West Asia News and Discussions

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vinod
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by vinod »

Anyone following Lebanon. It seems they are on precipice. It will have a big impact across the area.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by rsingh »

Lebanon is practically finished. Two power stations are closed. Administration is short of paper to print the orders. It was Paris of Orient. It was preferred destination for rich Arabs.....now for every Arab. More Lebanese live out side of Lebanon then inside. There was enough easy money. En plus the constant victim card that was played very well. I was disappointed seeing coolers and ACs for outside in open space. They had too much easy money. There are many more of such places that are not sustainable in medium term. JMT.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Cyrano »

Some Lebanese want France to take over their country, they were openly asking Macron when he visited shortly after the huge explosion that shook Beirut few months ago. Thats the extent of state failure there. Won't happen though.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by rsingh »

Yes. But basically the question is.......such small artificial countries are pain in ass for everybody. These countries are not sustainable even in medium terms. Luxemburg is constant headach for Belgians, French and Germany. They have lower excise duty on Tobacco and Fuel. People residing near frontier are best client for them. I think UNO has to modify conditions to be recognized as separate country. It has to be sustainable in medium term without being parasite on the neighbors
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Ambar »

vinod wrote:Anyone following Lebanon. It seems they are on precipice. It will have a big impact across the area.
They've been on the precipice for much of their existence and will continue to remain on the precipice even in future. Lebanon is at an intersection of geography, civilizations and religions so it will always be unstable. Although the current situation is dire it is no different than what many latin american countries have periodically gone through. Also, an average Lebanese is pretty well off mostly because of their habit to emigrate, pretty much every family has one or two individuals who emigrate every generation to keep the money flowing in. They will either cut a sweetheart deal with IMF/WB to restructure their loans after already having defaulted and start all over again.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Rony »

Russian Middle East Specialist : Powerful Bloc Comprising Turkey, Pakistan And Azerbaijan Set To Target Iran, India And Russia

On Iran-Armenia ties and its effect on Iran's underbelly - the Turkic Azeris in Iran who are anywhere between 16-22% of Iran's population.
The thing is that the Iranians were supplying oil products and construction materials to Stepanakert / Khankendi (the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh). Azerbaijan has blocked their trading routes, while two Iranian drivers have been detained. This caused a diplomatic scandal. The Iranians responded by mobilizing troops across the Araz River, near the border with Azerbaijan under the pretext of military exercises.

In the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict Turkey sides with Azerbaijan, while Iran, as a counterweight, supports Armenia. As the Iranians were deploying their troops and heavy equipment on Azerbaijan's borders, [joint] military exercises of Baku's allies Turkey and Pakistan were held on Azerbaijani territory along with the country's military.

However, now the Azerbaijani-Iranian population, which resides on the Iranian bank of the Araz River may become involved in this confrontation. The point is that during the 2020 war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Iranian Azeris were quite active in supporting Azerbaijan's offensive. Inter alia, they prevented Russian military equipment, which was transported via Iranian trailers, from entering into Armenia. Such events came as surprise to all the parties in the region, including Armenia, Russia and the Iranian leadership, and even prompted several Iranian officials to make pro-Azerbaijani statements.

Iran's stance on Azerbaijan as well as the support that Tehran provides to Yerevan are of serious concern to Iranian Azerbaijanis. Expressing their protest through social media, the southern Azeris submitted an ultimatum to Tehran's authorities that expires September 27 (which is the first anniversary of the beginning Second Karabakh War). They demand a change in Iran's policy towards Azerbaijan. Reportedly, if this does not happen, Azeris, who constitute a significant part of Iran's population will rise up against the authorities, and initiate mass protest actions. Azerbaijani activists residing in Iran claim their constant readiness for protests.

Sayman Aruz, head of the South Literature Department of the Azerbaijan Writers' Union, said, "There are our ancestral lands on the territory of Iran and our people's claim to these lands as a moral historical birthright originating is obvious. Forty-five million of our compatriots are living in Iran, we share the same history, language, culture... It would be naive to believe that Iran will makes its peace with this and stand side by side with Azerbaijan as a true friend. Iranian-Azerbaijani friendship can never be lasting in these circumstances."

