MUST-READS

• Saudi Airports
  ‘The Guide to Sleeping in Airports’: Jeddah airport second worst in the world

  Three Saudi airports were included in the top five worst in the region, compiled by readers of the Canadian website sleepinginairports.net. Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport was the worst – also taking out second place in a global list of the worst airports to sleep in. Dammam King Fahd International Airport and Riyadh King Khalid International Airport were ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.

• Syrian and Turkish Kurds
  The Meaning of Kobani

  he Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani has been under a relentless siege by the Islamic State (IS) for the past few weeks. Surprisingly its defenders have endured, defying the long odds. Whether it falls or survives, Kobani is likely to become for Syrian and Turkish Kurds what Halabja became for Iraqi Kurds in 1988: a defining moment of nationhood and identity.

  • Foreign Policy - U.S. Ramps Up Push to Save Key Syrian Town
  • McClatchy - Obama's Decision to Aid Kobani Puts Him Squarely at Odds With Turkey's Erdogan
  • WSJ - What Turkey Wants in the War on ISIS
  • The Atlantic - The Tide Slowly Turns in Kobani
  • Reuters - Turkey to let Iraqi Kurds reinforce Kobani as U.S. drops arms to defenders
• Carter Center in Atlanta
  From Jimmy Carter, a Rebuke to Egypt

  Over three decades, the Carter Center in Atlanta, led by former President Jimmy Carter, has established itself as a respected advocate for human rights and democracy. It has sent observers to 97 elections in 38 countries, worked to persuade governments to respect freedoms and human rights, and supported citizens who defend those principles. But it has thrown in the towel on Egypt.

• Assad and Anti-ISIS Campaign
  Syrian regime takes advantage of coalition strikes

  As the world’s focus remains firmly fixed on the Kurdish enclave of Kobani, under assault for three weeks now by a relentless and determined Islamic State (IS) force despite airstrikes by the US-led coalition, other significant events on the Syrian battlefield have largely gone unnoticed. As the Syrian army, backed by various local and foreign militias, makes significant gains in both Damascus and Aleppo, the question being raised is whether President Bashar al-Assad is the ultimate beneficiary of the coalition's campaign against IS and other jihadist groups.

• Technology and Startups
  On the strength of new investment, Saudi emotion sharing app leaves for Silicon Valley

  The startup is getting ready to move everything to Silicon Valley by the end of the year. Their main focus will shift to the US, says AlKadi, instead of Saudi Arabia. "Emotions and feelings are a global language.

• Gaza
  Gaza reconstruction facing obstacles despite aid

  Winter is coming in Gaza, and the long nights and heavy rains will deepen the misery of thousands of families whose homes were destroyed in the fighting of summer. Newly homeless in a place already peopled with the descendants of refugees from the war that followed Israel's creation in 1948, their plight is desperate.

  • Informed Comment - Surprising Map of Which Countries Recognize Palestine
• Islamic State
  On outskirts of Baghdad, Islamic State’s advances raise tensions

  About 14 miles from Baghdad International Airport, a mortar shell landed with a thud. A second followed, closer, and then a third struck across the Iraqi army’s lines, as the Islamic State militants zeroed in on their target.

  • BBC - Islamic State 'being driven out of Syria's Kobane'
  • USA Today - Westerners volunteer to take on the Islamic State, including Biker Gang from Holland
  • New York Times - U.S. Steps Up Strikes on Embattled Syrian Town, Aided by Data From Kurds
• Oil
  As Oil Prices Plummet, Saudi Arabia Faces a Test of Strategy

  With global oil prices plunging at a pace not seen since the 2008 financial crisis, Saudi Arabia is emerging as a central player, accused by some of deliberately depressing the market to weaken rivals like Iran but looked to by others as the only hope of ending the rout. Still others say that the oil colossus is merely struggling to deal with its diminished position in an industry it once dominated.

  • Bloomberg - Don’t Mess With Saudis in Oil Bear Market Global Shakeout
  • Bloomberg - Saudi Arabian Stocks Decline for a Second Day as Oil Price Drops
  • Reuters - Oil market proves mightier than OPEC: Kemp
• Extremist Crackdown
  Saudi convicts 22 on militant charges, sentences one to death

  A Saudi court sentenced one person to death and 21 others to various jail sentences after they were convicted of a range of militant crimes, including setting up training camps and identifying oil locations to hit, state news agency SPA said on Wednesday

• Yemen
  Houthi rebels take over Yemen’s Hodeidah port

  The Shi'ite Muslim Houthi movement which seized Yemen's capital Sanaa last month has extended its control to the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, deploying checkpoints and also taking control of the city's airport, local officials said.

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