Reuters details Gulf's dependence on desalination here: In the United Arab Emirates, desalinated water accounts for more than 80% of potable water. Bahrain became fully reliant on desalinated water in 2016, with 100% of groundwater reserved for contingency plans, authorities have said. Qatar is 100% dependent on desalinated water. Desalination supplies 90% of Kuwait's residential water needs. Oman is 86% reliant on desalination for its people's needs. In Saudi Arabia, a much larger nation with a greater reserve of natural groundwater, about 50% of the distributed water supply came from desalinated water as of 2023, according to the General Authority for Statistics. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE combined produce around a third of the world's desalinated water and are home to many of its largest desalination plants. The six countries, which form the Gulf Cooperation Council, have a combined population estimated by the U.N. to have topped 61 mill...
🚨 Iran’s recent attack on Saudi oil facilities, despite the President of Iran and the Foreign Ministry issuing statements that they would not attack Saudi Arabia, represents an irresponsible, miscalculated, and counterproductive strike on Saudi Arabia’s critical non-military infrastructure. Two scenarios may emerge from this situation. 1. Either Iran carried out the attack with the full consent of the government and all elements of the state, in which case it reflects the development of what can be described in international relations as a form of schizoid paranoia, a trajectory that often precedes pariah-state behavior. This implies that a state begins to perceive every other actor in the international system as an adversary, with no meaningful allies, which is highly problematic. 2. The second scenario is that elements within Iran carried out the attack without the consent of the state. This is equally problematic, as it reinforces the Western narrative of Iran as a...