Perhaps the author of the aforementioned quotation exaggerates the number of Azeris residing in 83 million-strong Iran (there are claims that there are 20-30 million Azeris in Iran). Nevertheless, considering the Azerbaijani population in Iran one can hardly call them a "national minority." Furthermore, there are 10-12 million Kurds, 4 million Arabs, 2 million Baluchis, etc., in the Islamic Republic. National minorities constitute about half of Iran's population.

The socio-economic and socio-political situation in Iran remains precarious after the summer protests and strikes. President Ebrahim Raisi, who came to office on 3 August 2021, was not actually elected but appointed via a fake election, his legitimacy is in doubt.

Meanwhile, at least half of the country's population lives below the poverty line. When this was compounded by water and electricity shortages due to poor infrastructure, protests erupted in Iran's Khuzestan, and the government began shooting the demonstrators. Anti-regime protests rippled through Ahvaz (situated in the southwest) to Azerbaijani-populated Tabriz in the north. Tehran also witnessed protests. These were followed by a strike of a hundred thousand oil industry workers, who submitted economic demands and formed workers' councils to organize the struggle. Although these protests were suppressed, there are now mass teachers' strikes and other social protests in Iran.

If one adds in national issues (the absence or substandard of local language instruction in the schools (aside from Persian and Arabic), lack of local national autonomy, emerging Persian nationalism, and underfunding of some national regions), it becomes obvious how precarious the Iranian regime's position is. According to studies by American sociologists, protests (both politically and socially motivated) are occurring in the most densely populated areas, with the highest voting abstention rate. Meanwhile, election turnout is falling, and less than half of Iranians cast their votes during the last elections. For all these reasons, the Iranian leadership will have to be cautious about the protest potential of the country's Azeri population.
On Turkey-Pakistan-Azerbaijan block
A powerful military-political and economic bloc, Turkey-Pakistan-Qatar-Azerbaijan, is taking shape now. This bloc is aimed against Iran, India, Russia. It has interests in Afghanistan, the Central Asian countries and the Middle East. The relations between the bloc member-states are complicated. Azerbaijan is uninterested in clashing with India. Additionally, Ankara has multi-billion-dollar trade contracts with New Delhi. The blocs are not immutable structures with unified interests. Nevertheless, as Turkey intensifies relations with Pakistan, it cannot but understand that this complicates its relations with India. Pakistan has long been an active supporter of Azerbaijan. So far this support has been rather verbal, but today Islamabad is drawing closer to Ankara. The Pakistanis are engaged in joint maneuvers with the Turkish and Azerbaijani military. For its part, Turkey is making statements in support of Kashmiri Muslims and turns to Pakistan when help and mediation is required in the country's contacts with the Taliban. Turkey strives to gain a foothold in Afghanistan, and use it to increase its influence in Central Asia. This is a mutually beneficial exchange.
Last edited by Rony on 03 Oct 2021 19:52, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Rony »

Another example of Turkey-Qatar-Muslim Brotherhood-Pakistan block in action against India

Anti-India campaign on Twitter promoted by journalists, media houses and influencers linked to Muslim Brotherhood, says report by DisinfoLab
Even though the campaign was targeting India, the report states it also targeted Saudi Arabia and UAE, two middle eastern countries with close ties with India.

The report by DisinfoLab states that most of the prominent handles promoting this campaign were related to the Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwān al-Muslimūn). Some of the Muslim Brotherhood ‘influencers’ who led this psy-war against India include:

Mohamed Al Sagheer, Member of Board of Trustees of International Union of Muslim Scholars, an organization of Muslim Islamic theologians and known as the “supreme authority of the Muslim Brotherhood.” Earlier he had appeared on Al Jazeera calling for the boycott of French products.

Sami Kamal El Din, Egyptian Journalist based in Istanbul, who has been listed as a terrorist twice by the Egyptian govt, and an expert in propaganda. He had impersonated an Egyptian intelligence official to call several Egyptian celebrities asking them to support the US move to US mission in Israel to Jerusalem, the video of which was ‘leaked’ and the story was published in New York Times. His YouTune channel was deleted on request of Egypt for spreading fake news.

Ahmad Muaffaq Zeidan, journalist who mainly covers Taliban and Al Qaeda. He has put on watch list by National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States for suspected links with Al-Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood.

Yasser Abu Hilalah, former Managing Director of Al Jazeera Arabic News, who is known to have ties with the officials of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and even shared platforms with them. Disinfolab says that Hilalah amplified the campaign targeting India and had retweeted several media articles which had highlighted the campaign.

