Value-added and excise taxes offer Gulf Arab states narrow fiscal levers to help offset the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis and drop in oil prices.
The blockade against Qatar has had a disproportionate economic impact on foreign workers, though increased self-sustainability efforts may provide new employment opportunities.
Former secretary general of the League of Arab States, Amre Moussa, offers eight recommendations for establishing a new regional order that would see Arab countries end instability and regain control of their futures.
It might be useful to step back from examining any one conflict and instead simply try to identify larger historical and political patterns that help us understand the players and the issues at stake.
Citizens’ freedom, rights, justice, and dignity seem to be the threats that frighten Saudi Arabian and other Arab autocrats, and these must be minimized at any cost, it seems.
