The apparent delay in the sale of Saudi Arabia’s mammoth-sized oil firm Aramco is a symptom of dysfunctional government, analysts say. It is just one example of bizarreness emanating from the kingdom, which says it wants to unhook its economy from oil dependence. Earlier this month, a slew of conflicting reports broke claiming that the…
The bubble is bursting. One by one, Mohammed bin Salman’s grand designs are disappearing in the desert, and with them the ambitious claims he made to reform decades of corruption, diversify an oil dependent economy and emerge as Donald Trump’s man in the Middle East. Strip away the words and the hype, and you are…
A Saudi Arabian youth organization posted an image in its Twitter feed depicting a plane approaching the CN Tower (the tallest building in the world erected in Toronto, and the city’s symbol, whose height is 553.33 meters), which is reminiscent of the 9/11 terror attacks on New York. The Canadian website CBC, which reported on…
The expulsion of the Canadian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, along with the freezing of trade relations between the two nations, is a dramatic development in the normally sleepy month of August. The Saudis were angered by perceived interference in their sovereignty, after Canada’s foreign ministry on Friday tweeted: “Canada is gravely concerned about additional arrests…
A year after King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud made his son Mohammed bin Salman crown prince, the 32-year-old remains dependent on his father’s legitimacy and credentials to be the heir apparent. Prince Mohammed has polarized the House of Saud more than any figure in more than half a century. Last summer, the king removed…
On June 30, United States President Donald Trump persuaded the King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud to maximize oil production in order to reduce the cost of fuel on the market. This decision will make the Saudis violate OPEC+ agreements reached at the end of June in Vienna. At the recent meeting…
