IAEA: Iran has Uranium Particles Enriched to Nearly Bomb Grade
Iran
London - Vienna - Asharq Al-Awsat
UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi. IAEA
The UN nuclear watchdog is in discussions with Iran on the origin of uranium particles enriched to up to 83.7% purity, very close to weapons grade, at its Fordow enrichment plant, a report by the watchdog seen by Reuters confirmed on Tuesday. Diplomats said last week that the agency had found the traces at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), where Iran is enriching uranium to up to 60% purity. Weapons grade is around 90%. While spikes in enrichment levels can occur and this could have been accidental, this spike is relatively large. The traces were found in the product from the two interconnected cascades, or clusters, of advanced centrifuges at Fordow that are enriching to up to 60%. The International Atomic Energy Agency chided Iran in an earlier report for making substantial changes to those cascades without informing it. "Regarding the origin of the particles enriched above 60% U-235, identified after the implementation of the new cascade configuration at FFEP, discussions with Iran are still continuing," the confidential IAEA report to member states said. "Iran informed the Agency that 'unintended fluctuations in enrichment levels may have occurred during transition period at the time of commissioning the process of [60%] product (November 2022) or while replacing the feed cylinder'," it added. The report also said Iran's stock of uranium enriched to up to 60%, which is being produced at two sites, had grown by 25.2 kg to 87.5 kg since the last quarterly report. The total stockpile of uranium enriched to that and lower levels is estimated at 3,760.8 kg, the report said. CIA director William Burns warned on Sunday that Iran could enrich uranium within weeks to 90 percent, the quantity it needs for a nuclear weapon.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4185846/iaea-iran-has-uranium-particles-enriched-nearly-bomb-grade
Mystery Shrouds Fate of UN Plan for Unloading FSO Safer
Arab World
Riyadh - Abdulhadi Habtor
The derelict Safer oil tanker is anchored off the coast of Hodeidah, western Yemen (AFP)
Mystery shrouds the fate of FSO Safer, an aging oil tanker moored off the west coast of Yemen, after a UN plan to transfer around 1.1 million barrels of crude oil onboard the derelict vessel to a new tanker faltered due to a lack of funding. The FSO Safer, owned by the Yemeni government, has been floating at sea without any maintenance since the terrorist Houthi militia took control of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in September 2014. According to experts, the vessel, which is holding more than a million barrels of oil, has been described as a “time bomb” because it is at risk of causing a major spill, either from leaking, breaking apart or exploding. A Yemeni source confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the failure of the UN plan so far may be due to a lack of funding to purchase a new tanker. The UN had planned to transfer the oil onboard FSO Safer into another tanker to prevent an environmental disaster in the Red Sea. “It seems that they need additional financing to buy a new tanker, prices have gone up and they didn't expect it,” said the source who requested anonymity. Houthis accused the UN of failing to implement its commitments according to an agreement concluded in March 2022. According to the agreement, the UN would unload FSO Safer after bringing an alternative ship to hold the oil. A Houthi official accused the UN of “deliberately placing the floating reservoir as it is, to request more funding from donor countries despite obtaining the required amount of $85 million.” The Houthis are using the oil tanker to blackmail the international community, the Arab Coalition and the Yemeni government, a Western diplomat confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat. The total cost of the UN plan to counter the threat of FSO Safer spilling stands at $ 144 million, including $ 80 million that are urgently required for the initial four-month emergency operation.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4184266/mystery-shrouds-fate-un-plan-unloading-fso-safer
Israeli PM’s Ultranationalist Ally Quits as Deputy Minister
World
Asharq Al-Awsat
Avi Maoz head of the far right religious party, Noam, attends a session at the plenum at the Knesset, Israel's parliament in Jerusalem December 28, 2022. (Reuters)
An ultranationalist ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tendered his resignation as a deputy minister in the new government. Avi Maoz's departure was the first crack in Netanyahu's ruling coalition, which assumed office in late December after securing a parliamentary majority in the November elections. Maoz, the head of a small ultranationalist faction known for disparaging remarks about non-Orthodox Jews, said he would step down as a deputy minister, but would continue to vote with the coalition in parliament. Netanyahu's ruling coalition holds 64 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. The Noam faction leader wrote in a letter to Netanyahu on Monday that he “found that there is no serious intention to uphold the coalition agreement” concerning an office to bolster Jewish identity among Israelis. Maoz is a Jewish fundamentalist and West Bank settler who is an outspoken opponent to women serving in the military. He has voiced opposition to Arabs teaching Jewish students in Israeli schools. He has denied the legitimacy of non-Orthodox Judaism, including the Reform and Conservative movements, which are marginal in Israel but dominant in the US and have long provided the country with financial and diplomatic support. Maoz’s Noam faction ran in the last elections on a joint ticket with Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, which won 14 seats in the Knesset, making it the third-largest faction. Netanyahu and his allies are advancing a series of bills that aim to weaken the Supreme Court and give politicians greater power over judicial appointments. Opponents to the judicial overhaul say the proposed changes threaten Israel’s democratic institutions and will concentrate power in the hands of the government. They've assembled weekly for mass protests. “I will continue, God willing, as a member of the coalition” and support the “very important” judicial overhaul, Maoz wrote.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4184086/israeli-pm%E2%80%99s-ultranationalist-ally-quits-deputy-minister
'Rest Your Best!': Pokemon Sleep Game Coming this Year
Entertainment
Asharq Al-Awsat
Pokémon has been a global hit since it was launched as a role-playing game in 1996 for Nintendo's Game Boy console. (AFP)
Pokemon's last major smartphone hit, "Pokemon Go", had fans on the move hunting the lovable characters, but its next release will focus on a more relaxing activity: sleep. The Pokemon Company has revealed it will release "Pokemon Sleep" across most of the world in summer 2023, four years after it first announced plans for the game, AFP said. "Turn your sleep into entertainment," the company said in a press release late Monday. Trailers for the new game suggest it combines a smartphone sleep tracker with gaming. "Your adventure takes place on a small island where you'll carry out research on how Pokemon sleep. You'll work with a large Snorlax who lives on the island and Neroli, a professor who's studying Pokemon sleep styles." "The longer you sleep, the higher your score in the morning, and the more Pokemon you'll see appear around Snorlax," the company said, urging players to "rest your very best!" Fans will also be able to buy a "Pokemon GO Plus +" -- a Pokeball-shaped gadget that users can place by their pillow, with Pikachu's voice offering "cute prompts when it's time to wake up or go to sleep". The company's "Pokemon Go" game, which saw players track down the "pocket monsters" using their phones, was an international phenomenon. The free game uses satellite locations, graphics and camera capabilities to overlay cartoon characters on real-world settings, challenging players to capture and train the creatures. But players were blamed for traffic accidents and other violations as they roamed the streets, buried in their phones. Pokemon has been a global hit since it was launched as a role-playing game in 1996 for Nintendo's Game Boy console. The franchise, whose slogan is "Gotta Catch 'Em All", also includes movies and a hugely popular animated TV show.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4184071/rest-your-best-pokemon-sleep-game-coming-year
