Arab World

She remains restrained by a travel ban and limits on public appearances

Biden’s Saudi Game of Thrones: Is he trying to Sideline crown prince Bin Salman?

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – BBC Arabic reports that Saudi Twitter has gone wild with responses to the apparent sidelining by President Biden of Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman, with many Saudis considering it a humiliation. White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said this week that Biden wishes to “recalibrate” the U.S. relationship with Saudi […]

Houthi

Biden seeks peace in Yemen, but will the warring factions come on board?

Brian Whitaker

( Al-Bab.com) – The US State Department confirmed on Friday that it is revoking a last-minute decision by the Trump administration to designate Yemen’s Houthi movement as a terrorist organisation. The issue is not whether the Houthis deserve to be designated – their atrocities are well known – but Trump’s action, just days before leaving […]

Arab World

Targeting Iran, Trump added Israel to the US Mideast Military Command; How will the Arab World Respond?

Middle East Monitor

By Nasim Ahmed | – ( Middle East Monitor) – A major reorganisation of US military operation in the Middle East was announced last month in a momentous decision reflecting the seismic geo-political shifts underway in the region. The move, the last of many gifts granted by Washington to Tel-Aviv under former President Donald Trump, […]

Feminism

Saudi Arabia releases Women’s Rights Activist Loujain al-Hathloul but Bans her Travel

Human Rights Watch

(Beirut) – Saudi authorities released from prison the prominent women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul on February 10, 2021, Human Rights Watch said today. However, she is banned from travel and has a suspended sentence, which allows the authorities to return her to prison at any time for any perceived criminal activity. In late December 2020, […]

Authoritarianism

Saudi Arabia: Can America’s Favorite Police State ever Change?

Bill Law

( Middle East Monitor ) – The phone call to the family lasted just one minute. It came 23 months after aid worker Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan had been arrested at the offices of the Red Crescent in Riyadh, where he worked co-ordinating rescue operations and emergency relief. He was held incommunicado despite numerous efforts by the […]

Arab Spring

Mideast Regimes met the Arab Spring youth with Iron Fists and Sectarianization, but anti-Corruption Protests Continue

The Conversation

Simon Mabon | – As the popular refrain of “ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam” rang out across the Middle East in the early months of 2011, the nature of political life and relations between rulers and ruled began to fragment. The chant – which roughly translates as “the people want the fall of the regime” – […]

astronomy and outer space

First Arab Muslim Satellite enters Mars Orbit: UAE’s Arabo-Futurism and its Princess Leias

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Americans who are used to imagining Arab Muslim civilization as backward or barbaric might be surprised to hear that the United Arab Emirates, a country made up of seven Gulf Arab Principalities, has become only the fifth country to place a satellite in orbit around Mars. The science team behind […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Crisis and Water Conflict: How Saudi’s water insecurity led to war in Yemen

Adam Robertson Charlton

Stavanger, Norway (Special to Informed Comment) – In the early hours of 14 September 2019, a fleet of drones attacked the Abqaiq-Khurais oil refinery in Saudi Arabia, the largest oil stabilisation plant in the world. The attack came shortly before Saudi Aramco –the Kingdom’s state-owned oil company – was floated on the market, and Riyadh […]