Saudi Arabia’s BRICS Balancing Act & How Arab Media Covered Sinwar’s Death | Media Arabic Booster 10/24

October 2024 was marked by major geopolitical shifts.

In this Media Arabic Booster, we’re exploring the Arabic media’s take on them. We’ll start by looking at news tickers covering the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar (يحيى السنوار) and a headline on the “undermining” of Lebanon’s sovereignty.

Then, we dive deep into an article from Al-Khaleej Online that asks why Saudi Arabia is hesitating to join the BRICS economic bloc, revealing a delicate balancing act between the US, Russia, and Iran. This post will give you Arabic media vocabulary lists to understand and discuss modern diplomacy and conflict.

A close look at a headline

Let us start with the headlines covering the killing of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza.

al-Hadath TV: to identify

On 16 October 2024, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar (يحيى السنوار), was killed by the Israeli military.

On 17 October 2024, Israeli authorities said they were investigating whether Sinwar was among three people killed in an operation in Gaza the previous day, although neither Israel nor Hamas officially confirmed his death at the time. This was reported by Al-Arabiya al-Hadath television channel, which belongs to the MBC network (see background information below).

Let’s focus on the ticker:

The tricky phrase here is تَمَّ التَّعَرُّفُ which we will now analyze.

• With تَمَّ, we can create a passive meaning without using the passive voice. The I-verb تَمَّ – يَتِمُّ means to be finished; to become a fact. If you add a verbal noun (مَصْدَرٌ) after it, you paraphrase the passive, although constructions with تَمَّ do emphasize the result more than the process. We’ve covered that already in previous Media Arabic Booster editions. You can also find more information about that in my books Arabic for Nerds 1 and 2.
• Now, what about تَعَرُّف? This is the verbal noun (مَصْدَرٌ) of the V-verb يَتَعَرَّفُ – تَعَرَّفَ عَلَى which denotes to get to know; to recognize, to become acquainted. However, depending on the context, it can also express to identify.
• In our example, تَعَرُّف is best translated with identification. For example: facial recognition can be translated as التَّعَرُّفُ عَلَى الْوَجْهِ. The word identifiable can be expressed by يُمْكِنُ التَّعَرُّفُ عَلَيْهِ.

al-Masry al-Youm: to undermine

On Tuesday, 22nd October 2024, the Egyptian daily newspaper al-Masry al-Youm (المصري اليوم) reported on the situation in Lebanon. The headline is quite short, but to the point.

Let’s focus on the headline:

Here, we see a common problem when translating from Arabic into English: the ambiguity of words.

The noun ٌتَقْوِيض is the verbal noun of the II-verb قَوَّضَ – يُقَوِّضُ which means to destroy; to demolish; to tear down. The verbal noun ٌتَقْوِيض, however, is also used in the sense of undermining, subversion especially in political contexts, where ٌتَقْوِيض conveys a systematic erosion of power rather than outright destruction.

Translation of an article

Let’s look at parts of a longer newspaper article in Arabic. We will translate each sentence carefully. The highlighted words are in the vocabulary list below.

Al-Khaleej Online: “Despite the presence of the UAE, why did Saudi Arabia hesitate to join the BRICS?”

On October 27, 2024, the following article was published by the electronic Al-Khaleej Online (الخليج أونلاين) daily newspaper.

Al-Khaleej Online is a limited company based in the UK, founded on June 15, 2014. It has correspondents in Gulf and Arab countries and is published in Arabic.

Let’s now take a closer look at a few complete paragraphs.

رغم حضور الإمارات.. لماذا تحفظت السعودية عن دخول “بريكس”؟

Despite the UAE’s presence, why did Saudi Arabia refrain from (hesitate) to join the BRICS?

Section 1

كثرت التأويلات في تفسير غياب ولي العهد السعودي عن قمة مجموعة “بريكس بلس” المنعقدة في 22-24 أكتوبر في قازان الروسية، حيث كان هو الغائب الوحيد من بين بقية قادة الدول العشر الأعضاء داخل هذا التكتل، في حين شارك الرئيس الإماراتي لأول مرة.

والقمة تُعد أكبر تجمُّع لزعماء العالم في روسيا منذ عقود، وتُعقد في وقت تخوض فيه حرباً مع أوكرانيا المدعومة من الغرب، في حين يشهد الشرق الأوسط صراعاً كبيراً منذ بدء العدوان الإسرائيلي على غزة في الـ7 من أكتوبر 2023.

ومع مشاركة الإمارات في القمة تأكد انضمامها إلى هذا التكتل، فيما يبدو أن السعودية لم تتخذ قرارها النهائي، وسط تساؤلات حول سبب دخول أبوظبي بدون تردد وتحفظت الرياض؟

Many interpretations were provided to explain the absence of the Saudi crown prince from the BRICS Plus summit held between October 22 and 24 in the Russian city of Kazan where the crown prince was the only absentee among the rest of the bloc’s 10 leaders, while (knowing that) the UAE president participated for the first time.

