MUST-READS

• CIA Report
  The Strategic Cost of Torture, Racism, and Bigotry

  We also, however, need to start thinking about torture, racism, and bigotry in strategic terms. America’s society is far too open to hide such abuses from the world, and the argument that they are relatively minor compared to many other nations simply does not work in a world that we have virtually insisted judge us by higher standard. Some have argued that the Senate report should never have been made public, but in the real world, everything leaks, and speculation and partial disclosure almost inevitably leads to even more severe criticism of the United States.

• Saudi - Yemen
  Reading Saudi Tea Leaves in Yemen

  There is broad consensus among Yemen’s political class—and a great deal of anecdotal evidence—that Iran supports the Houthi movement, but how extensively remains unclear. Is it just ideological support and nominal funding or is it more operational, including training, provision of weapons, political strategy, technical assistance, and strategic communications support?

• Global Oil Demand
  IEA Cuts Global Oil Demand Forecast for 4th Time in Five Months

  The agency cut projections because the economies of producer nations are being hurt by tumbling prices, the IEA said. Most of the reduction in next year’s estimate is attributable to Russia, where sanctions are hobbling growth, it said. Brent crude costs that collapsed 43 percent this year are too low for 10 of OPEC’s 12 members to balance their budgets, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

  • SUSRIS - Outlook for Crude Oil Refining – November 2014
  • First Enercast Financial - Saudi Arabia's Tank Battle With Shale
• U.S. - Pakistan
  FBI investigation into ex-US diplomat casts cloud over relations with Pakistan

  A high-flying US diplomat betraying her country to spy for Pakistan may sound like an outlandish plotline of the spy drama Homeland, but in recent weeks that real life allegation has added extra intrigue to the volatile relationship between the two supposedly allied countries.

  • War on the Rocks - Explaining Pakistan's Confidence
• Saudi Football
  Soccer soft power: A double-edged sword

  In response to the criticism, Bayern Muenchen chairman Karl Rummenigge said in a statement that “Bayern Munich condemns all forms of cruel punishment that are not consistent with human rights, as in the current case involving blogger Raif Badawi, a critic of Islam. It would have been better to clearly address this on the occasion of our match in Saudi Arabia. We are a football club and not political policy-makers, but naturally everyone, ourselves included, ultimately bears responsibility for compliance with human rights."

• Saudi Economy
  Saudi Arabia’s Q4 GDP growth lowest in over a year

  Saudi Arabia's economic growth fell to its lowest level in more than a year in the fourth quarter of 2014, a sign that the plunge in oil prices may be causing growth to slow, data from the state statistics office showed on Wednesday.

  • Arabian Business - Saudi construction giant posts 26% drop in Q4 net profit
• Sharia Law
  Saudis worried about image of their country after beheading video

  Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and commentator, said that while some Saudis saw the damage such practices caused abroad, the government faced little opposition domestically, partly because of the belief that Islamic punishments should be carried out in public. “It is the Saudi Foreign Ministry that will face the heat, but locally we don’t have a problem with that,” he said of public executions.

  • Daily Star - Nobel laureates urge Saudi academics to condemn Badawi flogging
  • WSJ (paywall) - Pressure Mounts on Saudi Arabia to End Flogging
  • Zee News - Sweden protests Saudi flogging of convicted blogger
  • Gulf Center for Human Rights - Update: Saudi Arabia: Lashing sentence of rights defender Raif Badawi referred to supreme court
  • Eurosport - Bayern Munich under fire over Saudi Arabia trip
• Paris Attack
  New al Qaida claim in Paris attack offers no hard evidence of link

  White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the early indications were that the video appeared to be authentic and that it was “another clear indication of the wanton brutality of that organization.” But he said the United States hadn’t concluded that AQAP was behind the attack. He said the U.S. was cooperating closely with France on the investigation.

  • AP - New Charlie Hebdo reaches global audience, dismays Muslims
  • Aljazeera - For French Muslims, a 'very insecure' life
  • LA Times - Paris police seek new suspect in terror attacks
• Saudi TV
  Saudi Television must change: Al-Khodairy

  Saudi Television is not a charitable society, said Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Al-Khodairy on Sunday, demanding quality TV programs to change the perception about the state television.

• Banque Saudi Fransi
  Banque Saudi Fransi says recommends cash dividend for H2 2014

  Banque Saudi Fransi, Saudi Arabia's fifth-largest bank by assets, said in a bourse filing on Wednesday its board had recommended a cash dividend of 0.5 riyals per share ($0.13) for the second half of 2014.

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