MUST-READS

• U.S.-Afghanistan
  Opinion: Why did we fail in the Afghan war? Because we didn’t understand the place

  What began as a punitive expedition became instead an enterprise to remodel Afghanistan into something safe to us, but entirely foreign to Afghans.

  • NYT (paywall) - U.S. is Escalating a Secret War in Afghanistan
• Market Brokers
  AlJazira Capital top brokerage firm in the Kingdom for 2014

  AlJazira Capital ranked first among 30 brokerage firms in the Saudi capital market in 2014, by   acquiring 17.29 percent of the total number of trades in the market. The total traded value of AlJazira Capital reached SR742,425 billion in 2014, representing almost a 50 percent increase from the SR494,645 billion traded in 2013.

• Volunteerism
  Saudis on a mission

  One such group is the Roads Knights, which is made up of more than 300 Saudi guys from all over Saudi Arabia. Their mission is to hit the highways and provide repair services to vehicles that break down in the middle of nowhere. This is not new. Abdul Raouf Nasher, the group’s founder, originated the idea in Riyadh last year and has since spread to many of the metropolitan areas of the Kingdom. More recently, however, the Roads Knights are serving the highway between Jeddah and Makkah, a particularly grueling drive where vehicles often break down or accidents occur due to sleepy or inattentive drivers.

  • Saudi Gazette - Opinion: Saudi youth must learn to respect the rule of law
• Saudi Megaprojects
  In Pictures: 10 Saudi Arabian Megaprojects

  More than 80 megaprojects, each worth at least $1 billion, are under way or planned for completion by 2030 in Saudi Arabia making it the Middle East’s largest construction and build market by a huge margin. Here are The Big 5 Hub’s selection of 10 of the most exciting.

• Political Cartoonists
  Political Cartoonists Face Threats Worldwide

  The merciless probing and caustic scrutiny of the cartoon antagonizes politicians across cultural and geographic lines. And while the savage killings of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists in Paris last month and Saturday’s shooting attack at a Copenhagen event featuring Swedish artist Lars Vilks — known for controversial cartooning — shocked the world, the struggle faced by cartoonists internationally is as old as the medium itself.

• U.S. - Iran
  Iran Ayatollah Khamenei Sent Obama Secret Letter: WSJ

  Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has responded to overtures from U.S. President Barack Obama amid nuclear talks by sending him a secret letter, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

• ISIS in Iraq
  ‘Mosul Eye’ Claims City ‘Quietly Slipping Away’ From IS

  The account of life in Mosul was posted on the Mosul Eye Facebook page on February 13. Mosul Eye is the pseudonym of a local historian who has been secretly documenting IS's activities in Mosul since the militants overran the city in June. While it is not possible to verify the blogger's identity, Iraq watchers believe the accounts are credible.

  • Foreign Policy - The Islamic State Inches Toward a Showdown With the U.S. Marine Corps
  • Washington Post - Iraq’s pro-Iranian Shiite militias lead the war against the Islamic State
• Yemen
  UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting on Yemen

  The United Nations Security Council was set to meet in emergency session Sunday evening to vote on a resolution demanding that Shiite rebels relinquish control of Yemen's government, as Arab countries pressed for the use of military force against what they call the rebel group's "illegitimate seizure of power."

  • Washington Post - Houthi rebels in Yemen eye oil-rich province, sparking fears of all-out civil war
• U.S. Secretary of Defense
  Your new SecDef: What you need to know

  A trained physicist and a longtime Pentagon bureaucrat, Carter will take office at a time when the military faces political battles at home and complex confrontations abroad. Carter will be the fourth defense secretary under President Obama, and he'll be responsible for guiding the commander-in-chief's policies through to the end of a tumultuous two-term administration. A rundown on the new boss:

• American Public Opinion
  Americans Increasingly See Russia as Threat, Top U.S. Enemy

  Russia now edges out North Korea as the country Americans consider the United States' greatest enemy. Two years ago, only 2% of Americans named Russia, but that increased to 9% in 2014 as tensions between Russia and the U.S. increased, and now sits at 18%.

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