Omar Abdulaziz, activist who is sympathizer of several terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, especially Daesh (ISIS).
The most prominent media house that published reports on the campaign, almost promoting them, was Al Jazeera. All the major portals of the media house promoted the campaign by tweeting from its various handles like Al Jazeera Global, Arabic, Kuwait, Turkey, Egypt etc.

Other media houses that promoted the anti-India campaign included the Turkish state-owned news channel TRT World. In fact, TRT World had launched a promotion of the news article through TRT Arabia, which ran a Facebook Ad. This media house has a history of running anti-India fake news.

Some other media houses which actively pushed the campaign included Rassd News Network (RNN) from Egypt, Arabi21 from Egypt funded by Qatar, Al-Araby News from UK funded by Qatar, US-based Arab-American newspaper Watan Serb etc.
Not just users from middle eastern countries, users from Pakistan were also not behind in spreading fake news in the campaign. They were at the forefront in sharing a video of a Muslim family attacked by Muslims in India to claim that the Muslim family was beaten by Hindus.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Ambar »

Surprised no mention of today's attack on the Abu Dhabi international airport which killed 3 people including 2 Indian nationals and severely wounded 6 others. While we have routinely heard about terror attacks on Saudi's critical infrastructure including oil refineries and even the airport, this is the first time Iran backed houthis have hit UAE. The entire UAE economy depends on its portrayal as a "21st century, modern islamic state" with a emphasis on trade and transit hub. The Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports are nerve centers of UAE's economy, and also two of the busiest transit hubs for global aviation. Today's attack was similar to the attacks on KSA where the houthis used armed drones to crash into targets. Looks like this time they aimed at the oil and fuel storage facilities at the airport .

This is also a significant security nightmare for militaries and security agencies around the world and especially countries like India that borders jihadi factories like Pakistan and Bangladesh, you no longer have to push armed terrorists but can just rely on cheap armed drones to hit targets with precision.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wi ... e-82304054
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by chanakyaa »

On a lighter note, I'm posting travelogues of an Indian YouTuber who recently visited largest cities in Syria. **These are his personal travel videos, and not from any News organization** 10 years later life is Syria is returning to normal but the level of destruction, as shown from a ordinary citizen's pov, is rarely shown by the news organizations.

Adminullah can remove it if it is too GD-type and not serious enough for the dhaaga...

(Mostly in Hindi with some Hinglish)



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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Ambar »

Indian envoy to Palestine, Mukul Arya, found dead in the Indian Embassy in Ramallah under mysterious circumstances, he was just 35 yrs of age. Not sure why we even have an ambassador for a place like Palestine when whatever it is they do there can easily be subsumed by our embassy in Israel.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Pratyush »

The embassy is a result of the Oslo accords. West bank is the home to the capital of Palestinian authority.

That's why.

Gaza should have been under a unified Palestinian authority. But Hamas won the election in the late 2000s. In Gaza. And as is common to "democrats" of the region.

Promptly rounded up the members of the erstwhile while Palestinian authority and shot them down like dogs. Since then they have fought Israel several times.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by ldev »

Bashar Al Assad on his first regional visit after a long time. Visiting the UAE today and received by Mohammad bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. Quite the move after being on opposite sides of the Syrian civil war. The UAE appears to be charting it's own course with a rapprochement with both Israel and Syria. And the UAE Foreign Minister recently visited Moscow. With the Biden Administration pushing for a resumption of the Iran nuclear deal and Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE bitterly opposed to that deal, what are the chances that the 3 countries have cut a deal to attack Iran's nuclear facilities and have reached an agreement with Russia and Syria to stay out of it? Intriguing. Events are moving fast in Europe and now in the Middle East as well.

Image

Image
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Cyrano »

Looks like a Star Wars scene with storm troopers from Tatooine
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Rudradev »

I was thinking the same thing, except they looked like Jedis to me. No visible armament except a dagger. Headgear that restricts field of view. Long robes with long sleeves that would make quick, precise reaction difficult (let alone running or fighting). Are these fellows supposed to be providing security? Even ceremonial guardsmen in most countries are capable of doing the needful in an emergency, but it's hard to imagine that with these guys.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Cyrano »

They are all carrying a jambiya tucked into their cummerbunds. Ideal weapon for (back) stabbing !
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Ambar »

Everyone is double masked except for the 2 most important guys !