W.House Gives Federal Agencies 30 Days to Enforce TikTok Ban
Technology
Asharq Al-Awsat
TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
The White House on Monday gave federal agencies 30 days to purge Chinese-owned video-snippet sharing app TikTok from all government-issued devices, setting a deadline to comply with a ban ordered by the US Congress. Office of Management and Budget director Shalanda Young in a memorandum called on government agencies within 30 days to "remove and disallow installations" of the application on agency-owned or operated IT devices, and to "prohibit internet traffic" from such devices to the app. The ban does not apply to businesses in the United States not associated with the federal government, or to the millions of private citizens who use the hugely popular app, AFP said. However, a recently introduced bill in Congress would "effectively ban TikTok" in this country, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). "Congress must not censor entire platforms and strip Americans of their constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression," ACLU senior policy counsel Jenna Leventoff said in a release. "We have a right to use TikTok and other platforms to exchange our thoughts, ideas, and opinions with people around the country and around the world." Owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, TikTok has become a political target due to concerns the globally popular app can be circumvented for spying or propaganda by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The company did not immediately respond to the White House guidance. The law signed by US President Joe Biden last month bans the use of TikTok on government-issued devices. The law also bans TikTok use in the US House of Representatives and Senate. National security concerns over alleged China spying have grown over the past month after a Chinese balloon traversed US airspace and was eventually shot down. - Canada, EU bans - The Canadian government on Monday banned TikTok from all of its phones and other devices, citing fears about how much access Beijing has to user data. Effective Tuesday, "the TikTok application will be removed from government-issued mobile devices. Users of these devices will also be blocked from downloading the application in the future," the government said in a statement. The European Commission banned the app from its equipment too. TikTok has repeatedly rejected accusations it shares data or cedes control to the Chinese government. TikTok's breakneck rise from niche video-sharing app to global social media behemoth has brought plenty of scrutiny, particularly over its links to China. The company was forced to admit ByteDance employees in China had accessed Americans' data but it has always denied turning over personal information to the Chinese authorities. TikTok has moved to soothe US fears, announcing in June 2022 that it would store all data on American users on US-based servers. Bans have not halted TikTok's growth. With more than one billion active users it is the sixth most used social platform in the world, according to the We Are Social marketing agency. Although it lags behind the likes of Meta's long-dominant trio of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, its growth among young people far outstrips its competitors.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4183881/whouse-gives-federal-agencies-30-days-enforce-tiktok-ban
Ukraine Intel Chief Sees No Signs China Plans to Arm Russia
World
Asharq Al-Awsat
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin talk to each other during their meeting in Beijing, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. (AP)
Ukraine's head of military intelligence has brushed aside claims that China is considering furnishing arms to Russia, telling US media that he saw no "signs that such things are even being discussed". Senior US officials have said as recently as Sunday that they were "confident" China was considering providing lethal equipment to Moscow, with a diplomatic pressure campaign underway to discourage it from doing so, AFP said. But when asked about the possibility in a lengthy interview with Voice of America published on Monday, Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said: "I do not share this opinion." "As of now, I do not think that China will agree to the transfer of weapons to Russia," he said. "I do not see any signs that such things are even being discussed." Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken aired Washington's concerns about potential arms shipments in a tense meeting with his Chinese counterpart, and the director of the CIA said in an interview on Sunday that he believed Beijing was still weighing the possibility. Meanwhile, media reports in multiple American outlets have cited unidentified US officials as saying China was deciding whether to provide drones and certain munitions to Russia. Asked specifically about the US assessment, Budanov said: "I am the head of intelligence and I rely, with all due respect, not on the opinions of individual people, but only on facts. I do not see such facts." As to where Russia could still procure arms, Budanov said that apart from unconfirmed reports of shipments from North Korea, "almost the only country that actually transfers more or less serious weapons is Iran".
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4183756/ukraine-intel-chief-sees-no-signs-china-plans-arm-russia
Asharq A-Awsat
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price speaks during a news conference in Washington, US March 10, 2022. Manuel Balce Ceneta/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Suspected Palestinian gunmen killed an Israeli-American motorist in the occupied West Bank on Monday after Jewish settlers rampaged through a Palestinian village in a burst of violence that defied US efforts to prod the sides to cooperate on security. Israeli officials said in the latest incident Palestinians carried out several drive-by shootings on a highway near Jericho, killing an Israeli in his car before fleeing. The US State Department said the person killed was also a US citizen. Israel reinforced its West Bank garrisons after two brothers from a Jewish settlement were shot dead on Sunday, triggering the rampage by settlers in which a Palestinian was killed, scores were hurt and dozens of cars and homes were torched. At a regular briefing for reporters, State Department spokesperson Ned Price condemned attacks by both sides and welcomed statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling for a cessation to what Price described as "vigilante violence" by settlers. "We expect the Israeli government to ensure full accountability and legal prosecution of those responsible for these attacks, in addition to compensation for the lost homes and property," Price said.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4183746/israeli-american-motorist-killed-west-bank%C2%A0
Djokovic ‘Pain Free’ as He Prepares for Return in Dubai
Sports
Asharq Al-Awsat
Novak Djokovic of Serbia holds a press conference during the ATP Dubai Duty Free Tennis Champiopnships in Dubai, on February 26, 2023. (AFP)
Novak Djokovic said he was now playing without pain after recovering from a hamstring injury as he prepares to return to the ATP Tour in Dubai this week following his record-extending 10th Australian Open title last month. Djokovic suffered a three-centimeter hamstring tear en route to winning the Adelaide warm-up event before claiming his 22nd Grand Slam title at Melbourne Park to go level with Rafa Nadal. The 35-year-old Serb said his Dubai participation was in doubt until a few days ago but he had passed all his fitness tests. "Had a couple of weeks of no tennis. The last few days it's really getting as much practice as possible to get myself back in shape to be able to compete at a high level," Djokovic said. "I haven't felt pain on the court for a week. I'm getting closer to 100%. Still not there in terms of the game and how I feel on court. But the important thing is there's no pain. I don't have a hindrance in the way I move on the court. "After every injury it takes time for mechanisms to be balanced, for adjustments to be done on court. It takes time to find that groove of moving effortlessly and not thinking about if something's going to happen. I don't have those thoughts." Djokovic begins the Dubai tournament having entered his 378th week as world number one, surpassing Steffi Graf as the player with the most weeks at the top of the sport. "It's surreal to be that many weeks number one, to match Graf - one of the all-time greats," Djokovic said. "Just being amongst these legendary names is flattering. I'm proud of it." Djokovic meets Czech Tomas Machac in the first round on Tuesday.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4182121/djokovic-%E2%80%98pain-free%E2%80%99-he-prepares-return-dubai
