Saudi Arabia

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage | (Inter Press Service) | – – John Ging, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs briefs journalists on his recent trip to Yemen. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas John Ging, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs briefs journalists on his recent trip to Yemen. UN Photo/Rick Bajornas UNITED NATIONS, May […]

Human Rights

Yemen: Saudis Using US Cluster Munitions

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – End Production, Transfer of These Banned Weapons (Washington, DC) – Saudi Arabia has used US-made cluster munitions near civilian areas in Yemen, leaving behind unexploded submunitions, Human Rights Watch said today. The United States should cease its production and transfer of cluster munitions to conform with the widely accepted […]

Employment

Saudi Arabia’s Vision: Cut Subsidies to Workers, Middle Class, put Women to Work

contributors

Courtney Freer | (The Conversation) | – – Saudi Arabia has released details of its Vision 2030 – an immensely ambitious plan which Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says will end the Kingdom’s dependence on oil by 2020. To help reach that goal, the plan details major targets, such as the establishment of a […]

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia: Foreign Workers Burn Buses After Massive Layoffs

contributors

TeleSur | – – The workers set at least seven buses on fire to protest Binladen construction group firing of at least 70,000 laborers after six months of no pay. Foreign workers at one of Saudi Arabia’s largest construction companies, Binladin group, set fire to at least seven buses in protest of being fired from […]

Barack Obama

After Obama-Salman Summit, will Saudi finally rein in Wahhabi Radicalism?

contributors

Christopher R. Hill | Project Syndicate | – – DENVER – US President Barack Obama supposedly “cleared the air” with Saudi King Salman before the latest meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital. Given how strained the bilateral relationship is – a situation long in the making – that was probably […]

Fossil Fuels

The Collapse of the Old Oil Order

contributors

By Michael T. Klare | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Sunday, April 17th was the designated moment. The world’s leading oil producers were expected to bring fresh discipline to the chaotic petroleum market and spark a return to high prices. Meeting in Doha, the glittering capital of petroleum-rich Qatar, the oil ministers of the Organization […]

Featured

Reinventing Saudi Arabia after Oil: The Prince’s $2 Trillion Gamble

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, 30, the deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia laid out his vision for Saudi Arabia on Monday in a plan called “Vision 2030.” He wants to get Saudi Arabia off its oil dependence in only 4 years, by 2020, and wants to […]

Barack Obama

6 Policies Obama wants Saudi Arabia to Change

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – After his critical comments in an interview in The Atlantic last month, Barack Obama’s visit to Saudi Arabia is going to be awkward, as DPA rightly says. The president accused the Gulf states of always trying to push the US into war for the accomplishment of […]

Egypt

What’s behind Egyptian Protests over Islands given to Saudi Arabia?

contributors

By Ebrahim Shabbir Deen | (Informed Comment) | – – The recent return of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia by the Egyptian government signals that the Sisi regime remains in need of external support to buttress its domestic control. The complex nature of the negotiations, and the islands importance to Israel […]