Whatever it is, the world has not looked this interesting since 1945 ! Every corner of the world seems to be in turmoil or in some form of a major realignment. MBS recently made a rare conciliatory statement on how Iran and KSA need to learn to coexist, and now Iran's staunchest ally in the middle east, Bashar Al-Assad, is in UAE, the same UAE which just years ago was funding the obliteration of Syria and Yemen !

It looks like more and more countries are realizing that the west in general and US in particular play one nation against another to keep the pot boiling and further their agenda. More and more nations will try to chart an independent course when it comes to trade, politics and diplomacy . While how far the Gulf countries, India, China, Russia etc. succeed in getting away from the shackles of US in the long run is yet to be soon, the covid pandemic may well mark the beginning of the end of 40 yrs of globalization and over 500 yrs of west's total control over world affairs.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by rsingh »

India started training for UAE diplomats in 2018. It seems first batch is out. Diplomacy is similar to our babus.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by kit »

Cyrano wrote:Looks like a Star Wars scene with storm troopers from Tatooine
was going to say something along the same lines .. surreal :mrgreen:
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by kit »

rsingh wrote:India started training for UAE diplomats in 2018. It seems first batch is out. Diplomacy is similar to our babus.
had a chance to interact with a few before covid times., quite polished and articulate !., UAE should be rightly proud of them
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by IndraD »

Yemen rebel attack on Saudi oil plant sets off huge fire by F1 track https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/2 ... f1-track-1
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Cyrano »

Saudi cold shoulders Bidenwa and hints at trading oil in yuan and with days this impressive attack on a huge oil depot in Jeddah. Anyone thinks these two are unrelated ?
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by IndraD »

https://twitter.com/alpha_defense/statu ... 8uH7YKa3dQ

Understand this..
♤ Russia said EU should but oil in Ruble
♤ EU says Saudi must increase the production.
♤ Russia buzzes Iran
♤ Iran instructs Houthis and boom in Saudi..

EU Okie..
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Ambar »

The F1 jamboree is in Jeddah this weekend, what better advertisement for your cause than hitting a oil refinery when thousands of video cameras and millions global tv audience are watching an event in the city. Whatever be the reason the houthis are getting more and more accurate in their attacks, and this attack couldn't have come at a worst time (or the most opportune time if you are a member of OPEC) when oil is already trading close to $120/barrel. After the 3 month election pause, the petrol and diesel prices have been revised upwards 4 times in 4 consecutive days in India now. Thanks to the west's shortsighted sanctions on Russia, a world already grappling with high food inflation will soon go through even higher food and energy inflation. I predict we are about to enter a very chaotic period in world's history as more and more people will hit the streets against the governments protesting cost of living.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by IndraD »


Israeli govt headed for collapse
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by ricky_v »

https://www.thenationalnews.com/weekend ... et-player/
Unlike those Mena nations struggling to secure cargoes of wheat and other staples, the UAE is in a better position, even though it currently imports 80 to 90 per cent of its food, thanks to its forward-looking food strategy during the past several years.

Behind the UAE's success in developing a global-scale food production and distribution capacity is the country's National Food Strategy 2051, first announced in November 2018 by Minister for Climate Change and Environment Mariam Almheiri. The plan has informed the UAE's acquisition of agricultural and food production assets from South America to South Asia.
To attain global scale, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) entered into a joint venture with Dutch fertiliser producer OCI NV, merging their fertiliser operations to form a new global fertiliser giant Fertiglobe.

In October 2021, Fertiglobe raised $795 million in the third-largest IPO on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and became the largest export-focused nitrogen fertiliser platform in the world

