Because Kuwait is one of the region’s most reliable security partners when it comes to countering terrorism and violent extremism, it’s my pleasure to introduce this issue of Unipath dealing with that very topic. Whether it’s joining the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS, hosting multinational military exercises such as Eagle Resolve or cracking down on terrorist financing as part of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force, Kuwait makes an over-sized contribution to regional stability. This state of affairs is a tribute to the leadership and diplomatic skill of His Highness the Emir of the State of…
Unipath
MOAMMAR AL-ERYANI, YEMENI MINISTER OF INFORMATION When the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly opens in New York in September 2020, among the issues on the agenda will be Security Council Resolution 2231, by which the U.N. approved the 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement. This year’s General Assembly and Security Council sessions coincide with a number of high-level activities that extend from mid-September to the beginning of October, including the celebration of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on September 26. Problematically, Resolution 2231 calls for the elimination of sanctions against Iran. We in the…
UNIPATH STAFF Thanks to Oman’s efforts to ensure the safety of its visitors, the sultanate was named the most secure country for expatriates in 2019. Expat Insider 2019 is one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive surveys of life abroad, to which thousands of expats from around the globe have contributed. The 2019 quality of life survey included 64 countries and territories, each providing a minimum of 75 respondents. Countries are judged in six categories: safety and security, personal happiness, leisure options, health and well-being, digital life, and travel and transportation. Countries are ranked on a scale of one…
UNIPATH STAFF The Lebanese Armed Forces continue to improve their training and equipment with the help of key multinational partners such as the United States and the United Kingdom. The value of these partnerships was emphasized with a visit in October 2019 by British Secretary of State for Middle East and North Africa Andrew Morrison. To prevent the infiltration of terrorists from Syria into Lebanon, Britain has constructed 39 towers on Lebanon’s 230-mile border as part of a 62 million-pound program. Since the program began in 2012, 11,000 Lebanese troops have been trained by a U.K. team in how to…
UNIPATH STAFF The Jordanian Civil Defense Directorate opened a Water and Mountain Rescue Center near the Dead Sea in September 2019, a consequence of the fatal flooding that struck the low-lying region in late 2018. After the wet weather disaster in which 21 Jordanians died and 43 were injured near Wadi Zarqa Ma’in, His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein established a committee to prevent loss of life in the future. The center — staffed by search and rescue teams and equipped with boats and diving equipment — emerged from the committee’s recommendations. It will benefit not just Jordanians,…
UNIPATH STAFF The United Nations has established the Yemeni port of Hudeidah as the focus of its latest efforts to mediate between the warring parties in that country’s civil war. To implement U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at ensuring a cease-fire, U.N. negotiators, the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels have established a Redeployment Coordination Committee that dispatches monitoring teams to help keep the peace in Hudeidah. The committee held its sixth meeting in September 2019 aboard a U.N. chartered ship in the Red Sea waters near the city. It led to the establishment of a Joint Operations Center at the…
UNIPATH STAFF Hosted by the Kyrgyzstani government in Bishkek in July 2019, the five Central Asian nations approved a historic agreement with the European Union to improve regional stability. Foreign ministers from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan voiced support for the new EU Strategy on Central Asia. The strategy aims not only to improve cooperation on economics and trade, but also focuses on freedom of speech, democratization education and security in Afghanistan. Bilateral relations between Kyrgyzstan and the EU were an important part of the Bishkek meeting. Both sides signed a historic bilateral agreement substantially different from the previous…
UNIPATH STAFF As a result of its government’s continuous efforts to promote food security, Qatar was ranked best among Arabic-speaking countries for protecting its citizens from potential shortages. Qatar’s Food Security Department in the Ministry of Municipality and the Environment is charged with identifying gaps among in the nation’s food supply. In addition, the department determines the economic feasibility of producing food domestically and providing land, irrigation, transportation and processing to accomplish that. Qatar’s National Food Security Strategy focuses on four main concerns: Exploring the types of food that can be produced or grown domestically without many inefficiencies. Stockpiling and…
UNIPATH STAFF The Kuwait National Guard has joined a multinational police organization that will allow it to learn from security forces around the world. At a meeting in the Netherlands in October 2019, Kuwait achieved membership in the International Association of Gendarmeries and Police Forces With Military Status, known by the acronym FIEP. Kuwait’s membership will allow its National Guard to exchange experiences with 19 countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Morocco, Qatar and Jordan. Founded in 1994, FIEP is an association of gendarmeries and police forces with military status originally from European countries on the Mediterranean seaboard. Its…
UNIPATH STAFF A military delegation from Uzbekistan visited U.S. defense colleges in September 2019 with the intention of improving how the country trains its officers. Led by Uzbek Deputy Minister of Defense Azizbek Ikramov, the delegation explored the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania, and the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. The Uzbek Defense Ministry noted that the National Defense University provided the delegation with valuable information about “infrastructure, the general approach to training military personnel, and about basic principles of curriculum development for professional military education courses.” Two months…