Arab World

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Iraqi caretaker prime minister Haidar al-Abadi on Monday walked back his pledge last week that Iraq would participate in the US sanctions regime imposed on Iran. Al-Abadi now will only say that Iraq will not trade with Iran in dollars. I suppose that the two could instead use Euros or […]

Green Transportation

Elon Musk says in Talks with Saudis on Taking Tesla Private

AFP

By Rob Lever | – Washington (AFP) – Tesla chief executive Elon Musk disclosed Monday that he was in talks with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and other investors to take the electric automaker private. The revelation came after Musk claimed in an August 7 Twitter post that financing for a deal to take Tesla […]

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s Arrest of Women’s Rights Activists puts it on Wrong Side of History

Zainah Anwar

From Indonesia to Saudi Arabia, Muslim women’s movements for equality are increasingly interconnected – and unstoppable

UAE

Dubai Jails Swedish Woman, Daughter, for one Glass of Wine on Flight

Middle East Monitor

Update: Ms. Holman has been released and Dubai has apologized. -JC, 8/12/18 A mother and her four-year-old daughter were detained for three days in Dubai for drinking a glass of wine on a flight from London, according to rights group Detained in Dubai. Ellie Holman, 44, was arrested at Dubai International Airport after being asked […]

Iraq

Nationalist Cleric Sadr and Communist Allies wins Iraq Vote Recount

AFP

Baghdad (AFP) – Nationalist Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr’s alliance won Iraq’s May parliamentary election according to a manual recount, the electoral commission said Friday, paving the way for a government to be formed nearly three months after the vote. Allegations of fraud prompted the supreme court to order a partial manual recount, but Sadr’s joint […]

Saudi Arabia

How Bin Salman’s Attack on Canada is Harming the Saudi Economy

Middle East Monitor

By Alastair Sloan | – The Canada-Saudi spat looks set to accelerate as the Kingdom’s central bank ordered its fund managers to withdraw hundreds of millions of dollars in equities, bonds and cash from Canadian financial markets yesterday. The Wall Street Journal quickly judged that “the relatively small selloff isn’t expected to carry a major […]

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Airstrike in Yemen hits School Bus, kills 29 Kids

AFP

Sanaa (AFP) – An attack on a bus at a market in rebel-held northern Yemen killed at least 29 children Thursday, the Red Cross said, as the Saudi-led coalition faced a growing outcry over the strike. The coalition said it had carried out a “legitimate military action”, targeting a bus in response to a deadly […]

Featured

The Saudi Problem: Wildly Erratic, and Savagely Lashing out from Yemen to Qatar to . . . Canada?

Juan Cole

Mohamed Bin Salman is at it again. The yacht-loving Renaissance art collector who tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the American elite this spring is a serial diplomatic disaster. Bin Salman’s plans for a transition of Saudi Arabia from being an oil giant to being a financial hub depend heavily on international […]

Saudi Arabia

Saudis Seek to Silence Foreign Critics as Canada Feud Erupts

Anuj Chopra

Riyadh (AFP) – Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic rupture with Canada underscores the kingdom’s newly combative foreign policy to tame international criticism after a crackdown on domestic critics, as it struggles to implement risky reforms, analysts say. Saudi Arabia on Monday expelled Canada’s ambassador and recalled its own envoy while freezing all new trade and investments, after […]