In the first six months of 2021, Fertiglobe’s largest customers, in order, were the US (16 per cent), Australia (12 per cent), India (10 per cent), Spain (9 per cent) and Ethiopia (6 per cent).
Above the ground, the Abu Dhabi-based holding company ADQ is playing the primary role in advancing the UAE's national food strategy. The workhorse of ADQ's food production subsidiaries is the global agribusiness firm Al Dahra, which has acquired about 300,000 acres of productive agricultural land across Romania, Serbia, Spain, Morocco, Egypt, Namibia and the US, along with additional agricultural assets in South Africa, India, Pakistan, China and Australia. Al Dahra is a key producer of animal feed, cereal grains for human consumption, fruits and vegetables and dairy products.
In a major breakthrough to expand the UAE's presence as a power player in global food markets, ADQ acquired in September 2021 a 45 per cent share in the global food commodity trading giant Louis Dreyfus, whose 2020 net sales totalled $46.9 billion. ADQ then further expanded its global footprint in 2022 by acquiring a majority stake in Unifrutti, the vertically integrated fruit company whose production operations in Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Spain, Italy, South Africa and the Philippines produce 560,000 tonnes of fresh fruit that the company sells in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
ADQ has also invested $2bn in the Abu Dhabi-based retailing conglomerate Lulu Group, operating in 22 countries and known in the Gulf and Asia for its hypermarkets. Lulu, primarily managed by Indian emigres from Kerala, has been part of the effort to create a massive, $7bn India-UAE “food corridor” to further ensure the food security of the Emirates and other Middle Eastern countries. Lulu along with major Emirati participants DP World, Emaar Group, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Sharaf Group are establishing a dedicated logistics infrastructure that connects India’s farms and farmers through the entire value chain to the UAE’s ports and markets. With Mena nations now looking to India as one of the few suppliers that can fill their wheat shortfalls, the India-UAE food corridor project has proven itself prescient.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Aditya_V »

Wonder if this is in any way going to Dubai for Discussion and got some promise from Lulu group. A smarter plan would be to operate the Sterlite copper plant.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by ldev »

As though External Affairs Minister Jaishankar did not have enough on his plate, now he has to firefight this.

Saudi Joins Gulf Fury Over Prophet Remarks, Welcomes BJP Action: 10 Points

India: Diplomatic storm over BJP staff insult of Prophet Muhammad
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Aditya_V »

Qatar and Kuwait are leading this crusade against India. They will overplay thier hand before quieting down
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by kit »

Aditya_V wrote:Qatar and Kuwait are leading this crusade against India. They will overplay thier hand before quieting down
Indeed ., trying to beat one of your biggest customers is not good for the general health :roll:
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Aditya_V »

Qatar and Kuwait are upset India buying from Saudi and Iraq, trade with UAE and have deep ties to Oman. Iran reaction shows that there domestic situation is bad and they need a diversion.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Ambar »

Wonder if our old friend Natwar Singh still has his Iraqi contacts. Iraq, Libya, Oman, Russia, Nigeria, Algeria, Sudan, Iran and Latin America is where India needs to look at to diversify its energy supplies, unfortunately it would also mean much high transport and refining costs. I am not a fan of EVs but boy i want to see them everywhere in India soon !
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by ramana »

Should slow down food deliveries to Qatar to ensure quality deliveries.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Vadivel »

How is Irans GDP adjusted with PPP is $1.5 trillion!

As IRNA reported on Sunday, the mentioned ranking has been based on the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita adjusted by purchasing power parity (PPP) in 2021.

According to the international organization, the value of Iran's GDP per capita when adjusted by PPP was $1.436 trillion in 2021.

Based on the mentioned data, despite being subjected to harsh sanctions over the past few years Iran's economy is reported to be larger than 173 countries in the mentioned year.

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/472356 ... -sanctions
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Rudradev »

Vadivel wrote:Iran's GDP per capita when adjusted by PPP was $1.436 trillion in 2021.
Meaning every Iranian is a trillionaire in USD??? :shock: :D
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Dilbu »

xposting as this might be relevant for this thread also.
India, Israel, US, UAE are I2U2, summit next month
US President Joe Biden will host a virtual summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during his visit to West Asia from July 13 to 16.

A senior US administration official told reporters in a background call Tuesday that the new grouping will be called “I2U2” — “I” for India and Israel and “U” for the US and UAE.
The India-Israel-US-UAE grouping, which met for the first time under a new framework in October 2021, dealt with issues concerning maritime security, infrastructure, digital infrastructure and transport. At that time, Ahmed Albanna, Ambassador of UAE to India, had referred to the new grouping as the ‘West Asian Quad’.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by ramana »

Interesting grouping.
Israel is in the Mediterranean Sea and how does a land mass have a Quad?
So conceptual weakness.

Looks like another Biden legacy group.

The big two are India and US.
And I2U2 doesn't have KSA the big cheese of West Asia.
And the US has only a military hammer and wants to use this to nail Iran.
So it won't work.

