Donors
The Jerusalem Post reports that Saudi Arabia will donate $10 billion to Jordan to help manage the ever-increasing number of Syrian refugees spilling into the Hashemite Kingdom. My cynical side wonders if this is a response to Kuwait's Syrian Donor conference due to take place in Kuwait City later this month. That said, whatever Saudi's motivation, it is great to see more affirmative action in support of the innocent Syrians caught in Asad's cross-fire.
Meddlers
An article on the
Yahoo News blog reports that US ambassador to Yemen, Gerald Feierstein has accused Iran of stirring disruption in Yemen by supporting southern separatists in the fractured country. This is not the first time that Iran has acted as a catalyst to disruption in the countries of the Arabian Peninsula, especially those which border Saudi Arabia. If the ambassador's assertions are correct, this is another example of Iran unsettling a nation that borders Saudi Arabia. Iran's motivations are pretty easy to second-guess: by provoking disruption in countries like Yemen and Bahrain Iran hopes the spats of violence will spill over the border into Saudi, threatening the House of Saud. The Iran-Saudi power struggle rumbles on.
Builders
Despite 2012 being a year of violent demonstrations in Bahrain, ArabBusiness.com reports that Bahrain's real estate transactions were up 46% last year. This is good news for the island kingdom which has seen some of its international business tenants relocate in favour of "more stable" regional hubs such as Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The article reports that there is still cause for concern, but is right to write with a little optimism that the real-estate market is moving again. If Bahrain's government starts listening to the Shia opposition, rather than attempting to silence them through archaic laws, 2013 may be a better year all round!
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