The House of Saud‘s nightmare is amplified by paranoia. After all those warnings by King Abdullah for Washington to cut “the head of the snake” (Iran), as immortalized on WikiLeaks cables; after all those supplications for the US to bomb Syria, install a no-fly zone and/or weaponize the “rebels” to kingdom come, this is what […]
Many in the Arab world see the “growing ties” between the United States and Iran detrimental to the interests of the GCC states. In the changing political scenario, many analysts also fear an expansion in Iran’s ideological borders in a Sunni-dominated region. Read Here – Arab News
When Saudi Arabia’s veteran foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, made no annual address to the United Nations General Assembly last week for the first time ever, his unspoken message could hardly have been louder. Read Here – Reuters
As U.S.-Iranian diplomacy heats up, and the Israeli prime minister expresses worry about the risks of negotiations, it’s fascinating to look back 40 years ago to the prelude to the 1973 Arab-Israeli war – when a hauntingly similar set of circumstances prevailed. Read here – The Daily Star
Most of the world is applauding the thaw between the United States and Iran. Then there are the Arabs and Israelis. Their reaction is dread, and with good reason: neither trusts U.S. President Barack Obama to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon or from at least acquiring the capability to produce one. Israel, which […]
U.S. President Barack Obama has a good chance of making peace with Iran and lave behind an enduring foreign policy legacy just as one of his predecessors, Richard Nixon, opened the doors to China. Obama could learn from Nixon the art of perseverance and tenacity in developing better relations with an old foe. But let’s […]
A different map of the Middle East would be a strategic game changer for just about everybody, potentially reconfiguring alliances, security challenges, trade and energy flows for much of the world, too, writes Robin Wright Read Here – The New York Times
No, it’s not the potential handshake between U.S. president Barack Obama and Iran‘s new president Hassan Rowhani (which didn’t ultimately pan out)—it’s the meeting of Pakistan‘s new prime minister Nawaz Sharif and India‘s outgoing prime minister Manmohan Singh that’s set to take place this weekend following this week’s United Nations General Assembly activity. Read Here […]
The Manmohan Singh–Barack Obama meeting at the U.N. General Assembly session is unlikely to be significant thanks to the stasis that has marked India-U.S. relations since 2008 Read Here – The Hindu
There are a few reasons to be optimistic about Iranian president Hassan Rouhani coming to New York. Fresh off a major electoral victory this summer, there is no time like the present for a reformist to meet and greet the Great Satan. Likewise, a face-to-face meeting with a card-carrying member of the Axis of Evil […]
looking beyond borders 