The first meeting was about infrastructure: roads, digital, and transport.
Most likely they will succeed.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by ramana »

"The US official, while briefing on Biden’s visit to Israel, Palestine and Saudi Arabia next month, said, “The visit will also focus on Israel’s increasing integration into the region, both through the Abraham Accords with UAE, Morocco and Bahrain; through deepening ties between Israel, Jordan and Egypt; and also an entirely new grouping of partners including Israel, India, UAE and the United States — what we call I2U2.

“We consider these initiatives central to our strategy of empowering partners and encouraging them to work more closely together, which will lead to a more stable region and also to Israel’s security and prosperity over the longer term. Secretary Blinken, just last month in the Negev in southern Israel, met with counterparts from Abraham Accord partners UAE, Bahrain and Morocco, together with Jordan and Egypt, highlighting these deepening regional partnerships,” the official said."

Its not a WA QUAD.
Its about implementing the Abraham accords.
Funny it needs Yevil Yindoos to support it.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by ramana »

Wheat: The Grain Of Shared Interests

If one looks at the chart of region wise export of APEDA products, one can see that the West Asia- GCC region buys almost everything edible from India. The West Asian countries not only get food grains like Rice, Maize and wheat, but they also purchase fruits, dairy products, processed vegetables, cereals, onions among other items from India. In the Financial year, 2020-21, India exported nearly 24,00,000 metric tonnes of (both basmati as well as non-basmati) rice to the region. In the same financial year, the West Asian countries availed 2,82,678 metric tonnes of wheat from India. India also supplied 50,325 metric tonnes of maize to the region. In FY 2020-21, the total value APEDA products exported to the West Asia- GCC region (only six countries are mentioned in the list- Bahrain , Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia & UAE) is Rs. 27,502.04 crores.

This information becomes more interesting in the wake of a four-month suspension in exports and re-exports of wheat and wheat flour originating from India, from UAE. This moratorium applies to any exports done from free zones in the UAE as well. This 4-month period applies for the wheat and wheat products imported into UAE from India on or after 13th May, 2022.

This is the most significant point, expressing the synchronicity of objectives between the two countries. 14th May is the day India banned the export of wheat in order to manage her own overall food security and support the needs of neighbouring and other vulnerable developing countries.

The second factor is even more interesting. The UAE suspension in exports and re-exports of wheat originating from India will not allow Indian wheat sold to the UAE from being used for any other purposes other than UAE’s domestic consumption. The Indian government has approved the export of wheat to the UAE for domestic consumption.

On the other hand, India while banning wheat exports on 14th May had stated that one reason for the sudden curb on exports was to stop Indian wheat from getting ‘hoarded’ and traded in a third country for which it was not meant to be. Some countries had taken the issue of Indian ban to the WTO, seeking a ban on all export restrictions, in the name of the World Food Programme. India also gave a befitting reply to criticism in UNSC on 19th May.

The second part of synchronicity of objectives between India and UAE is placed in data. The United Arab Emirates exported $46.7M in Wheat Flours. The main destinations of Wheat flour exports from the United Arab Emirates are Saudi Arabia ($8.01M), Yemen ($7.14M), Somalia ($5.78M), Bahrain ($5.31M), and Oman ($4.67M). The foremost supplier of wheat to the UAE is India.

Furthermore, there are strategic relations between the UAE and India and both countries have signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in February 2022.

Obviously, UAE is an important point for re-export business. Out of UAE’s total exports, the re-exported goods form more than 45% approximately. The Free Zones in UAE support the growth in the re-export market. The free customs duty for Free Zone imports makes it an attractive choice for re-export. Besides it, the Free Trade Zones allow 100% foreign ownership and the full profit repatriation as well.

Taking advantage of this facility, some countries were buying indirectly from the UAE instead of India, for obvious reasons. The ban addresses this concern as well.

The timing is further telling a tale. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Neftali Bennett and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan would attend the first-of-its-kind virtual summit of the I2U2 (I2- India-Israel, U2- US-UAE) grouping next month. The US State Department has called each of these countries as technological hubs. This virtual summit is stated to be focused on “expanding economic and political cooperation in the Middle East and Asia, including through trade, combating climate change, energy cooperation, and coordination on other vital shared interests”.
ramana
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Prasar Bharati evaluation
India : An In-Demand Partner In West Asia

one looks at the major global developments, sometimes one might feel that India is at the centre of them. India is now invited to play a central role in the formation of the I2U2 (India, Israel, US and UAE), what is being called ‘West Asian Quad’.

