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...
Cop29 host Azerbaijan to hike gas output by a third over next decade
Environmentalists condemn news of higher forecast production which is also seen as a conservative forecast. Azerbaijan, which is hosting this year’s UN climate talks, plans to increase its fossil fuel production by a third over the next decade, according to an analysis shared exclusively with the Guardian. The forecast indicates the Cop29 host will grow...
Decathlon secretly supplying Russia through Dubai shell company, S’pore-based subsidiary: Report
PARIS – French sports retail giant Decathlon has secretly continued selling clothes in Russia despite officially pulling out in protest at Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to a media report on Dec 19. The multinational retailer, which posted sales of €15.4 billion (S$22.4 billion) in 2022, announced within weeks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that it...
How the Kremlin is using Wagner to launder billions in African gold
Blood Gold Report: Key Findings The Kremlin has earned more than US$2.5 billion from trade in African gold since Vladimir Putin launched his full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In the Central African Republic (CAR), a Wagner front company has been awarded exclusive rights to the Ndassima mine, the country’s largest gold mine, in return...
The UAE sows chaos around the world. Now it wants to own The Telegraph
Its government seems eager to exacerbate problems, only then to present itself as a reasonable arbiter. It is a fireman-arsonist. Who in their right mind would support Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the camel-trading Sudanese general who rose through the ranks during the genocide in Darfur? What kind of government would provide arms to his Rapid Support...
Putin trolls COP28 with oil talks next door
His presence presented a symbolic split screen: Global climate talks in one frame, Putin’s oil negotiations in the other. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — While everyone else was trying to rescue the world from climate catastrophe, Vladimir Putin was negotiating Russia’s oil exports down the road. As the COP28 climate talks in Dubai reached their...
Kremlin says OPEC+ cuts will kick in later, confirms Putin to visit Gulf
Oil production cuts agreed by the OPEC+ group will take time to kick in, the Kremlin said on Tuesday as it confirmed that President Vladimir Putin would visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. Putin will also host Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow the following day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said....
UK sanctions UAE network accused of helping Russia make gold profits
The new sanctions announced by the UK Foreign Ministry target 29 individuals and companies operating in and supporting Russia’s gold, oil and strategic sectors. Britain sanctioned on Wednesday a network of companies based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that it accuses of being responsible for channeling more than $300 million in gold revenues to...
Russia Inks Deal with Dubai’s DP World To Develop Arctic Container Shipping
Russia’s Rosatom and Dubai’s DP World, one of the globe’s largest logistics companies, inked a deal to establish a joint venture to develop container shipping along the Northern Sea Route (NSR). DP World operates more than 80 container terminals in 40 countries accounting for 10 percent of global container shipping by volume. Russia has looked...
Can the Emirates Divorce Themselves of Putin?
Much like Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Nagorno-Karabakh, the war in Ukraine is now another “frozen conflict” derived from the fall of the Soviet Union. What the Kremlin calls its “near abroad,” is now an escalating proxy war between two nuclear superpowers. Dangerous stuff we have here. As global diplomats look for a path forward...