The Eastern Mediterranean in UAE Foreign Policy: Goals and Principles

The Eastern Mediterranean in recent years has become an arena of growing activity of regional states causing tensions among them. The importance of this region from political and military point of view combined with its strategic value in the world energy markets underpins the growing involvement of the UAE, a non-regional actor that lately has become deeply engaged in the regional agenda. Due to the fact that the UAE has taken up a quite active foreign policy course outside of its traditional Gulf circle only recently - with the Eastern Mediterranean becoming a new area of Emirati activities - the volume and scope of Russian and foreign research on this topic is rather limited. The existing works that in some way cover issues of the UAE foreign policy do not reflect the increasing influence of this small Gulf state in the Middle East and North Africa and beyond. For this reason, there is a need for complex research on the matter. This paper is based on analysis of existing works on topics related to some aspects of Emirati foreign policy and tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as analytical articles and statistics. The dramatically increased interest of the UAE in the Eastern Mediterranean is part of significant transformations in the monarchys foreign policy that have been taking place since early 2010s. These transformations manifest themselves in new goals and purposes of Emirati foreign policy, its expanding scale and new instruments for its implementation. Not only is the UAE policy in the Eastern Mediterranean consistent with its general goal of containing Turkey and fighting the threat of Islamism, but it is also a part of realizing Emirati global ambitions of becoming a leader in energy and logistics and ensuring its international status as an influential actor.

Appropriate Housing Typologies, Effective Land Management and the Question of Density in Muscat, Oman

The Sultanate of Oman has been undergoing massive changes in the last 50 years. The Gulf State transformed from a very traditional and isolated country into a wealthy and modern state. After Sultan Said was enthroned in 1970, the young Sultan Qaboos, who passed away in 2020, began to modernise Oman’s economy and society. Today, widespread, single-family houses are the prevailing residential building type, with an urban sprawl characterised by mono-functional zoning and a dependency on motorized individual transport with long commuting distances. All these conditions have been strongly supported by governmental planning policies. Since this urban sprawl causes unsustainable land consumption, this study addresses options for urban development and housing typologies aiming at a compact city with a higher density. However, the term density has to reflect local cultural and climatic conditions and, in time of the pandemic as special focus of this issue, has to be critically discussed and reviewed. Thus, this study identifies, as a base line study in Muscat Capital Area, Omani residents’ housing needs by an online questionnaire survey focusing on housing layouts, features and locational preferences, exploring alternatives to the current situation. Findings are that housing needs do not necessarily demand a single-family building but can be achieved better by different housing layouts, at the same time supporting social distances measures via outdoor options during the pandemic.

Transnational Spaces in Amitav Ghosh’s The Circle of Reason

This essay maps the unmapped nuances of transnational/cultural spaces in Amitav Ghosh’s debut novel, The Circle of Reason (1986; 2008) which underscores the inter-territorial itinerary of Alu, the protagonist, who after being accused of being a terrorist, runs from Lalpukur, near Calcutta (now Kolkata) to Goa to Al-Ghazira, a fictional gulf-state and finally to Algeria. The novel, Bildungsroman in nature and thematic treatment, poignantly deals with James Clifford’s idea of ‘assimilation’ (of) / ‘travelling’ cultures, geo-political boundaries and hybridization of language. The rationale of the paper is to deconstruct the binaries—tradition and modernity; oriental and occidental cultures; and emigration and immigration, which are, to me, the themes of the narrative of the novel. Ghosh has dexterously intertwined the cultural matrix of different spaces in the novel to show how in this age of mobility, open economy and transnational migration, transcultural awareness is all to value. This essay also traces the trajectory of mobility in the age of fluidity and underpins patterns of movement which affect cultural orientations, sensibilities, and, consequentially, creative expressions.

