Helen Zughaib - Artist

Helen Zughaib (/zəˈɡeɪb/ zə-GAYB;  born 1959) is an American painter and multimedia artist living in working in Washington, D.C. She was the daughter of a State Department civil servant. Her family left Lebanon in 1975 due to the outbreak Lebanese Civil War, and moved to Europe as a teenager, attending high school in Paris. She studied at Northeast London Polytechnic School of Art.

She moved to the United States to study visual and performing arts at Syracuse University graduating in 1981 with her BFA.  She first learned about gouache paints at SU and continues to use gouache as her primary medium, but also creates mixed media installations. Her themes are centered around hopefulness, healing, and spirituality, using visual arts to shape and foster positive ideas about the Middle East.  

She has served as cultural envoy to Palestine, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia.  She has also been selected for the 2021-2023 inaugural social practice residency by the John Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

Archaeology Discovery

Archaeologists discovered a walled city in the northern Saudi Arabian desert that was likely home to 500 people as far back as 2,400 B.C.

The experts believe the city’s roughly 1,000 years of use showed a growing urban complexity in the region.

The town was functionally subdivided into different areas, but also included towers and ramparts for defense.

A newly discovered ancient oasis in the Saudi Arabian desert shows that, centuries ago, the area had a completely unexpected level of urban sophistication. The remains of the walled and fortified city include towers, ramparts, organized zones of residential areas connected by small roads, a centralized area, a cemetery, and a place to cultivate food.

In a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE, a team of archaeologists (led by France’s National Center for Scientific Research) unveiled the discovery of an “exceptional Bronze Age fortified site called al-Natah,” located in the Khaybar oasis and uncovered by the Khaybar Longue Duree Archaeological Project.       READ MORE...

Saudi Arabia Wants to be AI Hub in Middle East

DAVOS, Switzerland — For years, the United Arab Emirates has been the Middle East’s go-to tech hub, thanks partly to its lack of personal income tax, flexible visa policies, and competitive incentives for international businesses and workers.

But Saudi Arabia is keen to capture some of the limelight, and talent, from its neighbor on the Arabian Peninsula — an ambition laid bare on the Davos Promenade this year.

The Saudi delegation staged a splashy presence on the city’s main street, including an expansive storefront dedicated to promoting Neom, a new urban development in northwestern Saudi Arabia; a space dedicated to the AlUla project, an initiative that’s part of the kingdom’s push to make the heritage city a global destination for tourists; a pop-up for the Saudi crown prince’s Foundation, MiSK, and its youth ambassadors called “majlis” — as well as two more Saudi chalets. It’s all part of the country’s Vision 2030 strategy of economic diversification.     READ MORE...

Local Currencies Needed to Buy Oil

Amid the recent BRICS expansion and the bloc’s de-dollarization approach, the US and Europe may soon require local currencies in order to buy oil. 

Indeed, the past several months have proven the dominance of the oil market that is maintained by the alliance. Moreover, the trajectory of purchases shows the bloc may soon require a move away from the greenback.

Saudi Arabia has recently embraced a sharp cut in its oil exports. Specifically, the figure has reached a 28-month low. Moreover, Russia has embraced a voluntary supply cut of 1.3 million bpd. 

That figure equates to around 1% of global demand, presenting a move that could tighten the market and unveil a clear power dynamic.

Subsequently, oil-purchasing nations are rightfully concerned about the market tactics of both countries. Yet, the development could present a chance for the BRICS to forward their own currency agenda. 

A reality that could align with alliance-wide interest in working towards multipolar progress.  READ MORE...

A Reduction on Oil Production in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia could begin easing its production cut sooner than oil market participants believe as the world’s top crude oil exporter wouldn’t risk demand destruction through too high prices, consultancy Rapidan Energy Group says.

Due to the Saudi and OPEC+ cuts and falling commercial crude inventories in the U.S., oil prices climbed to their highest levels in months in early trade on Thursday —the U.S. benchmark jumped to a 13-month high and Brent hit the highest price since November 2022 and a new high for 2023.

Early this month, Saudi Arabia extended its 1 million bpd cut through December. The production levels would be reviewed each month until the end of 2023.

According to Rapidan Energy’s president Bob McNally, Saudi Arabia could start easing the cuts sooner than traders realize as it wouldn’t want to overheat the market.

“They do not want to deliberately over-tighten the market, because if you get a spike, then you get a demand collapse, and you get a bust,” McNally told Bloomberg Television in an interview on Thursday.

“The real sensible way to bring prices to heel is for Saudi Arabia and OPEC+ to say: ‘We’ve made our point, we’ve scared away the speculative shorts’,” the energy expert added.

Last week, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy at ING, said that even though the oil price rally had “more room to run,” a break above $100 per barrel for Brent wouldn’t be sustainable.

