which again is not an allowance he was willing to make for Manchester United after years of stagnation under the Glazers’ ownership.

    More top-class players arrived in the summer: Neymar, Mane, Benzema, Riyad Mahrez, Roberto Firmino and so many more. But the majority of the high-profile arrivals were those at the tail-end of their careers. Younger ones like Otavio, Ruben Neves, Seko Fofana and Gabri Veiga are in the minority. Al Ittihad, last season’s champions, fielded one XI with an average age of 32 years and four months.

    It makes for a slightly disjointed viewing experience. Competitive balance is an issue in almost all leading leagues these days, but in Saudi Arabia, there is a huge gulf in quality not just between teams but, in certain cases, within teams. That is inevitable when a league has placed so much emphasis on attracting A-list talent in the hope of achieving rapid growth.

    Similar was said of Major League Soccer at one time; less so now after years of more organic growth. And with Messi moving to Inter Miami, Ronaldo did not hesitate to state in the summer that “the Saudi league is better than MLS”, adding that it will also “overtake the Turkish league and Dutch league” within a year.

    It could well do given the wealth and ambitions behind the government-backed project. If Ronaldo and so many other big-name players can be lured to Saudi Arabia, some of them with far more years ahead of them in their careers, then the European game’s hegemony could in time come under serious threat.

    Might that even become a worry for Ronaldo? He is already seeing his position as the league’s outstanding goalscorer challenged by Mitrovic. If it is to be expected that Ronaldo will slow down given he will turn 39 in February, what happens if the standard of the league grows around him, coming up against better, fitter, more experienced, more organised opponents every week?

    That has already happened to an extent with this year’s influx and, for now, Ronaldo is still setting the standard — leading the charts for assists as well as goals. There were moments against Al Ittihad when it looked like a Ronaldo masterclass, featuring the explosiveness and audacity of old, but it still took two penalty kicks to get him on the scoresheet, whereas other games, against the league’s lesser lights, can sometimes look like shooting practice for the Portugal captain.


    Ronaldo’s competitiveness is as strong as ever (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

    Catching Al Hilal in the title race looks like a daunting task for Al Nassr after their slow start to the campaign, but they have already won the Arab Club Champions Cup and Salazar points out they are still in contention for the King Cup, the Super Cup and the Asian Champions League, in which they will face another Saudi team, Al Fayha, in the last 16.

    “We can achieve (victory in) all the competitions we are involved in,” Salazar says. “Nothing is impossible. That is the ultimate goal that drives our daily work in Al Nassr FC.”

    It is Ronaldo, five weeks from his 39th birthday, who is behind that — driving interest, driving up attendances, driving his team forward (even if, yes, it is legitimate to say they were top of the table when he signed a year ago) and, above all, driving himself to enhance his extraordinary legacy.

    The Saudi Pro League is not the challenge he envisaged when, on the eve of last winter’s World Cup, he suggested he still felt his future would be in European football. But with his options reduced, he embraced it and, a year on, it looks like it was the challenge he needed — almost as much, you might say, as Saudi Arabia needed him.

    (Top photo: Abdullah Mahdi/AFP via Getty Images)

    [ad_2]

    The New York Times

    Source link

  • Saudi shopping and BNPL platform Tamara tops $1B valuation in $340M Series C funding | TechCrunch

    Saudi shopping and BNPL platform Tamara tops $1B valuation in $340M Series C funding | TechCrunch

    [ad_1]

    Tamara, a buy now pay later platform for consumers in Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC region, has raised $340 million in a financing round that values the fintech at $1 billion.

    Saudi asset manager and financial institution SNB Capital and Sanabil Investments, a wholly-owned company by Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF), led the Series C round. Other backers include Shorooq Partners, Pinnacle Capital, Impulse and others, joining existing investors such as Checkout.com. The round, composed of primary capital and a transaction of some secondary shares, is among the largest investments in a fintech in the region.

    The news comes ten months after the platform, which allows consumers to shop, pay in installments and bank, received debt financing from Goldman Sachs and Shorooq Partners to upsize its warehouse facility to $400 million. With this transaction, Tamara has raised a total of $500 million in equity funding, including secondaries, and over $400 million in debt financing since Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Al Babtain started the company in late 2020.

    Tamara claims to have over 10 million users across its primary market, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait, that shop from 30,000 partner merchants such as regional and global brands SHEIN, IKEA, Jarir, Noon, eXtra, and Farfetch. Those numbers are strikingly similar to what Tabby, a UAE-born but Riyadh-based BNPL service that operates in both markets and Kuwait, reported this October after raising $200 million at $1.5 billion.

    Both startups, albeit competitors, highlight the surging growth in BNPL usage, particularly in Saudi Arabia, the market that makes up more than 80% of Tamara and Tabby’s customer base. According to a fintech report by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) last year, registered customers with BNPL services increased from 76,000 in 2020 to 3 million in 2021 and 10 million in 2022. The surge, now accounting for nearly 30% of Saudi Arabia’s population, is fueled by the booming popularity of e-commerce and a projected 20% CAGR for digital payments until 2025, reaching 13 billion transactions with a total value of $170 billion.

    Despite the global slump in venture capital activity, numbers and projections like those above are bound to attract interest from local and foreign investors. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned this year, the Gulf region isn’t short of funds to make marked investments in VCs and startups. For example, this past year, venture firms in the West and other regions, including Africa, have clamored to receive financial backing from sovereign wealth funds and large institutional investors such as PIF and Mubadala Capital. Meanwhile, Tamara is a notable example of how the region doesn’t necessarily require foreign capital in unicorn rounds.

    Notably, the weighty financial backing from these funds and evident top-down support from regulators reflect a positive shift in the growing capability of the region to build billion-dollar companies (Tamara says it is Saudi’s first homegrown unicorn, while Tabby claims to be the first fintech startup unicorn in the Gulf.)

    “Saudi Arabia and the GCC deserves its place on the world stage for financial technology. Just as Tamara was created by local entrepreneurs nurtured by a supportive local ecosystem and market regulator, we stand here today, humbled and hungry, ready for our own leapfrog moment. This achievement is a testament to the ecosystem, to our incredible team, investors, and the collaborative spirit that makes this region a great place for talent to flourish,” said CEO Alsukhan in a statement.

    Tamara, which was the first company to be granted a permit to provide BNPL solutions from SAMA and to graduate from its inaugural regulatory sandbox, has over 500 employees across its headquarters in Riyadh and other cities, including Dubai, Berlin, and Ho Chi Minh City, Alsukhan told TechCrunch in an interview.

    Before launching Tamara, Alsukhan co-founded Nana, a digital grocery shopping platform where he was the chief financial officer for three years. There, he identified a gap in the grocery business where small neighborhood shops traditionally offered credit services to their customers, which, according to him, was in response to a failure in financial institutions providing such services and low credit card usage in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries (15% in Saudi Arabia and 10% across the Gulf).

    “I knew that there was a chance to build something significant and give people the service they deserve, that is, a credit type of payment that is customer-centric, first and foremost, rather than cash loans that put you in a debt trap, which is the case historically and probably still is with the banks globally and in this part of the world,” remarked Alsukhan. “We launched with one goal: to build a generational company in a huge financial industry that needs a major change.”

    Like most BNPL services, Tamara implemented late payment fees to ensure customers make timely payments. Alsukhan said that while the three-year-old fintech believed the fees were the right approach to take as it got off the ground, customer feedback and insights from shopping data have made Tamara realize that it isn’t the most optimal way forward. So, from now on, the company, which wants to differentiate itself from the competition by doubling down on customer centricity and being Sharia-compliant, will remove late payment fees. Instead, Tamara will focus on providing its customers with risk management tools to enable them to pay on time and offer options that align with their financial capabilities, avoiding offering more than they can afford and subsequently profiting from late payments.