‘Everything Everywhere’ Dominates SAG Awards, Setting Stage for Oscars
Entertainment
Asharq Al-Awsat
Jenny Slate, from left, Stephanie Hsu, James Hong, Michelle Yeoh, and Ke Huy Quan accept the award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" at the 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023, at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. (AP)
Dimension-hopping adventure "Everything Everywhere All at Once" grabbed the top movie honor at the Screen Actors Guild awards on Sunday, cementing its status as the front-runner for the prestigious best picture prize at next month's Oscars. The movie about a Chinese-American laundromat owner struggling to finish her taxes amid family turmoil has claimed a pile of trophies in recent weeks at the Hollywood awards ceremonies leading up to the Academy Awards on March 12. On Sunday, the cast of "Everything Everywhere" was named best film ensemble by members of the SAG-AFTRA acting union. SAG's film honorees are closely watched because actors comprise the largest group of Oscar voters. The science-fiction movie also earned awards for lead female actor Michelle Yeoh, who portrays laundry owner Evelyn Wang, and supporting actors Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis. An overwhelmed Yeoh spoke through tears - and a few expletives - as she accepted her trophy. "This is not just for me. This is for every little girl that looks like me," Yeoh said. "Thank you for giving me a seat at the table." Quan - who as a child star had a featured role in a 1984 "Indiana Jones" film, but had given up on acting for years - said he was the first Asian to win in the category. "When I stepped away from acting it was because there were so few opportunities," the Vietnamese-American actor said. "The landscape looks so different now than before. Thank you to everyone in this room who contributed to these changes." When the cast took the stage for the ensemble award, Yeoh handed the microphone to 94-year-old James Hong, who played her father in the film. In the early days of his career, Hong recounted, producers said: "Asians were not good enough. And they are not box office. "But look at us now." "Everything Everywhere" previously scored the top accolades at the Directors Guild and Producers Guild awards. The movie also is a commercial success, selling more than $107 million worth of tickets. It is the highest-grossing movie ever for film distributor A24. The SAG award for best male movie actor went to Brendan Fraser for playing a reclusive, severely obese man trying to reconnect with his daughter in "The Whale." An emotional Fraser said his younger self "never would have believed that I would have been offered the role of my life" of Charlie, the man in the "Whale" who "is on a raft of regrets in a sea of hope." "I've been on that sea and I've rode that wave," he said. In television categories, the cast of "Abbott Elementary," a mockumentary about teachers at an underfunded school in Philadelphia, won best TV comedy ensemble. "The White Lotus" cast landed the drama series award for the show's second season, set in Italy, about wealthy vacationers and the staff who served them at a ritzy resort. Sally Field, 76, received a lifetime achievement award for an acting career that began nearly 60 years ago with TV hits "Gidget" and "The Flying Nun" before an Oscar-winning film run that took her from "Norma Rae" to "Steel Magnolias" to "Forrest Gump" to "Lincoln." "There is not a day that I don’t feel quietly thrilled to call myself an actor,” she said.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4181946/%E2%80%98everything-everywhere%E2%80%99-dominates-sag-awards-setting-stage-oscars
Amman, Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat
Jordan's Prime Minister Bishr al-Khasawneh, surrounded by ministers of Egypt, UAE, Jordan, and Bahrain at the signing ceremony in Amman (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Egypt, the UAE, Jordan, and Bahrain signed 12 agreements and partnerships in nine integrated industrial projects with an investment value of more than $2 billion at the third Higher Committee meeting of the Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Growth in Amman, Jordan. The projects are expected to boost the national GDP in the partnering countries by more than $1.6 billion and create approximately 13,000 job opportunities. Jordan's Prime Minister Bishr al-Khasawneh, Egypt's Minister of Industry and Trade, Ahmed Samir, UAE Minister of Industry and special envoy for climate change Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Jordan's Minister of Industry Yousef al-Shamali, and Bahrain's Minister of Industry Abdulla Adel Fakharo attended the signing ceremony. Diverse agreements The Egyptian company Soda Chemical Industries announced an investment of $500 million to produce sodium carbonate, 'soda ash,' the primary raw material in many industries, such as the glass and detergent sector. The facility will have a production capacity of 500,000 tons annually. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed for a strategic partnership with the Emirates Float Glass Company, owned by Dubai Investments, to purchase the final product. UAE-based automotive manufacturer M Glory Holding announced the launch of a large manufacturing project with an investment of $550 million to establish three electric vehicle factories with specialized production and assembly lines in the UAE, Jordan, and Egypt. Production capacity will reach 40,000 compact crossover SUVs during the first three years of operation. M Glory Holding signed another MoU with the Jordan Design and Development Bureau and Egypt's Arab Organization for Industrialization as manufacturing partners and with Bahrain's GARMCO to supply aluminum sheets. The agreement exemplifies how the partnership aligns with sustainability objectives and the UAE's presidency of COP28. Emirati investor-owned CFC Group announced it would invest $400 million to establish an industrial complex for fertilizers and chemicals in Egypt. It signed MoUs with Jordan-based Arab Potash and Egypt's Misr Phosphate Company to supply raw materials. The industrial complex will have an annual production capacity of half a ton of fodder, potash fertilizers, and 1.1 tons of chemicals. Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) announced a $200 million investment to establish a silicon metal plant in the UAE with a production capacity of 55,000 tons annually. The company signed an MoU with Jordan's Manaseer Group to supply the required crystalline silica. Manaseer Group announced the expansion of a $70 million magnesium oxide plant in Jordan. Once completed, the plant will have a total production capacity of 270,000 tons annually, which will be exported to the UAE. It will sell its product to EGA., and production is set to commence in 2024. UAE's Globalpharma partnered with Egypt's Nerhadou International to develop advanced technology for manufacturing medicines and food supplements. An agreement was also signed to transfer technology to two Jordanian companies: Savvy Pharma and Triumph. Both projects will commence in 2023 with a total investment value of $60 million and a production capacity of five million packages annually per product. Jordanian company Itqan announced a technology transfer partnership and contract manufacturing agreement with Globalpharma and ADCAN Pharma to manufacture syringes, aerosols, and inhalers. It also signed an MoU with Egypt's Marcyrl to transfer technology in manufacturing biosimilars in Jordan with an investment value of $10 million to launch products by Q4 2024. Bahrain-based Alpha Biotic signed two MoUs for knowledge and technology transfer and contracted manufacturing with Jordan's Dar Al Dawa and Egypt's EIPICO to produce generic, oncology, medical solutions, and other pharmaceutical products. At an investment value of $174 million over two phases, the project's production capacity is expected to reach 350 million pills annually. Gulf Biotech, another Bahraini company, announced plans to establish a plant to manufacture raw materials for vaccines and other products at an investment value of $103 million and a production capacity of 105 doses per year. Gulf Biotech signed a technology transfer agreement with Egypt's BioGeneric