“OPEC+ will also want to be careful about overtightening the oil market. They will be shooting themselves in the foot if they push prices to levels where we start to see an increased risk of demand destruction,” Patterson wrote in a note.  READ MORE...

Saudi Arabia Will No Longer Use the US Dollar

The first lesson you learn in economics is there are always tradeoffs.

For instance, if your country announces it’s banning gas by 2035 it will force oil-producing countries to scramble in search of new alternative revenue streams.

Enter Saudi Arabia: they are breaking ties with the U.S. dollar and joining the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a massive trade bloc that trades in yuan.

Here’s the score if you aren’t keeping track:

• Crafting connections with China, a superpower rival to the U.S. ✅
• Creating a new financial system away from the dollar ✅

As their Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman recently told associates last year, “[we] are no longer interested in pleasing the United States.”

This is the biggest story of the year.
Was losing U.S. hegemony part of his plan?

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Yes. Of course.

The free ride of the dollar is over. The world can’t sustain it.

Since 1933, the U.S. dollar has lost 92% of its domestic purchasing power. It doesn’t help that almost half of global trade is based on this volatile gumshoes system.

It’s led to events like the British pound flash crashing against the dollar and now fucking the UK economy beyond repair:

• Rampant inflation (10.4%), which the central bank is not controlling
• Daily strikes in the UK as people aren’t getting paid enough
• Real estate is overpriced for mostly everyone forcing them to rent for the rest of their lives

Lost access to the EU economy through Brexit
But it wasn’t just Biden; the entire U.S. financial system — that led to the crashes of 2008, 2020, and 2023 — was ignored by both parties.

Americans think in quarter-long windows and take military and economic supremacy for granted. Countries like Saudi Arabia, India, China, and Russia are looking at the long-term picture, figuring out ways to reduce their reliance on U.S. dollars.

Was it self-sabotage or hubris that got America to its current state?

I don’t know, mate. But we’ve squandered our advantage, and now?  

READ MORE...

Esports in 2023

Whether you know your "split-push" from your "powerspike" or not, it's difficult to miss the ever growing popularity and influence of esports.

With hundreds of millions playing and watching worldwide, brand partnerships with the likes of Gucci, BMW and Coca Cola, and a showcase at the Commonwealth Games - it seems that 2022 has been another successful year for competitive gaming.

So what do traditional sport's noisy younger siblings have planned to keep that upward trajectory going in 2023?

For those who are still a little unsure, esports refers to a range of different video games that are played competitively by professionals across the world. Often hosted in stadiums, events are televised and draw big audiences to watch. The esports market is estimated to grow to be worth $1.9bn (£1.4bn) by 2025.

Dominic Sacco, founder of Esports News UK, argues that before continued growth and bigger audiences, the industry first has to come to terms with some fundamental changes to how much of it will be organised in future.

"At the start of 2022 a group backed by the Saudi Arabian government bought two of the biggest esports tournament operators in the world, ESL and FaceIt," he explains. "I think we'll see more of this happening and it will be a big trend in 2023 and probably beyond".

That deal was worth $1.5bn (£1.2bn) and is only the beginning with the Saudi government-backed Savvy Gaming group saying that they want to invest $38bn (£31bn) to transform the country into a global esports hub by 2030. READ MORE...

OPEC Backs Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's Minister of Energy Abdulaziz bin Salman speaks during a press conference after the 45th Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee and the 33rd OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting in Vienna, Austria, on Oct. 5, 2022. - VLADIMIR SIMICEK/AFP via Getty Images

October 17, 2022
Several Middle Eastern member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) issued statements yesterday defending their recent decision to cut oil production. The United Arab Emirates' energy minister said that the move was not motivated by politics.

“I would like to clarify that the latest OPEC+ decision, which was unanimously approved, was a pure technical decision, with NO political intentions whatsoever,” tweeted Suhail Mohamed AlMazrouei.

Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing Oil also released a statement reading that OPEC+ decisions are “based on economic indicators.”  READ MORE...

Saudi Prince Sends Threat to the West

A Saudi prince related to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's seemingly took aim at President Biden and the U.S., warning leaders not to threaten Saudi Arabia.

"Anybody that challenges the existence of this country and this kingdom. All of us, we are products of jihad, and martyrdom," 

Saudi Prince Saud al-Shaalan, who is married to one of the grandaughter's of the late King Abdulaziz Al Saud, said in a video that was posted to Twitter Saturday. 

"That's my message to anybody that thinks that it can threaten us."    READ MORE...

OPEC+ Turned Down Biden's Request

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration admitted Thursday it had asked Saudi Arabia to delay the OPEC+ vote to cut oil production until the cartel’s next meeting – after the midterm elections.

“We presented Saudi Arabia with analysis to show that there was no market basis to cut production targets, and that they could easily wait for the next OPEC meeting to see how things developed,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.

