Excerpts:Gulf states golden age beginning of end? Warsaw returns Jewish
tombstones to cemeteries. China wants closer military ties with Iran October
24, 2014

+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 24 Oct.’14:”Are falling oil prices the beginning of
the end of Saudi development?”,Khalaf Al Harbe
SUBJECT: Gulf states golden age beginning of end?
FULL TEXT:The sharp decline in oil prices over the past few months is an
apparent sign of the beginning of the end of the golden age in which Gulf
states have doubled their budget allocations and accumulated huge surpluses.

There is no doubt that revenues from oil have led to robust economic growth
and development and have improved the standard of living of people in the
Kingdom providing them with more progress and prosperity. Several major
reforms and initiatives have been launched, such as the establishment of the
King Abdullah Scholarship Program under which tens of thousands of Saudi
students have gone abroad for higher studies, the construction of
universities in most Saudi cities, the largest ever expansion in the history
of the Two Holy Mosques, and the strengthening of the road network linking
the major cities and regions of the Kingdom.

However, unfortunately, the opportunities that we have missed may be more
than we have realized. We are not in a football match where players can
compensate for the missed chance to score a goal with a decisive strike at
another time. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to pay heed to the
warning bell and to salvage what can be salvaged from stalled development
projects before the game ends with yet a further drop in the price of crude
oil.

Several vital public sectors have benefited from an injection of billions of
riyals thanks to the hike in the price of oil. But some other sectors have
yet to be major beneficiaries of budgetary allocations. These include
judiciary, health, housing, railway and airports. Therefore, it is essential
to concentrate more on these sectors now so that a further drop in oil
prices will not have an even greater impact on these sectors.

Of course, some manifestations of corruption have impeded the Kingdom’s
development march, especially with regard to some giant projects launched a
few years ago. This happened mainly because of the emergence of a new class
of rich people at the expense of the country’s future and younger
generations. As a result, dealing with the crimes of corruption at this
stage is a matter of life or death.

Our economic challenges are not only related to a drop in oil prices for
there are greater difficulties represented by the political turmoil in the
region, which may necessitate increased military and security spending in
order to protect the nation. This is in addition to meeting the requirements
of a rapidly growing population. All of this will require a large amount of
money for government spending.

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 24 Oct.’14:”Used to Rebuild Warsaw, Jewish
Tombstones Return to Cemetaries”, Agence France Presse

SUBJECT:Warsaw returns Jewish tombstones to cemetaries

EXCERPTS:Two-year-old Krzys zooms down a slide in Warsaw and shrieks with
delight, paying no mind to the workmen who are busy demolishing the
playground walls.

At first glance, there is nothing special about the old walls. But take a
closer look and it becomes apparent that a couple of stones are inscribed
with Hebrew.

The tombstones, known as Matzevot, from hundreds of Jewish cemeteries across
Poland -- that were abandoned or destroyed following the Holocaust -- were
used to pave roads and put up walls during the communist era.

It was part of an effort to rebuild a capital city that had been razed to
the ground by Nazi Germany during World War II, a conflict that also all but
wiped out Poland's Jewish community.

Those tombstone chunks are now being salvaged and returned to their
cemeteries through a project meant to turn the page on a dark chapter in
complex Jewish-Polish relations.



+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 24 Oct,’14:”China says wants closer military ties
with Iran”, Reuters

SUBJECT: China wants closer military ties with Iran

QUOTE: China is Iran’s top oil buyer”

FULL TEXT:BEIJING — China wants to have closer military ties with Iran, the
Chinese defence minister told the visiting head of the Iranian navy on
Thursday[23 Oct.], state media reported, reaffirming diplomatic links
despite controversy over Iran's nuclear plans.

Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan told Iranian Navy Commander Rear
Admiral Habibollah Sayyari that the two armed forces have seen "good
cooperation on mutual visits, personnel training and other fields in recent
years", China's official Xinhua news agency reported.

"Exchanges between the two navies have been fruitful and their warships have
paid successful visits to each other," it cited Chang as saying.

"Chang ... stressed China is willing to work with Iran to further pragmatic
cooperation and strengthen military-to-military ties."

Xinhua cited Sayyari as saying Iran attached great importance to its ties
with China and was "ready to enhance bilateral exchanges to push forward
cooperation between the two armed forces, especially in naval cooperation".

For the first time ever, two Chinese warships docked at Iran's Bandar Abbas
Port to take part in a joint naval exercises in the Gulf, Iranian state
media reported on
September 20.

Naval cooperation between Iran and China is aimed at reinforcing Iran's
military capability in the Gulf, analysts say, as well as displaying China's
plan to exert greater influence and presence beyond East Asia.

"The [port] call reflects China's military-to-military relationship with
Iran," said Christian Le Mière, a naval expert at the International
Institute for Strategic Studies think tank.

"It is the most explicit sign of Beijing's acknowledgment of this
relationship, which has remained relatively covert until now."

China's People's Liberation Army Daily separately reported that Sayyari had
been given tours of a Chinese submarine and warships, where he "listened to
an introduction on equipment ability and weapons systems".

Sayyari said he hoped Iran and China could cooperate on anti-piracy
operations, the newspaper said.

China is Iran's top oil buyer and has been the most aggressive in raising
its crude purchases after an easing of the Western sanctions aimed at ending
Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.

Iran and the United States said last week they made some progress in
high-level nuclear talks aimed at reaching a final resolution to the
decade-old dispute but that much work remained to clinch a deal by a
late-November deadline.

China, a participant at the nuclear talks with Iran, has consistently urged
a negotiated solution and decried efforts to place sanctions which have not
been endorsed by the United Nations on Iran.
===============
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA