The MBS Economy
The country’s leadership has come to understand that the kingdom’s old model, based primarily on an oil-funded welfare state and rigid gender segregation, is no longer sustainable. Read More Here
Category: Middle East
The Sectarian Resurgence In The Post-American Middle East
The struggle for geopolitical primacy between Iran’s Shiite theocracy and the countries led by Sunni Arabs and, more recently, Sunni Turkey is stoking conflict across the region—eroding social compacts, worsening state dysfunction, and catalyzing extremist movements. Read More Here
China And Mideast Leverage: Hiding In Plain Sight
Washington still has good cards to play in terms of Iran’s destabilizing activities, the U.S. security umbrella over Gulf energy supplies, and Arab public opinion toward China and America. Read More Here
Saudi Arabia, 20 Years After 9/11: ‘A Country In The Making’
The Saudi Arabia of today is far different from the Saudi Arabia of Sept. 11, 2001, but for countless numbers of people in the United States, Saudi Arabia will forever be associated with 9/11, the collapse of the World Trade Towers and the deaths of nearly 3,000 people. Read More Here
Why Is Iran So Keen On Joining The SCO?
Iran’s full membership in the Shanghai Corporation Organization has become a perceived necessity for Tehran’s foreign policy goals. But will it actually help? Read More Here Also Read: Israel’s military chief says ‘accelerating’ Iran strike plans
Biden’s Iranian Opportunity
The election of hardline President Ebrahim Raisi in Iran has raised fears that the country will refuse to negotiate with the West. But with Iran’s economy in tatters, and the Sunni Taliban returning to power in neighbouring Afghanistan, Iran’s leaders have every incentive to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. Read More Here
China Isn’t Trying To Dominate The Middle East
Even as the United States pulls back from the Middle East, some in the U.S. foreign policy community believe that the region will be among the places where a so-called great-power competition between Washington and Beijing will play out. Read More Here
Raisi Will Yank Biden Back Into The Middle East
Even before Thursday’s swearing-in of Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s incoming, hard-line president, the Islamic Republic was escalating hostilities on several fronts in the Middle East. Now Tehran is only likely to get more aggressive, experts say, and that means U.S. President Joe Biden—like so many of his predecessors—may not get his wish to downgrade the region’s […]
How Iran And Saudi Arabia Can Together Bring Peace To The Middle East
The Persian Gulf rivals have some distance to go to mend fences, but their nascent rapprochement offers the best chance in years for a return to regional stability in the Middle East. Read More Here
The Saudi-Emirati Love Affair Is Over
The once closely coordinated and tightly knit Saudi-Emirati relationship is fraying. A cascade of policy divergences has emerged between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi over the past year, and more acutely over the past weeks. Read More Here
looking beyond borders 