18-year-old Saudi citizen Rahaf al-Qunun ran away from her family during a vacation in Kuwait after boarding a flight to Thailand where she planned to transit en route to Australia after asking for asylum. She claimed that her family physically and mentally abused her and that she’d face certain death if she returned home after…
Saudi conduct of its ill-fated war in Yemen coupled with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s alignment with the Trump administration and Israel, and his often coercive approach to diplomatic relations, has opened the door to challenges of the kingdom’s moral leadership of the Sunni Muslim world, a legitimizing pillar of the ruling Al Saud family’s…
The United States is reportedly floating plans for a new security alliance with six Gulf Arab states, alongside Jordan and Egypt, to counter Iran’s growing presence in the region. Provisionally named the Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA), some have dubbed it an “Arab NATO” of Sunni Muslim allies. “MESA will serve as a bulwark against…
With multiple Middle Eastern disputes threatening to spill out of control, United Arab Emirates minister of state for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash acknowledged what many in the Middle East have long said privately: the UAE’s recently-found assertiveness and determination to punch above its weight stems from its inability to rely on traditional allies like the…
The once united Arab world is more divided today than at anytime since the implementation of the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 whereby the French and British imperial governments decided to split the majority of the Arab world into spheres of influence to be shared by western Europe’s foremost colonial aggressors. In the middle of the…
Saudi Arabia did not come to Jordan’s rescue with a $2.5bn aid package, although King Salman very much wanted to appear as if it had. What happened was an attempt by King Salman to take the credit for the money that Kuwait had already pledged. What resulted was a scramble by rival Gulf states to…