Pharma earlier this month. Developments in the industrial partnership During the meetings, the Undersecretary of the UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology Head of the Partnership's Executive Committee, Omar al-Suwaidi, presented an update on the partnership's progress, the findings of the partnership's workshops, investment opportunities, and plans for developing the partnership. Suwaidi noted that more than 100 companies have participated in the metals, textiles, and petrochemical workshops held over the past six months. The partnership has also received 35 proposals for new projects, discussed during workshops held by the Executive Committee in Amman. The workshops also helped to prepare an implementation plan for enablers in the agriculture, food, fertilizers, and pharmaceutical sectors. The official announced that the UAE and Jordan made a pharmaceutical mutual recognition agreement. The committee studies the feasibility and economic impact of projects in various sectors and partnership opportunities with the private sector. The committee will continue to search for new projects and evaluate and enable projects, including a fertilizer factory in Jordan at an estimated cost of $800 million. The Executive Committee of the Integrated Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Growth submitted recommendations and a report to the Higher Committee for approval. It also discussed several potential projects and listened to representatives of industrial companies who presented project proposals. Egypt's President of the Industrial Development Authority, Mohamed Abdel Kareem, briefed the committee on agricultural, fertilizer, and food developments. Jordan's Secretary General of the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Supply, Dana al-Zoubi, gave a presentation on developments in the pharmaceutical sector in her country. Bahrain's Undersecretary of the Ministry of Industry, Iman al-Dosari, also briefly discussed the developments in minerals, petrochemicals, and textiles.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4181931/uae-egypt-jordan-bahrain-sign-2-bn-industrial-agreements
CIA Chief: Iran Could Enrich Uranium to Weapons-grade within Weeks
Iran
London, Washington - Asharq Al-Awsat
CIA director William Burns (AP)
CIA director William Burns warned on Sunday that Iran could enrich uranium within weeks to 90 percent, the quantity it needs for a nuclear weapon. He added that in terms of its missile systems, Iran’s ability to deliver a nuclear weapon, once developed, has also been advancing as well. In an interview with CBS news that aired on “Face the Nation,” Burns expressed concern about the growing dimensions of Tehran's nuclear program, after reports last week said inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found enriched uranium to a purity of up to 84 percent. However, the CIA director said Washington does not believe that the Supreme Leader in Iran has yet made a decision to resume the weaponization program that we judge that they suspended or stopped at the end of 2003. Burns said Iran obviously advanced its enrichment programs very far over the past couple of years. “They've advanced very far to the point where it would only be a matter of weeks before they can enrich to 90 percent, if they chose to cross that line,” he said, adding that also in terms of their missile systems, their ability to deliver a nuclear weapon, once they developed it, has also been advancing as well. “We don't see evidence that Iran made a decision to resume that weaponization program,” Burns affirmed, adding that the other dimensions of this challenge are growing at a worrisome pace too. The CIA director was referring to the Amad Project, Iran’s plan to build an atomic warhead that was pursued under the supervision of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's prominent nuclear figure. Tehran said the project was stopped in 2003. The IAEA had stated in its 2011 report that some work related to the Amad Project continued, indicating the role of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Last Monday, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said it had detected uranium enriched to 84 percent purity, which is just 6 percent below the weapons grade purity of 90 percent required for a nuclear weapon. IAEA said it was discussing the recent results of verification activities with Iran. Iran has been enriching uranium to up to 60 percent purity since April 2021. Three months ago it started enriching to that level at a second site, Fordow, which is dug into a mountain. Weapons grade is around 90 percent. Two diplomats told Reuters the IAEA, which inspects Iran's nuclear facilities, had detected uranium enriched to 84%, confirming an initial report late on Sunday by Bloomberg News. “The issue is whether it was a blip in the reconfigured cascades or deliberate. The agency has asked Iran for an explanation," one of the diplomats told Reuters. Last Friday, Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said Tehran “has the right to enrich uranium at any rate it wants.” Iran then tried to respond to international concerns, when it announced on Wednesday the arrival of an IAEA team to the Fordow facility to remove ambiguities about the 84 percent enriched uranium, in tacit confirmation of the validity of what the agency announced. Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Mohammad Eslami said IAEA inspectors had been in Tehran since Tuesday and had started negotiations, visits and checks to resolve “ambiguities created by an inspector.” Early this month, the UN nuclear watchdog criticised Iran for making an undeclared change to the interconnection between the two clusters of advanced machines enriching uranium to up to 60% purity, close to weapons grade, at its Fordow plant.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4181806/cia-chief-iran-could-enrich-uranium-weapons-grade-within-weeks
Elon Musk Calls US Media 'Racist' after Dilbert Row
Technology
Asharq Al-Awsat
Elon Musk arrives at the In America: An Anthology of Fashion themed Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York, US, May 2, 2022. (Reuters)
Billionaire Elon Musk has called US media "racist" after multiple American newspapers announced they would stop publishing a popular comic strip whose creator called Black people a hate group. Musk, who owns electric car company Tesla and social network Twitter, tweeted Sunday in response to an article about a rant by Scott Adams, creator of the long-running "Dilbert" -- a satirical take on office life, AFP said. "For a *very* long time, US media was racist against non-white people, now they're racist against whites & Asians," Musk wrote on the social network, where he has reinstated users banned for hate speech. "Same thing happened with elite colleges & high schools in America. Maybe they can try not being racist." Under Musk's leadership, Tesla has been hit with multiple lawsuits alleging racism and researchers say Twitter has seen a rise in hate speech. Adams, like Musk, has increasingly stoked controversy with his views on social issues. But a video posted on Wednesday -- in which Adams referred to Black people as a "hate group" -- proved to be the last straw for many "Dilbert" publishers. "That's a hate group and I don't want anything to do with them," he said. "Based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people." His rant was prompted by a recent poll by conservative-leaning Rasmussen Reports, whose results he said showed a slim majority of Black respondents agreed with the statement "It's okay to be white." The USA TODAY Network, which operates hundreds of papers across the United States, said Friday it "will no longer publish the Dilbert comic due to recent discriminatory comments by its creator." Chris Quinn, the editor of The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio, said it "was not a difficult decision" for his paper to drop the comic strip. "We are not a home for those who espouse racism," Quinn added. MLive Media Group -- which runs eight Michigan-based publications -- said it had "zero tolerance for racism," and would drop Adams's strip because of his "unapologetically racist rant." The Washington Post said Saturday it would drop the cartoon from its pages "in light of Scott Adams's recent statements," though it was too late to stop the strip from being published in the weekend's print editions.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4181786/elon-musk-calls-us-media-racist-after-dilbert-row
Sergey Radchenko
Sergey Radchenko - Mr. Radchenko is a historian of the Cold War.