    “Sharia compliance is something we take very seriously as a company from day one. And we live by it and will continue to invest in that principle, which is a subset of being customer-centric. The core principle of Sharia financing is not to take advantage of people and that’s what we were trying to do as a company. We will work tirelessly to build a business model that makes money to shareholders but doesn’t put people into debt traps to make money,” said the CEO, who added that the average outstanding amount for a Tamara customer is less than $100.

    The three-year-old fintech’s primary revenue stream is derived from merchant discount rates. This approach, commonly employed by local and global BNPL providers, contributes significant value by improving conversion rates and increasing the average order value for merchants. Alsukhan emphasizes that Tamara is open to boosting its revenue — which has grown 300% in the last two years — in this stream while exploring others in place of the late fees it typically charges.

    Tamara will also look to double down on other initiatives embodying its customer-centric principle, including introducing its Buyer Protection Program this month. In a region where PayPal isn’t prevalent and online protection is scarce amidst a prevalence of scams and fraud, especially in cross-border transactions, Alsukhan says the program will address a critical need and instill confidence in online shoppers.

    Similarly, the chief executive highlights the platform’s plans to enhance integration into the shopping journey via its card feature designed for offline merchants. Presently, in-store transactions account for more than 25% of Tamara’s business, a figure projected to exceed 30% in the coming year (notably, Tabby, boasting an annual transaction volume exceeding $6 billion, indicates that its card feature in the UAE contributes to over 20% of its total volumes.) Tamara is also allocating part of the investment to introduce new products and services beyond BNPL and capitalizing on opportunities in shopping and financial services across Saudi Arabia and the GCC.

    “Leading on the series C raise for Tamara through SNB Capital’s close-ended fintech fund aligns with one of our objectives to invest in single target companies achieving long-term capital appreciation,” said a spokesperson from SNB Capital about the investment.” Fintech is one of the core investment sectors in SNB Capital’s strategic portfolio and is aligned with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 objective of supporting fintech entrepreneurs at every stage of their development. As a regional ‘unicorn,’ Tamara requires significant funding options which SNB Capital is ideally positioned to deliver, and backing the development of the fintech infrastructure which will support further growth.”

    [ad_2]

    Tage Kene-Okafor

    Source link

  • Anthony Joshua vs. Otto Wallin Odds, Time, and Prediction

    Anthony Joshua vs. Otto Wallin Odds, Time, and Prediction

    [ad_1]

    Anthony Joshua’s odds suggest he’s going to have a relatively easy job in Saudi Arabia, but only if he doesn’t underestimate his opponent. Otto Wallin is someone who’s only lost once, and it happened against Tyson Fury. Plus, the loss in question was a loss by decision.

    When, Where, and How to Watch?

    • Place: Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
    • Date: Saturday, December 23, 2023
    • Time: ~3:00 p.m. ET
    • How to Watch: PPV

    Anthony Joshua vs. Otto Wallin Odds

    Moneyline Odds
    Anthony Joshua -435
    Otto Wallin +300


    9378 players claimed the offer this month

    Anthony Joshua Plotting His Comeback to the Top

    From 2017 to 2019, Anthony Joshua was in possession of four heavyweight titles – WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO. Then, in 2019, Andy Ruiz Jr. shocked the world by beating AJ by a TKO.

    That still remains one of the biggest betting upsets in the history of boxing as the Mexican fighter was a +1300 underdog before the bout. AJ got his belts back in the rematch, but rather disappointingly, he didn’t get spectacular revenge. Instead, he beat his foe by decision.

    His second reign as the heavyweight champ in four federations lasted for one fight only (a KO win over Kubrat Pulev). The Englishman lost the titles to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 who beat him by unanimous decision.

    A year later, he got a chance to get them back, but the Ukrainian beat him again, this time by a split decision. It was a tense match, but what happened after the bout got into the headlines. AJ had a sort of meltdown, taking the mic from Usyk and rambling all sorts of confusing stuff for a couple of minutes.

    This made boxing fans that he’s got some serious emotional problems that could have a negative impact on his career. However, he proved his doubter wrong this year. In 2023, he’s fought twice already, beating Jermaine Franklin by unanimous decision and Robert Helenius by a KO.

    Can Otto Wallin Stage an Upset in Riyadh?

    Otto Wallin is 26-1-1 in his professional boxing career, with 14 wins by KO/TKO. He’s got one no-contest under his belt, which happened against Nick Kisner in 2019 after an accidental headbutt.

    His only loss happened the same year to legendary Tyson Fury. It was a close fight, though. He went back and forth with “The Gypsy King” for the full 12 rounds, losing by unanimous decision in the end.

    Since then, however, “All In” is undefeated. He’s won his last six bouts, with his most recent win earning him the WBA Inter-Continental title. He took it from Murat Gassiev whom he defeated by a split decision in Turkey.

    That wasn’t Wallin’s best performance, especially given that Gassiev is a former cruiserweight fighter who’s shorter, lighter, and less powerful than Wallin’s next opponent.

    Anthony Joshua vs. Otto Wallin Prediction

    If Anthony Joshua’s mental and emotional issues are behind him, he’s going to win this fight. The evidence that he’s doing alright is that he’s won two bouts this year already. We think he’s going to win this one too, which could get him back in the conversation about possible title fights in 2024.

    Pick: Anthony Joshua

    [ad_2]

    Jessie Carter

    Source link

  • Putin Flies To UAE With Su-35 Fighter Escorts

    Putin Flies To UAE With Su-35 Fighter Escorts

    [ad_1]

    Vladimir Putin made a rare trip to the Middle East today in an attempt to invigorate his relationship with select Gulf nations. He first stopped in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and all along the way his Il-96PU jet was escorted by Russian Su-35S Flankers.

    Trips outside of Russia, and especially far from its borders, have been rare for Putin since his all-out invasion of Ukraine kicked off nearly two years ago and a subsequent arrest warrant was filed by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against him. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has signed the Rome Statute, the international agreement that underpins the ICC, but has not ratified it. Saudi Arabia, which Putin also visited today, has neither signed nor ratified it.

    The armed Su-35 escort can be seen as a sign of the paranoia surrounding his movements abroad, as well as a show of force to the region, and, potentially, a sales tactic, too. The four Su-35s were armed with R-77 and R-73 air-to-air missiles for the mission and touched down in Abu Dhabi along with the presidential Il-96.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FNrYud1T74

    Russia has provided fighter escort for VVIP moving over tense areas before, and has even used its fighters to work as infrared decoys against potentially heat-seeking missile attacks for Putin’s arrival in Syria. But sending four fighters to a foreign country via multiple sovereign airspaces with Putin’s Il-96 is new.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated the following about the Su-35’s escort mission:

    “During the flight of the presidential airplane to the landing in Abu Dhabi, the head of state was escorted by four Su-35S fighter jets of the Russian Aerospace Forces. These fighters carried standard armament of various classes. The Su-35S took off from an operational airfield in Russia in difficult weather conditions with heavy rain and gusty winds. The fighters were piloted by top-tier pilots.”

    Special permission for the armed escort flight was obtained to fly into the airspace of countries along the route, which included time over the Capsian Sea and Iran, according to Russian media.

    https://twitter.com/YorukIsik/status/1732351915680223568?s=20 https://twitter.com/wipljw/status/1732515511647306015?s=20

    The Su-35S is Russia’s most advanced Flanker derivative and is seen as a top potential export within its tactical aircraft catalog. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), in particular, has shown interest in the Su-35, with talk of a deal being close to purchase the type for years, although that has not materialized. The UAE has drastically upgraded its air arm, starting in the mid-2000s with the F-16E/F Desert Falcon deliveries and then moving on to purchases of the Dassault Rafale. Today, upgraded Mirage 2000-9s round out the country’s fighter inventory.

