MUST-READS

• Commentary: With new presidents and a changed Middle East, what are the chances of a US-Iran reset?

  US president-elect Donald Trump is inheriting a golden opportunity from President Joe Biden to finally prove to be the great international "dealmaker” of his ambitions. Mr Trump will enter office facing a profoundly weakened Iran that was already suing for talks with Washington a year ago and is now perfectly positioned to have to accept a deal that is highly advantageous for the Americans. The stars are so perfectly aligned that it would take considerable clumsiness for anyone to fail. Now, however, Mr Trump will find Iran profoundly diminished and probably desperate to make a deal. He is unlikely to give any credit to Mr Biden, but it is during the past 14 months that Tehran's national security strategy has fallen to pieces in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel. This has been partly because of Israel's actions in Gaza and Lebanon, extreme miscalculations by Hezbollah and Iran itself and, worst of all, the indirect consequence of the downfall of the Assad government in Syria.

• The Red Sea Film Fest Roundtable in Saudi Arabia With Spike Lee: “We Are Witnessing a Big Change”

  RSIFF 2024 jury president Spike Lee took time out of his busy festival schedule to take part in the discussion at the historic Nassif House Museum in Jeddah’s Old Town Al-Balad. Representing host nation Saudi Arabia was Meshal Al Jaser, whose humorous thriller Naga, which tells the story of a young woman who sneaks out for a date that goes wrong, screened in the 2023 RSIFF’s Arab Spectacular section and is streaming on Netflix. It also presented an opportunity to bring together six filmmakers who have made names for themselves as game changers and innovators for the second annual Hollywood Reporter roundtable at the Red Sea International Film Festival. The filmmakers discussed a broad range of topics, including creative influences, the importance of music, battling stereotypes, the role of AI and the lasting influence of Lee’s Do the Right Thing.

• Hosting FIFA World Cup 2034 a game-changer for RSL and Saudi Arabia

  With the carrot of the FIFA World Cup in 2034 now officially on the horizon – Saudi Arabia were on Wednesday confirmed as hosts - football in the Kingdom will never be the same again. First, is the physical transformation already set in motion. For the 48-team showpiece, Saudi Arabia will utilise 15 stadiums, 11 of which will be new builds. The impact this will have on the RSL will be remarkable, as teams begin to play in some of the most breathtaking and technologically advanced arenas anywhere in the world. And, from a football perspective, hosting the tournament will be a complete game-changer. The RSL was already on a path towards an exciting new future, but staging arguably the foremost sporting event will turbocharge that development, especially among local Saudi talent.

• Trump’s return may be a boon for Netanyahu, but challenges abound in a changed Middle East

  “For Bibi, this is his dream. He wanted this,” said Mazal Mualem, an Israeli journalist and Netanyahu biographer, referring to the Israeli leader by his nickname. “For Bibi, it’s too good to be true.” During Trump’s first term, he adopted policies largely favorable to Netanyahu. Trump broke with longstanding U.S. policy to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moving the U.S. Embassy to the contested city over Palestinian objections. He recognized Israel’s claim to the Golan Heights, which the international community considers occupied Syrian territory. He also turned a blind eye to Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and presented a peace plan that would leave dozens of settlements intact.

• Saudi Arabia goes on the offensive on climate change

  Saudi Arabia came out fighting on the opening day of the 2024 edition of the Saudi Green Initiative, in response to some strident criticism of the country’s role at the recent Cop29 climate change summit in Baku, Azerbaijan from Western media, backed by environmentalists and mainly European “green” politicians. The shadow of Baku’s Cop29 on climate change still hung in the air in Riyadh. In a rebuttal of accusations that Saudi Arabia had backtracked on climate change commitments, and been obstructive on financial and other measures in Baku, Prince Abdulaziz said that it “follows the rules” in climate change negotiations. It is very difficult to see the SGI forum as greenwashing. It is too well planned, well resourced and well executed. Anyone who visits must be impressed by the Saudi commitment to “green” policies and realise they are an integral part of the Vision 2030 strategy towards economic diversification.

• Major changes to Saudi commerce laws to boost $453bn private sector

  Saudi Arabia’s business landscape expects a ground-breaking shift with local investment projected to grow by up to 8.8 per cent under the Kingdom’s new commercial register law, according to a detailed report by the Centre for Economic Studies at the Federation of Saudi Chambers of Commerce, which analysed the law’s potential to transform the business climate. The report paints a vibrant picture of the Saudi private sector’s current impact, revealing its SR1.7tn ($453bn) contribution to the GDP and a total of 1.5m active commercial registers.

• COP29: Saudi Arabia launches carbon credit exchange to bolster decarbonization efforts

  The exchange platform, managed by Saudi Arabia's Regional Voluntary Carbon Market Company (RVCMC), is part of Saudi Arabia's strategy to scale up its voluntary carbon market. As part of the opening, 22 Saudi and international companies will participate in an auction on Nov. 12 on the platform. The auction will offer 2.5 million high-integrity carbon credits from 17 projects certified by Verra, Gold Standard and Puro.earth, with a vintage of 2020 onwards. Most of the credits auctioned will be from projects in the Global South, including Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Vietnam. This will be RVCMC's third carbon credit auction after it held auctions in Nairobi and Riyadh previously. Last year, RVCMC sold 2.2 million mt of carbon credits on June 14 at its second auction in Kenya as the kingdom looks to expand its presence in the carbon sector.

• ‘Change the Game’: Saudi Arabia Takes a Stride Into Women’s Tennis

  Moving into tennis, Saudi Arabia recently hosted the Six Kings Slam, an exhibition showcasing the top men’s players. And it struck a three-year deal with the financially struggling WTA to bring its finals to Riyadh in part with the promise of awarding some $15 million in prize money this year. Those are the highest winnings in the history of women’s tennis, satisfying players’ demands for prize parity with men. “The Western world can keep reporting that our country is sportswashing, or whatever, but what matters is that my sisters and I can watch our favorite sports stars right here at home,” said Maryam al-Shammeri, who was in the crowd for the WTA final on Saturday night with her brother and two sisters.

• Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival Highlights Local Productions Depicting Social Change in Arab Galas Strand

  Films from Saudi Arabia form the core of the Red Sea International Film Festival’s Arab Spectacular five-picture strand, which features world premieres of a trio of new Saudi titles exploring societal changes in the kingdom. One case in point is “Hobal,” the new allegorical drama by Saudi director Abdulaziz Alshlahei (“The Tambour of Retribution”). The film follows a Bedouin family whose members are forced by its patriarch to live in isolation in the desert due to fear of an infectious disease during the 1990s when Saudi was starting to open up to the outside world.

• Opinion: Sinwar’s Death Changes Nothing

  Netanyahu’s calculation is no mystery. Should he leave political office, he faces a criminal-corruption trial and a probable inquiry into the security meltdown on October 7. He has apparently concluded that the best way to stay out of prison is to stay in power, and the best way to stay in power is to keep the war going—specifically, the war in Gaza. The battle against Hezbollah in Lebanon is too volatile, and involves too many other actors, including the United States, Iran, and Gulf Arab countries, for Israel to keep control of its trajectory. For this reason, Lebanon is much less useful than Gaza as a domestic political tool.

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