After a year of brutal fighting, in which thousands of lives have been lost, civilian infrastructure destroyed and untold damage caused, the war has reached a stalemate. Neither side will countenance a negotiated settlement. On the battlefield, battered armies contest small strips of territory, at a terrible cost. The threat of nuclear escalation hangs in the air. This isn’t Ukraine today; it’s the Korean Peninsula in 1951. No two wars are exactly alike, of course. But in the long history of carnage, one war stands out for its relevance to the current blood bath in Ukraine: the war in Korea from 1950-53, where the South Koreans and their allies, headed by the United States, battled it out against North Korean and Chinese troops, backed by the Soviet Union. There are all sorts of lessons to be gleaned from the conflict. But the most important might be how it ended. In Ukraine, an end to the war seems a long way off. For Russia, victory would most likely entail securing the Ukrainian territory it claims as its own. For Ukraine, nothing less than driving Russian troops out of the country — including Crimea — will do. Neither side is interested in negotiations, and it’s hard to see how a peace settlement would come about. In Korea, the situation was similar: Neither North nor South Koreans, nor their sponsors, were in a hurry to end the war. But the conflict — which claimed as many as three million lives and destroyed entire cities — gradually fizzled out, leading to a cease-fire and a temporary division of the Korean Peninsula that proved more lasting than anyone could have imagined at the time. In the end, a stalemated war proved preferable to the alternatives. The decision to start the war in Korea was made by one man: Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. After initially rebuffing the pleas of North Korea’s dictator, Kim Il-sung, for Soviet permission to invade the South, Stalin changed his mind in January 1950. The reasons were twofold. First, with the impending conclusion of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of alliance, which would be signed in Moscow on Feb. 14, 1950, Stalin knew that he could count on the Chinese to participate in the war if required. Second, and of potentially greater importance, were misleading signals from the United States. Chief among them were Secretary of State Dean Acheson’s famous pronouncement on Jan. 12, 1950, that excluded Korea from America’s “defensive perimeter.” Combined with intercepted intelligence, it was enough to reassure Stalin — wrongly, as it turned out — that the United States would not intervene in Korea. Given the green light to invade, North Korean forces crossed the 38th parallel on June 25, 1950, soon capturing Seoul and pushing forward in a grand sweep that could well have ended with their capture of all of Korea. But a decisive intervention by the United States, under the United Nations flag, brought disarray to the North Korean ranks and turned the tide of the war. In late September 1950, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, in charge of the West’s war effort, made the fateful decision to cross into North Korea, aiming to liberate the northern half of the country. Watching these developments from afar, Stalin urged the Chinese to join the fray. After some initial hesitation, Mao Zedong, whose Communist victory in China had come just the year before, agreed. The Chinese secretly began crossing into North Korea in late October 1950. The war entered a new bloody stage. Initially, the Chinese “people’s volunteers” (as these troops were deliberately miscalled) scored impressive victories, pushing the United Nations forces south of the 38th parallel and recapturing Seoul. But their momentum did not last. Plagued by logistical difficulties and American bombing, the offensive petered out by May 1951. But nor were the Americans able to make much headway in the months that followed. Although the two sides fought several battles between 1951 and 1953, the war basically stalled. It was clear by the summer of 1951 that the war was not going anywhere, yet it took two more years — punctuated by a lethal artillery barrage across the line of control and intermittent fighting — before the fighting was brought to an end. In the interim, tens of thousands were killed, and widespread U.S. bombing of North Korea’s hydroelectric dams led to complete blackouts in the North. The ostensible reason for the delay was that many Chinese and North Korean prisoners of war showed no interest in being exchanged, preferring to stay with their captors. But the real problem was Stalin’s reluctance to agree to a cease-fire. “I don’t think you need to expedite the war in Korea,” he wrote to Mao in June 1951. “A protracted war, first of all, is allowing the Chinese troops to perfect modern fighting skills on the battlefield and, secondly, is shaking Truman’s regime in America and is undermining the prestige of Anglo-American forces.” The dictator was perfectly happy to let the war continue. The Chinese, the Koreans and the Americans were doing most of the dying, after all. It was only with Stalin’s death in March 1953 that Soviet leaders reconsidered the whole misadventure and prodded their allies toward an agreement. The armistice agreement was duly signed in the little village of Panmunjom on July 27, 1953. It was, crucially, a cease-fire. There was no peace treaty, no negotiated settlement. Technically, the war is still frozen, not finished. Even so, an uncertain peace followed and, remarkably, it held. There are indications that Kim Il-sung pondered another invasion of South Korea in the late 1960s, when the United States, facing defeat in Vietnam, appeared least prepared for another flare-up in Korea. But neither the Chinese nor the Soviets were enthusiastic. The Sino-Soviet alliance had long cratered, and the erstwhile comrades in arms had even fought a brief war over their disputed frontier in 1969. In the 1970s North Korea began to fall substantially behind in economic competition with the South. Unification, if it came, could be only on Seoul’s terms. Seventy years after the Korean armistice, the Kim dynasty still rules the North. The ugly regime, now armed with nuclear weapons, is still backed by China and Russia and, in its turn, has reportedly helped the Russians to wage war in Ukraine by providing ammunition. China, too, has taken a benign view of Vladimir Putin’s misadventure, though, unlike Stalin in 1951, Xi Jinping probably does not want to see this war drag on indefinitely. He would surely be very happy with a cease-fire. That may in fact be the preferred solution in other quarters — certainly in the global south, which sees nothing to gain from the conflict, and among many constituencies in the West. The parties most clearly opposed to the idea are those who are fighting it out on the ground: the Russians and the Ukrainians. For Ukraine, repelling an invading force that lays claim to almost one-quarter of its territory, such a position is understandable. Yet if neither side makes significant gains in coming months, the conflict could well be heading for a cease-fire. The Ukrainians, though perhaps not fully recovering their territories, will have fended off an aggressive foe. The Russians, for their part, can disguise their strategic defeat as a tactical victory. The conflict will be frozen, a far-from-ideal result. Yet if we have learned anything from the Korean War, it is that a frozen conflict is better than either an outright defeat or an exhausting war of attrition. The New York Times
