Saudi Arabia welcomes resumption of diplomatic ties between Bahrain and Qatar

Saudi Arabia has welcomed the resumption of diplomatic relations between Bahrain and Qatar, which was announced following the second Qatari-Bahrain follow-up committee meeting in Riyadh.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs applauded this constructive step, which affirms the robustness of relations among members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and advances joint Gulf action that achieves the aspirations of the region's states and peoples.

The United States congratulated Bahrain and Qatar on their decision to resume diplomatic ties, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said Thursday.

"This breakthrough represents a crucial step in our collective efforts to forge a more integrated, stable, peaceful, and prosperous region," Patel noted in a press release one day after the two GCC states reached a deal in this regard.

"The United States has sought to promote regional integration and de-escalation, including among these two important partners and Gulf Cooperation Council member states.

"The United States will continue to actively work with regional partners to advance this shared aim of a more integrated, stable and prosperous Middle East region," he added.

GCC Secretary-General Jassem Albudaiwi applauded the step, which stems from the directives of the leaders of the GCC countries that were issued at the "Sultan Qaboos and Sheikh Sabah Summit", which was held in AlUla in 2021.

He added that those instructions embody the GCC leaders' keenness to secure the future and protect the cohesion of the Council in line with key attributes of the links connecting the Council member states, including the bonds of kinship, friendship, brotherhood, history and common destiny, and unity which are the pillars of the GCC blessed march.

In a statement, the Cairo-based Arab Parliament hailed the Bahraini-Qatari agreement as a positive step toward enhancing joint Arab action and regional security and stability.

 

Zelensky accused for embezzlement of millions of dollars

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars that the United States allocated for the purchase of fuel, according to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh.

In his blog, Hersh writes – The Ukraine government, headed by Volodymyr Zelensky, has been using American taxpayers’ funds to pay dearly for the vitally needed diesel fuel that is keeping the Ukrainian army on the move in its war with Russia.

It is unknown how much the Zalensky government is paying per gallon for the fuel, but the Pentagon was paying as much as US$400 per gallon to transport gasoline from a port in Pakistan, via truck or parachute, into Afghanistan during the decades-long American war there.

The issue of corruption was directly raised with Zelensky in a meeting last January in Kyiv with CIA Director William Burns. His message to the Ukrainian president, I was told by an intelligence official with direct knowledge of the meeting, was out of a 1950s mob movie.

The senior generals and government officials in Kyiv were angry at what they saw as Zelensky’s greed, so Burns told the Ukrainian president, “He was taking a larger share of the skim money than was going to the generals.” 

Burns also presented Zelensky with a list of thirty-five generals and senior officials whose corruption was known to the CIA and others in the American government. Zelensky responded to the American pressure ten days later by publicly dismissing ten of the most ostentatious officials on the list and doing little else.

“The ten he got rid of were brazenly bragging about the money they had—driving around Kyiv in their new Mercedes,” the intelligence official told me.

Meanwhile, Hersh, citing an intelligence official, said that the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines and lack of strategic planning with regard to Ukraine had caused a growing rift between the White House and the US intelligence community.

“There is a total breakdown between the White House leadership and the intelligence community,” the intelligence official was quoted by Hersh as saying.

The alleged rift dates back to the covert operation last fall to blow up Russia’s Nord Stream pipelines, a move that was purportedly ordered by President Joe Biden.

“Destroying the Nord Stream pipelines was never discussed, or even known in advance, by the community,” the official said.

Another issue dividing the Biden administration and the intelligence community is the lack of planning on Ukraine. The official highlighted Biden’s decision to deploy two brigades a few miles from the Ukrainian border in response to Russia’s special military operation.

The actual manpower of the 101st and 82nd airborne divisions could total more than 20,000, but there is still “no evidence that any senior official in the White House really knows what’s going on in” the brigades, the intelligence officials told Hersh.

“Are they there as part of a NATO exercise or to serve with NATO combat units if the West decides to engage Russian units inside Ukraine? Are they there to train or to be a trigger? The rules of engagement say they can’t attack Russians unless our boys are getting attacked,” the official said.

