GCC Planning Aid Package for Oman and Bahrain to Quell Discontent

The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas reports today that the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council are holding discussions about sending financial aid to two of its members who have been hit by demonstrations and protests, Bahrain and Oman, as the Middle East continues to show signs of instability and violence.

The other four members of the GCC, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are considering sending an aid package to help improve the economic and social conditions of their less prosperous neighbors. Together the wealthiest of the six GCC states are said to have about $1.35 trillion in surplus assets, gathered just in the past several years of high oil prices. The aid would be designed to help pay for housing for the needy, create jobs and improve public services in Oman and Kuwait.

Protests in Bahrain have been focused largely on demands for political and economic reforms, while the demonstrators in Oman are more concerned with political corruption and lack of jobs.

Some analysts are comparing this proposed aid package plan of the GCC with the famous Marshall Plan of the United States, which helped rebuild and support Europe in the aftermath of the devastation of World War II. The plan was named after the creator of the plan, the United States Secretary of State at the time, George Marshall.

One Wounded in Oman as Government Attempts to Disperse Crowds

 

Tuesday marked the fourth day of protests in the northern port city of Sohar in Oman. According to witnesses, about 200 to 300 people were on the road demanding jobs and political reforms when the army began shooting in the air. “Many people ran,” said one protester who asked not to be mentioned by name. “The man who was shot came to calm down the army.”

The shots fired caused the crowd to begin to disperse, but they soon reformed at a traffic circle near the port, and the troops pulled back.

On Monday the demonstrators successfully blocked the entrance to Sohar port, disrupting the export of the country’s life blood, oil. On average Oman sends 160,000 barrels a day out of the country.

Protests also spread to the capital city of Muscat on Monday. The demonstrations are a rare event in what is usually considered a ‘sleepy sultanate.’ Sultan Qaboos bin Said has ruled the country for over 40 years, and is surprised by the fervor he is witnessing in what is otherwise a stable society.

The sultan is acting to calm the tensions in his country, which erupted on the general wave of protests which are sweeping through the Middle East.  On Sunday the sultan offered to create 50,000 jobs and offered unemployment benefits to workers out of jobs of 239 pounds/month. He has also said that he will investigate ways to give more power to the quasi-parliamentary advisory council.

Britain Stages Rescue Missions for Britons Stuck in Libya

British nationals who found themselves stranded in Libya as a result of the escalating crisis there were rescued last night in the second daring mission conducted last night by members of Britain’s Special Air Service and Special Boat Service. 150 people were taken to Malta aboard three RAF Hercules airplanes after meeting at remote locations in the Libyan desert.

There is a bit of confusion about how many of those rescued are actual Britons, but after a night in a Malta hotel those with British passports will be flown back to their homes in England.

This latest action brinks to five the number of rescue flights which the British government has ordered this past weekend. The British Defense Secretary Liam Fox said,

“Three RAF C-130 Hercules aircraft have successfully evacuated around a further 150 civilians from multiple locations in the eastern Libyan desert. The first and second aircraft have landed in Malta and the third is due to arrive shortly. The aircraft have picked up civilians from a number of nations including Britain.”

Gaddafi’s Enemies Hope to Avert Bloodshed When Revolution Finally Comes

Insurgents in Libya are warning the supporters of Muammar Gaddafi to separate themselves from the Colonel or else be prepared to be part of a great blood bath that is coming to Gaddafi and those that choose to stick by him.

Gaddafi’s enemies are saying that his 42-year-long reign is coming to an abrupt end in the next few days, but as Gaddafi himself stated in his speech on Friday, his last act as leader of Libya will be to order a massive attack on civilians in his country. If that happens, his enemies say, a bloody fight will ensue.

Leaders of the revolt deeply fear that those in support of the regime will be massacred by angry mobs unless they decide to give up now. They are terrified that the new, free Libya will be born out of terrible bloodshed.

Among those leaders is Mustafa Mohamed Abud al Jeleil. He is 59 and was one of the first of Colonel Gaddafi’s supporters to turn against him in the recent unrest. Dr Juma Abdul a former assistant to al Jeleil said, "This appeal is the last chance for them to leave Gaddafi, so the Libyan people will forgive them. We are trying to stop the bloodshed in Tripoli.”

Those in opposition to Gaddafi are also calling for the leader’s own security forces to back down and turn against their leader so that bloody violence can be averted. Others are hoping that Gaddafi will be persuaded to leave the country and love in exile with the possibility of Zimbabwe being floated.

Predicting the Economic Future of Construction in Egypt

As Egypt is going through the turmoil of reinventing itself, there is no doubt that this, at least for the short term, will adversely affect the economic marketplace there. It seems universally true that political instability leads to economic instability, and for now that is what can be expected in Egypt. However, the real question of importance is what to expect from Egypt, and the entire MENA (Middle East and North African) region in terms of long term economic development.

For the past several months, until the unprecedented events which took place in Egypt which caused the downfall of Hosni Mubarak, prospects for great economic development in Egypt looked good, especially in the construction sector. Many analysts are saying that these trends should continue, with the revolution being just a speed bump on the road to greater economic prosperity.