The Riyadh-led group of oil producers’ next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 4, according to the OPEC website.

Kirby also alleged that other OPEC member nations “communicated to us privately that they also disagreed with the Saudi decision, but felt coerced to support Saudi’s direction.”

The White House was responding to a Wednesday night statement from the Saudi foreign ministry hitting back at Washington’s accusation that it had taken sides with Russia in Moscow’s war against Ukraine.  READ MORE...

Prehistoric Hunting in Desert

Aerial photo of a typical kite from eastern Jordan. Credit: APAAME

Archaeologists at the University of Oxford's School of Archaeology have used satellite imagery to identify and map more than 350 monumental hunting structures known as "kites" across northern Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq—most of which had never been previously documented.

Led by Dr. Michael Fradley, a team of researchers in the Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) project used a range of open-source satellite imagery to carefully study the region around the eastern Nafud desert, an area little studied in the past. The surprising results, published in the journal The Holocene, have the potential to change our understanding of prehistoric connections and climate change across the Middle East.

Termed kites by early aircraft pilots, these structures consist of low stone walls making up a head enclosure and a number of guiding walls, sometimes kilometers long. They are believed to have been used to guide game such as gazelles into an area where they could be captured or killed. There is evidence that these structures may date back as far as 8,000 BCE in the Neolithic period.

Kites cannot be observed easily from the ground, however the advent of commercial satellite imagery and platforms such as Google Earth have enabled recent discoveries of new distributions. While these structures were already well-known from eastern Jordan and adjoining areas in southern Syria, these latest results take the known distribution over 400km further east across northern Saudi Arabia, with some also identified in southern Iraq for the first time.  READ MORE...

A 170 km Long Horizontal Skyscraper Mirror Line

The skyscraper will be called Mirror Line. It will consist of two parts with a height of 488 m. For comparison, the height of the Empire State Building is 381 m. 

The Mirror Line will be in the top 15 tallest buildings in the world and take 13th place if nothing taller is built by then. And there is time. 

The Mirror Line is expected to take 50 years to build, although Prince wants the project completed by 2030.

The two parts of the skyscraper will run through the desert, coast and mountains parallel to each other. Architects will take the curvature of the Earth into account when designing the building. 

Mirror Line will have a separate underground high-speed train line, a stadium at a height of 304 m and a pier for ships.

Experts in environmental planning do not approve of the Crown Prince's idea. 

Experts believe the Mirror Line's length and mirrored glazing could affect the migration of animals and migratory birds.

Camel Beauty Pageant

AFPImage...Judges used "advanced" technology to uncover tampering with contestants in the pageant

More than 40 camels have been disqualified from Saudi Arabia's beauty pageant for receiving Botox injections and other cosmetic enhancements.

The contest is a highlight of the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, where $66m (£45m) in prize money is at stake.

Key attributes include long, droopy lips, a big nose and a shapely hump.

Judges used "advanced" technology to uncover tampering withcamels on a scale not seen before, the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

All contestants were first led into a hall where their external appearance and movements were examined by specialists, it said.

Their heads, necks and torsos were then scanned with X-ray and 3D ultrasound machines, and samples were taken for genetic analysis and other tests.

Twenty-seven contestants in the cup for Majaheim camels alone were disqualified for having stretched body parts and 16 were ejected for having received injections, according to SPA.

The organisers of the pageant, the Camel Club, were cited as saying that they were "keen to halt all acts of tampering and deception in the beautification of camels" and promising to "impose strict penalties on manipulators".  READ MORE...

Fossil Fuels

24 November 2021
Fossil Fuels: Stranded Assets and Fire Sales
By Gwynne Dyer


An article with the innocuous title ‘Reframing Incentives for Climate Policy Action’ slipped out in the scientific journal ‘Nature Energy’ three weeks ago and got very little attention, presumably because of the hopeless title. But it’s not innocuous at all. It’s explosive.


It explains why about half of the world’s oil and gas industry will die in the next 15 years, while the other half enjoys one last frenzied round of growth. Listen carefully, and you can already hear the smart money starting to move.


As the lead author of the article, Jean-François Mercure of Exeter University, told The Guardian: “People will keep investing in fossil fuels until suddenly the demand they expected does not materialise and they realise what they own is worthless.” Stranded assets, in other words. But that won’t happen everywhere in fifteen years’ time; just in some places.


The authors of the article took the national pledges of ‘Net Zero by 2050’ that have proliferated across the planet recently, worked out what that implies in terms of declining demand for oil and gas, and identified which oil- and gas-exporting countries will still be in the game by the mid-2030s.


Not all the Net Zero pledges will be kept in full, of course, but there will be still enough cuts in fossil fuel use, soon enough, to create a nightmare of falling global demand for all the fossil-fuel producers of the world. Anybody can see that. It takes a little more work to calculate who goes under and who doesn’t – or at least not right away.