The official said that while the White House lacks clarity on its policy in Ukraine, the Pentagon is somewhat optimistically preparing for an end to the conflict. Two months ago, the US Joint Chiefs tasked members of the staff with drafting an end-of-war treaty to present to the Russians “after their defeat on the Ukraine battlefield,” Hersh said, citing a source.

But it remains unclear what will happen if the Pentagon’s scenario goes wrong and Ukrainian forces fail on the battlefield. Will the two American brigades deployed close to the war zone join forces with NATO troops and face off with the Russian army inside Ukraine? Hersh asks.

 

Afghanistan should not be used for geopolitical rivalry

On Thursday, the foreign ministers of Iran, China, Russia and Pakistan held a quadrilateral informal meeting on Afghanistan in Samarkand, Uzbekistan to discuss the situation in the war-torn country.

Among the four countries meeting in Samarkand, Iran, Pakistan and China share border with Afghanistan, which fell to the Taliban in August 2021.

The chief diplomats released a joint statement in which they called on Taliban authorities to form an inclusive government with the participation of all ethnic groups and political institutions.

Meanwhile, the statement also asked the de facto authorities to lift all restriction measures against women and ethnic minorities in the country.

The statement also emphasized that a peaceful Afghanistan is in the international community’s interest and that the country should be a place for international cooperation rather than geopolitical rivalry.

The statement also blamed the United States and its allies for the current state of affairs in the country and asked for the immediate lifting of unilateral sanctions against Afghanistan and releasing its assets to benefit the people. 

The four foreign ministers also stressed the importance of respecting Afghanistan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

They also expressed their support for the principle of “Afghan ownership and Afghan leadership” to determine the political and development path of the country, according to Press TV.

The four countries also expressed concern about the security situation and the growing terrorism in Afghanistan. They reiterated that terrorist groups based in Afghanistan severely threaten regional and global peace. 

Meanwhile, the four countries asked the de facto government in Kabul to “take tangible action in fighting against terrorism and eliminating terrorist groups in the country.”

All terrorist groups based in the country, including Daesh, East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Jaish ul-Adl pose a serious threat to regional and international security, the ministers warned.

The first quadrilateral meeting on Afghanistan was held on September 16, 2022 on the sidelines the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.

 

Singapore bunker sales rebound in March

Sales of marine fuel, also known as bunker fuel, recovered at top refuelling hub Singapore in March as vessel calls for bunkering reached more than two-year highs, official data showed Friday.

Bunker sales are an indicator of sentiment at one of the world's most major ports and demand also affects fuel oil refining margins in Asia.

Singapore's bunker sales in March rose to 4.18 million tons, up 10%MoM and 11%YoY, Maritime and Port Authority data showed.

The rise reflected increasing vessel calls for bunkering, which hit more than two-year highs at 3,476 calls in March.

Demand improved after a lackluster February, when sales hit eight-month lows.

Lower upstream crude oil prices in March, which led to lower outright prices for bunkers, encouraged slightly more buying inquiries, trade sources said.

Volumes rose in March for all key bunker grades, including low-sulphur fuel oil, high-sulphur fuel oil and marine gasoil.

Bunker sales of LSFO grades totaled 2.58 million tons, up 10%MoM, the data showed.

Sales of HSFO grades totaled 1.24 million tons, up 11% from February while marine gasoil sales rose 9% to 330,200 tons.

 

 

Quds Day being observed under radically changed conditions

Today, Quds Day is being observed around the globe with mass anti-Israel protests. The founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini, initiated the day of solidarity with Palestine on the last Friday of Ramadan. 

Israel is witnessing growing resistance against its colonialism, most significantly over the past year, from the occupied West Bank. 

Gone are the days when Israeli troops enjoyed the freedom to raid West Bank towns and villages to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians residing there. 

Today, newly formed armed resistance factions by the West Bank youth have changed the equation and are taking the battle to Israel's occupation troops.

They are conducting armed retaliatory operations against the regime's occupation including at its many military checkpoints scattered across the West Bank. Those retaliatory operations have struck the heart of the occupied territories, Tel Aviv.