    Factoring all this in, the grand arrival of Su-35s alongside Putin definitely had an arms export facet to it as well as a security one. Still, U.S. sanctions that target buyers of Russian weapons would make a sale of Su-35s to the UAE troublesome. There are also major issues with sourcing parts for Russian aircraft around the globe as the country’s war in Ukraine is sucking up many of them and separate sanctions against Russia’s defense and aviation industries are making it harder for the country to produce new parts. The severity of this situation differs from weapon system to weapon system though.

    It’s also worth noting that Iran, which does not have to worry about U.S. sanctions for buying Russian military hardware, still seems set to receive its own Su-35s soon. This would mark the arrival of the type in the region on a permanent basis and would represent the most capable aircraft in Iranian service by a huge margin.

    As for Putin’s reception in the UAE and then in Saudi Arabia, in a post-Ukraine all-out invasion reality, it was very warm. Among the pomp, the UAE greeted Putin with a flyover by the country’s Fursan aerobatic team, with their Italian-made MB-339A jet trainers spewing the colors of the Russian flag. Russian flags lined the route Putin’s limo took with a full state guard reception along the way. It’s worth noting that the UAE is currently hosting the COP climate change conference. Putin did not attend that United Nations-sponsored event and the timing of his visit was certainly suspect.

    https://twitter.com/sidhant/status/1732396269371543937?s=20 https://twitter.com/Su_35m/status/1732351181022744821?s=20

    In Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud received Putin in a very warm manner, too, to say the least.

    https://twitter.com/JavierBlas/status/1732469034472411406?s=20 https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1732457865019814283?s=20

    https://x.com/clashreport/status/1732457865019814283?s=20We will have to wait and see if the Su-35 escort becomes a staple of future travel as Putin spreads his wings after nearly two years of limited travel abroad.

    Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Exclusive-On edge over Red Sea attacks, Riyadh seeks to contain fall-out

    Exclusive-On edge over Red Sea attacks, Riyadh seeks to contain fall-out

    [ad_1]

    By Aziz El Yaakoubi and Parisa Hafezi

    RIYADH/DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has asked the United States to show restraint in responding to attacks by Yemen’s Houthis against ships in the Red Sea, two sources familiar with Saudi thinking said, as Riyadh seeks to contain spillover from the Hamas-Israel war.

    The Iran-aligned Houthis have waded into the conflict that has spread around the Middle East since war erupted on Oct. 7, attacking vessels in vital shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel itself.

    The group which rules much of Yemen says its attacks are a show of support for the Palestinians and has vowed they will continue until Israel stops its offensive on the Gaza Strip – more than 1,000 miles from their seat of power in Sanaa.

    The Houthis are one of several groups in the Iran-aligned “Axis of Resistance” which have been attacking Israeli and U.S. targets since the start of the conflict on Oct. 7, when their Palestinian ally Hamas sparked the war by attacking Israel.

    Their role has added to the conflict’s regional risks, threatening sea lanes through which much of the world’s oil shipped, and worrying states on the Red Sea as Houthi rockets and drones fly towards Israel.

    Riyadh, the world’s top oil exporter, has watched with alarm as Houthi missiles have been fired over its territory.

    With the Houthis stepping up attacks on shipping over the past weeks, two sources familiar with Saudi thinking said Riyadh’s message of restraint to Washington aimed to avoid further escalation. Riyadh was so far pleased with the way the United States was handling the situation, the sources added.

    “They pressed the Americans about this and why the Gaza conflict should stop,” one of the sources said.

    The White House declined to comment.

    The Saudi government did not respond to an emailed request for a comment on the discussions.

    As Saudi Arabia presses for a ceasefire to halt what it has called a “barbaric war” in Gaza, its diplomacy reflects a wider policy aimed at promoting regional stability after years of confrontation with Iran and its allies.

    Focused on expanding and diversifying the Saudi economy, Riyadh this year normalised ties with Tehran and is seeking to exit the war it has been waging with the Houthis in Yemen for nearly nine years.

    The sources said Saudi Arabia was seeking to advance the Yemen peace process even as war rages in Gaza, worrying it could be derailed. Yemen has enjoyed more than a year of relative calm amid direct peace talks between Saudi and Houthi officials.

    The Houthi attacks during the Hamas-Israel war have elevated their profile in the Iran-aligned camp which also includes Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

    The Houthis have emerged as a major military force in the Arabian Peninsula, with tens of thousands of fighters and a huge arsenal of ballistic missiles and armed drones.

    Senior sources in the Iran-aligned camp told Reuters the Houthi attacks were part of an effort to put pressure on Washington to get Israel to halt the Gaza offensive, a goal that Iran shares with Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region.

    One of the sources, who is based in Tehran, said Houthi representatives had discussed their attacks with Iranian officials during a meeting in Tehran in November, agreeing to carry out actions in a “controlled” way that would help force an end to the Gaza war. The source was briefed on the matter.

    Another of the sources said Tehran did not seek “all-out war in the region” that would risk drawing it in directly.

    A Houthi spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Iran has denied being involved in the attacks. Iranian officials did not respond to a request for comment on the Houthi attacks.

    DESTROYER DOWNS DRONES

    The United States and Britain have condemned the attacks on shipping, blaming Iran for its role in supporting the Houthis. Tehran says its allies make their decisions independently.

    In one of the latest incidents, three commercial vessels came under attack in international waters on Sunday. The Houthis said they had fired at what they said were two Israeli vessels. Israel denied any link to the ships.

    A U.S. Navy destroyer, the Carney, shot down three drones as it answered distress calls from the vessels, which the U.S. military said were connected to 14 separate nations.

    The Pentagon said on Monday the Carney had taken action as a drone was headed in its direction, but that it could not assess if the warship was the intended target.

    Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh stopped short of using language that could suggest any imminent U.S. retaliation against the Houthis. Asked if the United States might retaliate, Singh said: “If we decide to take action against the Houthis, it will of course be at a time and place of our choosing.”

    An Iranian diplomat said Tehran and Washington had exchanged messages through intermediaries about Houthi attacks since the start of the Hamas-Israel war. The diplomat, who was involved in exchanging the messages, said both called for restraint.

    Iran on Tuesday denied any role in attacks or actions against U.S. forces.

    (Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Alison Williams)

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • John Kerry warns against carbon capture’s ‘great facade’ as a climate cure-all

    John Kerry warns against carbon capture’s ‘great facade’ as a climate cure-all

    [ad_1]

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Some countries at the COP28 climate talks are lying about the potential for capturing the greenhouse gases fossil fuels emit, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said.

    Kerry was speaking at an event on Friday evening on the sidelines of the U.N. COP28 climate talks in Dubai, where the nations of the world are wrangling over the draft of a pledge to end fossil fuel use.

    The deal has been forcefully opposed by fossil fuel-producing countries, including Saudi Arabia. Negotiators from Riyadh argue carbon pollution can be largely captured and buried using scrubbing technology that Kerry said remains largely unproven at the needed scale.

    “There are people here who want to just continue business as usual. And the great facade is: ‘Oh no, we’ll be able to capture everything,’” said Kerry, his voice hoarse from a chest cold. “No scientist tells me we can capture it all. Can’t do it. Can we capture some? Yes, and by the way, I’m for it.”

