Saudi Arabia

Human Rights Watch (Geneva) – The United Nations expert’s call for justice for the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi should lead to the creation of a comprehensive system to monitor Saudi rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said. Agnes Callamard, the special rapporteur for extrajudicial executions, noted on June 19, 2019, in releasing the […]

Iran

Saudi and Iran: how our two countries could make peace and bring stability to the Middle East

The Conversation

By Samira Nasirzadeh and Eyad Alrefai | – Relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran have rarely been worse, regarding the attacks on the oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman – for which both sides blame each other. Nevertheless, in the history of relations between the two countries, […]

Featured

Bipartisan move in Congress to Cancel Trump’s Stealth $8 bn Arms sale to Saudis

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dan De Luce at NBC News reports on a bipartisan attempt in Congress to block Trump’s sidelining of the legislature in fast-tracking an $8 bn arms sale to Saudi Arabia that includes components useful in building ballistic missiles. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo justified the step on the grounds of […]

Saudi Arabia

Troika Fevers: Key American Allies in the Middle East are the Real Tyrants

Danny Sjursen

(Tomdispatch.com) – American foreign policy can be so retro, not to mention absurd. Despite being bogged down in more military interventions than it can reasonably handle, the Trump team recently picked a new fight — in Latin America. That’s right! Uncle Sam kicked off a sequel to the Cold War with some of our southern […]

Saudi Arabia

Is Saudi Arabia Losing the War in Yemen?

Middle East Monitor

By Mustafa Fetouri | – Is Saudi Arabia losing its military campaign in Yemen despite being the stronger party enjoying the support of its many allies? The Saudi-led coalition includes countries like Egypt, Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Jordan and Morocco, as well as Qatar before it fell out with Riyadh. Major countries […]

Houthi

The New Drone Wars: Houthis hit Saudi Oil Pumping Stations, avenging Riyadh’s Strikes on Sana’a

Middle East Monitor

The security spokesperson for the Presidency of the State Security in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced that Aramco oil pumping stations in the provinces of Al Duwadimi and Afif in Riyadh were attacked. The Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources stressed that the “terrorist attack” targeted two pumping stations for a pipeline, pointing […]

Saudi Arabia

Saudis Accused of Serious Crimes Aided in Fleeing US as Officials Turn Blind Eye

ProPublica

By Sebastian Rotella and Tim Golden (ProPublica), with Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, The Oregonian/OregonLive This story was co-published with The Oregonian/OregonLive. The FBI, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies have known for years that Saudi diplomats were helping Saudi fugitives. But Washington avoided even raising the problem out of concern that it might hurt Saudi […]

Saudi Arabia

Youth among 37 Executed by Saudis had Repudiated Confessions as result of Torture

Human Rights Watch

Beirut (Human Rights Watch) – Saudi Arabia’s government announced the mass execution of 37 men on April 23, 2019 in various parts of the country, Human Rights Watch said today. At least 33 of the 37 were from the country’s minority Shia community and had been convicted following unfair trials for various alleged crimes, including […]

Featured

Saudi Mass Execution of Shiites draws UN, NGO Condemnation and raises tensions with Iran

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Saudi authorities tweeted Wednesday that they had executed 37 persons. Two of the bodies were hung from light poles in public as a warning to the Saudi public to avoid any sort of dissidence. The widely condemned step came while the kingdom was hosting a two-day economic forum that attracted […]