They are also refusing to surrender to the regime's almost daily pre-dawn invasion of Palestinian towns and villages. Instead, these youths are confronting Special Forces in armed clashes, battles that usually last several hours. 

Their refusal to surrender explains the high Palestinian death toll. Israeli forces have murdered around 100 Palestinians so far this year.

It's no wonder Israel plans to set up a "National Guard" (described as a settler militia) to handle the West Bank resistance. 

That's how Israeli media described a photo published on April 9, 2023 of a meeting between the Secretary General of Lebanon's Hezbollah Sayyad Hassan Nasrallah and Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas political bureau. 

The two leaders met in Beirut to discuss the readiness of the axis of resistance and to further expand their cooperation in light of Israel's terrorism these days at al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The meeting between Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Hamas movement in the besieged Gaza Strip to expand and improve cooperation will be seen as a major concern among the security apparatus of the Zionist entity.

The salvo of missiles fired from Palestinian refugee camps in Southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip in response to Israel’s desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque (Islam’s third holiest site) indicated one key element.

The regime responded by striking farmland in Lebanon and airstrikes in the Gaza Strip for one night. In both attacks it was careful not to kill anybody as it cannot afford a wider conflict with the Palestinian resistance.

It also cannot embark on a war with Hezbollah as it knows very well the powerful resistance movement has weapons that can strike deep inside all occupied territories, including precision missiles that can hit very sensitive sites, including Israel’s Dimona nuclear weapons plant.

The same can be said about the Gaza Strip. Israel cannot afford a conflict with the Palestinian resistance in the blockaded coastal enclave as the resistance has missiles in its hands that can hit vital Israeli infrastructure and humiliate the regime.

With the power of the resistance in Lebanon and Gaza significantly growing, Israel can’t even wage a war to divert attention from the crisis the entity is witnessing from within.

There have been mass protests by Israelis against their new coalition’s plans to overhaul the regime’s so-called judicial system.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets and clashed with forces in protest against the proposed measures by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-orthodox and fascist cabinet.

Such is the extent of the fighting within Israel and warnings by the regime’s President and other officials of a civil war, Netanyahu’s cabinet was forced to postpone the plans for a month.

But as the English say, he is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

If Netanyahu drops his overhaul plans, he could end up in prison for corruption charges as well as members of his fragile coalition withdrawing, which would mean an end to his majority in the Israeli Knesset.

That would result in fifth election in less than five years. There has never been so much internal division within Israel’s 75 years of occupation of Palestine. Nevertheless, Netanyahu needs to keep his cabinet at any cost. This explains the vicious storming into al-Aqsa Mosque and committing terror on innocent worshipers in a desperate bid to appease the settlers.

If there is anything that brings a smile on the settler’s faces, it is footage of the occupation troops mercilessly attacking women and men inside al-Aqsa Mosque. But again, this comes with its ramifications that Israel will face in the near future.

So much is the division over Netanyahu’s overhaul plans of the judiciary that even segments in nearly all of the regime’s military armed forces and units withdrew from crucial training, which Israeli military officials, in turn, said poses a direct threat to the existence of the occupation.

In another major setback for Israel, its staunchest supporter, the United States has lost its clout in West Asia as witnessed by the recent detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia as well as the steady restoration of ties between Syria and the Arab world. 

In a sign of how developments are quickly changing in West Asia, a Saudi delegation travelled to the Yemeni capital Sana’a for talks with the head of the popular Ansarullah revolution, not the other way round.

This was not the case two decades ago, when Washington had major influence on the region. That influence is now shifting to the countries in West Asia itself. 

Alongside that, such is the fascist language being publicly broadcast by the minister in Netanyahu’s cabinet, that it has forced the US to end its decades long protocol of inviting a new Israel’s Prime Minister to the White House within two or three months.

Netanyahu, who assumed power again in January is still waiting for an invitation to hold talks with President Joe Biden. And he may have to wait longer.

On March 28, when Biden stressed he is not going to invite the Israeli prime minister to Washington “in the near term”, Netanyahu publicly hit back at the US President, underscoring the tense relationship between the current White House and the Israeli occupation.

However, it all goes back to the indigenous people of the land.