    Kerry said it was up to the gas industry “to show us they can capture all those emissions, to tell us whether it’s really going to be part of the future. But don’t lie to people and tell them it’s green. And don’t pretend to people that that’s the main alternative.”

    Kerry said the next few days of talks, which are scheduled to end Tuesday, would be “absolutely critical. Without any question whatsoever.”

    A draft text released on Friday by the United Arab Emirates government, which is hosting the conference, included several options for a deal between almost 200 countries to “phase out” fossil fuels — a phrase being pushed by small island states, the U.S. and the European Union. But it also included an option for no deal at all, which is the result many countries, including Saudi Arabia, China and Russia prefer.

    “I am concerned that not everyone is engaging in a constructive manner,” German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan said in a statement shared with reporters.

    Saudi negotiators have pushed for the deal to focus on the emissions that cause climate change, rather than the fuels that cause the emissions, UAE chief negotiator Hana Al Hashimi told reporters Saturday. That necessitates the use of carbon capture — but countries are divided over how much the technology can be used, versus the need to simply stamp out the use of the fuels.

    The EU is arguing for the deal at COP28 to include a stipulation that carbon capture and storage (CCS) only be used for the hardest sectors to cut out the use of fossil fuels, such as the manufacture of cement.

    “Make no mistake, we cannot CCS ourselves out of the problem,” said EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra at a press conference Friday, adding that carbon capture and storage was “a minor part of the solution space.”

    Advocates for a fossil fuel phase-out deal believe it will scare investors away from fossil fuel projects. “One thing I know to absolute certainty,” Kerry said, “we are not going to go back to the old energy paradigm, you can absolutely bank on that. We are not going back.”

    Zia Weise contributed reporting from Dubai.

    [ad_2]

    Karl Mathiesen

    Source link

  • Saudi-led fight against COP28 deal shows ‘panic,’ German climate envoy says

    Saudi-led fight against COP28 deal shows ‘panic,’ German climate envoy says

    [ad_1]

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The full-scale resistance that oil-exporting countries are mounting against a COP28 deal to end fossil fuel use is a sign of “panic,” said Germany’s climate envoy. 

    Last week, as ministers descended on the U.N. climate talks in Dubai, the OPEC cartel of oil-rich nations urged its 13 members, including Saudi Arabia, and OPEC+ countries to reject any agreement that aimed to slash fossil fuel production. The appeal sparked contentious debate over the weekend as officials tried to finalize a deal before COP28’s scheduled end on Tuesday. 

    But to Jennifer Morgan, Germany’s special envoy for international climate action, the letter was also a rare admission from the oil industry that these climate talks pose an existential threat to its business model.

    “They obviously felt they needed to engage,” Morgan said in response to a question from POLITICO while speaking to a group of reporters. “Whether it was a bit of panic, whether it was a bit of realization of how far the discussions are. That’s my take on that.”

    Fossil fuels have landed at this year’s climate talks in a big way after decades where they were largely absent from the negotiations, despite being the driving force behind global warming. 

    But as the impacts of climate change have accelerated and alternative options such as wind and solar have become more affordable, a growing number of countries are drawing attention to the need to wean their economies off oil, gas and coal. 

    That push is proving to be among the most contentious issues at COP28, which is taking place in a region that is home to some of the world’s top oil and gas producers. 

    As the talks speed toward a close, officials are working to craft language that can get support from the nearly 200 countries participating in the process. It will be up to the UAE presidency of COP28 to attempt to find consensus. Draft text over the weekend offered several options for a pledge to “phase out” fossil fuels, all with various caveats.

    But several people close to the talks said that Saudi Arabia and the Arab group of negotiators have resisted such language, including storming out of one meeting room, according to one observer of the process granted anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks. 

    “We have raised our consistent concerns with attempts to attack energy sources instead of emissions,” Saudi Arabia’s Albara Tawfiq said during Sunday’s public session.

    His comments mirror remarks delivered on Saturday in Dubai by OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al Ghais. 

    “Our goal must be to reduce emissions, which is the core objective of the Paris Agreement, while ensuring energy security and universal access to affordable energy,” the OPEC secretariat posted on X, quoting Al Ghais and referencing the 2015 international climate accord to limit global warming. 

    Even before COP28 began, countries were aware that getting Saudi Arabia on board with supporting a fossil fuel phaseout would be supremely challenging. Oil remains the backbone of the Saudi economy, despite efforts to diversify.

    “We hope following this discussion, the presidency would be able to deal with that now that he has clearly heard from all the parties,” said Seve Paeniu, minister of finance and economic development for the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu. “It’s really now in the hands of the presidency.”

    [ad_2]

    Sara Schonhardt and Karl Mathiesen

    Source link

  • Saudi Arabian Filmmakers Form Trade Association to Hold Sway in Booming Sector Regulations

    Saudi Arabian Filmmakers Form Trade Association to Hold Sway in Booming Sector Regulations

    [ad_1]

    Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning filmmakers have formed a trade organisation called Film Association in an effort to hold sway in regulations being laid out for the country’s booming film industry.

    The Saudi Film Association, announced during the ongoing Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, comes five years after the government removed its 35-year-old religion-related ban on cinemas. Since then, Saudi Arabia has built studios, formed film commissions and launched tax incentives for production.

    The Saudi Film Association initiative is being led by Saudi Culture Minister Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud, who is known to be a film buff.

    Presiding over the trade organization is prominent Saudi actor Mishal Al Mutairi, known for his roles in the TV series “Yawmeyat Wadah” (“Wadah’s Diaries”) and “Al Aramela” (“The Widows”). Board members include producer Alaa Faden, founding member and the CEO of leading indie studio Telfaz 11; writer and director Hanaa Al Omair whose 2020 thriller series “Whispers” was Saudi Arabia’s first TV drama to launch on Netflix; pioneering director Tawfiq Al Zaidi, whose drama “Norah” is in competition at Red Sea; beloved actor Abdulmohsen Al-Nimr whose most recent film is high-end camel racing drama “Hajjan,” also at Red Sea; and Abdulaziz Al Muzaini, director of animated hit “Masameer” and co-founder and CEO of Myrkott animation studio. Given that the emerging Saudi film industry still lacks some fundamental regulations when it comes to matters such as IP ownership, writer and talent credits and residual rights, one of the association’s most pressing matters is “to [help] establish laws and legislation to protect all parties and platforms,” Al Muzaini said in a statement.

    Faden noted that the Saudi Film Association will be key for Saudi content creators going forward in terms of “unifying” contractual agreements when it comes to various types of rights, and underlined the need for “an association with global standards that represents the [industry] workers and seeks their rights” in order to bridge the gap between the local industry and global unions.

    [ad_2]

    Nvivarelli

    Source link

  • The Danger Ahead

    The Danger Ahead

    [ad_1]

    For all its marvelous creativity, the human imagination often fails when turned to the future. It is blunted, perhaps, by a craving for the familiar. We all appreciate that the past includes many moments of severe instability, crisis, even radical revolutionary upheaval. We know that such things happened years or decades or centuries ago. We cannot believe they might happen tomorrow.

    When Donald Trump is the subject, imagination falters further. Trump operates so far outside the normal bounds of human behavior—never mind normal political behavior—that it is difficult to accept what he may actually do, even when he declares his intentions openly. What’s more, we have experienced one Trump presidency already. We can take false comfort from that previous experience: We’ve lived through it once. American democracy survived. Maybe the danger is less than feared?

    Explore the January/February 2024 Issue

    Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.