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4181666/sergey-radchenko/war-may-be-heading-cease-fire
Saudi Arabia Supports Companies to Enter Cameroon, Togo Markets
Business
Riyadh - Bandar Mosallem
Douala port is one of the largest ports of Cameroon, which has excellent investment opportunities in infrastructure (Getty Images)
The Saudi Ministry of Investment is currently working on listing all national companies interested in investing in Cameroon and Togo as part of its support for Saudi investment abroad and addressing its challenges with the relevant authorities. Several Saudi government agencies aim to stimulate and support the private sector to enter foreign projects by presenting available investment opportunities and coordinating with relevant agencies to address the challenges. The Ministry revealed several opportunities in Cameroon and Togo, west of Africa. The countries have opportunities in port infrastructure, electricity, water networks, sanitation, communications, tourism, agriculture, and phosphates, said the Ministry, asking those interested to determine suitable projects. According to the data on investment opportunities available in the two republics, of which Asharq Al-Awsat reviewed a copy, the projects implemented in the Douala port include infrastructure for land sites and communications, water, electricity, and various urban facilities. Togo's legal framework on public-private partnership revealed that project design and scale were optimized to help anticipate risks associated with it and enable public debt management. The Saudi government provides all incentives and support to national companies and institutions to develop their business locally and internationally. It will also address the local private sector to participate in international conferences and exhibitions to present its services and explore available investment opportunities. In 2019, Saudi Arabia established the General Authority for Foreign Trade (GAFT) to promote the Kingdom's international trade gains and defend its interests in foreign trade, contributing to developing its national economy. GAFT is concerned with all tasks related to developing policies and strategies of foreign trade in coordination and alignment with the public and private sectors, in addition to several tasks, including the supervision of commercial attachés abroad and joint Saudi-foreign business council. GAFT is also concerned with international trade relations, dispute settlement, and negotiations on free trade agreements and bilateral, regional, and international agreements. It aims to protect the Kingdom's industry from harmful practices in international trade by implementing trade remedies procedures stated in World Trade Organization agreements. Meanwhile, the Saudi Fund for Development aims to involve the private sector in projects in developing countries by empowering local capabilities and increasing its ability to export its services and products to foreign markets. Vision 2030 came with ambitious aspirations and targets to develop local content and export national services and products abroad, which requires complementary work between various government agencies and partners from the private sector.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4180446/saudi-arabia-supports-companies-enter-cameroon-togo-markets
London - Adil al-Salmi
Amirali Hajizadeh listens to whispers from Qassem Soleimani on the sidelines of a ceremony in 2018 (File– Mehr News Agency)
A top Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander said on Friday that Tehran seeks to kill former senior US officials, including former President Donald Trump, for their involvement in the 2020 killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. “God willing, we will be able to kill Trump… [former secretary of state Mike] Pompeo, [former head of US Central Command General Kenneth] McKenzie and those military commanders who gave the order” to kill Soleimani, Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the IRGC’s aerospace unit, said on state TV. Hajizadeh said that avenging Soleimani “is still a primary goal” for his forces. Iran’s threat had followed the US government once again extending protection to Pompeo and his top Iran aide, Brian Hook. The State Department notified Congress of the extension saying that the threats to Pompeo and Hook remained “serious and credible.” Hook served as the Trump administration’s special envoy for Iran. This was the tenth time that the US State Department extended protection to Hook since he left office in January 2021, and the seventh time that it extended protection to Pompeo. Senior Iranian officials, including Revolutionary Guards commanders and leaders, have often pledged “tough revenge” for Soleimani, who was killed in a US strike ordered by Trump moments after having arrived in Baghdad. In retaliation, Iran attacked the Ain al-Assad air base, which hosts American troops in western Iraq, on January 8, 2020, five days after Soleimani’s killing. No US troops were killed in the attack, but Washington said that dozens of its forces had sustained brain concussions. On the night of the missile launch at Ain al-Assad base, the Revolutionary Guards’ defenses shot down a Ukrainian civilian plane a few moments after it took off in southern Tehran, killing all 176 people on board, most of them Iranians. After three days of denial, Hajizadeh declared his forces responsible for shooting down the plane. Iranian officials gave different accounts of the downing of the plane and spoke of “human error.” The families of the victims are calling for an independent international investigation. Meanwhile, activists and relatives of the victims have so far accused the government in Tehran of concealing military action.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4180341/irgc-avenging-soleimani-our-primary-goal
Yemen Threatens to Punish Shipping Companies Cooperating with Houthis
Arab World
Aden - Ali Rabih
Shipping vessels in Hodeidah port (Reuters)
