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Saudi Arabia reckons with its costly megaprojects as $500 billion 'The Line' is reviewed
Saudi Arabia reckons with its costly megaprojects as $500 billion 'The Line' is reviewed

CNBC

time18-07-2025

  • Business
  • CNBC

Saudi Arabia reckons with its costly megaprojects as $500 billion 'The Line' is reviewed

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund is reassessing its flagship $500 billion futuristic city called The Line. The public investment fund has tapped consulting firms to conduct a strategic review into the feasibility of the 105-mile linear city, located at Neom — itself a huge new development in Saudi Arabia. Neom confirmed the news, first reported by Bloomberg, saying that strategic checks are "common practice" on long-term megaprojects. But the move comes amid global scrutiny of Saudi Arabia's ambitious infrastructure agenda, as well as growing pressure on public finances. Neom did not detail what the review would be focused on, but "it's likely that it's going to look at technical feasibility, financing and also economic impact," according to Tim Callen, a visiting fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute. "I think these are all areas where people have had questions in the past; is the technology there to actually achieve what Neom wants to do? Is the cost of development too high? That's clearly become an even more pressing issue as oil prices have headed down the last couple of years," Callen told CNBC's Access Middle East on Friday. The site of The Line, in Saudi Arabia's northwestern desert, is currently a sprawling construction site replete with cranes and pile drivers, and a recently built road. Long parallel tracks cut through the sand, comprising the spine of what planners say will be a high-speed rail system. It's designed to be a high-tech city sandwiched between two glass skyscrapers — each more than 1,600 feet high — which the Saudi government says will eventually house 9 million people. The project is just one of the hyper-futuristic venues planned in Neom, the brainchild of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and a region that the kingdom hopes will bring millions of new residents to Saudi Arabia and revolutionize living and technology in the country. It's a core pillar of Vision 2030, which aims to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil revenues and create new jobs and industries for its burgeoning young population. The cost of Neom as a whole has been estimated to be as high as $1.5 trillion. After many years of seemingly unlimited spending, 2024 began to see an abrupt shift as the Saudi budget deficit grew and the price of a barrel of oil fell well below what the kingdom needs to balance its budget. "It's clear that if oil prices, as you were saying earlier, are around $70 a barrel, that's a very different environment than if they are $100 a barrel, where they were on average in 2022," the Arab Gulf States Institute's Callen said. International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $70.15 per barrel at 2:15 p.m. London time on Friday. "So many of these projects are going to have to be reassessed, reprioritized. Does that mean Neon is not going to happen? No, I think Neom will definitely continue in some form. But whether it's on a smaller scale and over a longer duration than originally envisaged, is quite likely, I think." There has also been a fair amount of criticism for what some in the kingdom describe as a "yes-man" mentality at Neom, where consultants and advisors are said to provide highly optimistic forecasts and cost-revenue projections in an effort to stay in their employers' favor. "I don't think expectations were managed well from a leadership perspective at the project level," Tarik Solomon, chairman emeritus at the American Chamber of Commerce in Saudi Arabia, told CNBC. "For a project of this scale to succeed, it has to adjust to market realities and it has to build trust." Solomon praised Neom and The Line as being "one of the boldest ideas I've seen that has actually gone into execution," but added that "the architectural and consulting firms involved have an important role here and they should have more of a sense of ownership and responsibility to carry." In tandem with the planned "assessment" of The Line, job cuts are planned across Neom as a whole, one consultant who works for the project told CNBC. "They're finally starting to make financially sound decisions," the consultant, who asked to remain anonymous due to restrictions on speaking to the press, said. Neom did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

Why Trump's Abraham Accords have not meant Mideast peace
Why Trump's Abraham Accords have not meant Mideast peace

