The diplomatic crisis is deepening between Arab League and Lebanon over controversial statements by a Lebanese minister. The rift is escalating and the latest Gulf nation to announce stringent decision is Bahrain. On Tuesday, the Kingdom of Bahrain has urged its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country immediately. Bahraini Foreign Minister Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani has urged all citizens in Lebanon to immediately evacuate “due to the tense situation there, which requires caution”. The Bahrain citizens and residents have also been advised against travelling to Lebanon ‘permanently’ to avoid exposure to any risk.

https://knowafrika.com/growing-rift-between-arab-league-and-lebanon-over-yemen-row-now-bahrain-asks-its-citizens-in-lebanon-to-leave/

ANDREAS KRIEG Divided Gulf The Anatomy of a Crisis PALGRAVE 2019

May 13, 2019 James M. Dorsey

Andreas Krieg’s edited volume, Divided Gulf: The Anatomy of a Crisis (Palgrave, 2019), brings together a group of prominent Gulf scholars to discuss the Gulf crisis that pits a Saudi-United Arab Emirates-led alliance against Qatar. The alliance’s economic and diplomatic boycott of Qatar since 2017 has implications that go far beyond the regional dispute. The book highlights the fact that strategies of the opposed parties are to a significant extent shaped by the evolution of information and cyber warfare. It also highlights the rise of nationalism in Gulf states that fundamentally changes the role of tribes and the nature of the Gulf state in the 21st century. The book argues that at the core of the Gulf struggle are fundamentally different visions of Saudi Arabia and the UAE on the one hand and Qatar on the other on how to ensure regime survival in an era of social and economic change in which autocratic governments increasingly have to efficiently deliver public goods and services. It projects the Gulf crisis as one more intractable Middle Eastern problem in which countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia see ensuring their survival in terms of security. In doing so, the book makes a significant contribution to the literature on a region that is key to global developments and increasingly plays a role in shaping a new world order. To listen to the full podcast, click here

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute.

Economic reform in the Gulf: Who benefits, really? India James M Dorsey Mar 29, 2019 15:54:04 IST FIRSTPOST PRINT EDITION

A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and Tumblr

For Gulf leaders, long-overdue economic reforms were never going to be easy. Leaders like the crown princes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Salman and Mohammed bin Zayed, quickly discovered that copying China’s model of economic growth while tightening political control was easier said than done. They realised that rewriting social contracts funded by oil wealth was more difficult because Gulf Arabs had far more to lose than the average Chinese. The Gulf states’ social contracts had worked in ways China’s welfare programmes had not. The Gulf’s rentier state’s bargain—surrender of political and social rights for cradle-to-grave welfare—had produced a win-win situation for the longest time.

File image of Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. AP Moreover, Gulf leaders, struggling with mounting criticism of the Saudi-UAE-led war in Yemen and the fall-out of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, also lacked the political and economic clout that allowed China to largely silence or marginalise critics of its crackdown on Turkic Muslims in the troubled northwestern province of Xinjiang. The absence of a functioning welfare-based social contract in China allowed the government to powereconomic growth, lift millions out of poverty, and provide public goods without forcing ordinary citizens to suffer pain. As a result, China was able to push through with economic reforms without having to worry that reduced welfare benefits would spark a public backlash and potentially threaten the regime. Three years into Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 blueprint for diversification of the economy, Saudi businesses and consumers complain that they are feeling the pinch of utility price hikes and a recently introduced five per cent value-added tax with little confidence that the government will stay the course to ensure promised long-term benefit. The government’s commitment to cutting costs has been further called into question by annual handouts worth billions of dollars since the announcement of the reforms and unilateral rewriting of the social contract to cushion the impact of rising costs and quash criticism. In contrast to China, investment in the Gulf, whether it is domestic or foreign, comes from financial, technology and other services sector, the arms industry or governments. It is focused on services, infrastructure or enhancing the state’s capacities rather than on manufacturing, industrial development and the nurturing of private sector. With the exception of national oil companies, some state-run airlines and petrochemical companies, the bulk of Gulf investment is portfolios managed by sovereign wealth funds, trophies or investment designed to enhance a country’s prestige and soft power. By contrast, Asian economies such as China and India have used investment to fight poverty, foster a substantial middle class, and create an industrial base. To be sure, with small populations, Gulf states are more likely to ensure sustainability in services and oil and gas derivatives rather than in manufacturing and industry. China’s $1 trillion Belt and Road initiative may be the Asian exception that would come closest to some of the Gulf’s soft-power investments. Yet, the BRI, designed to alleviate domestic overcapacity by state-owned firms that are not beholden to shareholders’ short-term demands and/or geo-political gain, contributes to China’s domestic growth. Asian nations have been able to manage investors’ expectations in an environment of relative political stability. By contrast, Saudi Arabia damaged confidence in its ability to diversify its oil-based economy when after repeated delays it suspended plans to list five per cent of its national oil company, Saudi Arabian Oil Company, or Aramco, in what would have been the world’s largest initial public offering. To be sure, China is no less autocratic than the Gulf states, while Hindu nationalism in India fits a global trend towards civilisationalism, populism and illiberal democracy. What differentiates much of Asia from the Gulf and accounts for its economic success are policies that ensure a relatively stable environment. These policies are focused on social and economic enhancement rather than primarily on regime survival. That may be Asia’s lesson for Gulf rulers. (James M Dorsey is a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture)

Tuesday Special Requested Jobs Epaper Today

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Hey guys,

Today, i want to share something i am working in Gulf Agency Co. Ltd.

I have chosen the following three HSSE procedures to describe:

· Personal Hygiene & Cleanliness. Every working day cleaners from the cleaning company clean up our entire office and all used tableware go to the dishwasher at the end of the day. One of the two available freezers are clean and tidy, but the other one is out of use. In the toilet and in the kitchen there is the possibility to wash your hands with soap. In the office, kitchen and toilets there are enough garbage and paper bins available. We have the meeting room below for lunch, but most people have lunch at their desk. This is not in a dedicated area as HSSE states. If you don't feel well, it is better to stay at home instead of going to the office and spread the illness.

I think hygiene in the kitchen can be better. The same for having lunch at your own desk, in my opinion you have to lunch in a lunch room with colleagues. This is also good to get to know your colleagues and discuss work matters.

· Office Ergonomics. We have regular desks at the office, height can be adjusted as per your requirement. This is the same for the office chair, this is also adjustable in height including the elbow rest. The temperature can be controlled from various locations in the office.

The desk and chairs are good, but about the temperature is a point of discussion. I think it is freezing sometimes, but other people disagree. Further, all equipment is good and can be adjusted as you like so this is rather good.

· Office Safety. At our office location all electrical wires are bend together and sometimes covered so you can not trip. Further we all have drawers for all your office equipment, so at the end of the day everything can be stored. All stairs are equipped with anti-slip dots and handrails.

Our office is well organized, but there are also some things to improve. Like piles of papers on some desks and computers which are not in use.