Saudi Arabia

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Saudi Arabia’s King Salman issued a decree on Tuesday permitting women to drive as of June of next year. Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world to forbid its female citizens from driving automobiles. This unusually misogynistic position derived from two sources. One is […]

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia: Official Hate Speech Targets Minorities

Juan Cole

Human Rights Watch | – – Incitement Leads to Discrimination Against Shia, Other Groups (Beirut) – Some Saudi state clerics and institutions incite hatred and discrimination against religious minorities, including the country’s Shia Muslim minority, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 62-page report, “‘They Are Not Our Brothers’: Hate Speech by […]

Displaced and Refugees

Yemen’s Children Are Being Shelled While the World Sits Back

contributors

By Kristine Beckerle | ( Human Rights Watch) | – – Deadly Attack in Taizz Shows Need for International Inquiry Yemenis were again mourning their children this weekend – this time in Taizz, Yemen’s third largest city. Houthi-Saleh forces indiscriminately shelled a residential neighborhood killing three children – two of whom were playing football – […]

Donald Trump

Trump blasts Iran for backing Syria, ignores Russia, Praises Saudis

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump more or less threatened to wipe out the 25 million people of North Korea in his speech at the UN. Then he turned to the Middle East, where he again pledged to undermine the Iranian nuclear deal. In other words, he put forward a plan […]

Featured

Saudi Arabia wants to improve Image; Here’s How

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Saudi Arabia is alleged to be hiring a PR firm to improve its tattered image in the West . As usual, such a campaign confuses substance with fluff and the money will be wasted. I am sympathetic to Saudi feelings that they get an unfair rap. […]

Arab World

Is the Gulf Crisis bringing Iraq back into Arab World?

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | ( Niqash.org ) | – – Countries like Saudi Arabia are showing new willingness to open diplomatic channels with Iraq. Motivations include a military they now respect, opportunities for reconstruction and countering Iranian influence. Iraqi diplomats have had a busy month. There have been dozens of officials from Arab countries […]

Displaced and Refugees

International Community must Halt Yemen Bloodbath

contributors

Hannah Porter | (Informed Comment) | – – A concerted effort by the international community to resolve Yemen’s war would see considerable benefits at a small cost, yet profits, alliances, and egos are getting in the way. On midnight, March 26, 2015, Saudi fighter jets took to the skies of Yemen, marking the beginning of […]

Epidemics

Under Saudi Bombs, Yemen hit by 500,000 Cholera Cases

contributors

TeleSur | – – Each day there are more than 5,000 new cases of the waterborne disease. More than half a million people in Yemen have been infected with cholera since the epidemic began four months ago and 1,975 people have died, the World Health Organization, WHO, announced Monday. Each day there are more than […]

Arms Sales

Should Western Countries be Selling Masses of Arms to Saudi Arabia?

contributors

By Riccardo Labianco | (The Conversation) | – – Since the catastrophic Yemeni civil war began in 2015, the British public has woken up to a serious problem: the use of UK-manufactured arms by Saudi Arabia. Various NGOs, campaigners and many MPs are increasingly worried about evidence that since the beginning of the conflict, Saudi […]