Boston Globe

time14-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Boston Globe

Why Trump's Abraham Accords have not meant Mideast peace

The Middle East did not appear to be aware of any such advance. Even as Netanyahu met in Washington last week with Trump and other US officials, the Israeli military continued its devastating bombing of the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen attacked two cargo ships in the Red Sea, and a brutal civil war continued to rage in Sudan. Weeks earlier, Israel and the United States were bombing Iran, which was firing missiles in return. And Israeli forces remain on the ground in both Lebanon and Syria, in the aftermath of wars that ended just months ago. During the nearly five years since the Abraham Accords were signed, Trump, Netanyahu, and other US and Israeli officials have repeatedly referred to the agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Bahrain as a 'peace deal.' Advertisement Scholars who study the region say that is merely a turn of phrase, belying the fact that there has never been a war — or any violence at all — between Israel and the UAE or Bahrain. Morocco has also largely stayed out of the Arab-Israeli conflicts, aside from sending a token force to the 1973 war, more than 50 years ago. Advertisement 'It's got nothing to do with peace,' Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, a research organization, said of the accords. 'Peace was the way it was branded and marketed. But that doesn't mean that it makes any sense. This was not an agreement that ends the war.' In effect, the deals bypassed the central conflict, between Israel and the Palestinians, declaring harmony between parties that were not fighting. Since then, the very phrase 'regional peace' has become an opaque and disputed term in the Middle East, said Abdulaziz Alghashian, a Saudi researcher and senior nonresident fellow at the Gulf International Forum. 'Who is involved in this 'regional peace'?' he said he had found himself asking supporters of the Abraham Accords. He said he realized that for some, it is a concept that relies on 'a complete avoidance of the Palestinian issue.' In a statement to The New York Times, the White House defended the legacy of the accords and said that the wars in the region had nothing to do with their efficacy. 'No amount of revisionist history or gaslighting from liberal activists and Democrat donors can undo President Trump's historic and transformative Abraham Accords, which brought peace to the Middle East,' the White House said. 'Only President Trump could have secured these peace deals, and he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for all the work he has done to end wars and conflicts that no other world leader has been able to do.' US officials and lawmakers from both parties have presented the Abraham Accords as a game changer with the potential to transform the Middle East. The accords did allow for Israeli tourists and investors to pour into Dubai, the biggest city in the UAE, and technology and energy companies signed new deals. Advertisement Israel and some of the Gulf countries had already engaged in quiet trade and security cooperation, under the table. The accords brought that into the open and allowed it to expand. But that was not how the deals' signatories had presented them. 'The blessings of the peace we make today will be enormous,' Netanyahu declared from a White House balcony when the accords were announced. 'Ultimately, it can end the Arab-Israeli conflict once and for all.' Trump said at the same ceremony that the accords marked 'the dawn of a new Middle East,' speaking of a future in which 'people of all faiths and backgrounds live together in peace and prosperity.' After the news cameras were turned off, peace and prosperity did not, of course, sweep through the Middle East. Israel's occupation of the West Bank has deepened, rather than eased, as Emirati officials had hoped when they signed the deal, and members of Netanyahu's government want a long-term occupation of Gaza. The prospects for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem as its capital, a goal of Arab leaders, appear dimmer than ever. The Abraham Accords were premised on the notion of Arab-Israeli cooperation while skipping past the Palestinians, but 'that was always a mistake, and it wasn't such a shock when Gaza proved it was a mistake,' said Marc Lynch, a political science and international affairs professor at George Washington University. 'Maybe it shocked some people — but it shouldn't have.' Advertisement The only potentially bright piece of conflict-related news in the Middle East recently is in Syria, where a civil war finally ended with rebels toppling Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. But their victory had nothing to do with the Abraham Accords, and it remains unclear whether they will deliver either lasting peace and stability within the country or peace with Israel. US and Israeli officials have frequently stated their desires and expectations for other countries, most importantly Saudi Arabia, to sign the accords. So far, that has fallen flat. Sudan, often cited as a candidate to be the next Arab country to join, has not established diplomatic relations with Israel. Years of overtures to persuade Saudi Arabia to join the accords have so far failed. The Biden administration took up that mantle fervently, pursuing a deal built on the United States granting major benefits to the kingdom. It never came to fruition, and analysts say the war in Gaza has made it much less likely. 'Inside the Gulf, there's no way it's going to expand,' at least under the same framework as the Abraham Accords, Alghashian said. Especially in Saudi Arabia, that idea is 'tainted' now, he said. Still, that has not stopped officials in Washington from recently turning their conversations about Middle East policy back to the Abraham Accords. 'I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize for doing the Abraham Accords in the Middle East,' Trump complained on social media last month, arguing that his efforts to forge peace have been underrecognized. But, he said, 'if all goes well,' new countries will sign on, asserting that the development would 'unify the Middle East for the first time in 'The Ages!'' Advertisement

