Zilkens'
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Zilkens' News Blog 12 2026

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran and Iraq are all located on the Persian Gulf; they produce oil and gas and account for 25–30% of global oil trade (approximately 20 million barrels per day), which must pass through the Strait of Hormuz. There is a pipeline through Saudi Arabia (which bypasses Yemen and ensures supply as long as the Suez Canal remains open) and a pipeline from the UAE to the coast of Oman (1.5 million barrels per day), from where, however, transport must pass the Houthis if it is to reach the Suez Canal. The pipelines, with a total capacity of 8.5 million barrels, have not yet been fully utilised, but the shipping capacity of the ports is also limited. It remains to be seen how long the Strait of Hormuz will be held hostage to the global economy. This development has not yet had any impact on the art market, if one has correctly observed the buying mood at the Maastricht TEFAF. It really is the fair – and particularly lovely this year – running until Thursday for those willing to travel.

They didn’t like him from the start, the German intellectuals of all genders, for whom liberalism is a dirty word: the Minister of State for Culture, Wolfram Weimer – a former entrepreneur and independent. Allegedly, it is an attack on freedom of expression if companies that may be working against the state order are not to receive subsidies paid for by taxpayers. However, the grant for bookshops appears to be more of a disguised subsidy: over 100 bookshops receive grants ranging from 7,500 to 20,000 euros, or 3.5% of independent bookshops. The Thalia and Hugendubel groups come away empty-handed.

It remains a scandal that Russia was allowed to participate in the Paralympics, and it will be a scandal if the fire-eater (Buttafuoco) from Venice sticks to his plan to expose visitors of the Biennale to Russian state art. Moral corruption everywhere – in world football, in the Olympic Committee and now at the Biennale too? Ukraine is trying to bring its cultural assets (and thus evidence of its history) to safety from the front line, and Buttafuoco speaks of a ‘diplomacy of beauty’. The man is really only bearable thanks to the bags in the seat pocket on the plane, designed to catch the most unpleasant things.

First a court in Dresden and now the Higher Regional Court in Cologne are of the opinion that insurance brokers are not independent because they are paid via commission from the premiums. Are the judges not thereby judging themselves? After all, they are paid from taxpayers’ money – does that make them biased? Is their judgement clouded as a result? Can we just throw all those theories about the third branch of government out the window, because the judges are no longer independent due to the payments from their employer? Detention, ladies and gentlemen – you shouldn’t call your own independence into question by accusing others of no longer being independent, simply because they belong to a payment system that has been in place for centuries.

Stefan Kobel has compiled all sorts of market reports – wishing you all a good start to the week

Stephan Zilkens and the team at Zilkens Fine Art Insurance Broker GmbH in Solothurn and Cologne