Since macroeconomic shifts are extraordinarily hard to predict, it is all we can but to wait and see which way the tide turns in the economic fortunes of Egypt and the rest of the MENA.

Intelligence Management System ORA Debuts at IDEX 2011

Governments, defense agencies and other users can look forward to a new and affordable solution to their intelligence gathering and information management needs as ORA has mobilized the world’s leading technology from Microsoft’s Intelligence Framework Search to bring them an integrated and affordable platform to meet their needs.

ORA has also brought together the most powerful hardware solutions from Dell which can deliver the best possible, multiple-level security  answers for a huge host of IT applications.

Together with Olton, Microsoft and Dell are bringing forth a new and unique intelligence capability which they are calling ORA, which is being introduced at IDEX 2011, the Intelligence and Defense Exhibit.

Paul Manister the Olton founder remarked,

“We are thrilled to be launching our ORA Technology here at IDEX, the world's leading and most prestigious Defense Exhibition.”

Tom Bloechl, the managing director at Microsoft for worldwide public safety added that,

“Microsoft works closely with partners such as Olton, who have a proven record of delivering Microsoft-based solutions, to meet the needs of government and commercial customers around the world. In a world literally overflowing with information, Olton's support of the Microsoft Citizen Safety Architecture and the Microsoft Intelligence Framework enables a heightened ability to deliver precise intelligence assessments and respond in real time to security threats."

Sharakah Exhibit Extolls SMEs to Dignitaries

Omani dignitaries were on hand for a briefing from The Fund for Development of Youth Projects, also known as Sharakah. Included among the leaders who were learning about ways to financially support this exceptional fund which encourages the establishment and growth of small and medium sized enterprises were the minister of sports affairs Ali bin Masoud Sunaidy and the minister of commerce and industry,  Maqbool bin Ali Sultan.

The briefing took place at the Oman International Exhibition Center where Sharakah has a pavilion as part of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Exhibition.  The assistant general manager of Sharakah, Dinkar Kishor commented that, “Unlike last two years, this year we are showcasing projects that have benefited from our financial support. This way we would like to reach out to budding entrepreneurs.”

Libyan Unrest Threatening Oil Supply

As Libya tumbles into the unstable chasm of unrest, protests and violent demonstrations, the fear and uncertainty of such chaos is being felt in the cost of Brent crude oil, which climbed by $1 per barrel on Monday. Libya is a member of OPEC, and was the world’s 12th leading supplier of oil in 2009, and has the largest amount of oil reserves in Africa; according to the US Energy Information Agency there are 44 billion barrels of proven oil reserves there as of January 2010.

The protests are focused on ousting the leader of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi. Protests have spread to Tripoli, Libya’s capital city, where Gadhafi’s son promised to fight against the protestors until “the last man is standing.” His remarks were made in the wake of violent clashes which left scores of protesters dead in Benghazi.

Commenting on what the world can expect from the coming days as far as oil supply is concerned, Tony Nunan, a risk-manager for the Tokyo company Mitsubishi Corp said, "In the short-term there would be a negative impact. There will be chaos and a real concern that supply could be disrupted in Libya.  The bigger issue is if it spreads to Saudi Arabia."

Stock Market Stalled as Bahrain Protests Continue

Not only do regimes topple and heads of state crumble in response to massive demonstrations in the Middle East, but so too  does the equities market. As protests continue in Bahrain, political uncertainty is causing investors to step back and wait before taking risks on the purchase of stocks.

The Bourses will be open on Thursday in both Bahrain and Qatar but in other Gulf States the markets are scheduled to be closed either for the weekend or for a religious holiday.

Managing Partner of Dubai-based asset management company Frontlane Capital, Hashem Montasser commented on the poor reaction to the Egyptian crisis in the Gulf Region.

“Revolution in Egypt was shrugged off too easily by Gulf markets," he said. "Markets were mispriced in the sense that risk premiums have gone up, but equities prices didn't reflect that. Bahrain has become the catalyst to now re-price Gulf equities."

Calling the attack of an overnight encampment of protesters in a central square in Manama “real terrorism,” the leader of the main Shiite opposition bloc in Bahrain expressed his outrage, and also described seeing at least 50 armored cars traveling in the direction of Pearl Square in Manama.

Montasser added that, as far as investing is concerned, Bahrain has heightened risk for at least the next couple of months."

KSU Expanding into the Knowledge Economy

Saudi Arabia is taking major steps to establish an advanced research and educational center at King Saud University in Riyadh.  Contracts have been signed to build two major research institutes at KSU which will be able to compete with other world-class research facilities.

In addition to the building plan a five year letter of understanding was signed with the world renowned textbook publisher Macmillan of the UK.  Macmillan has agreed to provide KSU and its 55,000 students with a host of services which will include training for high-quality scientific editing; workshops on writing; and how to publish research papers for globally read journals.

KSU is committed to taking a leadership role in developing Saudi Arabia’s knowledge economy,” said Dr. Khaled Al-Rasheed, director of KSU’s Scientific Fellowship Program.