Against the advise from his intelligence services U.S. President Trump decided to leave the effective Saudi ruler, clown prince Mohammad bin Salman, in place. That move is unlikely to help with his larger policy plans. Bruce Riedel, a (former) high level CIA analyst, long warned of betting on Mohammad bin Salman. Even before the murder of Jamal…
American militarism has gone off the rails — and this middling career officer should have seen it coming. Earlier in this century, the U.S. military not surprisingly focused on counterinsurgency as it faced various indecisive and seemingly unending wars across the Greater Middle East and parts of Africa. Back in 2008, when I was still a captain…
Saudi sports diplomacy is proving to be a mirror image of the kingdom’s challenged domestic, regional and foreign policies. Overlorded by sports czar Turki al-Sheikh, Saudi sports diplomacy, like the kingdom’s broader policies, has produced at best mixed results, suggesting that financial muscle coupled with varying degrees of coercion does not guarantee success. Mr. Al-Sheikh,…
Terrorist organizations the Islamic State (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda suffered a catastrophic defeat in the Middle East, which was brought about with active support from Russia. However, evidence shows that not only has the terrorist threat not been completely eliminated but instead it has transformed into new, on their own unprecedented and dangerous forms. Alexander Bortnikov,…
During many meetings with senior members of the Syrian opposition in various European cities in 2013-2014, I would remind them that Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United States, amongst others, host and finance the opposition due to their own self-interest and agendas; and not out of love for Syria. I would note that there is…
The major media outlets had totally ignored the important three days October 26-28 IISS Manama Dialogue 2018 conference that was organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in the city of Manama; the capital of the tiny island of Bahrain. This Manama Dialogue was attended by key defense and foreign policy decision makers…
