MUST-READS

• Climate Change: Syria
  Study: Climate change helped spark Syrian civil war.
  We know the basic story in Syria by now: From 2006-2010, an unprecedented drought forced the country from a groundwater-intensive breadbasket of the region to a net food importer. Farmers abandoned their homes—school enrollment in some areas plummeted 80 percent—and flooded Syria’s cities, which were already struggling to sustain an influx of more than 1 million refugees from the conflict in neighboring Iraq. The Syrian government largely ignored these warning signs, helping sow discontent that ultimately spawned violent protests. The link from drought to war was prominently featured in a Showtime documentary last year. A preventable drought-triggered humanitarian crisis sparked the 2011 civil war, and eventually, ISIS.  

• Pakistan
  Pakistan tests missile that could carry nuclear warhead to every part of India

  Pakistan on Monday test-fired a ballistic missile that appears capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to ­every part of India, another escalation in Islamabad’s effort to keep pace with its neighboring rival’s formidable military advancements.

• Iran Negotiations
  Opinion: The Danger of a Failed Iran Deal

  Certainly, turning back the clock and eliminating every aspect of nuclear know-how in Iran would be desirable. But proponents of an even more coercive policy should recognize that if they get their wish, they may create a security threat far greater than the limited threat they are now trying to prevent.

  • Brookings Institution - Contemplating Israeli reactions to an Iranian nuclear deal
• Saudi Security
  Saudi Arabia Ramps Up Training To Repel Homegrown Terrorists

  This month, much of the training has moved to Saudi Arabia's northern border. For the first time, all seven of the kingdom's security units are training together near the Iraqi frontier, which is also a first, says Gen. Monsour al-Turki, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior.

• Syria
  Assad’s Atrocities Laid Bare at the UN

  Almost a year after the Syrian defector known as Caesar escaped Syria with 55,000 photos documenting the systematic torture and murder of more 11,000 civilians, there has been little progress in holding the perpetrators accountable. Although the U.S. State Department has called Assad’s “machinery of death” the worst since the Nazis -- and evidence emerged that as many as 10 European citizens were among those killed in custody -- no prosecutions have moved forward.

• U.S. Congress and the Middle East
  GOP letter to Iran deepens White House ire

  The letter, written by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), suggests that any deal between Obama and the Iranian leadership would amount to only an “executive agreement” that could be undone by Congress or a future president. “The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time,” the letter states.

  • The Hill - Outrage over GOP's letter to Iran
  • Slate - Opinion: The Republicans’ Latest Iran Ploy Is Brazen, Borderline Unconstitutional, and Totally Predictable
  • Iran Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Dr. Zarif`s Response to the Letter of US Senators
  • Lawfare - The Error in the Senators’ Letter to the Leaders of Iran
• Tikrit Campaign
  Iraqi troops, militia enter strategic town near Tikrit

  Iraqi security forces and Shi'ite militia took the center of a town on the northern edge of Tikrit from Islamic State on Tuesday as they closed in on Saddam Hussein's home city. Al-Alam is the last Islamic State stronghold that needs to be cleared before government forces and militiamen can enter the city of Tikrit itself, which has been under militant control since last summer.

  • Defense News - US Looking for Contractors to Help in Iraq
  • AP - Iraqi minister: We're comfortable receiving aid from Iran
• Saudi Energy Policy
  The big drop: Riyadh’s oil gamble

  “If the Saudis had cut they would have been the idiot at the party. They would have done what everyone wanted, but they would also have been the one that everyone else laughed at,” says one long-time Opec analyst. “Ultimately, Naimi has told the world the Saudis would not be the ones to mop up everyone else’s mess.”

• ISIS and Saudi Arabia
  Analysis: Islamic State Sets Its Sights on Saudi Arabia

  The Islamic State’s leader (and self-styled caliph) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi singled out Saudi Arabia in an audio statement titled “Even if the Disbelievers Despise Such,” released by the group’s al-Furqan Media Foundation on November 13, 2014. In his statement, al-Baghdadi extolled what he describes as the purported expansion of the Islamic State to the “lands of al-Haramein” (two holy places) in addition to Yemen, Egypt, Libya and Algeria, through its acceptance of oaths of allegiance sworn by local militants to the self-styled caliphate.

  • Al-Arabiya - Security tightened for Saudi diplomats
• Saudi Workforce
  Saudis continue to opt for government jobs: Construction sector shows improvement

  But the construction industry – the most labour intensive part of the private sector – has seen even better results under the Nitaqat system, with a 34% jump in the number of Saudis employed. Saudi workers now represent 10.3% of the construction workforce which is still some way off the 12% the government is targeting, and considerably short of the more ambitious targets set under phase three of the programme, due to be implemented in April 2015.

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