The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has funded politically-motivated assassinations in Yemen, a BBC investigation has found, exacerbating a conflict involving the Yemeni government and warring factions which has recently returned to the international spotlight following attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Counter-terrorism training provided by American mercenaries to Emirati officers in Yemen has been...
Tag: MiddleEast
Banned Russian broadcaster boosts UAE presence in attempt to exonerate Putin
Banned broadcaster RT has ramped up its presence in the UAE and other countries neutral over Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine in a propaganda push to rehabilitate Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin-controlled news channel, formerly known as Russia Today, was banned in the UK and EU, and blocked in the US, after the February 2022 invasion. It...
Russian Media Outlet Reviews Russia’s 2023 Middle East Diplomacy: ‘Russia Has Become The Wisest Player In The Middle East’
“The UAE Has Become Russia’s Main Trading Partner In The Arab Region” “Russia’s policy in the Middle East in 2023 was particularly active. Moscow managed to improve relations with Arab countries and Iran, strengthen dialogue with Turkey and maintain normal relations with Israel. All this was the result of strict adherence to the two diplomatic...
Russia’s Iran-UAE balancing act in the Gulf islands dispute
Having repeatedly sided with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over Iran in a long-standing dispute regarding three Gulf islands, Moscow appears to be risking its ties with Tehran. The Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa islands in the Strait of Hormuz were taken over by Iran in 1971 after British forces withdrew from the UAE following the country’s...
United Arab Emirates acknowledges mass trial of prisoners previously reported during COP28
The United Arab Emirates on Saturday acknowledged it is conducting a mass trial of 84 inmates previously reported by dissidents as it hosted the United Nations COP28 climate talks last month. The trial likely includes a prominent activist lauded by rights group abroad. The state-run WAM news agency quoted the country’s attorney general, Hamad al-Shamsi, as saying...
Toxic gas putting millions at risk in Middle East, BBC finds
Toxic pollutants released during gas flaring are endangering millions more people than previously feared, a BBC investigation suggests. Flaring – the burning of waste gas during oil drilling – is taking place across the Gulf, including by COP28 hosts the United Arab Emirates. New research suggests pollution is spreading hundreds of miles, worsening air quality...
Another looming crisis in the Middle East: Climate change
The climate crisis has become a leading concern in the Middle East and the upcoming COP28 climate conference in the UAE serves as a pivotal platform to address this pressing threat. Southern Iraq, once known as the Garden of Eden, is poised to become a scorching wasteland in the forthcoming decades. A study, led by this...
From the US to Ukraine, the Gaza war will change the world
“Things can only get better” felt like the anthem for the 1990s. Released in 1993, four years after the fall of the Berlin wall, the song was the perfect soundtrack for a decade in which apartheid ended, democracy came to eastern Europe, peace came to Northern Ireland and the Oslo accords promised an end to...
Lukoil Pushes Ahead With Global Expansion
The IssueRussian independent Lukoil has long been one of the country’s most active companies abroad. With minimal prospects for domestic expansion the company remains hungry for geographic diversification. The war in Ukraine has complicated its efforts but it continues to find willing partners in countries with friendly — or at least neutral — policies toward...
Dubai’s Firm Inks $1.5B Carbon Credit Deal with Zimbabwe
A Dubai-based company, Blue Carbon, inked a deal with Zimbabwe to create carbon credits from offsetting projects in the African country involving almost a fifth of its total landmass. The two parties signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth $1.5 billion to fund forest protection and rehabilitation projects. The carbon sequestered of the forests will...