The “Arab spring”, which began with distant events in the small country of Tunisia, brought very different changes to a range of countries in the Middle East. If, for example, in Egypt it led to regime change, then in countries such as Syria and Iraq, it led to civil war, whose end is not yet…
For three bewildering days, London is getting a glimpse of what it will feel like to live in post-Brexit, or shrinking, Britain. In scenes similar to Pyongyang or Bishek, the Great Leader’s portrait has appeared on billboards all over the capital. Neo-liberals in the media had been duly primed and groomed to welcome his arrival….
The Saudi military and state bureaucracy needs more than a shakeup. On 26 February King Salman issued a royal decree according to which several army generals, civil servants, royal court advisors, mayors, and local governors were either sacked, promoted or replaced by others. Such reshuffles are not unusual but the timing is questionable. Feel-good factor…
The semi-secret security alliance between Saudi Arabia and Israel may be expanding into the sphere of ideology and street politics, but Riyadh may be at risk of tripping a conservative Islamist backlash. The existence of some form of security and intelligence cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Israel is hardly news for Middle East observers. United…
Saudi Arabia arrested 11 princes who were protesting the government’s recent decision to stop paying their utility bills. Riyadh implemented a mild austerity plan at the start of the year that also saw the elimination of other state subsidies such as those for gas as well as the introduction of a 5% sales tax on…
Whether or not he is a purveyor of “alternative facts”, Michael Wolff in Fire and Fury tries to get inside the mind of Donald Trump when working out Washington’s new Middle East foreign policy. In Wolff’s words, this is what the United States president was thinking. “There are basically four players [or at least we can forget…
