Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi, left, meets Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran, Iran. Reuters
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani welcomes the visiting Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al Kadhimi. as they wear protective masks, in Tehran, Iran. Reuters
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani welcomes the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al Kadhimi, as they wear protective masks, in Tehran, Iran. Reuters
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani welcomes the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al Kadhimi, in Tehran, Iran. Reuters
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi reviews an honour guard as he is welcomed by President Hassan Rouhani. AP
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani welcomes the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al Kadhimi, in Tehran, Iran. Reuters
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi is welcomed by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. AP
President Hassan Rouhani welcomes Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi as they wear protective face masks, in Tehran, Iran. AP
On the day he was nominated as Prime Minister, Mustafa Al Kadhimi told the people of Iraq in a televised address that the country's sovereignty "is a red line".
Mr Al Kadhimi, who is viewed as a reformer, has vowed to restore the state's authority, undermined by widespread corruption and the rule of militias supported by Iran. "I said it and I will say it again: Iraqi sovereignty is not up for debate," he said.
Yet since the onset of demonstrations last October, the question of sovereignty has, indeed, taken centre stage in Iraq as a subject of national debate. The protesters demanded better living conditions, an end to corruption and for Iran to stay out of Iraqi affairs.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi during his visit to the Nineveh province.
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi during his visit to the Nineveh province.
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi during his visit to the Nineveh province.
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi during his visit to the Nineveh province.
Prime MInister Mustafa Al Kadhimi arrives in Mosul. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi in Mosul last month. The PM's Media Office
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi arrives in Mosul. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi officially opens the Al Hurriya or Freedom Bridge crossing the Tigris river to Mosul's old city. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi officially opens the Al Hurriya or Freedom Bridge crossing the Tigris river to Mosul's old city. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi tours Al Nuri Mosque, destroyed by ISIS and being rebuilt with assistance from the UAE. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi tours Al Nuri Mosque, destroyed by ISIS and being rebuilt with assistance from the UAE. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi tours Al Nuri Mosque, destroyed by ISIS and being rebuilt with assistance from the UAE. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi tours Al Nuri Mosque, destroyed by ISIS and being rebuilt with assistance from the UAE. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi tours Mosul Museum during a visit to the city six years after ISIS captured it. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi tours Mosul six years after ISIS captured the city. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi tours Mosul Museum during a visit to the city six years after ISIS captured it. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi tours Mosul Museum during a visit to the city six years after ISIS captured it. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi tours Mosul Museum during a visit to the city six years after ISIS captured it. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi tours Mosul Museum during a visit to the city six years after ISIS captured it. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi tours Mosul Museum during a visit to the city six years after ISIS captured it. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi tours Mosul Museum during a visit to the city six years after ISIS captured it. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
PM Mustafa Al Kadhimi and Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab Al Saadi, the head of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service, meet with Najim Jubouri, Governor of Mosul. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi meets military and security heads after arriving in Mosul six years after ISIS captured the city. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi meets military and security heads after arriving in Mosul six years after ISIS captured the city. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi meets military and security heads after arriving in Mosul six years after ISIS captured the city. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi walks beside Najm Al Jabouri, the city's governor and the general who led the battle against ISIS in 2017. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi officially opens the Al Hurriya or Freedom Bridge crossing the Tigris river to Mosul's old city. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi officially opens the Al Hurriya or Freedom Bridge crossing the Tigris river to Mosul's old city. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi officially opens the Al Hurriya or Freedom Bridge crossing the Tigris river to Mosul's old city. Iraqi PM Media Office HO
Their rallying cry was “we want a nation", a slogan that embodies the aspirations of an entire generation.
Mr Al Kadhimi has said nation building is his goal too. He has ordered investigations into the killings of more than 700 peaceful protesters, a crackdown widely believed to be the doing of the security apparatus and the militias. He has also reached out to Iraq's Arab neighbours, with his most trusted ally in the cabinet, Finance Minister Ali Allawi, visiting Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on his first official trip abroad.
But the premier has faced immense challenges. After having arrested members of Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful militia, security forces had to set them free. Two weeks later, Husham Al Hashimi, a critic of Iranian-backed militias and well-known analyst advocating for protecting Iraq's sovereigntywas killed. Kataib Hezbollah had sent him death threats prior to his murder, Hashimi's friends said.