    View More

    In his first term, Trump’s corruption and brutality were mitigated by his ignorance and laziness. In a second, Trump would arrive with a much better understanding of the system’s vulnerabilities, more willing enablers in tow, and a much more focused agenda of retaliation against his adversaries and impunity for himself. When people wonder what another Trump term might hold, their minds underestimate the chaos that would lie ahead.

    By Election Day 2024, Donald Trump will be in the thick of multiple criminal trials. It’s not impossible that he may already have been convicted in at least one of them. If he wins the election, Trump will commit the first crime of his second term at noon on Inauguration Day: His oath to defend the Constitution of the United States will be a perjury.

    A second Trump term would instantly plunge the country into a constitutional crisis more terrible than anything seen since the Civil War. Even in the turmoil of the 1960s, even during the Great Depression, the country had a functional government with the president as its head. But the government cannot function with an indicted or convicted criminal as its head. The president would be an outlaw, or on his way to becoming an outlaw. For his own survival, he would have to destroy the rule of law.

    From Trump himself and the people around him, we have a fair idea of a second Trump administration’s immediate priorities: (1) Stop all federal and state cases against Trump, criminal and civil. (2) Pardon and protect those who tried to overturn the 2020 election on Trump’s behalf. (3) Send the Department of Justice into action against Trump adversaries and critics. (4) End the independence of the civil service and fire federal officials who refuse to carry out Trump’s commands. (5) If these lawless actions ignite protests in American cities, order the military to crush them.

    A restored Trump would lead the United States into a landscape of unthinkable scenarios. Will the Senate confirm Trump nominees who were chosen because of their willingness to help the president lead a coup against the U.S. government? Will the staff of the Justice Department resign? Will people march in the streets? Will the military obey or refuse orders to suppress demonstrations?

    The existing constitutional system has no room for the subversive legal maneuvers of a criminal in chief. If a president can pardon himself for federal crimes—as Trump would likely try to do—then he could write his pardon in advance and shoot visitors to the White House. (For that matter, the vice president could murder the president in the Oval Office and then immediately pardon herself.) If a president can order the attorney general to stop a federal case against him—as Trump would surely do—then obstruction of justice becomes a normal prerogative of the presidency. If Trump can be president, then the United States owes a huge retrospective apology to Richard Nixon. Under the rules of a second Trump presidency, Nixon would have been well within his rights to order the Department of Justice to stop investigating Watergate and then pardon himself and all the burglars for the break-in and cover-up.

    After Trump was elected in 2016, he was quickly surrounded by prominent and influential people who recognized that he was a lawless menace. They found ways to restrain a man they regarded as, to quote the reported words of Trump’s first secretary of state, “a fucking moron” and, to quote his second chief of staff, “the most flawed person I’ve ever met in my life,” whose “dishonesty is just astounding.” But there would be no Rex Tillerson in a second Trump term; no John Kelly; no Jeff Sessions, who as attorney general recused himself from the investigation into the president’s connections to Russia, leading to the appointment of an independent special counsel.

    Since 2021, Trump-skeptical Republicans have been pushed out of politics. Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger forfeited their seats in the House for defending election integrity. Representative Tom Emmer withdrew his bid for House speaker over the same offense. The Republican Senate caucus is less hospitable to Trump-style authoritarianism—but notice that the younger and newer Republican senators (Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, J. D. Vance) tend to support Trump’s schemes, while his opponents in the Senate belong to the outgoing generation. Trump’s leading rivals for the 2024 nomination seldom dare criticize his abuse of power.

    Most of the people who would staff a second Trump term would be servile tools who have absorbed the brutal realities of contemporary Republicanism: defend democracy; forfeit your career. Already, an array of technically competent opportunists has assembled itself—from within right-wing think tanks and elsewhere—and has begun to plan out exactly how to dismantle the institutional safeguards against Trump’s corrupt and vengeful impulses. Trump’s likely second-term advisers have made clear that they would share his agenda of legal impunity and the use of law enforcement against his perceived opponents—not only the Biden family, but Trump’s own former attorney general and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

    If Trump wins the presidency again, the whole world will become a theater for his politics of revenge and reward. Ukraine will be abandoned to Vladimir Putin; Saudi Arabia will collect its dividends for its investments in the Trump family.

    First-term Trump told aides that he wanted to withdraw from NATO. Second-term Trump would choose aides who would not talk him out of it. Other partners, too, would have to adjust to the authoritarianism and corruption of a second Trump term. Liberals in Israel and India would find themselves isolated as the U.S. turned toward reaction and authoritarianism at home; East Asian democracies would have to adjust to Trump protectionism and trade wars; Mexico’s antidemocratic Morena party would have scope to snuff out free institutions provided that it suppressed migration flows to the United States.

    Anyway, the United States would be too paralyzed by troubles at home to help friends abroad.

    If Trump is elected, it very likely won’t be with a majority of the popular vote. Imagine the scenario: Trump has won the Electoral College with 46 percent of the vote because third-party candidates funded by Republican donors successfully splintered the anti-Trump coalition. Having failed to win the popular vote in each of the past three elections, Trump has become president for the second time. On that thin basis, his supporters would try to execute his schemes of personal impunity and political vengeance.

    In this scenario, Trump opponents would have to face a harsh reality: The U.S. electoral system has privileged a strategically located minority, led by a lawbreaking president, over the democratic majority. One side outvoted the other. The outvoted nonetheless won the power to govern.

    The outvoted would happily justify the twist of events in their favor. “We are a republic, not a democracy,” many said in 2016. Since that time, the outvoted have become more outspoken against democracy. As Senator Mike Lee tweeted a month before the 2020 election: “Democracy isn’t the objective.”

    So long as minority rule seems an occasional or accidental result, the majority might go along. But once aware that the minority intends to engineer its power to last forever—and to use it to subvert the larger legal and constitutional system—the majority may cease to be so accepting. One outcome of a second Trump term may be an American version of the massive demonstrations that filled Tel Aviv streets in 2023, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to remake Israel’s court system.

    And what might follow that? In 2020, Trump’s advisers speculated about the possibility of using the Army to crush protests against Trump’s plans to overturn that year’s election. Now those in Trump’s circle are apparently thinking further ahead. Some reportedly want to prepare in advance to use the Insurrection Act to convert the military into a tool of Trump’s authoritarian project. It’s an astonishing possibility. But Trump is thinking about it, so everybody else must—including the senior command of the U.S. military.

    If a president can summon an investigation of his opponents, or summon the military to put down protests, then suddenly our society would no longer be free. There would be no more law, only legalized persecution of political opponents. It has always been Trump’s supreme political wish to wield both the law and institutional violence as personal weapons of power—a wish that many in his party now seem determined to help him achieve.

    That grim negative ideal is the core ballot question in 2024. If Trump is defeated, the United States can proceed in its familiar imperfect way to deal with the many big problems of our time: the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, climate change, educational standards and equal opportunity, economic growth and individual living standards, and so on. Stopping Trump would not represent progress on any of those agenda items. But stopping Trump would preserve the possibility of progress, by keeping alive the constitutional-democratic structure of the United States.

    A second Trump presidency, however, is the kind of shock that would overwhelm all other issues. It would mark the turn onto a dark path, one of these rips between “before” and “after” that a society can never reverse. Even if the harm is contained, it can never be fully undone, as the harm of January 6, 2021, can never be undone. The long tradition of peaceful transitions of power was broken that day, and even though the attempt to stop the transition by violence was defeated, the violence itself was not expunged. The schemes and plots of a second Trump term may be defeated too. Yet every future would-be dictator will know: A president can attempt a coup and, if stopped, still return to office to try again.

