The landslide re-election of Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, reflects the by now familiar pattern of continuity and change that has characterised Iran’s major elections over the last two decades. But it also stands out in one key way: Rouhani has remained popular despite pursuing painful macroeconomic stabilisation. Read Here – Project Syndicate
The attempt by Saudi Arabia and Gulf oil states to achieve hegemony in the Arab and Sunni Muslim worlds has proved disastrous for almost everybody. The capture of east Aleppo by the Syrian Army and the likely fall of Mosul to the Iraqi Army means defeat for that the Sunni Arabs in a great swathe […]
Just a few years back, the business relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia was pretty simple: the Americans bought oil, and the Saudis spent much of what they earned on equipment to keep the crude flowing and on planes, tanks and missiles to protect their borders. Read Here – Dawn
The Saudis will be appalled that a (comparatively) reasonable Iranian has won a (comparatively) free election that almost none of the 50 dictators gathering to meet Trump in Riyadh would ever dare to hold Read Here – Independent
Hassan Rouhani, who represented moderates and reformers in the Iranian presidential campaign, won 23.5 million (or 57 percent) of the total vote, while his closest rival, Ebrahim Raisi, received 15.7 million (38.5 percent), the Interior Ministry announced. Read Here – Tehran Times
On Friday, Iranians will vote for their next president. The race has essentially boiled down to a choice between a centrist and a hardline conservative—the incumbent, Hassan Rouhani, and Ibrahim Raisi, the custodian of the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashad. A clear choice appears to be emerging. Read Here – The Atlantic
…because Khamenei personifies the establishment, it is not his endorsement that matters, but that of respected antiestablishment figures who despite their political marginalisation still have unmatched reach within Iran’s society. Currently, that person is Khatami, who has managed to make use of social media to circumvent the government’s media blackout of him dating back to […]
Erdogan, Trump and Putin share common traits, which undoubtedly feed their feelings of affinity toward one another. All three are diplomatically unorthodox populists who are outspoken in their views. All three are impulsive and equally disliked internationally. This, however, doesn’t portend a three-way match made in heaven. Read Here – Al-Monitor
America has learned few lessons from repeated failures and dire consequences of its interventions, from Iraq to Afghanistan to Latin America, but those in the region who look to the United States for salvation have short memories, too. Read Here – Foreign Policy
President Tayyip Erdoğan announced his narrow win for the constitutional shift from a parliamentary to an executive system as a result of the April 16 referendum, representing a radical change in Turkey’s administrative regime. Read Here – Hurriyet Daily News
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