UAE and Qatar are ahead, but do you see any signs of Kuwait or Oman catching up in tourism, real estate, or influence?

I’ve been thinking—it’d boost tourism and trade massively. Is there anything stopping this?

Saudi Arabia now imports more “virtual water” through crops and overseas farmland than it pumps from its own aquifers. This invisible supply chain could play a far more important role in shaping the Kingdom’s future more than oil revenues.

In my recent essay, I explored how Riyadh is outsourcing its water footprint and how it compares to China’s model which is similar. For the Kingdom. Virtual water is fast becoming a critical form of geoeconomic infrastructure. Curious to know what the community thinks of the long term risks.

https://open.substack.com/pub/arjungidwani/p/hydrostrategic-realities-saudi-arabia

In July 2025, President Donald Trump issued a flurry of tariff threats to 14 countries—including long-standing allies such as Japan and South Korea—demanding new trade deals or facing levies of up to 40%. Days later, the list grew to include hydrocarbon exporters Libya, Algeria, and Iraq, despite their modest trade profiles with the United States. On 31 July, the White House announced the final – for now – tariff rates, and Iraq was hit with a 35% rate, up from the 30% announced in Trump’s early July letter to Iraq’s prime minister, Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani.

At first glance, Iraq seems an unlikely target... 

In much of the Arab world, virginity is not private.
It is not intimate.
It is not yours.

It belongs to everyone but you—
your family, your tribe, your community.
Guarded. Weighed. Judged.
Your body becomes a ledger of their honour.

For men, there is no ledger.
No hymen. No proof demanded.
They roam. They conquer.
They laugh in cafés, smoke in rooms,
their bodies untouched by consequence.
Their stories never stain a name.
Their flesh is theirs alone.

But for women, virginity is life or death.
If you are not a virgin on your wedding day,
you risk your life, your honour, your family’s name.
A wedding night without blood on the sheets—
a whisper in the marketplace—
a rumor in the wrong ears—
and shame is not a feeling.
It is a verdict.

Some call this sacred.
Some cloak it in words like honour, protection, faith.
But peel back the layers and you see the truth:
Power.
Held by men.
Pressed against women.

It is not God.
It is not morality.
It is control.
Who gets to live freely.
Who must walk in fear.

The double standard is savage.
A man’s mistakes make him worldly.
A woman’s desires make her disposable.
He is forgiven.
She is erased.

Yes, the West has its own chains—
slut-shaming, purity culture, whispered judgment.
But at least there is dialogue.
At least the question, why?, can be asked.

In Arab households, silence is deeper.
Questions are dangerous.
To challenge virginity as honour
is to challenge family, tradition, God Himself.
So most women swallow the fear.
Some are forced to navigate the impossible:
turning to anal sex to avoid “losing” their virginity,
because there is no evidence, no proof—but the fear, the pressure, the judgment, remains.
They wear the chain. Carry the shame.

But silence is not safety.
Obedience is not dignity.

What if virginity were not currency?
What if honor were not measured in hymens?
What if women’s lives were valued for humanity, not restraint?

These questions are not betrayal.
They are survival.
They are love—for our mothers, our sisters, our daughters—
who deserve more than a life defined by what they have not done.

Virginity is not sacred.
Women are.

What is one thing tourists should never do in your country? I'm curious to know

No doubt a terrible idea generally, but to sow chaos, mess with the U.S. etc., would this be in Putin’s best interests?