Archive
On 1 May, the U.S. and Israel launched Project Freedom, a mission to guide stranded ships out of the Gulf. But by 5 May, President Donald Trump announced that the mission would be paused temporarily.
The recent wave of Arabic large language models, Jais in the UAE, ALLaM in Saudi Arabia, and Karnak in Egypt, marks a decisive shift in the region’s AI politics. These models are not merely technical products, but also instruments of state branding.
The experiments unfolding in the Emirates and Kuwait are not merely regional phenomena. They are signals of a world in which the attributes and burdens of population are no longer taken as given.
A standard battery includes three to four launchers, a fire-control radar, and a battle-management system; each launcher can carry up to 20 Tamir interceptors.
The UAE’s exit from OPEC reflects a calculation that the benefits of flexibility, capturing market share, now outweigh the benefits of collective restraint.
Higher oil prices may boost revenues in the short term, but prolonged conflict and disruption in the Strait of Hormuz threaten the trade, aviation, finance, tourism, and logistics networks that underpin the UAE’s diversified economic model.