Mr Al Kadhimi faces a tough balancing act at home and on the international scene. To be taken seriously, he must prove he is capable of reining in Iran’s proxies and managing a neighbour that has shown disregard for Iraqi lives with its support of violent, non-state groups.
But Mr Al Kadhimi is playing a weak hand, and it is pivotal for him not to appear to be taking sides and drive home the message that he represents Iraq as a whole. This week he was scheduled to visit Tehran and Riyadh on his first official trips abroad. His Riyadh visit was due to come first but it has been rescheduled after King Salman fell ill.
One-thousand kilometers away from Baghdad, politicians in Beirut face a dilemma of a similar nature.
During the past few weeks, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al Rahi, the spiritual leader of Lebanon’s largest Christian sect, has called for Lebanon to adopt a neutral stance in politics with the aim of staying out of regional conflicts and preserving its sovereignty.
His statements come at a time when Hezbollah has been calling for Lebanese to abandon hope of receiving help from Arab or western allies and "go eastwards". The group has presented Iran and China as potential providers of a miracle solution to Lebanon's crises.
Our cartoonist Shadi Ghanim's take on the challenges that await Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi
Mr Al Rahi’s remarks sparked a debate over what it could mean for Lebanon to truly live up to the role envisaged by its founders, as a multi-religious state bridging the gap between the Arab and western worlds. The economic boom that followed helped Lebanon earn the moniker “Switzerland of the Middle East".
In the early days of Lebanese independence, the country's foreign policy was best described by the motto "not West nor East". At the time, this meant rejecting both unification with Syria and the French mandate. This policy, which allowed for Lebanon to become independent in 1943, has now become taboo. Supporters of Hezbollah have called the Patriarch a "traitor" and launched an online campaign targeting him on Twitter. One Shiite cleric even suggested that Christians "brought" Israel to Lebanon. What could have been a constructive debate has insteadbeen used to stir sectarian sentiment and deflect from the responsibility of political leaders in Lebanon's spiralling economic crisis.
It is no coincidence that debates around sovereignty and neutrality are being had in these two countries, at around the same time. Iraq and Lebanon have yet to find a working model that fits the aspirations of their people.
Protesters face water cannon from riot police during a demonstration organised by supporters of Hezbollah, Lebanese communist party, and other Lebanese national parties at the US embassy against US interference in Lebanon's affairs, in Awkar area north-east Beirut, Lebanon. EPA
Protesters backed by Hezbollah, the Lebanese communist party and others during a demonstration against the United States' interference in Lebanon's affairs, near the US embassy in Awkar area, Beirut, Lebanon. EPA
Protesters try to remove barbed wire during a demonstration by supporters of Hezbollah, Lebanese communist party, and other Lebanese national parties during a demonstration at the US embassy against US interference in Lebanon's affairs, in Awkar area north-east Beirut, Lebanon. EPA
Protesters carry a picture of Hezbollah commander Imad Moughnyeh during a demonstration by supporters of Hezbollah, Lebanese communist party, and other Lebanese national parties at the US embassy against US interference in Lebanon's affairs, in Awkar area northeast Beirut, Lebanon. EPA
Lebanese army soldiers in riot gear arrive to the scene where supporters of Hezbollah and communist groups protest against US interference in Lebanon's affairs, near the American embassy, in Aukar north-east of Beirut, Lebanon. AP Photo
A Hezbollah supporter holds a placard during a protest against US interference in Lebanon's affairs, near the American embassy, in Aukar north-east of Beirut, Lebanon. AP Photo
Protesters pull barbed-wire fence off a street during an anti-US demonstration near the American embassy in Awkar, north-east Beirut. AFP
Protesters during an anti-US demonstration near the American embassy in Awkar, north-east of Lebanon's capital Beirut. AFP
A protester chants slogans as he is flanked by Lebanese police during an anti-US demonstration outside the American embassy in Awkar, north-east of the capital Beirut. AFP
Hezbollah supporters and communist groups throw stones at riot police during a protest against US interference in Lebanon's affairs, near the American embassy in Aukar, north-east of Beirut, Lebanon. AP Photo
These similarities are rooted in history and demographics. Beirut and Baghdad have both undergone decades of war and witnessed anti-government protests nine months ago. The two nations are at the edge of the Levant, linking the Arab world to other cultures. Iraq is only one of two Arab countries with a majority Shiite population, but the country holds great religious and historical significance to all Muslims. Iraq is also the only Arab country that shares a land border with Iran.
