Time (November 15)
“This has been one of the darkest weeks in the Hong Kong protest movement…. With the ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Trump, Brexit paralysis continuing in Britain, and turmoil in the Middle East, the attritional protests in Hong Kong could easily end up neglected and forgotten. But now more than ever, Hongkongers need our solidarity.”
Tags: Brexit, Hong Kong, Impeachment, Middle East, Neglected, Protest movement, Solidarity, Trump, Turmoil, UK
OilPrice.com (October 9)
“Now that Brent has lost more than $13 since its mid-September spike many are saying that Middle East risk is underpriced. We’re taking a different view…. Washington and Beijing still pose more of a threat to oil prices than Tehran and Riyadh.”
Tags: Beijing, Brent, China, Middle East, Oil prices, Risk, Riyadh, Spike, Tehran, Threat, U.S., Underpriced, Washington
Reuters (September 16)
“The last thing the slowing world economy needs is a big and unexpected disruption in oil output.” The drone attacks “took out roughly half of Saudi Arabia’s crude output appear to fit that bill. But even fragile global growth can probably withstand this first cut.” However, if “sustained disruptions to Middle Eastern oil supply–or anything that heightens the risk of them–will buoy crude. That will deliver the deepest cut to growth.”
Tags: Crude, Crude output, Disruption, Drone attacks, Economy, Fragile, Growth, Middle East, Oil, Output, Risk, Saudi Arabia, Supply, Unexpected
Washington Post (October 14)
Trump’s reckless Middle East “ambitions have been revealed as the misguided fantasies they always were. The disappearance and alleged murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul has exposed the real return on Trump’s gambits: a string of reckless acts by the Saudis and Israelis that have made the region more rather than less unstable.” Both Israel and Saudi Arabia “have exploited Trump’s indulgence to the hilt, taking actions they never would have dared under Obama or any other previous president.”
Tags: Ambitions, Consulate, Indulgence, Israelis, Istanbul, Journalist, Khashoggi, Middle East, Obama, Reckless, Saudi Arabia, Trump
CNN (May 15)
“The dream of ‘peace in our time’ in the Middle East died on Monday.”
Tags: Died, Dream, Middle East, Peace
The Guardian (May 13)
“The American president has thrown into confusion old alliances and imperilled Middle Eastern peace.” His “stark rejection of the multilateral 2015 nuclear deal with Iran poses complex and momentous challenges for Europe, and the UK in particular. This reckless US action upsets the geopolitical furniture in troubling ways. The European democracies now find themselves at odds with their principal ally on an issue of fundamental importance to their security and to peace in the Middle East. By insisting they will uphold the Iran deal… European countries have embarked on a collision course with Washington.”
Tags: Alliances, Ally, Collision course, Confusion, Europe, Iran, Middle East, Nuclear deal, Peace, Reckless, Rejection, U.S., UK
Reuters (March 27)
Oil prices are holding firm, “supported by concerns that tensions in the Middle East could lead to supply disruptions, although further rises expected in U.S. crude output loomed over markets.”
Tags: Crude, Firm, Middle East, Oil, Output, Prices, Supply disruptions, Tensions, U.S.
The Week (January 19)
Donald Trump’s “posturing about a new day in the Middle East was just an elaborate con, like most everything else that came out of Trump’s mouth during this campaign. Team Trump is about to make an already troubled region so much worse.”
Washington Post (January 5)
“Saudi Arabia is a frightened monarchy.” That is both the root of the problem and the key to the solution. “What led Saudi Arabia to take these risky actions, and what U.S. policies might reduce the danger that the Middle East mess will get even worse? You can’t answer these questions without examining the Saudis’ insecurity, which has led them to make bad choices.”
Tags: Danger, Frightened, Insecurity, Middle East, Monarchy, Risky, Saudi Arabia, Solution, U.S.
Financial Times (August 11)
Fears are growing of a meltdown in the aluminum market as Chinese output soars and, much like the oil market, supply outstrips demand. “China now accounts for more than half of global supply, up from 18 per cent in 2003 thanks to cheap power and the world’s most efficiently built smelters. Established producers from North America to Russia and the Middle East—facing the lowest prices since the financial crisis, reduced margins and profits—are anxious but do not want to cut capacity for fear of losing market share.”
Tags: Aluminum, Capacity, China, Fears, Margins, Market share, Meltdown, Middle East, North America, Oil, Output, Profits, Russia, Smelters
