Salman Rafi Sheikh

In 2019, well before the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the Russia-Africa summit held in Sochi attracted 43 countries in total. The purpose of the summit was the “development and consolidation of mutually beneficial ties” between Russia and the African continent. Four years later, the 2023 summit held in St. Petersburg attracted 49 countries in total, with the summit ending with a 74-point-long joint declaration pledging cooperation across a large number of critical areas. As is evident, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine (NATO) military conflict – and the West’s persistent attempts at ‘isolating’ Russia – has failed to make Russia…

Today’s global geopolitics is more about great power competition than any other thing. It is evident from the ongoing military conflict in Eastern Europe, and it is evident from the ways in which the US has been trying to build a global coalition against China for the past many years now. So far, Washington has achieved no substantial success. While Washington, presuming that there is a lot of potential for conflict in the region and the countries are eager to find a powerful ally against China…

Termed Saudi’s “new oil” industry, tourism ranks very high on Riyadh’s Vision 2030 strategic plan for the country’s economic transformation away from reliance on oil as the major source of revenue. According to the plan, the Saudis aim to raise about US$46 billion annually from tourism by the end of this decade, i.e., by 2030. Saudi’s goal and China’s contribution to world tourism seem to have a perfect synergy. Before Covid, 155 million Chinese tourists spent US$250 billion world-wide. With Saudi Arabia looking to attract tourism, China becomes a natural partner…