The summit is (represents) the largest gathering of world leaders in Russia in (since) decades and was held at a time when Russia is fighting a war against the Western-backed Ukraine, while the Middle East has been witnessing a major conflict since the start of the Israeli aggression/assault on Gaza on October 7, 2023.

With (As) the UAE’s participation in the summit, it was confirmed that it will join the bloc, while Saudi Arabia doesn’t seem to have made up its mind amid questions as to why Abu Dhabi joined without hesitation while Al-Riyadh still has reservations (was reluctant).

Section 2

غياب ولي العهد السعودي، الأمير محمد بن سلمان، عن قمة “بريكس” أثار تساؤلات حول حقيقة انضمام السعودية رسمياً إلى التكتل…وأعلن الكرملين أنه قدم دعوة رسمية للسعودية للمشاركة في قمة “بريكس” بدورتها الـ16… وأجاب الرئيس الروسي، فلاديمير بوتين، عن سؤال بشأن نظرته حول انضمام السعودية إلى تجمُّع “بريكس”، قائلاً إنه يأمل “أن تستمر العلاقات بين روسيا والمملكة العربية السعودية”.

The absence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman from the BRICS summit raised questions about whether Saudi Arabia would officially join the bloc (lit.: the reality of Saudi Arabia’s official joining)… The Kremlin announced that it had sent (had extended) an official invitation to Saudi Arabia to participate in the 16th BRICS summit… Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to a question about his view on (regarding) Saudi Arabia joining the BRICS group, saying that he hopes that “relations between Russia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will continue”…

Section 3

وكانت تقارير روسية قد أشارت إلى أن تمثيل السعودية في القمة “لن يكون على المستوى المأمول“، مشيرة إلى أن المملكة “تتجنب اتخاذ خطوات قد تثير توتراً في العلاقات مع الغرب، خاصة مع الولايات المتحدة، فالمملكة تريد البريكس مع الحفاظ على علاقتها بالغرب”.

يرى الباحث في علم الاجتماع السياسي د. عبد الكريم غانم، أن موقف المملكة المتحفظ من الانضمام إلى مجموعة بريكس “نابعٌ من سعيها للتحرر من القطبية التقليدية والاستقطابات الجديدة”.

Russian reports indicated that the Saudi Arabia’s representation at the summit “will not be at the hoped-for (desired) level”, noting (adding) that the Kingdom “is avoiding taking (any) steps that might cause tension in relations with the West, especially with the United States. The Kingdom wants BRICS while also maintaining its relationship with the West…”

Dr. Abdul Karim Ghanem, a researcher in political sociality, believes that the Kingdom’s reserved stance on joining BRICS “stems from its quest to break free (liberate itself) from traditional polarity and new polarizations”.

Section 4

ويشير إلى أن المملكة “تفضل إمساك العصا من المنتصف“، موضحاً بقوله: “تقاربها مع روسيا لا يرقى إلى مستوى علاقاتها الاستراتيجية مع الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية”.

ويؤكد لـ”الخليج أونلاين”، أن ذلك يأتي “في ظل توجهات المملكة لتعزيز العلاقات الدفاعية والأمنية مع الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية، ومنها التعاون في البرنامج النووي السلمي، وتعزيز التعاون في مجال الذكاء الاصطناعي“.

He points out (added/noted) that the Kingdom “prefers to hold the stick from the middle”, explaining by saying that “the Saudi rapprochement with Russia doesn’t rise to the level of its strategic relationship with the United States…”

He confirmed (further told) Al-Khaleej Online that this comes “in light of the Kingdom’s endeavor to enhance defense and security relations with the United States of America, including cooperation in the peaceful nuclear program, and enhancing cooperation in the field of Artificial Intelligence.”

Section 5

وأضاف: “كما أن روسيا التي هي في حالة حرب طويلة مع أوكرانيا، لا تستطيع الفوز برضى السعودية؛ لكونها الحليف العسكري لإيران، وربما لأذرعها في المنطقة، إذ يبدو أن موسكو متورطة في تسليح جماعة الحوثي الموالية لإيران بالصواريخ الفرط صوتية وغيرها من صفقات الأسلحة، بما يشكّله ذلك من تهديد لأمن المملكة”.

He added (further said): “Russia, which is in a long state of war with Ukraine, cannot win Saudi Arabia’s favor, as it is the military ally of Iran, and possibly, its proxies in the region, as Moscow seems to be involved in arming the pro-Iranian Houthi group with hypersonic missiles and other arms deals, which poses a threat to the security of the Kingdom.”

Vocabulary list

All the words in the above article marked in color can be found in this table with explanations.

Part 1: Analysis of a headline

Part 2: Translation of an article

Article Section 5

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