The Yemeni government threatened to revoke the licenses and block any shipping company cooperating with the Houthi militia. Ports of Aden Corporation sent a letter to two shipping companies, warning against shipping towards Hodeidah port, stressing that the two companies approval to divert their shipping routes to Hodeidah "is a clear and explicit violation of the directives of the legitimate government." The letter warned it might cancel the permits granted to the companies, stopping their activities in the ports, noting that any navigational activity not approved by the legitimate government is a recognition of the coup militias. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik asserted the need to take all measures that preserve public funds and implement decisions regulating imports, consistent with the government's obligations in combating money laundering and financing terrorism. Abdulmalik chaired the ministerial committee meeting in Aden to discuss economic developments and develop solutions to secure trade in land and sea ports. According to the Saba news agency, the committee discussed the measures and decisions to facilitate imports. The committee also reviewed the plans and procedures to regulate trade movement, which could facilitate and ensure ease of arrival of goods and reduce the cost of transportation and insurance in the ports of the liberated areas. The committee stressed the need to take all procedures and measures to preserve public funds, implement government decisions regulating imports, and comply with the government's obligations in combating money laundering and terrorism financing. It emphasized taking the necessary steps to prevent transgressions or violations of local and international laws and mechanisms, including communicating with countries and export destinations. According to the Yemeni official media, ministers briefed the committee on implementing previous decisions and the required mechanisms and procedures. The Ministries of Transport and Trade denied any change in the ship's movement heading to Yemeni ports, including Hodeidah port, under the Houthi control. They confirmed the ongoing coordination with the UN and the coalition supporting legitimacy of imposing the mechanisms. Earlier, the Houthi militia claimed a change in the navigation movement heading to Hodeidah ports against the UN mechanism used to enter ships. The Transport Minister, Abdulsalam Hameed, confirmed that the ship's movement to the ports in liberated areas and Aden had stayed the same. Hameed assured major merchants, importers, and shipping companies there were solutions to the difficulties facing trade activity and organizing transportation of the goods according to the regulatory frameworks. The government is in full coordination with the UN and the coalition led by Saudi Arabia, asserted the minister, accusing the militias of spreading lies. He vowed that the government and its competent agencies would take all legal measures against commercial ships, cargo owners, and navigational agencies that violate the law and the mechanisms.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4180296/yemen-threatens-punish-shipping-companies-cooperating-houthis
Hunger Still Blights the Lives of Sudan's Children
Arab World
Asharq Al-Awsat
File photo: South Sudanese refugees. Reuters file photo
In Sudan's sprawling Kalma camp for the displaced, Ansaf Omar lives with the gut-wrenching guilt of losing her toddler to a food crisis that has hit millions of people nationwide. "I am severely malnourished so I couldn't breastfeed him," said Omar, 34, a month after her one-and-half-year-old child died in Kalma camp just outside Nyala, the provincial capital of South Darfur state, AFP said. "I took him everywhere -- hospitals, treatment centers, but he died in the end," she said. Desperate mothers like Omar battle daily around Kalma to feed their frail and hungry children, many of whom are severely malnourished. Sudan is one of the world's poorest countries, with one-third of the population -- at least 15 million people -- facing a growing hunger crisis, according to United Nations figures. Nearly three million of Sudan's children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, the UN says. "Over 100,000 children in Sudan are at risk of dying of malnutrition if left untreated," said Leni Kinzli, head of communications in the country for the World Food Program (WFP). Nationwide, one-third of children under five are "too short for their age", and nearly half of Sudan's 189 localities have a "stunting prevalence more significant than 40 percent", according to the Alight aid group. It said that at least 63 children were reported to have died from causes related to malnutrition at Alight facilities in and around Kalma in 2022. Sudan grappled with chronic hardships under the regime of Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in 2019. His three-decade rule was marked by internal conflicts, government mismanagement and punishing international sanctions. - Bouts of violence - The restive Darfur region was the scene of a bitter civil war that broke out in 2003, pitting ethnic African minority rebels against Bashir's government in Khartoum. Economic troubles deepened following the Covid-19 pandemic and a 2021 military coup which derailed a post-Bashir transition and triggered cuts to crucial international aid. Some 65 percent of Sudan's people live under the poverty line, according to a 2020 UN report. Food insecurity is not new to the residents of Kalma, Darfur's largest camp and home to some 120,000 people displaced since the 2003 conflict erupted in the country's arid western region. But residents say conditions have worsened as economic hardships kept rising and sporadic bouts of deadly violence continued. Alight's nutrition centers in Kalma saw a "dramatic increase on admissions to and demand on its emergency nutrition services" in 2022, according to the group's country director, Heidi Diedrich. "Kalma stabilization center newly admitted 863 children in 2022, an increase of 71 percent from 2021," according to Alight. "The number of deaths at the stabilization center increased by 231 percent in 2022, all children aged six months and above." Outside one nutrition center in Kalma, 38-year-old Hawa Suleiman cradled her sleeping infant, hoping to find food for the child. "We have nothing at home. We sometimes go to sleep hungry," she said. - Lack of funding - In recent years the WFP has halved food rations for internally displaced people in Kalma "due to funding constraints", said Kinzli. The lack of funding -- in part due to global economic decline following Covid-19 and the Ukraine crisis -- coupled with rising humanitarian needs puts the WFP in "an impossible situation where we have to choose who receives support and who does not –- it's heartbreaking". The UN has reported a 35 percent deficiency in the production of sorghum -- a staple food in Sudan -- during the 2021-2022 harvest season. Nouralsham Ibrahim, 30, says she could no longer rely on aid to feed her five children. "We try to make some money working the fields outside the camp, but it barely covers one day," she said. "Even the bread is too expensive." For others like Omar, venturing out of the camp in the troubled Darfur region, where ethnic violence still breaks out sporadically, is risky and rarely worth it. "We are not left in peace when we get out to work," said the woman who makes just 500 Sudanese pounds ($0.85) a day when she works in the fields. "Women and girls get raped... and men get killed." The Darfur conflict -- which left 300,000 people killed and 2.5 million displaced -- may have largely subsided but ethnic violence can still break out over access to water, land or cattle. In 2022, clashes killed nearly 1,000 people in the country, including in the Darfur region, according to the UN. "We are very tired," said Ibrahim. "We scramble here and there to get food but we need help."
