Arab World

Separatist and Government Forces in Aden Showing Scant Concern for Civilians

Trump-Saudi War on Yemen Collapsing as Southern Separatists Take Aden

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Yemen, a country of 28 million and one of the poorest in the world, had already become a byword for misery over the course of the last four years of war. Now, believe it or not, things have abruptly worsened. The strategic port of Aden has fallen to southern separatists, […]

Saudi Arabia

Are changes to Saudi Arabia’s Guardianship Laws really about Women?

Middle East Monitor

By Zarqa Parvez | – Saudi women are amongst the strongest, most intelligent and inspirational women in the Middle East. Female Saudi academics and activists have lobbied for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia for decades, but unfortunately have faced slow progress and a strong backlash from society and government. The recent changes in Saudi guardianship […]

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Women Fighting for & Gaining More Liberty, Even as Leaders are Jailed

The Conversation

By Alainna Liloia | – Saudi women will soon be allowed to obtain passports and travel without the permission of a male relative. This new regulation, announced by the government in early August, eases one of the most limiting aspects of the Gulf country’s “guardianship system,” which puts men in charge of their female relatives. […]

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia and the UAE’s rivalry is driving Yemen’s Internal Violence

Jonathan Fenton-Harvey

(Informed Comment) – After misleading hopes that the United Arab Emirates will withdraw from Yemen, severe recent clashes in Aden show that peace is still a distant prospect, while highlighting the consequences of the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Various violent incidents have led to numerous casualties. Lately on Wednesday UAE-backed southern secessionists […]

Saudi Arabia

Shadowy Pro-Saudi D. C. Think Tank that Defended Crown Prince Suddenly Closes

Brian Whitaker

(Al-Bab.com) – The Arabia Foundation, a pro-Saudi think tank established in Washington only two-and-a-half years ago suddenly closed down yesterday, citing “ongoing differences” among its donors that have “made continued operations difficult”. In a series of posts on Twitter the organisation’s founder, Ali Shihabi, said the closure decision was made by the board of directors. […]

Donald Trump

Why Trump let Saudi Arabia and UAE censor his “America First” Speech on Energy

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Sunday the NYT revealed that Trump’s staff ran his May, 2016 speech on “America First” by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for their input into the energy passages, and actually altered the text based on their editing. The hollow joke of Trump’s “America first” slogan could not […]

Immigration

US Homeland Security could return Syrian Refugees in US to Violence, Arrest, Torture under al-Assad

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch (Washington, DC) – The US should renew its grant of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to almost 7,000 Syrians living in the United States, Human Rights Watch said today. People forced to return to Syria still face violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture. Destroyed house from US-led coalition strike that killed 13 […]

Iraq

Caught between Iran, the Sunnis and the US, is Iraq a State without a Nation?

Tareq A. Ramadan

By Tareq A. Ramadan | – (Informed Comment) – The fall of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’athist dictatorship in March of 2003 was a cataclysmic political event for the Iraqi state. Sixteen years later, the fallout continues to shape and re-shape its political, religious, social, cultural, judicial, and economic life. Over the years, and as a result […]