US braces for cyber attacks by 'pro-Iranian hacktivists'
US braces for cyber attacks by 'pro-Iranian hacktivists'

The National

time23-06-2025

  • Politics
  • The National

US braces for cyber attacks by 'pro-Iranian hacktivists'

Following the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, the Department of Homeland Security has warned of retaliation in the form of cyber attacks. A national terrorism advisory system bulletin, issued on Sunday, stated that "hactivists" and Iranian government-affiliated actors are routinely targeting poorly secured US networks and internet-connected devices for disruptive cyber attacks. Warnings about nefarious cyber activity from Iran and other external actors come as Tehran limits internet access for its citizens. But those who need internet access for cyber attacks can find ways to get online, or are granted access. Cyber attacks "might be a very tempting kind of direction for them to go,' Kristin Diwan, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute, said during a panel discussion about the recent US strikes. 'In a way Iran doesn't have that battlefield supremacy, but this sort of thing, cyber crime or cyber attacks, a kind of subterfuge for the longer term in the overall disruptive battle might be attractive,' she added when asked by The National about the possibility that Iran might prefer cyber attacks. Hussein Ibish, also with the Arab Gulf States Institute and a columnist for this publication, agreed. "It would make sense because it would involve deniability and it also wouldn't cause President [Donald] Trump to go on some chest-beating rampage,' he said, pointing to the ambiguity of digital attacks as opposed to military attacks. Iran is generally acknowledged in the cyber security community as a major state sponsor of cyber attacks. The country was featured prominently throughout Microsoft's 2024 Digital Defence Report. While many of the mentions in the report referred to political-influence operations and the spread of disinformation, it also touched on other Iranian cyber operations. 'In July 2022, Iran launched a devastating cyberattack designed to cripple Albania's digital infrastructure,' Microsoft said, noting that Albania was able identify and prevent the threat from causing harm. During the 2024 US presidential election, the FBI said that it was investigating a claim from Donald Trump's presidential campaign that it was the target of a hack orchestrated by Iran. Iran is also home to two cyber crime groups that have come to be known in cyber security circles as Cotton Sandstorm and Mint Sandstorm. Microsoft's threat intelligence group describes Mint Sandstorm as an Iran-affiliated group 'known to primarily target dissidents protesting the Iranian government, as well as activist leaders, the defence industrial base, journalists, think tanks, universities, and multiple government agencies and services, including targets in Israel and the US'. It has been widely speculated that Mint Sandstorm was behind the attempted hack and potential breach of communications within Mr Trump's recent presidential campaign, using a method known as 'data harvesting'. In May, an Iranian man pleaded guilty to using ransomware to extort millions from governments and organisations in the US. Sina Gholinejad, 37, admitted to computer fraud and abuse, as well as conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Ransomware is a type of malware designed to deny users, businesses or organisations access to their data stored on computers or servers. Although not unique to Iranian cyber criminals, as a result of the US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites, one of the biggest cyber threats may come in the form of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. A DDoS is a cyber attack in which perpetrators use co-ordination and several computers to overwhelm a network server with internet traffic, which then prevents users from accessing services and websites. If critical infrastructure such as water or energy facilities are affected by DDoS attacks, millions could be affected. A report released by NetScout Systems, a provider of cyber protection solutions, indicated that countries such as Israel, Georgia, Mexico and Turkey experienced a major spike in DDoS attacks over the course of the year. 'DDoS has emerged as the go-to tool for cyber warfare,' Richard Hummel, director o f threat intelligence at NetScout, told The National in April.

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