Saudi Gazette/ Opinion/ Editorial

Opinion

1 - 10 from 356 . In "Opinion / Editorial"

June 21, 2018

The folly of India's Airtel

A reprehensible case of Islamophobia has started a serious row in India. The telecoms company Airtel is being condemned for kowtowing to a Sikh customer who refused to deal with a Muslin staff member, because she said she had “No faith in the Muslim’s work ethics” since “the Koran (Qur’an) may have a different version for customer service". She wanted her problem to be dealt with by a Hindu representative.Far ...

June 20, 2018

Turkey’s deepening rift with US

NOT long after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power, a senior US diplomat, then serving in Ankara, wrote that Erdogan was not going to be “Washington’s man”. At the time, his report was dismissed at the State Department. It seemed unthinkable to the panjandrums in Foggy Bottom that Turkey, a key NATO ally whose military was largely armed with US equipment, would ever actually cease to be an ...

June 18, 2018

Business as war

Quite a few MBA courses recommend students read Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” written two thousand years ago in China. Among the many other business books crowding bookshop shelves which frequently travel in the luggage of ambitious executives is one that absolutely insists “Business is War”. Rivals have to be beaten, driven to the wall and if there is anything left worth acquiring, taken over. Such ruthlessness may seem ...

June 17, 2018

South Sudan: US’ responsibility

South Sudan’s demand that a planned meeting between President Salva Kiir and rebel leader and his former deputy Riek Machar be held in South Africa instead of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa has cast doubts on the chances of reviving efforts to end the violence in the world’s youngest nation. Kiir’s government said it has no objection to Wednesday’s talks being led by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which has ...

June 17, 2018

Austria’s mosque move

AUSTRIA’S far-right government claims its decision to close down seven mosques and potentially expel up to 60 imams was due to national security concerns, however, it’s difficult to believe that the measure is not related to the wider political currents running through the country. Austrian authorities are insisting the latest move is designed to combat political Islam, not Islam in general. Can that be believed? Was this a necessary stance against ...

June 15, 2018

There is still hope for the Kingdom

IN the aftermath of Saudi Arabia’s 5-0 loss to Russia in the opening game of the 2018 World Cup, the Kingdom must not let the defeat shake their confidence as they prepare for their upcoming group matches against Uruguay and Egypt.While the margin of Russia’s victory was great, playing in the inaugural match was never going to be easy for Saudi Arabia. It was the first match of the biggest ...

June 15, 2018

A rose by any other name

THE row over the name Macedonia that has been rumbling on for 27 years has always been absurd. The former Yugoslav province of Macedonia which became independent in 1991 called itself the Republic of Macedonia. But for a number of reasons Greece refused to accept the name and as a member of the European Union tried to use the suasion of Brussels to force the Macedonians to call themselves something ...

June 14, 2018

Spain’s generosity is Italy’s shame

THE brand new governments in Italy and Spain have already crossed swords over the issue of migrants. The right-wing and radical coalition led by Giuseppe Conte had blocked the landing in Italy of 629 migrants picked up at sea by a charity vessel. Libyan people-smugglers had launched these luckless refugees in rubber rafts unfit for Mediterranean summer storms. Among them were seven pregnant women, 11 young children and 123 unaccompanied minors. ...

June 12, 2018

Has Trump pulled North Korea’s nuclear teeth?

THERE is still sufficient reason to doubt that Kim Jong Un will stick to the deal he cut Tuesday with President Trump. Leopards do not normally change their spots. Kim and his family before him have made many commitments in the past which they have then not honored. Nevertheless, he has agreed to abandon his nuclear weapons program and also to demolish North Korea’s missile testing site. Both of these ...

June 12, 2018

Trump tramples G7

THE G7 summits are normally notable for the yelling and screaming of angry anti-globalization demonstrators who besiege the meetings which have to be guarded by thousands of police and security forces.However, at the G7 weekend meeting in Quebec, it seems that most of the yelling and screaming went on inside the meeting. President Donald Trump has never lacked confidence but after his surprise election, in his early encounters with world ...