Saudi Arabia

Faced with an escalating crisis brought on by the global outbreak of COVID-19, Saudi Arabia made a conscious decision to increase oil production in order to avert a potential oil-price collapse. The move sent an already faltering global economy into a tailspin.  
The trouble began at the beginning of March, after Russia rejected an ultimatum from Saudi Arabia to cut oil production in light of falling prices. The Saudi response was to effectively flood the oil market with an additional 2.6 million barrels a day at a dramatically discounted price.

The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss how Saudi Arabia’s oil price war is bringing the Kingdom to its knees.
OilPrice.com reports () At $30 a Brent barrel, the Saudi wealth fund will deplete fast and reduced government spending will stall projects, and the already suffering private non-oil sector will suffer further. That’s the near-term damage.

By Salman Rafi Sheikh – New Eastern Outlook – 24.03.2020

Press TV – March 24, 2020

Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement has welcomed a call by United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres for a ceasefire in all conflicts worldwide amid a global fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The revenue generated by state-owned Saudi oil company Saudi Aramco accounts for up to 80% of the kingdom’s fiscal budget. The company did not hide its losses, and officially reported a decrease of $22.9 billion in net income in 2019, and there have also been serious spending cuts on development, i.e. on maintaining and increasing production. The report correctly identifies the reasons for these losses, highlighting low oil prices and a reduction in production volumes.

The revenue generated by state-owned Saudi oil company Saudi Aramco accounts for up to 80% of the kingdom’s fiscal budget. The company did not hide its losses, and officially reported a decrease of $22.9 billion in net income in 2019, and there have also been serious spending cuts on development, i.e. on maintaining and increasing production. The report correctly identifies the reasons for these losses, highlighting low oil prices and a reduction in production volumes.

From dumping toxic waste into the sea to littering Yemen’s farms with tons of unexploded cluster bombs, Saudi Arabia is creating a legacy so toxic in Yemen that experts believe it could take a century to undo.
Ahmed ABDULKAREEM

A collection of unexploded ordnance recovered by the UNDP’s YEMAC project in Yemen. Courtesy | YEMAC

By Ahmed AbdulKareem | MintPress News | March 20, 2020

AL-JAWF, YEMEN — As the world’s focus turns to the rapidly-spreading COVID-19 pandemic, Yemenis are reeling from their own brewing tragedy, contending with the thousands of cluster bombs, landmines and other exploded munitions that now litter their homeland. Just yesterday, a young child was killed and another was injured in the al-Ghail district of al-Jawf when a landmine left by the Saudi military exploded, witnesses told MintPress.

Submitted by George Callaghan…
By many measures Saudi Arabia is the most unfree country in the world. The country is an absolute monarchy and the most oppressive theocracy of all. People have no right to vote, no right to speak freely, no right to access information, no right to a fair trial. In short, they have no rights. Women have no right to leave the country without permission. Women are always under the thumb of a male relative due to the pernicious guardian system.