The MED This Week newsletter provides expert analysis and informed insights on the most significant developments in the MENA region, bringing together unique opinions on the topic and reliable foresight on future scenarios. Today, we turn the spotlight on the UAE, where following the death of Sheikh Khalifa, Mohammed bin Zayed was appointed as the new President.
Italy has perhaps been the swiftest country in the European Union to look southwards toward Africa in its efforts to wean itself from Russian gas.
Western nations are indeed imposing economic and political sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in late February 2022. Italy is potentially among the hardest hit as it imports about 29 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas from Moscow every year —a figure second only to Germany which accounts for over 40% of its gas demands. Replacing Russia as its main gas supplier will be no mean feat.
We all have but one planet. The danger of nuclear war, climate emergency and ecological disasters mean that maintaining peace is an imperative for the very survival of humanity. Wars destabilize not only parts of our globe - they add to the universal insecurity and undermine the possibility of addressing shared threats.
On May 15th, Lebanon's citizens will head to the polls amidst a national economic meltdown, described by the World Bank as one of the three most severe crises seen witnessed since the 1950s. Over this period, the country has faced a financial default, a pandemic, a year-long political paralysis, and one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. The stakes for these elections are high, but the casted ballots are unlikely to have a concrete impact on Lebanon’s political landscape.
As thousands of Lebanese expats queued in long lines under simmering heat to vote for change, many commentators rushed to hail the turnout of expat voting as significant, a week prior to local votes. In reality, and while a small percentage of elected MPs might change from the 2018 Parliament, the traditional political parties will retain their seats, with one potential exception: the Free Patriotic Movement – party of the sitting President Michel Aoun and his U.S. sanctioned son-in-law.
The norm since the end of the civil war in Lebanon in 1990 has been for the population to pay two bills for a day’s worth of electricity: one to Électricité du Liban (EDL) — a public utility provider — and the other to the private generator of each neighborhood. Master plans were drafted yet never executed, much like the promised reforms of the electricity sector, which never materialized. Today, Lebanon faces multiple crises and is in free fall. Amidst the meltdown, the energy sector has been the most affected, with hour-long blackouts.
As Russia’s war against Ukraine intensifies, US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, among others, have called for President Vladimir Putin to be excluded from the Group of Twenty (G20) annual meeting in Bali, to be held in November 2022.
Saudi and Kuwait ambassadors’ return to Beirut in early April marked an initial rapprochement in Gulf-Lebanese ties after a five-month long diplomatic crisis. Last October, Saudi Arabia – followed by Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – had withdrawn its ambassador after the then Information Minister, George Kordahi, criticised Riyadh-led military interventions in Yemen.
Almost two years have passed since August 4, 2020, a date permanently etched onto the hearts and minds of the Lebanese, wherever they may be. What else is there to say and which hasn’t already been said about one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, where hundreds of tons of poorly stored ammonium nitrate exploded?
Elections have always been a stress test for Hezbollah and the upcoming May 15th elections are no exception. The ongoing socio-economic crisis and widespread political disenchantment with the whole sectarian system in Lebanon will make these elections particularly challenging for Hezbollah. More specifically, this vote threatens the continued existence of the coalition that allows Hezbollah to control the parliamentary majority.
