Recent stories from sustg

  • FocusKSA Video: Former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia James Smith on the King Abdullah Scholarship Program
     

    The number of students participating in Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Scholarship Program has skyrocketed over the past decade from around 2,000 students in 2002 to over 80,000 today, comments former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia James B. Smith. In a recent FocusKSA (a joint Saudi-US Trade Group/SUSRIS.com initiative) interview with Pat Ryan, SUSRIS Editor-in-Chief, former U.S. […]

     
  • Where are U.S. Airstrikes Bombing Islamic State Locations in Iraq From?
     

    Craig Whitlock in the Washington Post reports that recent U.S. airstrikes into Iraq on Islamic State targets are taking off from bases in Qatar and the UAE in addition to aircraft carriers in the Arabian Gulf, but neither government is directly admitting it at this time. That the U.S. is using Gulf allies as their […]

     
  • How Chairman and Owner of the Atlantic David Bradley Played a Key Role in Journalist’s Release
     

    Adam Goldman and Karen DeYoung detail in the Washington Post the role of David Bradley, Chairman and Owner of the Atlantic Media Group, and how the executive worked with an unnamed FBI Agent and Ghanim Khalifa al-Kubaisi, the chief of Qatar’s intelligence service, to free Peter Theo Curtis from captivity in Syria. The article draws […]

     
  • Sfakianakis: Now is the Time for Energy Subsidy Reform in Saudi Arabia
     

    Annual energy subsidies in Saudi Arabia amount to $120 billion; roughly a quarter of all global energy subsidies combined. As with subsidies worldwide, those in Saudi Arabia are in place primarily for political and social reasons. Unfortunately, energy subsidies result in numerous and profound economic distortions that ultimately do not benefit the poor in particular […]

     
  • The Good Stuff
     

    So, Walid, this Saudi student at the University of Southern California was in Pennsylvania talking with some Amish farmers about their camels… A lot has been made of the King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP) established in 2005 to encourage Saudi students to study abroad. It is a truly ambitious enterprise that has propelled 150,000+ Saudi […]

     
  • Saudi Arabia’s Timely Push for Solar to Reduce Oil Consumption
     

    It’s no secret that Saudi Arabia’s energy consumption is soaring, and that to meet increasing demand, the Kingdom is siphoning off more and more of its crude to power the booming Saudi economy. Although Saudi Arabia has plenty of oil, what is consumed to meet domestic power demand cannot be sold on the market. Writing […]

     
  • Sfakianakis: ‘The great giant of the emerging markets has finally awakened’
     

    Saudi Arabia’s stability in contrast to many of its neighbors in the Middle East region is a cause for optimism for the Kingdom’s economy and future, writes John Sfakianakis in the Financial Times’ Beyond Brics blog. Noting that those who argue that the Kingdom is the next destination for turmoil have “been thinking that for […]

     
  • Saudi Women’s Share in the Kingdom’s Commercial Activity Records a Sharp Increase
     

    According to a recent report in the Saudi Gazette, the Kingdom’s women are increasing their share in Saudi Arabia’s private sector commercial activity, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in an annual report: The latest in an uptick in female involvement in the workplace, the news follows another report in the Saudi Arabic-daily OKAZ […]

     
  • Turning the Corner on MERS
     

    When the spread of the deadly coronavirus MERS started making headlines on a daily basis in the Spring, international concern began to mount that the Saudi government wasn’t doing enough to contain the virus. New confirmed cases started emerging in other countries in the region, even reaching the United States. As the death toll mounted, […]

     
  • 35 percent of hotel rooms in Dubai occupied by Saudi Citizens on Summer Vacation
     

    Saudis are escaping the heat in the Kingdom by flocking to destinations abroad, but many aren’t making it far – a recent report in the Saudi Gazette finds that many are flocking to neighboring Dubai, a popular vacation spot for Saudis during the summer months. The Saudi Gazette reports that the high rates of Saudis […]

     

MUST-READS