Lebanon, meanwhile, has a population that is roughly divided into equal parts Shiite, Sunni and Christian. Its sizable Christian population and long-standing relations with France and the US have opened up the country to western culture, making it the Arab world's gateway to Europe and America. Beirut and Baghdad's positions could have given them a chance of linking different cultures and acting as mediators in regional conflicts. But it has too often been the opposite, with foreign-backed sectarian allegiances overtaking national interests.
In Iraq as in Lebanon, the October demonstrations were were anti-sectarian. Each sect rebelled against its own leaders in Lebanon, and Iraq's southern Shiite heartland stood up to Tehran and its proxies. But nine months on, the two nations have found themselves forced to pick sides once more.
Prior to neutrality, Swiss economy was centred around providing mercenaries for European nations at war
During his visit to Iran, Mr Al Kadhimi met with President Hassan Rouhani and emphasised that relations between the two nations should be "based on the principle of non-interference in internal affairs". While Mr Rouhani welcomed closer economic co-operation with Iraq, on the same day, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to take revenge for Qassem Suleimani's killing. The late leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Al Quds Force, which co-ordinates proxies, was killed by a US drone attack in Baghdad. Tehran's double language is a thinly veiled warning to the new Prime Minister.
Despite its many setbacks, Baghdad still holds some leverage over Tehran. Mr Rouhani hopes to increase bilateral trade with Baghdad from $12 billion to $20bn per year. The regime is running out of options to remedy a growing economic crisis, compounded by increased US sanctions and the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Mr Al Kadhimi has also received positive signals from Arab neighbours.
Our cartoonist Shadi Ghanim's take on the ticking clock as protests continue unabated in Iraq and Lebanon.
Switzerland, the world's oldest neutral country and one to which Lebanon, in its glory days, was often compared, has maintained its position only because its neighbours recognised its neutrality during the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Geneva was able to preserve neutrality, even throughout the Second World War, by strengthening the state while its cantons enjoyed wide autonomy. The Swiss maintained an army geared toward defence, and they continue to holdmandatory military service to this day.
Prior to neutrality, the Swiss economy was centred around providing mercenaries for other European nations at war, a model in some ways similar to that of Lebanese and Iraqi militia members, guided by Tehran to intervene in Syria and, for Hezbollah, in Yemen. In Lebanon as in Iraq, sovereignty rests on the ability of decision makers to impose the rule of law – and on Tehran’s willingness to respect the state’s authority.
Aya Iskandarani is a staff comment writer at The National
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC October 9: v Sabah FA
If you go...
Etihad Airways flies from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur, from about Dh3,600. Air Asia currently flies from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu, with Berjaya Hotels & Resorts planning to launch direct chartered flights to Redang Island in the near future. Rooms at The Taaras Beach and Spa Resort start from 680RM (Dh597).
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
First Test
November 23-27 (The Gabba, Brisbane) Second Test
December 2-6 (Adelaide Oval, Adelaide) Third Test
December 14-18 (Waca Ground, Perth) Fourth Test
December 26-30 (Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne) Fifth Test
January 4-8, 2018 (Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney)
Paris Can Wait Dir: Eleanor Coppola Starring: Alec Baldwin, Diane Lane, Arnaud Viard Two stars
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Rating: 4/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Troy Payne, head chef at Abu Dhabi’s newest healthy eatery Sanderson’s in Al Seef Resort & Spa, says singles need to change their mindset about how they approach the supermarket.
“They feel like they can’t buy one cucumber,” he says. “But I can walk into a shop – I feed two people at home – and I’ll walk into a shop and I buy one cucumber, I’ll buy one onion.”
Mr Payne asks for the sticker to be placed directly on each item, rather than face the temptation of filling one of the two-kilogram capacity plastic bags on offer.
The chef also advises singletons not get too hung up on “organic”, particularly high-priced varieties that have been flown in from far-flung locales. Local produce is often grown sustainably, and far cheaper, he says.