    As we now understand from memoirs and on-the-record comments, many of Trump’s own Cabinet appointees and senior staff were horrified by the president they served. The leaders of his own party in Congress feared and hated him. The GOP’s deepest-pocketed donors have worked for three years to nominate somebody, anybody, else. Yet even so, Trump’s co-partisans are converging upon him. They are convincing themselves that something can justify forgiving Trump’s first attempted coup and enabling a second: taxes, border control, stupid comments by “woke” college students.

    For democracy to continue, however, the democratic system itself must be the supreme commitment of all major participants. Rules must matter more than outcomes. If not, the system careens toward breakdown—as it is careening now.

    When Benjamin Franklin famously said of the then-new Constitution, “A republic, if you can keep it,” he was not suggesting that the republic might be misplaced absentmindedly. He foresaw that ambitious, ruthless characters would arise to try to break the republic, and that weak, venal characters might assist them. Americans have faced Franklin’s challenge since 2016, in a story that has so far had some villains, many heroes—and just enough good luck to tip the balance. It would be dangerous to continue to count on luck to do the job.

    This article appears in the January/February 2024 print edition with the headline “The Revenge Presidency.”

    [ad_2]

    David Frum

    Source link

  • Why Cristiano Ronaldo is being sued in $1bn lawsuit by people who bought his NFTs

    Why Cristiano Ronaldo is being sued in $1bn lawsuit by people who bought his NFTs

    [ad_1]

    Cristiano Ronaldo is facing a $1billion class action lawsuit in the U.S. after promoting his non-fungible token (NFT) collaboration with cryptocurrency exchange Binance on social media.

    Binance has recently taken a hit to its reputation. Last week, Binance chief executive Changpeng Zhao resigned from the company after pleading guilty to money laundering violations. The United States’ justice department also said Binance would be required to pay $4.3billion (£3.4bn) in penalties — and report suspicious activity to federal authorities.

    Last November, Ronaldo launched a collection of NFTs with the company, the cheapest of which was priced at $77. One year later, this costs about $1. The plaintiffs are suing the 38-year-old in Florida, claiming they made loss-making investments on the back of his social media advertisements for Binance products.

    The Athletic dug through the 130-page lawsuit to explain the claims against Ronaldo and to analyse what it means for the wider issue of footballers promoting controversial investments.

    Cristiano Ronaldo’s representatives did not comment when contacted. Binance has also been approached for comment.

    What did Ronaldo do?

    Ronaldo announced a tie-in with Binance in November 2022 but the lawsuit says the deal was signed some months before. Binance announced its ‘CR7’ collection of NFTs in partnership with the Al Nassr forward.

    NFTs are virtual assets based on the blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, and can be bought and sold as investments.

    These digital assets could be bought online and traded. Associated with this was entry to competitions with prizes — such as the opportunity to meet Ronaldo.

    While a year or two ago NFTs were widely touted as the future of fan engagement in football, the hype has largely died off as token prices have plunged in value.

    GO DEEPER

    Remember NFTs? This is how football’s projects dived in value

    The lawsuit explains how Ronaldo has repeatedly promoted not just his NFTs but also Binance generally on his social media pages, including last month.

    What does the lawsuit accuse Ronaldo of?

    The lawsuit claims the “overarching objective” of the partnership was for Ronaldo “to help Binance successfully solicit or attempt to solicit investors in Binance’s crypto-related securities from Florida and nationwide”. It also notes that Binance is listed on Ronaldo’s personal website in a section called “I work with brands I believe in”.

    The investors claim Ronaldo is responsible for them losing their money because, they say, the fact he was promoting his collaborative NFT collection with Binance materially misled them into believing that other crypto assets held on the platform were safe and were not being invested in unregistered securities when, they claim, that was not the case. They say Ronaldo knew or ought to have known this and that in promoting Binance, without disclosing how much he was being paid for doing so, he engaged in “unfair and deceptive practices”.

    They accuse Ronaldo of a “sustained and aggressive” promotion and advertising campaign that was “incredibly successful” in signing up new users.

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    ‘The main reason we invested was him’: Losing three months’ wages in Pogba crypto scheme

    “After the news of Ronaldo’s newly created NFT collection with Binance was publicly announced, online searches for NFT-related search terms surged, including a 500 per cent increase in searches using the keyword ‘Binance’,” the lawsuit says, adding that “premium-level NFTs sold out within the first week”.

    The lawsuit argues that once users had signed up for Binance to access Ronaldo’s NFTs and associated benefits, they were more likely to invest in Binance for other purposes. This included buying cryptocurrency tokens that were not formally regulated by financial regulators. They are therefore suing Ronaldo for $1billion in damages.

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    John Terry’s NFT collection plunges 90% in value

    The lawsuit also says that, given Ronaldo’s vast financial resources with which to obtain advice, “he knew or should have known of potential concerns about Binance selling unregistered crypto securities” that may have played a role in fraud.

    What are unregistered securities?

    The lawsuit says “through his social media promotions, NFT collection, and other advertising activities, Mr Ronaldo personally participated in and aided Binance in making the sale of unregistered securities”.

    This concept of unregistered securities forms a major part of the lawsuit.

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says assets like cryptocurrencies can be considered “securities” — financial assets that can be traded — and thus celebrities endorsing them must follow U.S. law.

    On June 8, 2023, Gary Gensler, chair of the SEC, said cryptocurrency tokens are “classic securities”.

    This means tokens must generally be registered with the authorities. This was not the case for Binance’s cryptocurrency products, which the plaintiffs allege were promoted to them after they were made aware of the platform when they came across it via Ronaldo’s Instagram account.

    “Evidence now reveals that Binance’s fraud was only able to reach such heights through the offer and sale of unregistered securities, with the willing help and assistance of some of the wealthiest, most powerful and recognized organizations and celebrities across the globe just like the defendant, Ronaldo,” the lawsuit says, adding that social media influencers such as Ronaldo played a major role in Binance’s rise by “hyping these unregistered securities”.


    Ronaldo is playing in Saudi Arabia for Al Nassr (Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)

    What will happen next?

    Jemma Fleetwood, a digital asset specialist lawyer at JMW Solicitors, says that now he has been served with court proceedings, Ronaldo will have the opportunity to respond.

    “Ronaldo will likely be discussing with his legal advisers whether the claim has legal merit, what his defence will be and whether he should make an offer to settle the case,” Fleetwood says.

    “Given the level of damages claimed, it will likely be difficult for him to settle this case at an early stage and so the matter could eventually reach a trial where the parties would be required to publicly give evidence on the case.”

    Are there any other similar cases?

    Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal was accused in two separate lawsuits of promoting unregistered securities as part of a sponsorship deal with the cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

    Fleetwood says O’Neal and Ronaldo are not the only ones.

    “There have been similar cases brought against boxing legend Floyd Mayweather, along with music producer DJ Khaled, for failing to disclose payments received from promoting initial coin offerings (ICOs),” she says. “Mayweather and Khaled previously settled those claims for around $750,000.

    “Ronaldo may similarly attempt to settle the claims brought against him to avoid a public trial, the escalation of legal costs and significant time spent on preparing court filings.”


    Former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

    What is the bigger picture?

    Over the past couple of years, cryptocurrency companies have worked with many football players and clubs to promote their products. Insiders say this is because the sport is seen as the cheapest way to advertise around the world to the young male demographic, who tend to be particularly interested in football and cryptocurrency.

    Despite lots of hype when cryptocurrency prices started booming in the pandemic, making some people rich very quickly, things look a lot less rosy now. Token prices have plummeted and top clubs and players have seen tokens they promoted plunge in value.

    go-deeper

    GO DEEPER

    Explained: How the crypto crash has impacted each Premier League club

    It is striking that few footballers are still promoting cryptocurrency products on their social media profiles. But two of the players still doing so are Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who has promoted multiple cryptocurrency companies — including in recent months. They are unlikely to need the money, given their on-pitch success, but do it anyway.

