Sleepless In Middle East
The problem for King Abdullah and the other members of the House of Saud, as well as most Saudis, is that they don’t trust Iran in the diplomatic sphere and they don’t trust Shiites religiously. Read Here – The Atlantic
Tag: Iran
The Insolent Ally
With our guns and money, we have suspended the feuds of Afghanistan. When we truly pack up our gear, the hard truth of that country will win out. The warlords and the vultures will take what they can and leave the place to darkness and ruin, writes Fouad Ajami Read Here – Bloomberg
The Big Deal
The battle of spin has begun in great earnest after the signing of the Iran nuclear deal Read Here – Al Jazeera
Pragmatic Flexibility
India and China find that pragmatic flexibility trumps ideology in trade policies. Case in point: Israel. Read Here – The Diplomat
Obama’s Nixon Moment
The president’s negotiation could remake global politics—but he faces recriminations from domestic opponents and foreign allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia. Read Here – The Atlantic
Same World, Different Takes
Judging from their reactions to the deal that world powers signed with Iran in Geneva early Sunday morning, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama live in different worlds. Read Here – Jerusalem Post
Through The Realist Prism
What is most interesting to consider, however, is whether we are witnessing the first stages of a reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Russia. Riyadh and Moscow, of course, have some apparently irreconcilable geostrategic imperatives. Russia’s close ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran and its unstinting support of Bashar al-Assad in Syria puts Moscow at […]
No Middle East Exit Yet For The US
Until cars and trucks can be powered by solar, wind, or nuclear energy, the entire world depends on the free flow of oil from the Persian Gulf region. That requires American security guarantees, which require our presence. And until radical Islamist organizations utterly lose their local appeal, we’ll have little choice but to intervene periodically […]
The Great Shia-Sunni Divide
In addition to concerns about sectarian tensions, concerns about religious extremism in general also are widespread in the countries surveyed, with about two-thirds of all Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, half of all Muslims in Lebanon and roughly a quarter of all Muslims in Iran expressing worry about radical religious groups. Read Here – Pew […]
Redefining Middle East Interests
Based on its actual behavior, rather than words, Washington seems to have redefined its core national interests in the Middle East a few years ago during the first term of the Barack Obama presidency, says Rami Khouri Read Here – The Daily Star, Beirut
looking beyond borders 