Former prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif — facing serious criminal charges and now a victim of his own delusions — continues his rants against the superior judiciary and “the unnamed forces”. In the process, Pakistan is fast sliding into an anarchic state. Read Here – Gulf News Also Read: Govt orders military deployment in Islamabad […]
Saudi Arabia appears to be on a warpath across the Middle East. The Saudi-orchestrated resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and Saudi officials’ bellicose rhetoric after the launch of a ballistic missile targeting Riyadh from Yemen, appear to herald a new period of assertiveness against Iranian interests across the Middle East. Read Here – Foreign […]
Israel and Saudi Arabia may seem unlikely allies in regional politics but recent developments have pushed Riyadh and Tel Aviv closer together, setting the stage for the Middle East’s strangest bedfellows. The covert ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, based on an alliance against the “common threat” of Iran, are part of a new regional […]
It is true that Saudi Arabia stoked the Sunni-Shia conflict in the region after the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but the jurisprudence of the intra-Islam war of the sects was dug up from the Saudi past and its embrace of Wahhabism in the 18th century. If it gives up extremism in 2017, it will […]
Conflicts in the Middle East, whether in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, or Yemen, share a common factor: the rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia. For years, this rivalry has inflamed violence in areas already torn by war and created new battlefields where there had been relative peace before. Read Here – Foreign Affairs
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may or may not be a true reformer. His record on that score is not unequivocal. But he is determined to halt the expansion of Iranian influence, which now really does manifest itself as the Shiite crescent about which Jordan’s King Abdullah II forewarned over a decade ago. Read Here – Foreign […]
It was not an ordinary statement or pledge; not only because it was made by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but also because of what it implied — and it was followed only two weeks later with an exceptional, earth-shattering move. Read Here – Arab News
With Prince Mohammed ensconced with his US and Israeli allies, the three belligerent powers in the region are squaring up for a battle to rid Israel and Saudi Arabia of any challenge to their dominance. Read Here – The Wire Also Read: Saudi Arabia’s ‘Game of Thobes’
The role of a dominant actor in an informal security alliance is to offer leadership and security aid to junior parties. To fulfill its role, Saudi Arabia needs financial resources and a committed group of leaders at home who are willing to build the alliance’s security architecture and provide additional benefits—including aid and military hardware—to […]
What’s the larger picture of Mohammed bin Salman as a reformer? The prince is trying to prepare Saudi Arabia for a post-petroleum order, in theory by unlocking competitiveness and creativity. His plan is detailed in Vision 2030. It includes reducing the number of royal family members on the government payroll. It also increases domestic tourism—based on […]
looking beyond borders 