    The two men are the two most followed people on Instagram in the world.

    While lesser players no longer promote cryptocurrency, as the industry’s reputation has taken a serious hit, the two most famous players in the world are still doing so. There have been no suggestions Messi’s promotions are illegal, but anyone promoting crypto assets will be watching this case with interest to see what the U.S. courts say about to what extent they can be responsible for anything improper done by a company with which they have links, even if the product they are promoting is problem-free.

    (Top photo: Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)

    [ad_2]

    The New York Times

    Source link

  • Saudi Arabia could 'flush' the oil market with a flood of supply to regain control over prices in the face of rising US production, crude expert says

    Saudi Arabia could 'flush' the oil market with a flood of supply to regain control over prices in the face of rising US production, crude expert says

    [ad_1]

    Photo by Christian Ender/Getty Images

    • Saudi Arabia may “flush” the market with a flood of supply that would sink prices, an expert said.

    • That comes as OPEC+ concluded its latest meeting where members pledged voluntary production cuts without giving firm commitments.

    • Meanwhile, US crude output has been on a tear this year, hitting new record highs.

    Saudi Arabia may flood the market with more oil supplies, reversing its production curbs, as the world’s top crude exporter tries to regain control of prices, an energy market veteran said.

    That comes as OPEC+ concluded its latest meeting where members pledged voluntary production cuts without giving firm commitments, prompting oil prices to fall.

    “We’ve more or less been saying potentially Saudi needs to just flush this thing out,” Paul Sankey from Sankey Research told CNBC on Friday.

    He estimated that Saudi Arabia has capacity to ramp up its output by an additional 2.5 million barrels a day.

    For now, OPEC’s de factor leader is trying to prop up crude by pumping less. On Thursday, it extended its cut of 1 million barrel per day into the first quarter.

    But Sankey noted Saudi Arabia shocked markets in 2014, when it similarly tried to flush the market by sinking crude prices from highs of around $110 a barrel to $50.

    The drop in prices eventually forced higher-cost producers to exit the market as pumping was no longer profitable. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia continued to pump as it was better able to withstand lower prices. As supplies from its rivals disappeared, the kingdom was able to regain traction over prices.

    Back then, like today, booming US oil supply is a headache for OPEC and Saudi Arabia. And Sankey said Friday that the oil cartel has “a huge problem with US production levels.”

    In fact, US crude output has been on a tear this year, with monthly production hitting a record high in September at more than 13.2 million barrels a day, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

    Read the original article on Business Insider

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Eye-catching climate donations put spotlight on China at COP climate talks

    Eye-catching climate donations put spotlight on China at COP climate talks

    [ad_1]

    Press play to listen to this article

    Voiced by artificial intelligence.

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.N. climate summit kicked off Thursday with a parade of wealthy nations offering big-money pledges to help poorer countries cope with the ravages of a warming world — a surprise that turns up the pressure on countries like China to open their checkbooks.

    Leading the charge was the summit’s oil-rich host, the United Arab Emirates, whose $100 million (€92 million) vow seemed designed to defuse months of criticism about whether it can serve as an honest broker in talks about ending the world’s fossil fuel dependence. Its offer matched one from Germany.

    The maneuver certainly turned heads — and kicked off a cascade of contributions, making for a remarkable opening day at the 28th annual COP conference. The European Union said it would give at least €225 million for the fund (including Germany’s pledge). The United Kingdom tossed in £40 million, or approximately €46 million.

    Trailing far behind: the United States, at $17.5 million, or roughly €16 million.

    Suddenly, it was the UAE getting the praise. EU climate envoy Wopke Hoekstra thanked the country for “leading the way for new donors.” 

    He added: “Thanks to the EU’s efforts, the fund is open to contributions from all parties that have the capacity to pay.”

    His comment was a clear nod to the fact that the pledge transcended a decades-old divide in climate talks between “developed” and “developing” nations, particularly on financial matters. Many activists and climate-vulnerable countries have long argued that rich, industrialized countries responsible for the bulk of planet-warming emissions should take the lead on funding climate action. Even the Paris Agreement echoes this point.

    Now, however, the spotlight will turn to countries like China, the world’s second-largest economy, and Saudi Arabia and Qatar, two small yet affluent countries. All three are still considered “developing countries” under the U.N. climate framework despite amassing considerable wealth in recent generations.

    “We are building bridges between traditional donor countries and new, non-traditional donors,” said German Development Minister Svenja Schulze, who announced Berlin’s $100 million contribution via video link in the plenary, in a statement.

    Without mentioning any country in particular, she added: “After all, many countries that were still developing countries 30 years ago can now afford shouldering their share of responsibility for global climate-related loss and damage.”

    An age-old battle

    Most developing countries want to maintain their existing categorization, which harkens back to an early rubric used to define which countries are rich and poor. 

    But developed countries like the U.S. and those in Europe are campaigning for high-polluting emerging economies to contribute funding, a push aimed at broadening the donor base as financial needs grow.

    In the absence of direct bilateral aid, the U.S. is working to draw in more money from the private sector | Feng Li/Getty Images

    The countries’ commitments will go into what’s known as a “loss and damage” fund in U.N. jargon. The money is intended to help compensate for the destruction wrought by extreme weather and other consequences of global warming.

    Delegates from nearly 200 countries signed off on the initiative only hours into the summit, a positive sign given the issue was mired in fractious talks in the weeks before COP. 

    The U.S. pledge, small as it was, was still notable given that Washington has historically been reluctant to offer specific dollar amounts for the new fund. In recent weeks Biden administration officials have indicated their support for the fund but said they wanted to see it finalized before considering donations.

    That said, even the $17.5 million may never come to fruition, as the White House could need sign-off from a Republican-controlled House that has been hostile to such efforts and is already stymied on other international aid decisions. 

    Still, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry was bullish on Thursday. 

    “We also expect the fund to be up and running quickly,” he said. “We expect that will help address priority gaps in the current landscape of support, and we expect it will draw from a wide variety of sources.”

    In the absence of direct bilateral aid, the U.S. is working to draw in more money from the private sector and has supported the idea of funding from more innovative sources, which could include things like levies on air travel. 

    Behind the U.S. was Japan, which said it would give $10 million. 

    “While the overall signal from today’s pledges is positive, it is disappointing that the United States and Japan chipped in so little,” said Ani Dasgupta, president of the World Resources Institute. “Given the size of their economies, there is simply no excuse for their contributions to be far eclipsed by others.”

    Dasgupta called the UAE pledge “particularly notable,” since it broadens the group of nations providing climate finance.

    Making history

    The deluge of announcements came after delegates approved the framework for the new climate disaster fund, a landmark decision that prompted a standing ovation at the summit.

    “We have delivered history today,” COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber — who also heads the UAE’s state-owned oil company — told delegates, adding that this marks “the first time a decision has been adopted on Day One at any COP.” 

    Sultan al-Jaber heads the UAE’s state-owned oil company | Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images

    Delegations and civil society organizations broadly welcomed Thursday’s announcements and U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell said the development gave the conference “a running start.” 

    But some warned of a yawning gap between the initial pledges and countries’ financing needs.

    “The initial funding pledges are clearly inadequate and will be a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of the need they are to address,” said Mohamed Adow, director of the nonprofit Power Shift Africa. 

    “In particular, the amount announced by the U.S. is embarrassing for President Biden and John Kerry,” he added. “It just shows how this must be just the start.”