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4180181/hunger-still-blights-lives-sudans-children
Amir Taheri
Amir Taheri - Amir Taheri was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from 1972 to 1979. He has worked at or written for innumerable publications, published eleven books, and has been a columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat since 1987
In his picaresque novel “Twenty Years After”, a sequel to “Three Musketeers”, French novelist Alexandre Dumas muses on the theme of “the benevolent despot” as a rampart against unbridled change that could lead to savage turbulences. In Arabic folklore 20 years represents a generation, a marking point for reviewing the past in the hope of drawing lessons for the future. The first day of the next spring, 20 March, the 20th anniversary of the Iraq war provides an opportunity for the kind of flashback that Athos, one of Duma’s characters in the novel, uses for judging past events. Well, without beating around the bush, no pun intended, let’s see if today we see the war that toppled Saddam Hussein the same way we did two decades ago. I must remind you that in 2003 I firmly believed that without removing Saddam from power, Iraq would remain stuck in the cul-de-sac created by almost half a century of rule by a small elite of security-military figures of which Saddam was the most prominent and the last avatar. I first met and interviewed Saddam in 1975 when he invited me to lunch at his residence in Baghdad. The residence was a modest villa and nothing like the sumptuous palaces that he later built for himself. But Saddam himself was anything but modest. He talked of the “great things” that Iraq was supposed to do just as “our glorious Babylonian and Arab ancestors” had done. Mesopotamia had been the birthplace of civilization and the first chunk of the earth to develop urban life. In the 7th century, Arabs counted for under a million souls and yet succeeded in defeating the two great empires of the time. What was remarkable in his narrative was that while he spoke of “ancestors who did great things” he seemed to have a low opinion of the here-and-now Iraqis and Arabs in general. The subtext was that it was he and he alone who would have to do all those great things that he talked about. In subsequent meetings with him including time spent with him and his entourage in Tehran and Mashhad I learned that he held his closest aides with utter contempt. He and he alone was the providential man, the knight in shining armor riding his white horse beyond glorious horizons. At the time I saw him as something of a romantic struck by acute narcissism. It was after his demise that I learned that he had been a failed novelist just Stalin had been a failed priest, Hitler a failed painter, Mao Zedong a failed poet, and Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini a failed theologian. On the eve of the US-led invasion in 2003, there was much talk of imposing democracy on Iraq by force. At the time in several articles, I questioned that assertion. However, I believed that force could be used to remove hurdles to democracy. After all, the use of force had opened the path for Germany to democracy and Italy. Another Vietnam military intervention had saved Cambodia from further atrocities by Khmer Rouge while the Tanzanian army had ended Idi Amin’s reign of terror in Uganda. By the time the US-led invasion had come, Saddam had already invaded Kuwait in a massacre-and-loot style never known in the Middle East since medieval times. He had also gassed thousands of Iraqi Kurds in the martyred town of Halabcheh and used chemical weapons against raw recruits dispatched to war by his partner in crime Ayatollah Khomeini. But, enough of this litany of woes against the dead despot. Twenty years later, is Iraq a better place than it was under Saddam Hussein? Well, it may not be a better place but is certainly less bad than it was 20 years ago over the past 20 years some four million Iraqis who had fled the country as refugees have returned home. Today ranks number 14O in the list of countries producing migrants and refugees. Under Saddam Hussein, it ranked among the top 10. Even then, most of those leaving Iraq today are from the Kurdish autonomous area, often young men seeking a better economic future in Europe. At the same time, Iraq shelters many Syrian refugees. Neighboring Iran is facing a bigger outflow of refugees, especially highly educated people, than Iraq. In the past 20 years life expectancy in Iraq has risen from 67 years in 2002 to over 75 in 2021. Iraq has also done better, or less bad, in economic terms with the gross domestic product per head rising to $10,000 from a paltry $2100 in 2002. The national currency, the dinar, has increased fourfold in value compared to a basket of major currencies. In the neighboring Islamic Republic, however, the Iranian currency, the rial, compared to the US$ has fallen to 500,000 for one $1 compared to 70 in 1978. Despite the increasing shortage of water due to massive dams built in Turkiye, Iraqi agriculture which had almost died under the fallen despot has made a timid comeback. In 2021 Iraq was no longer among the countries regarded as “vulnerable” in terms of food shortages and famine. In terms of political and social freedoms Iraq also doing better than such neighbors as the Islamic Republic in Iran and the parts of Syria controlled by the Assad regime. Facing such deadly challenges as the emergence of ISIS and the attempted Kurdish secession, post-Saddam Iraq has manifested a degree of resilience more than few might have expected. It has also succeeded in frustrating attempts by the Islamic Republic in Tehran to stall the emergence of an Iraqi national army and the imposition of a militia state. The US made many mistakes in Iraq, including the disbanding of the army, the banning of all Ba’ath Party members, and childish attempts at imposing a market economy in a highly centralized system. The pumping of massive quantities of US dollars into Iraq also led to corruption on a gargantuan scale. Many individual Americans and companies won tickets on that gravy train while branding Iraqis as genetically prone to corruption. Today, Iraq is among the top countries where corruption has become a way of life rather than an exception to the rules of probity. But even then things were worse under Saddam when corruption benefited small segments of society. Today, however, corruption is used as a tool of patronage offering a meal ticket to larger segments of society clustered around individual politicians or ethnic and religious groups. The war didn’t turn Iraq into a model of democracy. But, as an Iraqi friend put it the other day, it ended what Kanan Makiyah had called “The Republic of Fear.”
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4180131/amir-taheri/republic-fear-20-years-after
MODON Signs Food and Beverage Agreements Worth $285 Million
Business
Riyadh - Asharq Al-Awsat
Saudi Arabia continues to attract investments in the food industry. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones (MODON) signed a number of agreements to localize the food and beverage industry in the Kingdom, with total investments amounting to 1.07 billion riyals ($285 million). The announcement was made on the sidelines of MODON’s participation in the Gulfood exhibition in Dubai, where the authority revealed recent partnerships aimed at localizing the Kingdom’s food and beverage industry in line with Saudi Vision 2030 and the National Industry Strategy. A statement on Friday said MODON signed an agreement with the Jordan Valley Food Industries, Al-Bayrouty, to establish a factory in the Second Industrial City in Jeddah on an area of 15,000 square meters, with investments worth 50 million Saudi riyals for the production of grains and legumes. The Authority also signed an agreement with the Kuwaiti Danish Dairy Co. to build a 100,000 square meter factory in Sudair Industrial and Business City near Riyadh to produce a variety of food and beverages. MODON also signed an agreement with Siniora Food Industries, according to which the Authority will allocate a piece of land with an area of 25,000 square meters for long-term use in the second industrial area in Jeddah for Siniora to build a factory to produce all types of cold cuts and frozen meat. The estimated cost of this investment is about 140 million Saudi riyals, equivalent to USD37 million.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4178831/modon-signs-food-and-beverage-agreements-worth-285-million
