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  • Iraq History
    The Historical Drivers of Modern Day Developments in Iraq (Cole Interview)

    But whereas in the 1960s and 1970s, it was unusual for those conflicts to be reworked into sectarian or other kinds of primordial identity conflicts, over time this became a fruitful tactic for entrepreneurial politicians. Once you have two groups that are fighting over distribution of material goods—for jobs and resources—it becomes an advantage for politicians if they can mobilize one of the groups against the other on identity grounds.

  • Saudi Law
    Equal under the Law

    Arab News runs two pieces today that seek to show that Saudi law applies to all, the mighty included. One concerns a prince (unnamed) who has been sentenced to death for killing another. The second reports that the Saudi BinLaden company — one of the country’s largest construction firms — is being penalized for not abiding by labor regulations.

  • Economic Growth
    Saudi Arabia to log bumper year in 2015

    “Saudi Arabia has emerged as one of our choice markets for both scale and growth opportunities over our 10-year forecast period to 2023. We see 2015 being a bumper year of real growth at 10.5 percent year-on-year, with average growth over the forecast period at 8.7 percent. We forecast strong growth across all sectors over the medium term; the residential and non-residential sectors especially will drive growth over the long-term – specifically the industrial construction sector,” the report said.

  • 2015 Trends
    The Middle East in 2015 and Beyond: Trends and Drivers

    2015 promises to be no less turbulent than 2014, as domestic and regional dynamics continue to play out. Underlying this turbulent kaleidoscope of change are a bewildering number of trends and systemic drivers that originally broke the mold in 2011 and continue to put intense pressure on political and socioeconomic structures. Of course, trends and drivers are potentially distinct, but drivers often trigger trends, and trends over time are liable to become drivers in their own right. Below are few key trends and drivers to keep an eye on, and that are likely to shape events in 2015 and for many years to come.

  • Miteb Bin Abdullah U.S. Visit
    Prince Miteb Meets President Obama

    Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, Minister of the Saudi Arabian National Guard, and son of King Abdullah, arrived at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, DC last night to begin a highly touted official visit to the U.S. capital at the invitation of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. On his first day of conversations with U.S. officials he met with President Barack Obama at the White House. Prince Miteb bin Abdullah was accompanied by Saudi Ambassador to the US Adel A. Al-Jubeir. The National Security Council released a perfunctory statement about the meeting.

  • Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan
    US military continues to claim al Qaeda is ‘restricted’ to ‘isolated areas of northeastern Afghanistan’

    A recently issued report on the status of Afghanistan by the US Department of Defense has described al Qaeda as being primarily confined to "isolated areas of northeastern Afghanistan." But information on Afghan military and intelligence operations against the global jihadist group contradicts the US military's assessment.

  • Sectarianism
    Opinion: Nimr and Shi’a Policy in Saudi Arabia

    Some observers feel that Nimr’s death sentence is intended to show the Sunni population that alongside a number of long prison sentences issued against Sunnis who had supported Islamic State militants or al-Qaeda, the government is also being tough on Shiites. But this sectarian logic only further entrenches divisions and hostilities that have fueled the rise of extremist Islamic groups and the regional sectarian war.

  • Oil Slump
    A Different Kind of Oil Crisis

    In a world that has become acclimated to sky-high oil prices, the Great Oil Crash is shaping up to be good news for cash-strapped Americans on the brink of the winter heating season. For the major oil economies, not so much. And oh, by the way, that now includes the United States.

  • Refugees
    Refugee wave from Syria and Iraq now a ‘mega crisis,’ U.N. official says

    The crises in Syria and Iraq have caused a flood of refugees that could destabilize neighboring countries and pose a threat to countries around the world, the senior refu­gee official for the United Nations said Monday. More than 13 million people, roughly the equivalent of Istanbul or greater metropolitan London, have been displaced by the conflict in the two countries, said António Guterres, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

  • Lebanon
    Lebanon’s Druze, unhappily, are being dragged into Syria’s war

    The bloody wars roiling the Middle East from Lebanon to Iraq’s border with Iran are essentially political struggles for power and control. But the two main protagonists are adherents of the Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam. That leaves the region’s religious minorities, like the Druze who only number around one million in the Middle East, facing the agonizing – and potentially existential – decision of who to support in order to ensure communal survival. But siding with one risks turning the other into an enemy.