    As for China, “I don’t think they will pledge,” said Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute. “But this highlights the urgency for China to consider its evolving responsibilities when it comes to finance.” 

    Still, the $200 million from Germany and the UAE will cover the cost of getting the fund set up under the World Bank, allowing additional pledges to flow into the fund itself. 

    “This day is doubly auspicious due to the immediate commencement of the capitalization process,” said Pa’olelei Luteru, a Samoan diplomat who chairs an alliance of island nations long pushing for the fund. 

    “This is an encouraging beginning,” he added, “but there is much work ahead of us.”

    Zia Weise reported from Dubai. Sara Schonhardt reported from Washington, D.C.

    [ad_2]

    Zia Weise and Sara Schonhardt

    Source link

  • Renewed Israel-Gaza war crowds out climate at COP28

    Renewed Israel-Gaza war crowds out climate at COP28

    [ad_1]

    Press play to listen to this article

    Voiced by artificial intelligence.

    DUBAI — The war in Gaza crashed into the United Nations climate summit on Friday, as furious sideline diplomacy, blunt censures of violence and an Iranian boycott shoved global warming to the side.

    It was a sharp change in tone from the COP28 opening on Thursday, which ended on an upbeat note as countries promised to support climate-stricken communities. The mood darkened the following day as news broke that the week-old truce between Israel and Hamas was collapsing. 

    Israeli President Isaac Herzog spent much of the morning in meetings telling fellow leaders about “how Hamas blatantly violates the ceasefire agreements,” according to a post on his X account. He ended up skipping a speech he was meant to give during Friday’s parade of world leaders.

    There were other conspicuous no-shows. Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was absent, despite being listed as an early speaker. And Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority leader, also disappeared from the final speakers’ list after initially being scheduled to talk just a few slots after Herzog. 

    Then, shortly after leaders posed for a group photo in the Dubai venue on Friday, the Iranian delegation announced it was walking out. The reason, Iran’s energy minister told his country’s official news agency: The “political, biased and irrelevant presence of the fake Zionist regime” — referring to Israel. 

    By Friday afternoon, the Iranian pavilion had emptied out. 

    The backroom drama played out even as leader after leader took the stage in the vast Expo City campus to make allotted three-minute statements on their efforts to stop the planet from boiling. The World Meteorological Organization said Thursday that 2023 was almost certain to be the hottest year ever recorded.

    U.N. climate talks are often buffeted by outside events. This is the second such meeting held after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That war provoked some public barbs and backroom discussions at last year’s summit in Egypt, but leaders still maintained their scheduled speaking slots and a veneer of focus on the matter they were supposedly there to discuss.

    This year, that veneer cracked. 

    “There are currently a number of very, very serious crises that are causing great suffering for many people. It was clear that these would also affect the mood at the COP,” a German diplomat, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly, told POLITICO. 

    But that can’t distract officials working on climate change, the diplomat added: “It is also clear that no one on our planet, no country on Earth, can escape the destructive effects of the climate crisis.” 

    Tell-tale signals

    There had been early signs that the conflict would spill over into discussions at the climate summit. 

    Sameh Shoukry, president of the COP27 climate conference and Egyptian minister of foreign affairs, Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, president of COP28 | Sean Gallup/Getty Images

    At Thursday’s opening ceremony, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry — president of last year’s COP27 summit — asked all delegates to stand for a moment of silence in memory of two climate negotiators who had recently died, “as well as all civilians who have perished during the current conflict in Gaza.” 

    On Friday, Jordanian King Abdullah II, Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan were among the leaders who used their COP28 speeches to draw attention to the war.

    “This year’s COP must recognize even more than ever that we cannot talk about climate change in isolation from the humanitarian tragedies unfolding around us,” Abdullah said. “As we speak, the Palestinian people are facing an immediate threat to their lives and wellbeing.”  

    Ramaphosa went further: “South Africa is appalled at the cruel tragedy that is underway in Gaza. The war against the innocent people of Palestine is a war crime that must be ended now. 

    But, he added, “we cannot lose momentum in the fight against climate change.”

    Asked for comment, an official from the United Arab Emirates, which is overseeing COP28, said the country had invited all parties to the conference and “are pleased with the exceptionally high level of attendance this year.” 

    The official added: “Climate change is a global issue and as the host for this significant, momentous conference, the UAE  welcomes constructive dialogue and continues to work with all international partners and stakeholders across the board to deliver impactful results for COP28.”  

    The other summit in Dubai

    In the back rooms of the conference venue, leaders were holding urgent talks on the war. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken huddled with Herzog on Thursday, according to a post on Herzog’s X account. 

    “In addition to participating in the COP, I’ll have an opportunity to meet with Arab partners to discuss the conflict in Gaza,” Blinken told reporters Wednesday while in Brussels for a NATO gathering. He didn’t offer further details.

    A senior Biden administration official told reporters Vice President Kamala Harris would also be “having discussions on the conflict between Israel and Hamas” during her trip to Dubai.

    On his X account, Herzog said he had met with “dozens” of leaders at the summit. His post featured photographs of Britain’s King Charles III, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, India’s Narendra Modi and Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He also posted about meetings with Blinken and UAE leader Mohamed bin Zayed.

    Erdoğan met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at COP28 to discuss the war in Gaza, according to a statement by the Turkish communications directorate that made no mention of climate action. 

    U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made no secret of the fact that he intended to use some of his brief visit to Dubai to talk about regional security.

    U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made no secret of the fact that he intended to use some of his brief visit to Dubai to talk about regional security | Sean Gallup/Getty Images

    “I’ll be speaking to lots of leaders … not just [about] climate change, but also the situation in the Middle East,” he told reporters on his flight out of the U.K. Thursday night.

    The reignited Israel-Hamas conflict came to dominate his time at the summit. Meetings with other leaders were arranged with regional tensions in mind — not climate. Sunak met Israel’s Herzog and Jordan’s Abdullah, as well as Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al Sisi and the emir of Qatar.  

    “Given the events of this morning in Israel and Gaza, the prime minister has spent most of his bilateral meetings discussing that situation,” Sunak’s spokesperson told reporters in Dubai.

    The meetings focused on “what more we can do both to support the innocent civilians in Gaza, to de-escalate tensions, to get more hostages out and more aid in,” the spokesperson said.

    Even the U.K.’s ostensibly nonpolitical head of state, King Charles III — in Dubai to give an opening address to world leaders — was deployed to aid the diplomatic effort. Buckingham Palace said the king would “have the opportunity to meet regional leaders to support the U.K.’s efforts to promote peace in the region.”

    Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron was planning to meet various leaders on the security situation and then fly on for talks in Qatar, according to an Elysée Palace official. 

    Meanwhile, three of Europe’s leaders who have been the strongest backers of the Palestinians — Irish leader Leo Varadkar, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez — held talks on the fringes of COP on Friday morning.

    Earlier on Friday, Israel withdrew its ambassador to Spain, blasting what it called Sánchez’s “shameful remarks” on the situation.

    Brazil’s Lula, whose country will host a major COP conference in 2025, lamented that just as more joint action is needed to prevent climate catastrophe, war and violence were cleaving the world apart.  

    “We are facing what may be the greatest challenge that humanity has faced till now,” he said. “Instead of uniting forces, the world is going to wars. It feeds divisions and deepens poverty and inequalities.”

    Zia Weise, Suzanne Lynch and Charlie Cooper reported from Dubai. Karl Mathiesen reported from London.

    Clea Calcutt contributed reporting from Paris. Nahal Toosi contributed reporting from Washington, D.C. 

    [ad_2]

    Source link