Forging new alliances

Those who follow foreign policies of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will agree that it is working on building new political and economic alliances and strengthening current relations and reorganizing some of them in the national interests.

The conference of Arab nations and the Latin countries, which was held in Riyadh last week, was actually an important axis of setting up of Arab-Arab and Arab-Latin alliances particularly. Politics and economy together along with the revolution in means of communications can reduce geographic distances between the Arab world and the South American nations.

Locally or particularly for the Kingdom, this conference has enormous political and economic benefits. This year, the Kingdom, under the most able leadership, has held a number of intensive

dialogues by receiving most of the leaders of the world. A number of foreign visits were also made, which opened a number of huge political and economic horizons for the Kingdom and the host countries. This adds to the variety of the country’s foreign relations. Among some of the most important

foreign visits was that of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to the US to rework and reorganize the priorities of Saudi-US relationship.

Crown Prince Mohammad bin Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, visited the UK, France and other countries. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, second deputy premier and minister of defense, also visited Russia and some European countries.

All these visits were part of Kingdom’s project to build Saudi-Arab and international alliances to serve mutual interests and give the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia strength and flexibility in its decisions so that the relations and its benefits do not remain limited.

The announcement of the concluding statement of the conference, without any reservations on its terms, proved success of Saudi diplomacy led by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman. It also emphasized that there was no ambiguity in the objectives of our national projects, which have to be achieved by setting up international alliances.

— By Haya Abdulaziz Al-Manee


Environment police

It is said that chairman of one of the sanctuaries prepared delicious Kabsa using deer meat. The story reached to late Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the then managing director of the Saudi Wildlife Authority.

He ordered inquiry into the incident. The inquiry proved that the report was correct. But the report of the probe indicated that the deer meat was gifted to him by one of his friends who had come from Sudan. Therefore, the prince just issued the official a warning, firmly asking him to even keep himself away even from any suspicion.

This is not just one story. It is also said that a person from the armed forces entered in one of the sanctuaries in his car. He hunted two deer using a military weapon. When the Defense Ministry came to know about the incident, it stripped him off from the job and punished him under the laws of violations of sanctuaries.

I recalled these stories when I was reading statement of Prince Bandar bin Mohammad, head of the Saudi Wildlife Authority a few days back. He bitterly complained about non-existence of environmental police or environmental security agency. He also pointed out that the country badly needed an apparatus to implement rules on all and end practices of unjust hunting.

These stories everyday prove what we read about the incidents of painful aggression against wildlife, which is already facing extinction. This is not just aristocratic hobby. It is a general culture, which intersects with the culture of killing, destruction and revenge against all that is a living organism. This is a culture, which is in our blood.

In many countries the idea is based at least on the minimum social conviction to protect components of environment, on the efforts of the civic society organizations, special associations and volunteers to

spread the culture of protecting wildlife. These organizations are considered the real guard of wildlife. But in the Kingdom, there is no culture, no associations, no police and neither the national ego for this.

— By Issa Al-Halayan



Online abuse

Electronic bullying is not a new phenomenon. Not only girls but boys and children also become its victims. In the West, this phenomenon is fought by various means. First of them is by creating awareness among families and students of schools.

Whenever we listen or read stories of blackmailing, we believe that there were minds, which keep thinking and assessing the threat, before they use any program of social media. But, unfortunately, we still believe that it happens to others and not us. It would never happen to us as if we are living in the lap of noble societies. The trust, which we show is always valued and respected. It doesn’t come in our minds

that our friend with who we live could be behind all this disaster. This is because she might ignore her electronic device deliberately or unknowingly so that it could easily be used by some psychopath in her family. He enters into it and steals information and exits. She might be in the garb of a friend due to some hidden jealousy or hatred against you. She collects all your personal information and spread them on Internet under a pseudonym to blackmail you.

Allah has created you to play a big role in this life, which you would know sooner or later. But do not allow anything to obstruct your future course of action. Everybody passes through a phase of weakness or a mistake. It is important that you should know that this crisis is just a temporary phase. What you have to do is to move forward and share something with someone trustworthy, open your heart and communicate through your smiles. Allah would never leave you alone. Do not drown yourself under the burden of blackmailing or electronic bullying. Resist. You must know that if such cases reach to concerned authorities they deal with them swiftly with secrecy. The culprit is held without delay.

— By Maisoon Al-Dakheel


YouTube: Bane or boon

YouTube is now considered the biggest website of the world. It is used for free watching and sharing of video clips. The website has become an important storage facility for the coming generations to see what they want.

The search engines of YouTube are a blessing as well as a curse. This has transformed lives of many people in the Arab world from failure to success. Similarly, it has pushed some people from failure to disaster.

I was enjoying watching one of the training program on YouTube. This was a point of beginning of my first project. This was about compilation of books. It has lots of benefits. The website has taken our lives to light and more knowledge.

But the life is like farm. If we cultivate it in the correct way then our lives would be in the positive and right direction. If we cultivate it in the wrong manner, then we have to do introspection and correct our thinking.

YouTube is a point of transformation in the lives of many, particularly those who watch lectures, training programs and whatever benefits our lives. This can be a journey to the right path. Many waste their time and life in watching films and video clips, which does not have any benefit.

The search engines may be your successful friend in development of mind by watching lectures of experts and training sessions. YouTube has done a great service to the humanity. There are millions of lectures and training program and documentary films in various languages.

YouTube is a sea of information. Knowledge comes to you at your doorstep though this website. This can prove to be a blessing or a curse. It depends on how we use it.

— By Hassan Mohammad Baroom


Oil prices

The world considers oil as most important subject, as it addresses concerns of economy. Now, it has become the lifeline of the economy. Most of the products depend on oil as fuel or as a component. Efforts were made in the world by the science centers and big companies to find out its alternative, or its partial alternative. But they all failed.

This has increased the international demand of oil, instead of reducing it. During the last few months, there was a major and surprising change in the oil prices. After lingering at the $100 level for a long time, the oil prices have gone down further to the current $50.

After this, some institutions started speculating that it would go down further to the level of $30. These institutions are the points of reference for many investors before they take any decision. We cannot forget the speculations, which were made when the oil price reached $150 and some people were expecting a further hike. But it came down soon after that. It did not even reach to the level where these speculations could be trusted; instead they created concerns among investors. Comprehensive analysis always takes the larger picture into consideration.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, deputy minister of oil and mineral resources, in his speech in the sixth round table of the oil and energy ministers of Asian countries, which was held in Doha on Moharram 26, 1437H talked about the future of oil price based on the most comprehensive view of the history of oil prices, comparing them with that of 1980-1984 with that of recent past.

In his speech, he pointed out that Kingdom took it as an allegation that there was a political motive behind the fall in the oil prices to pressure other countries economically, particularly at a time when Saudi Arabia actually needed to make it healthy and

stable. The price would soon become moderate. But any negligence of Kingdom’s share in the market would have its effect on it in future when the oil prices would come to better levels.

— By Salah bin Fahad Al-Shalhoob