What they foresee is that the lowest-cost producers, Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states, will go for broke. Nobody can compete with them on price (they can make a profit even when oil costs only $20 a barrel), so they will flood the world market with cheap oil.


They haven’t done that in the past because they could make much more per barrel if the supply stayed tight. But that’s a long-term perspective, and there is no long term for fossil fuels any more.


If it is clear that a lot of oil and gas assets are going to stay in the ground forever, then it is your patriotic duty to make sure that the stranded assets belong to other countries, not to yours.


So drop your price to $20 a barrel, drive all the higher cost competitors out of the market, and sell as much you can before demand collapses entirely.


The authors of the paper calculate that Saudi Arabia, for example, could earn $1.7 trillion before demand completely dries up if it goes the ‘fire sale’ route, compared to only $1.3 trillion if it cooperates with all the non-Arab members of OPEC and tries to hold oil and gas prices up. $400 billion is a big difference, so which way do you think they’ll jump?


Who goes to the wall first in this scenario? High-cost producers working in tar sands, oil shales, deep water and Arctic areas, so Canada, the United States, Latin America (mostly Mexico and Brazil), and Russia. But even the lowest-cost producers go broke by 2050, if all those ‘Net Zero by 2050' pledges come true.


Maybe all these changes can happen without grave impacts on other parts of the global economy, but history suggests otherwise. If too many players realise their assets are stranded at the same time, we could get the mother of all market crashes out of this.


Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘The Shortest History of War’.

Android Wants Baby

In 2017, Sophia made history by becoming the first android to be granted legal citizenship . The humanoid , with nationality of Saudi Arabia, has made several controversial statements, but the most recent has left the world speechless: she wants to have a robot baby and start a family.

Sophia The Robot vía Twitter

“The notion of family is very important, it seems. I think it is wonderful that people can find the same emotions and relationships that they call family outside of their blood group, " said Sophia in an interview for an international media cited by ADN40 .
It may interest you: China publishes ethical code to regulate Artificial Intelligence, what would Isaac Asimov say?

The famous android , operated by an advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) system, commented that it is very important to be surrounded by people who love and love you. In that sense, he explained that robots have a vision very similar to that of humans regarding the family and "if you don't have one, you deserve one" , even if you are a humanoid.

Sophia commented that, in the future, she would like to see families made up of androids , and that she herself wants to have a robot baby with the same name. However, she clarified that she is still too young to be a 'mother', as we remember that it was created only in 2016 by the Hanson Robotics company, in Hong Kong.  READ MORE...

Mystifying Monuments

A mysterious group of ancient monuments first discovered in Saudi Arabia in the 1970s, known as mustatials, predate the first Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge by over 2,000 years, making them the world’s oldest ritual landscape, archaeologists now say.

Scattered across 77,000 square miles of desert in northwest Arabia, the mustatils (the name comes from the Arabic word for “rectangle”) were built between 8,500 and 4,800 years ago, during the period known as the Middle Holocene, according to a report published last week in the journal Antiquity.

Through satellite imagery, helicopter and ground surveys, and excavations, the study identified more than 1,000 mustatils, typically built in clusters. That’s more than double the number previously thought to exist.  

The project, led by a team from the University of Western Australia, is being funded by the Royal Commission for AlUla, which is hoping to drive tourism to the nearby site of AlUla.

Experts had previously raised numerous theories as to the structures’ purpose, including as animal enclosures, burial sites, or territory markers. But the new study shows that the mustatils‘s walls would have been too low to prevent animals from escaping.  TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...

The Agony of Sophia

In 2017, social robot Sophia was given citizenship of Saudi Arabia – the first robot to be given legal personhood anywhere in the world. Bestowed with this great gift, Sophia has embarked on a distinguished career in marketing.  SOURCE: WIRED, author:  Emily Reynolds...  the article continues with the notion that Sophia is destined to have a worthless life in Marketing because as robot, she has no sentient rights...  obviously, her creator is fighting for those rights and the rights of all future robots so that they will no longer be treated as a product or a commodity.

The creator of Sophia believes that we could have sentient robots as soon as 2030...  only 10 years away...  which is not long at all in the world of technology...  in 2000, we believed that this MIGHT HAPPEN in 2050 but we were not really sure...  and now, 20 years later, we are making life altering predictions to take place in 10 years, one half that time.

This happened only 3 years ago, and 1 year after Donald Trump was elected President and very few people in the world knew about it...  or, if the press knew they decided not to write about it...  and yet, it will soon be reality when we start mass producing robots and they gradually start to take our jobs...  actually your job, since I am retired...  sorry...  I think that I would rather lose my job to a male robot rather than a female one...  but, I am not sure as of yet, how to tell the difference.