Prime Energy Challenges for Operating Power Plants in the GCC

There is a false notion of existing available, abundant, and long lasting fuel energy in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries;with continual income return from its exports. This is not true as the sustainability of this income is questionable. Energy problems started to appear, and can be intensified in coming years due to continuous growth of energy demands and consumptions. The demands already consume all produced Natural Gas (NG) in all GCC, except Qatar;and the NG is the needed fuel for Electric Power (EP) production. These countries have to import NG to run their EP plants. Fuel oil production can be locally consumed within two to three decades if the current rate of consumed energy prevails. The returns from selling the oil and natural gas are the main income to most of the GCC. While NG and oil can be used in EP plants, NG is cheaper, cleaner, and has less negative effects on the environment than fuel oil. Moreover, oil has much better usage than being burned in steam generators of steam power plants or combustion chambers of gas turbines. Introducing renewable energy or nuclear energy may be a necessity for the GCC to keep the flow of their main income from exporting oil. This paper reviews the GCC productions and consumptions of the prime energy (fuel oil and NG) and their role in electric power production. The paper shows that, NG should be the only fossil fuel used to run the power plants in the GCC. It also shows that the all GCC except Qatar, have to import NG. They should diversify the prime energy used in power plants;and consider alternative energy such as nuclear and renewable energy, (solar and wind) energy.

The Gulf Crisis:An Insight Into Kuwait’s Mediation Efforts

Mediation is an important peaceful means of resolving international disputes.In such cases,the mediator invites member states in dispute to roundtable negotiations to bring about a reconciliation.In the late GCC crisis between Qatar on one hand and Saudi Arabia,UAE,Bahrain,and Egypt on the other,Kuwaiti mediation tries to bridge the gap and prevent escalation that might lead to military confrontation against Doha to force a change of regime.However,this mediation is always in danger of an elongated crisis that might worsen the situation and hinder the parties reaching a reconciliatory settlement of their dispute.This is a challenge that confronts the Kuwaiti mediator and jeopardizes the very existence of the GCC in case the Kuwaiti mediator fails to reach a settlement.The dispute went beyond a limited geographic one with Egypt joining the boycott and the symbolic presence of Turkish troops in Qatar.As such,the dispute has created an unprecedented political rift among Gulf States and their rulers and somehow worries the existing regimes.This worrying situation threatens the core principles of some of these States,including those who are still neutral towards the dispute.

Sino-GCC Relations in the Age of China “Go Global” Strategy

The Persian Gulf as a crucial region has been in the center of the global powers’strategies.China,as a growing international power,in the framework of“Go Global”strategy,has cemented its multidimensional ties with the Persian Gulf countries,particularly the Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC)monarchies during the last three decades.China has established comprehensive strategic relations with the GCC states.The GCC sultanates have also attempted to deepen their collaboration with China in different fields.The bilateral relations between China and GCC countries mainly focused on energy,economy,trade,finance,relatively politics,security,military,culture and recently COVID-19.In recent years,the Chinese Belt and Road project has deepened the relationship between China and GCC countries and has effectively contributed to the Chinese“Go Global”strategy.

The Diplomatic Strategy of GCC States: A Case Study of Saudi Arabia’s Recent Changing Diplomacy

As an important regional organization in the Middle East,the Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC)faces many challenges in its current development.Today,trapped in intensified internal and external problems,as well as caught in increasingly crises,the GCC is standing at a difficult crossroad.The diplomatic strategies of the GCC in general since its establishment have always been looking towards the West,especially towards the United States(the US).All member states of the GCC maintain close ties with the US and their diplomatic strategies are heavily dependent on it.However,in recent years,the drastic changes in the Middle East and of the international political patterns have posed severe challenges to the GCC states’diplomatic strategies,which have also brought some opportunities with which the GCC states begin to change their diplomatic strategies significantly.Under the new circumstances,the GCC states,especially Saudi Arabia,are extricating themselves from the diplomatic tradition of looking westwards while beginning to make remarkable changes towards looking and going eastwards instead,gradually showing their trend of diversification and autonomy in diplomacy and trying to balance their diplomacy among regional and world powers,also between the East and the West.Therefore,any development on diplomatic orientation of the GCC states,especially Saudi Arabia,along with the accompanying impact on the geopolitical situation in the Middle East,deserves sustained attention.Indeed,it is really a problem for the GCC states to go eastwards or go westwards.

海湾六国经货联盟经济周期同步性分析

海湾六国计划在2010年建立单一货币联盟,而经济周期同步性是货币联盟稳定性的重要基础条件。本文从经济周期同步性角度考察海湾六国是否具备货币联盟稳定性的基础条件。本文通过建立多变量向量误差修正模型(VECM),并依据共同趋势和共同周期理论,对海湾六国的经济周期同步性进行了经验分析。分析结果表明:海湾六国不仅在长期内经济周期有共同的随机发展趋势;而且在短期内,经济周期是完全同步的。因此,海湾六国基本上满足货币联盟稳定性的基础条件。

海合会标准化组织的区域质量基础设施建设活动浅析

计量、标准、认可、合格评定和市场监督是质量基础设施的主要组成部分。近年来,面对海湾国家经济转型的迫切需求和新冠疫情带来的不利影响,海合会标准化组织(GSO)积极开展各类活动,加强质量基础设施建设,促进区域经济一体化,保障消费者权益、环境安全和贸易畅通。通过GSO了解海湾地区的质量基础设施现状,将有助于中国与海合会在质量基础设施领域的合作,进一步促进中海自贸区建设。

Community-led initiatives for the rehabilitation and management of vernacular settlements in Oman:a phenomenon in the making

Once abandoned for more than three decades,vernacular settlements in Oman are now being progressively reinvested in to foster the country’s heritage tourism sector.The present research focuses on the emerging phenomenon of community-led initiatives for vernacular heritage rehabilitation and adaptive reuse in Oman.Through an examination of three case studies,its aim is to describe this process and its modes of action and discuss its efects on vernacular settlement transformations.A mixed research methodology was designed to include(A)analyses of relevant primary and secondary data,(B)documented onsite observations,(C)interviews with local community representatives and key players in the operations of rehabilitation,and(D)extractions and analyses of quantitative data from a hotel booking website.The research sheds light on unsuspected interrelations within and between the projects being implemented in these settlements and their operating modes.It reveals the focal role of a local community in a kind of‘bottom-up’management of its built heritage,coupled with a‘horizontal cooperation’between the three initiatives studied in this research.Moreover,it shows that a heavily centralised and top-down policy for the feld of heritage conservation and management is among the main obstacles that hinder such initiatives.Furthermore,community-led operations of vernacular heritage rehabilitation are being undertaken under insufcient regulations in terms of land use,building restoration and adaptive reuse.In this context,the paper discusses some of the serious threats and concerns faced by such initiatives and proposes actionable solutions to mitigate these hindrances.