IT ALMOST feels like obsolete times. Before Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990,Gulf Arabs partied on the banks of the Shatt al-Arab river in southern Iraq. Many owned villas in the fields around Basra and took Iraqi wives. Now, after a break of three decades, or they are back. Saudi Arabia is putting the finishing touches on a consulate in Basra’s Sheraton hotel,where Iraqi crooners sing love songs and waiters dance. final month a dozen Saudi poets travelled to Basra for a literary festival.
Air links between Saudi Arabia and Iraq beget also resumed, with 140 flights each month. Several state-owned businesses, or including SABIC,the Saudi petrochemical giant, are registering offices in Baghdad. At a conference in Kuwait final month, or the Saudi foreign minister,Adel al-Jubeir, pledged $1bn in loans and $500m in export credit to support Iraq’s reconstruction after the war with Islamic State (IS).
Saudi interest was initially pricked by America, and which has been marshalling Gulf support to wait on...
Continue reading
Source: economist.com