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 …
Continue reading Saudi Arabia: Wherever One Looks, Failure Abounds
Criticism of Pakistan’s anti-money laundering and terrorism finance regime by the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) is likely to complicate incoming Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan’s efforts to tackle his country’s financial crisis. Addressing the criticism of the 41-nation APG, which reports to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international anti-money laundering …
Continue reading Pakistan at a Crossroads as Imran Khan Is Sworn In
Trust Turkey’s Recep Erdogan to have had a game plan when he challenged the Trump administration and promised that the latter will regret its “unilateralist” policies. Some pundits thought Russia and China have been inciting him and are lurking in the shadows to escort Erdogan to a brave new world. Others fancied that the Eurasian …
Continue reading Riding on Qatari Wings, Multipolarity Arrives in the Middle East
The Canadian government finds itself caught in a dilemma of its own making, skewered on the spear of its own hypocrisy, and left to dangle in the wind by its supposed allies, as a result of its demand that Saudi Arabia release a woman who criticised the Saudi women’s rights policies. There has been all …
Continue reading Canada vs. Saudi Arabia: Illusions and Reality
The alliance of the UAE and Egypt is expanding its zone of influence in the Horn of Africa, including the establishment of Ethiopian-Eritrean relations. There is a noticeable Emirati influence in Ethiopia, where they compete with the Qatar-Turkey alliance. Saudi Arabia, being a rival of the UAE and Egypt, supports them in the region against …
Iran has raised the spectre of a US-Saudi effort to destabilize the country by exploiting economic grievances against the backdrop of circumstantial evidence that Washington and Riyadh are playing with scenarios for stirring unrest among the Islamic republic’s ethnic minorities. Iran witnessed this weekend minority Azeri and Iranian Arab protests in soccer stadiums while the …
Continue reading Amid Ethnic Protests, Iran Warns of Foreign Meddling
As atrocities and scandal begin to mount regarding the US-backed Saudi-led war on the impoverished nation of Yemen, the involvement and hypocrisy of the United States and other Western backers is coming to full light. Global condemnation of Saudi airstrikes on civilian targets has brought public attention to Washington’s role in the conflict – a …
Donald Trump’s biggest success, thus far into his Presidency, has been his sale of $400 billion (originally $350 billion) of U.S.-made weapons to the Saudi Arabian Government, which is owned by its royal family, after whom that nation is named. This sale alone is big enough to be called Trump’s “jobs plan” for Americans. It …
An offer by a Saudi-backed bank to lend financially strapped Pakistan US$4 billion is likely intended to bolster Saudi influence when former international cricket player Imran Khan is sworn in in the coming week as the South Asian country’s next prime minister. The offer was most immediately related to a statement by Asad Umar, Pakistan’s …
Continue reading Saudi Arabia and Iran Woo Incoming Pakistani Prime Minister
