What Future for the Middle East?
... of Saudi Aramco’s shares will be listed on capital markets, a fact which might be a sign of further openings — but it is still early to say. Possible new sanctions on Iran and Venezuela’s persistent crisis might further prop up oil prices, but Saudi Arabia has to rely on its own forces, not on more or less favourable international conjunctures. The third big issue, despite ISIS’ demise, remains that of terrorism. It is now time to think about a post-ISIS world, to ‘win the peace’. Fundamentalism is still there, fuelled by Wahhabism and other radical ideologies. Even more important, poverty and resentment are still there, in large parts of the Middle ...