Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Alastair Sloan
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Saudi regime continues to oppress women
Back in 2002, more than a dozen Saudi schoolgirls, along with foreign nationals, died in a school fire in Jeddah. The girls were all pupils at a local high school, which was later criticised for overcrowding, poor quality construction and poor fire drills. But the blaze made headlines for another…
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Is Saudi Arabia losing the battle to combat substance abuse?
There’s a story in the medical journal Emergency Physicians International, in which a Saudi doctor finds a male patient convulsing on the floor of his ward, unable to talk. Suspecting the young man may be showing early signs of a heart attack, he bundles him into a treatment room. A…
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Gulf states among world’s largest arms importers
New data released by the Stockhold International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), an authoritative research body covering the global arms trade, shows how UAE and Saudi Arabia are currently the 4th and 5th largest importers of arms in the world, with further increases in arms importing by their fellow Gulf Co-operation…
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GCC divided over Egypt’s aborted democracy
A row has erupted in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain dramatically withdrawing their envoys from Qatar on Wednesday. The three states accuse Doha of breaching a GCC concord first agreed in November, which guaranteed that member states would not interfere…
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Saudi Arabia’s housing predicament
The housing crisis in Saudi Arabia is multi-faceted, deep-rooted and difficult to solve completely: but the government response has been limp at best, at times even exacerbating the problem. Just 30% of Saudi Arabians own their home. The international average is 70%. Part of the problem is low penetration of…
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UAE investments in Serbia promise much, but can they deliver?
In October last year, the United Arab Emirates stepped in to bail-out the debt-ridden Serbian economy. The deal promised billions in loans and investments, averting a looming debt crisis and promising revitalisation of the agriculture, aerospace and construction industries. Although some high profile partnerships have now come good, scepticism still…
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Food security is high on the agenda for GCC countries
Food security is high on the agenda for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) this year, with member states convening next month to discuss how a region which imports between 80 per cent and 90 per cent of its nutritional assets can avoid future shortages. This is not a new problem;…
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Gulf States penalise Qatar for ‘support’ of Muslim Brotherhood
After a brief spat between Qatar and UAE over a provocative sermon, Foreign Ministers across the GCC have been quick to assure each other, and the public, that relations between the Gulf States are good. But as diplomatic dressings are hurriedly applied, initial, hastier reactions showed how ostracised Qatar has…
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Oman leads opposition to Gulf political union
While the GCC seemed shocked when Oman threatened to pull out of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), if any union went ahead, the announcement should have come as no surprise. For member states, many of whom secretly oppose a union, it will have been a relief that Oman spoke out,…
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Russia set to step into the Gulf as Washington looks to Iran
Russia is keen to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the Iranian nuclear deal, as Gulf states become open to working with new international partners. However, it’s unclear the extent to which the Russians can build positive links with the conservatives in the Gulf, although Putin is keen to court…