PALESTINIAN BUDGET STRUGGLES
The Palestinian government expects to receive a gift of $100m from Saudi Arabia to help alleviate their their deteriorating budget crisis. Palestinian authority is again struggling to pay its bills after Israel imposed new sanctions on the territories in response to the UN granting the PA recognition as an observer state. Since Israel announced it would dock $100 million in customs taxes each year, the Palestinian government has had to rely increasingly on foreign aid to pay its bills. The United States continues to give $200m in assistance to the Palestinians although this is down significantly from the $1.8 billion provided in 2008 and the $600 million last year. (Al Jazeera, January 17, 2013)
FORMER USSR FARING POORLY WITH FREEDOM
According to the U.S.-based democracy watchdog, Freedom House, the non-Baltic former Soviet Union has become one of the most socially and politically repressive areas of the world, putting it on par with the Middle East. The “Freedom in the World” annual report highlighted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s restrictions on public demonstrations, civil liberties, and free expression in print and online, as well as his campaign to expel the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from the country. Meanwhile, civil liberty ratings decreased in Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine, while Belarus, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan ranked at the very bottom of the list near Syria, Somalia, and North Korea. (Radio Free Europe, January 16, 2013)
CONTINUING NEGOTIATIONS OVER MANAS TRANSIT
Negotiations between the Obama administration and the government of Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev over the future of the U.S. presence at the Manas air base/transit center are underway. U.S. Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake says the two are deciding whether the U.S. will be granted access to the airport after the expected withdrawal of most NATO-led troops from Afghanistan in 2014. President Atambaev recently told Blake that by the end of 2014, the U.S. military must evacuate the air base . The U.S. is currently paying Kyrgyzstan some $200 million annually in taxes, lease fees, and other payments for its right to use Manas. (Radio Free Europe, January 17, 2013)
JORDAN ON SYRIAN REFUGEES
As the civil war in Syria drags into a new year, neighboring countries have been making contingency plans in the event of a Syrian government collapse. Jordan’s Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour stated that Jordan would not allow refugees escaping from Syria to stay in his state but rather would provide “secure safe havens” for Syrians in their own territory, with the help of the Jordanian Special Forces. Jordanians are increasingly concerned that a large new influx of refugees could fuel a general destabilization and a rise of militancy. Jordan is already home to some 2 million of Palestinian refugee, which have themselves been a source of instability inside the kingdom. A government spokesman later clarified that Jordan will receive refugees but only in limited numbers and in consistent flow. (The New York Times, January 17, 2013)
NEW OIL FOUND IN IRAQ
Iraq recently made the first new oil discovery in the country in 30 years. About a billion barrels of crude oil was found by a state-owned exploration company in Maysan, near the southeastern border with Iran. Iraq exports some 72% of its oil, and oil revenues account for some 90% of the government’s budget. (CNN, January 21, 2013)