On Sunday Syrian President Bashar al-Assad pointed out that the Palestinian nation’s perseverance has pushed the occupying regime to the brink of collapse.

Israel has never been in a fragile state (pardon the pun) as it is now, facing so many crises from within and from the developments in the region as well as the international community as it continues to pursue its extremely racist agenda. 

 

Lula backs replacing US dollar in foreign trade

Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called on BRICS nations to come up with an alternative to replace the US dollar in foreign trade, supporting China’s crusade against US global dominance just as he prepares to meet with President Xi Jinping in Beijing. 

Lula’s remarks were made on Thursday during a visit to the Shanghai-based New Development Bank, an institution created by BRICS countries, which, along with Brazil and China, include Russia, India and South Africa. Former Brazil President Dilma Rousseff is the bank’s new chief executive. 

 “Why can’t an institution like the BRICS bank have a currency to finance trade relations between Brazil and China, between Brazil and all the other BRICS countries?” he said. “Who decided that the US dollar was the (trade) currency after the end of gold parity?” 

Beijing has ramped up efforts to boost the use of its own currency in foreign trade. Last month, Brazil and China took steps to make it easier to settle their foreign trade operations in yuan or reais, with the stated goal of reducing costs by eliminating a third currency from the transactions. 

Brazil’s Finance Minister Fernando Haddad, who’s accompanying Lula in his trip to China, said local currencies are already used in bilateral trade through instruments such as credit receipts. The goal, he added, is to expand mechanisms that allow trade operations to be settled without the intermediation of a third currency. 

“The advantage is to avoid the straitjacket imposed by necessarily having trade operations settled in a currency of a country not involved in the transaction,” he told reporters in Shanghai.

 Courtesy: Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia launches Special Economic Zones

According to Saudi Gazette, Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, who is also chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, launched on Thursday four new Special Economic Zones in Saudi Arabia.

The announcement about the new economic zones, which are located in Riyadh, Jazan, Ras al-Khair and King Abdullah Economic City, north of Jeddah, is line with the Crown Prince’s commitment to strengthening Saudi Arabia’s prime position as a global investment destination.

In a statement carried by Saudi Press Agency, the Crown Prince said, “Saudi Arabia is open for business, and welcomes investors from all around the world to see first-hand the historic opportunities we have to offer. The new Special Economic Zones, launched today, will significantly impact how business is done in the country, create tens of thousands of jobs, and contribute billions of riyals to our GDP.”

The new zones draw on Saudi Arabia’s strategic location at the heart of global trade, creating new hubs for businesses across key growth sectors to launch and scale the companies and technologies that will shape the future. The Special Economic Zones (SEZs) will support existing national strategies and create new linkages with international frameworks, building on the competitive advantages of each region to support key sectors including logistics, advanced manufacturing, technology and other priority sectors for the Kingdom.

Benefits for companies operating in the new SEZs include competitive corporate tax rates, exemption from customs duties on imports, production inputs, machinery and raw materials, 100 percent foreign ownership of companies, and flexibility to attract and hire the best talent worldwide.

The new SEZs will provide tremendous opportunities to develop the local economy, generate jobs and localize supply chains. They represent a continuation of the Kingdom’s long-running initiatives to transform into a global investment destination, and a vital hub for global supply chains, capitalizing on its position at the heart of global trade routes, at the crossroads between East and West. With a detailed program of regulations and incentives, these SEZs offer rewarding and attractive offers for foreign investment. This program will allow for the acceleration of the required reforms to facilitate doing business in all parts of the Kingdom.

These four SEZs build on previous free zone initiatives in the Kingdom, including the recent launch of the integrated logistics special zone at King Salman International Airport in Riyadh. Together, they represent the first phase of a major, long-term program aimed at encouraging foreign direct investment, attracting the most talented professionals from around the world, and promoting entrepreneurship and economic development within the Kingdom.

The Special Economic Zones, regulated by the Economic Cities and Special Zones Authority, provide new solutions to the challenges facing many global businesses as they look to localize and strengthen their supply chains. They will help the Kingdom take advantage of key macroeconomic shifts to create a truly differentiated business environment, activating new sectors and value chains, the SPA reported.