'Friends of Syria' and the SNC do more harm than good as they fracture, disagree and delay
Even the 90-per-cent vote in favour of the new regime-proposed constitution of Syria could not have made President Bashar Al Assad as happy as the inefficiency of last week's Friends of Syria meeting in Tunisia, or the division within the Syrian National Council (SNC) on Monday, wrote Abdelbari Atwan, editor of the pan-Arab newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi.
Monday's reports that 20 members have quit the SNC must have been music to Mr Assad's ears, especially as there were some heavyweights among them - opposition figures, like the well-known lawyer Haitham Al Maleh, who have been detained for years and tortured in the Syrian regime's prisons, the editor said.
This split within the SNC, a body that has been billed for some time as the potential diplomatic representative of the Syrian people, is compounded by the "utter failure" of the Friends of Syria meeting last week, which brought nothing tangible to the Syrian people.
"The Friends of Syria basically offered the Syrians … a pathetic statement, a bunch of diverging views and rehearsed speeches, while the humanitarian situation in towns besieged by regime forces is only getting worse, and as the number of casualties rises."
The Saudi foreign minister, Saud Al Faisal, and the Qatari prime minister, Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, voiced their support for arming the Syrian people to help them defend themselves against the Assad regime. But that is not a good option either, the editor noted.
"The Friends of Syria have severely wronged the Syrian people by raising their hopes for an upcoming liberation from a despotic regime," the editor argued.
"They held conferences and meetings, took the Syrian crisis to the United Nations, made proposals to deploy international troops, then the real results came, and the frustration was complete.
"The crisis is getting even more complicated now, and the death toll is rising by the day."
But all of that will still not justify arming the Syrian people as a last resort, the editor said. "In fact, arming the Syrian people would be a way to dodge moral responsibility towards them. Arming could lead to grave consequences, not least of which would be the rise of the death toll to horrific levels on both sides - regime opponents and loyalists.
"By the same token, it might fling the door wide open for a sectarian civil war, not just in Syria, but in the whole region."
Though it is costing the Syrians so dearly, political change is coming there sooner or later, whether Mr Assad's repressive regime likes it or not.
But simply throwing a quantity of weapons at the Syrians and leaving them to fend for themselves, without a plan for now or the future, is far from being a sound solution, the editor concluded.
Jerusalem needs support from Arabs
The Doha International Conference on Jerusalem that officially started on Sunday coincided with an escalation of violence in the holy city, including blatant transgressions by Israeli authorities and radical groups on Islamic and Christian holy sites, the Palestinian daily Al Quds said in its editorial.
At the same time, while demolishing Palestinian homes, Israel continues to practice a series of harsh measures against the Arab residents of Jerusalem, in a policy evidently aimed at driving them out of the city.
"This Israeli escalation is leading to heightened tensions. It drives the region towards yet another round of violence and bloodshed," opined the paper.
Arab and Islamic countries need to come up with a clear action plan to counter Israel's policies and to demand serious international pressure on Tel Aviv to cease its blatant transgressions on the human rights of Palestinians in Jerusalem, especially the ethnic cleansing policy that is implemented in various Israeli authorities and ministries.
As for the Arab and Islamic financial support offered to Palestine, it has yet to be on par with the level of challenges that the people of Jerusalem are facing.
"The Arab and Islamic nations must fulfil their financial commitments to sustain the Arab Palestinian presence in the Holy City. Otherwise, nothing will ever change on the ground."
Hizbollah covering up failure to assist Assad
The successive pro-Al Assad speeches by Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hizbollah, don't necessarily express real enthusiasm for the Syrian regime, columnist Abdel Rahman Al Rashid suggested in the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al Awsat.
Those speeches may be nothing more than a cover to justify the party's failure to execute essential tasks for its ally the Al Assad regime, the writer added.
"In my opinion, Damascus did indeed ask Hizbollah to start a new battle with Israel from Lebanon … in an attempt to distract attention from Deraa, Douma and the rest of the rebel Syrian cities.
"Hizbollah however didn't want to get involved in a potentially damaging confrontation with Israel," said the writer.
The Syrian regime was furious at the Shiite party's reticence to relieve the pressure on it. But despite Mr Nasrallah's harsh speeches, his party didn't once clash with the Lebanese pro-revolution elements.
The support Mr Nasrallah offered stopped at dispatching some of his militiamen to Syria, which was itself quite a risky measure since it leaves Hizbollah uncovered in Lebanon at a time when Israel is threatening to hit Iran and undermine its military abilities in the region.
* Digest compiled by The Translation Desk
translation@thenational.ae
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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