Geohydrology of the four largest spring systems in the Ozarks of Missouri and Arkansas, USA

ABSTRACT The four largest spring systems in the mid-continent receive recharge through large interconnected voids in fractured and solution-weathered dolostones of the Ordovician and Cambrian systems. Cumulative thickness of the carbonate bedrock aquifer ranges up to 700 m in the Ozark region. Recharge from the surface occurs through weathered overburden, sinkholes, and losing streams and has been traced up to 60 km (straight-line horizontal distance) using fluorescent dyes. Mean discharge of the combined flow of these four spring systems is ~1400 cubic feet/second (ft3/s) or 40 m3/second (m3/s). All four spring systems will be visited while discussing the karst terrane that recharges them. Environmental and engineering challenges in the region will be discussed, such as wastewater treatment systems, solid waste disposal, and failed reservoirs. Hodgson Mill Spring represents a branch of the Rainbow/North Fork/Hodgson Mill System. While it receives base flow from the main system, it also receives local recharge that Rainbow and North Fork springs do not. A portion of the Mammoth Spring recharge system will be viewed at Grand Gulf State Park in Missouri, where a cave collapse has created cliffs and a natural bridge and exposed a small losing tributary that flows into a cave that has been traced to the spring. Mammoth Spring State Park in Arkansas offers a historical perspective of the development and use of large springs. Greer Spring in Missouri was used as a power source for grist, flour, and lumber mills, but has now largely returned to its predevelopment state and is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Big Spring, featured in a former state park in Missouri, is now part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways.

Israel ties could fundamentally change Gulf structures

Significance Bahrain also joined the ‘Abraham Accords’ in late 2020, while Sudan and Morocco promised to follow suit. Impacts Oman will likely keep its existing good but informal Israel ties; Qatar may in due course decide to formalise links. Kuwait is the least likely Gulf state to join, given its tradition of offering refuge to Palestinians and strong public support for them. Further success for right-wing parties in Israel hostile to Arabs could unsettle Gulf leaders who have agreed to normalisation. Turkey, facing hostility from a new bloc comprising Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, might decide to seek reconciliation.

Turkish Public Perceptions About Oman

Oman has long lasting peaceful relations with its neighbours and the world. It is a small size Arabian Gulf state with very rich natural resources. Relations between Oman and Turkey was very pleasant in 15-19th centuries. A century of interrupted relations has started to resurrect in the recent years with the new economic, political treaties and socio-cultural relations between two nations. Turkey and its policies, TV serials, and political leaders are very well known in Oman, whereas Oman is not very familiar to the Turkish people. In this research, to understand the level of Oman’s image in Turkey, a survey was orchestrated on more than 500 respondents and striking findings demonstrate that Oman is not well-known well in Turkey. The survey was conducted physically in the shopping malls in Istanbul and virtually via online questionnaire. Social representation of the survey overlaps on the Turkish social facts. In comparison with Europeans and Asians, the Turkish public knows Oman more than double of the world public opinion. For example, the location of Oman is known 51.9% in Turkey, but 38.2% in the world; the existence of general elections in Oman is known in Turkey on the level of 32.7%, whereas in Europe 16.3%. This study, as a primary resource, shares and interprets the result of conducted survey and then suggests some policy alternatives to Oman to be known better in Turkey and the world as a public diplomacy tool.

The Trucial Gulf States and Their Role in International Politics

The study focuses on International Relation behavior of Gulf Trucial states seeking security in the wake of perceived regional and international threats. The Gulf States including and other despotic regimes in the region have been found abandoning wider regional Interest and joining Western Power and recently even Israel which is political most contested regime in the region. Gulf States are cluster of small but rich and militarily weaker states. This makes them dependent on big or influential regional and International powers. The personal and despotic family rules in Gulf state have mostly been depended for their sustenance on internationally powerful states for their defense and protection against internal and external threats. The native political movements like Muslim Brotherhood Palestinians who are supported mutually make a case of internal threats for the authoritative and despotic Gulf States Emirates. The movements in Middle East seek wider change on their agenda and the end of concentration of power The study find that personal and despotic rules ignore major political issue and their settlement to sustain their grip on power. This facilitates a short term sustenance at the cost of a bigger regional threat. This political trending of the Gulf States also entails domestic discontent which can sow seeds for future political uncertainties and discontent leading to regional security dilemma and escalated conflicts and confrontations. Paper recommends good relations conditioned with mutual reciprocity and accommodation for sustaining peace in the region to have positive impact on International peace.