Could the COVID crash spark another Arab Spring? – The Spectator USA

Could the COVID crash spark another Arab Spring? – The Spectator USA

Now the Middle East squats in our living rooms once more.. As coronavirus has destroyed the global economy it has destroyed the demand for oil along with it.. And nowhere is the crash more devastating than in the Middle East.. The oil price to look at from a Middle East perspective is the Brent benchmark, which at the time of writing (and this could change quickly) stands at around $20.. With oil revenues dropping, the deficits of these states will balloon.. The UAE and Qatar will bail out their national airlines if they need to but they won't subsidize a Belgian banker or a Pakistani builder - and their economies will pay the price .. What makes this so bad for the non-GCC states in the Middle East and North Africa is that they pretty much all have potent anti-government movements.. If you are an oil-exporting state then your economic fortunes are tied to global demand - and this will continue to be depressed, even after we come out of lockdown.. We tried to draw away from the Middle East but it proved impossible..