Formation of the I2U2

I2U2 where I2 is a reference to India and Israel, and U2 is a reference to the US and the UAE. Prima facie, US President Joe Biden is going to visit the Middle East next month and during this tour the leaders of India, Israel, the US and the UAE will hold a virtual dialogue. According to US officials, the new grouping will discuss the “food security crisis and other areas of cooperation across hemispheres where the UAE and Israel serve as important innovation hubs.”

A bit deeper, India and the UAE signed the FTA and CEPA on 18th February 2022, in one of the shortest negotiation procedures in recent history. Israel and the United Arab Emirates too inked the free trade agreement. This was a landmark Israel-UAE free trade deal, which was the first such agreement of Israel with any Arab country. Israel and UAE had also established diplomatic ties in 2020 after the signing of the Abraham Accords. So, the India, Israel and UAE trilateral was already in place.

On the other hand, the US-Israel-UAE trilateral was held in October 2021. The US-Israel-UAE trilateral meeting sought to discuss the issue of further operationalising and normalising the Abraham Accords. The US also played a crucial role in signing of the Abraham Accords.

A few days later, India joined the new minilateral, when External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Israeli counterpart held a virtual meeting with their US and UAE counterparts during Jaishankar’s official visit to Israel. One can see the foreshadowing of a new Quad with India on this occasion.

As far as the India, Israel and UAE trilateral is concerned, this grouping is basically about trade partnership, with the objective of boosting trade among their nations and trade worth $110 is estimated to be possible by 2030 between these three nations.

Since India has close ties with each member of this trilateral and the US, the first meeting of the foreign ministers of India, Israel, US, and UAE fulfilled the requirements of shaping a quad. India has her own set of strategic and geoeconomic interests, introduced to those of the Gulf states through this quad.

In any case, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) bloc is India’s single largest trading partner. The Indian market offers itself as an attractive proposition for the GCC, both as an oil consumer over the next decade, and as a general investment destination that has over 1.3 billion customers and investors alike.

India’s role in the genesis of I2U2

As aforesaid, the roots of I2U2 can be traced to October 2021 when External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had visited Israel and other Foreign Ministers had joined him virtually. The four Ministers had discussed issues surrounding trade, climate and maritime security.

More so, India has continuously maintained a remarkable geostrategic balance in dealing with all the three opposites of power in the region, namely – Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Iran. The Abraham Accords made the economic prospects by the UAE and Israel comparatively unhazardous. Simultaneously, Israel is also increasingly integrating into the region. In march 2022, Foreign Ministers of Israel, US, UAE, Bahrain and Morocco had their first ever in-person gathering in Israel.  This has further eased the situation.

Thirdly, India has made deep strategic gains in the region over the past few years. New Delhi already has unparalleled trade ties in the region and a large diaspora. Along with New Delhi’s economic weight, geopolitical importance, India’s growing military power, India is fast becoming indispensable for the region.

For the Gulf countries, India is a major oil purchaser and a major supplier of almost everything else. Beyond oil, countries like the UAE look towards India as a source of diversification and modernisation. India with its massive IT industry and a vibrant space programme can help the UAE and other GCC countries, who are looking to modernise their economies and expand into other sectors for the post oil scenario.

Similarly, Israel looks towards India as a major partner. A lot of resemblance is seen in Israel and India in terms of counter-terrorism and battling radicalism.

The US too shares an exclusive relationship with India. The Indo-US relations have many dimensions from security, economy, diplomatic and political interests.

Now, the new four-nation dialogue with India, Israel and the United Arab Emirates during President Joe Biden’s visit to the region, according to reports attributed to a White House official, will be about security and “areas of cooperation across hemispheres”. Although hints have been dropped, no official details are available of this new initiative, its goals and reach from any side so far.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

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Saudi crown prince to visit Turkey in first since Khashoggi murder
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will visit Turkey next week, the Turkish president said Friday, as Ankara and Riyadh heal a bitter rift following the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul.

"The crown prince will visit Wednesday, we will welcome him" at the presidential palace in Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters.
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