Saudi Arabia

Beirut ( Human Rights Watch) – Saudi authorities since May 15, 2018, detained a total of seven prominent women’s rights defenders, Human Rights Watch said today. The activists have long advocated ending the ban on women driving and abolishing the discriminatory male guardianship system. Among those arrested are Eman al-Nafjan and Lujain al-Hathloul, along with […]

Donald Trump

Gearing Up for the Third Gulf War: a Future Cataclysm between US, Israel, Saudi and Iran?

Michael T. Klare

( Tomdispatch) With Donald Trump’s decision to shred the Iran nuclear agreement, announced last Tuesday, it’s time for the rest of us to start thinking about what a Third Gulf War would mean. The answer, based on the last 16 years of American experience in the Greater Middle East, is that it won’t be pretty. […]

Saudi Arabia

Saudi-financed Belgian mosques teach hatred of Jews, gays: report

AFP

Brussels (AFP) – Teaching manuals in Gulf Arab-financed mosques in Belgium promote anti-semitic stereotypes of Jews and call for the persecution of homosexuals, according to a leaked Belgian intelligence report. The texts used in mosques including the Brussels Grand Mosque call for gays to be stoned to death or thrown off buildings and describe Jews […]

Saudi Arabia

Arms and Manipulation: How the Saudis and UAE took Trump for a Ride

Tomdispatch

By William Hartung and Ben Freeman It’s another Trump affair — this time without the allegations of sexual harassment (and worse), the charges and counter-charges, the lawsuits, and all the rest. So it hasn’t gotten the sort of headlines that Stormy Daniels has garnered, but when it comes to influence, American foreign policy, and issues […]

Arms Sales

Saudi Arabia world’s 3rd highest military spender but 41st in World Population

Middle East Monitor

Saudi Arabia has ranked third across the world with military spending which reached $69.4 billion in 2017. It replaces Russia, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a new report on Wednesday. According to the report, military spending across the world has increased by 1.1 percent in 2017 compared to the previous year […]

Featured

Pompeo to Saudi Arabia: Mobilize against Iran and end Yemen War, Qatar Blockade

Juan Cole

Newly minted secretary of state Mike Pompeo held consultations Saturday in Riyadh with Saudi officials, according to ABC. Pompeo’s program, like the foreign policy of Trump in general, was full of unlikely projects and ideologically driven impracticalities. An obsession with Iran drove most of these unlikely plans. Pompeo pressured the Saudi government to stop boycotting […]

Featured

If the Leaders of the two Koreas can meet, why can’t those of Saudi Arabia and Iran?

Juan Cole

The remarkable face to face meeting of the leaders of North and South Korea is being watched with hope by many observers, given the long decades of enmity between the two and the recent nuclear sabre-rattling of President Trump. At least in my circles, I see virtually no one condemning the meeting, though many are […]

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s Yemen Campaign escalates into War of Missiles

contributors

Khalil Dewan @KhalilDewan | Middle East Monitor | – – As Mohammed Bin Salman’s global tour continues in a bid to stabilise Riyadh’s economy, his foreign policy needs revising to ensure political and security risks aren’t deepening. After three years fighting in Yemen’s civil war, the Houthis have stepped-up their strategy and are going after […]

Iran

Iraq’s al-Sadr offers to mediate between Riyadh, Tehran

contributors

Middle East Monitor | – – Prominent Iraqi Shia cleric and opposition leader Muqtada al-Sadr has declared his willingness to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Iran with a view to mitigating tensions between the two regional powerhouses. The offer came in a Tuesday statement issued by al-Sadr’s office in response to questions regarding the possibility […]