Archive

from David Rohde:

Changing Assad’s calculus

A deserted street with building destroyed by what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad , near Aleppo International airport, May 20, 2013. REUTERS/Nour Kelze

AMMAN, Jordan – Secretary of State John Kerry and 10 European and Arab foreign ministers gathered here Wednesday night to again talk about helping Syria’s rebels.

As the international community discussed “grand strategy,” Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was taking decisive action.

With the help of thousands of fighters from Hezbollah, Iran and Iraq, he was close to achieving some of his largest military gains in two years.

from Global Investing:

New frontiers to outpace emerging markets

Fund managers searching for yield are increasing exposure to frontier markets (FM) as a diversification from emerging markets (EM), as the latter have been offering negative relative returns since January, according to MSCI data.

Barings Asset Management  said on Monday it plans to launch a frontier markets fund in coming weeks, with a projected 70 percent exposure to frontier markets such as Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Sri Lanka and Ukraine.

from Breakingviews:

Saudi Arabia pushes accelerator on reform

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own

By Una Galani

Saudi Arabia is moving at its fastest pace in years to overhaul the economy, and this time there isn't even the crunch of lower oil prices. Last year's effort to tackle unemployment, and a recent and long-expected mortgage law designed to help solve the housing problem, should help shore up stability in the absolute monarchy. These are tentative steps so far. But they go in the right direction.

from Breakingviews:

OPEC starting to look like a cartel of one

By Christopher Swann and Kevin Allison
The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own.

Twelve nations belong to OPEC but only Saudi Arabia has mattered of late. At the latest meeting in Vienna, the kingdom again batted away Venezuela, Iran and others who wanted to cut output. The deepening divide in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries could face a more serious test if prices keep sliding.

from FaithWorld:

Kuwaiti man gets 10 years in jail for Twitter blasphemy he denies

A Kuwaiti man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison  after he was convicted of endangering state security by insulting the Prophet Mohammad and the Sunni Muslim rulers of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain on social media. Shi'ite Muslim Hamad al-Naqi pleaded innocent at the start of the trial last month, saying he did not post the messages and that his Twitter account had been hacked.

The written verdict, delivered by Judge Hisham Abdullah on Monday, found Naqi guilty of all charges, a court secretary told Reuters. The sentence was the maximum that 26-year-old Naqi could have received, his lawyer Khaled al-Shatti said.

from Breakingviews:

Saudi’s foreign aid bill piles up

By Una Galani

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign aid bill is mounting. Egypt Jordan, Bahrain, Oman and Yemen - the Arab spring has elicited a string of pledges of loans and grants from the oil-rich kingdom to its troubled, resource-poor neighbours.

from Breakingviews:

Saudis wouldn’t gain much from a union with Bahrain

By Una Galani

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

Saudi Arabia’s call for Gulf nations to combine into a single entity appears to lay the ground for some kind of union with Bahrain. King Abdullah first highlighted the security issues facing the region when its leaders met in December - nine months after the kingdom sent tanks to tame a pro-democracy movement in Bahrain. Speculation is now swirling about how the relationship between the strongest and weakest members of the six-nation bloc could evolve, ahead of a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council this week.

from Breakingviews:

Saudi words won’t ease pressure on U.S. fuel prices

By Una Galani
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own

Saudi Arabia can't easily relieve Barack Obama's fuel price misery. The kingdom's assurances that it can and is willing to increase oil supply in the event of a shortage won't do much to lower U.S. fuel prices, which are reaching risky levels ahead of presidential elections in November. In fact, the options for the world's biggest oil supplier to rein in runaway crude are all imperfect.

from Global Investing:

Three snapshots for Wednesday

Saudi Arabia has repeated publicly it would prime its pumps to meet any shortfall in exports from fellow OPEC member Iran, this chart shows their production since 1980:

Unwelcome news for British finance minister George Osborne ahead of today's budget - February public sector borrowing comes in at £15.2bn against expectations for £8bn.

from Breakingviews:

Crude reasons support Saudi stocks

By Una Galani

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

Foreign investors are sweet on Saudi Arabia. Overseas buyers made record net purchases in the kingdom’s $400 billion stock market last month ahead of an expected easing of ownership restrictions on outsiders. But in the run-up to better access, investors need to exercise caution.