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Published in: North Africa, West AsiaFallujah revisitedSaudi Arabia’s virulently sectarian geo-policies are behind the resurgence of Al Qaida in Iraq.
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Published in: North Africa, West AsiaThe Arab Spring and the changing balance of global powerFrom an empirical-analytical point of view, what has happened in the Middle East and North Africa since Mohammed...
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Published in: North Africa, West AsiaIran deal: the view from Saudi Arabia
Iran’s adoption of an actively conciliatory foreign policy has set the stage for Iranian-Saudi cooperation and for...
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Published in: North Africa, West AsiaAppraising Ethiopia’s Saudi policy
We are full well aware that we should not kid ourselves about the likely short- and long- term costs of severing all...
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Published in: North Africa, West AsiaWhy the US should join forces with the Baathist regime in Syria
The Baathist regime is indeed guilty of great war crimes, but the human cost of a failed state would be a greater...
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Published in: openSecuritySyria's chemical weapons: is the UN exceeding its mandate?
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons should be a technical agency of the UN. But it has arguably...
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Published in: HomeGulf states and Iran: don't moan, act
The international deal over Iran reveals the weakness of Arab Gulf diplomacy. It's time for a new approach, says...
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Published in: North Africa, West AsiaWhy Saudi Arabia throws a tantrum in New York
The Saudis hope to win back a little of the moral authority they have lost in the last few months. The “major shift”...
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Published in: North Africa, West AsiaWhy are the rulers of Saudi Arabia losing their cool?
Every time the Gulf States’ rulers justify their support for violent rebels in Syria or the military regime in Egypt...
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Published in: North Africa, West AsiaIranian “threat” unites Saudi Arabia and Israel
Obama’s overture to Rouhani is costing the United States the goodwill of some old pro-Washington friends in the Arab...
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Published in: North Africa, West AsiaIsrael, Iran, Saudi Arabia: military postures and alternativesThe three countries, and groups within them, are locked in narratives of confrontation, victimhood and fear. At...
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Published in: HomeProspects for a GCC-Iranian rapprochement?
A US-Iranian rapprochement over Iran's nuclear programme could improve general US-Iranian relations, leading to the...
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Published in: HomeTunisia: between a rock and a hard place
Rachid Ghannouchi was in need of both political reassurance (and indeed financial backing) from the Obama...
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Published in: HomeHas the US decided that the leadership of the Arab world goes to Saudi Arabia?
Qatar’s new Emir swiftly congratulated the interim Egyptian president, Adly Mansour, who was appointed by the...
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Published in: HomeThe question of sectarianism in Middle East politics
Everywhere the Arab uprisings have been confronted by the entrenched vested interests of old regimes, the so-called...
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Published in: HomeTurkey: looking east and west
The ongoing protests have only emphasised the gap between the Turkish government and the EU, and between Turkey and...
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Published in: HomeMI5 Woolwich failure due to geopolitical alliance with Islamist extremists
The strange British reluctance to prosecute banned group Al Muhajiroun activists despite their support for al-Qaeda...
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Published in: HomePalestine, peoples and borders in the new Middle East mapToday’s Sunni/Shiite regional war is the direct product of the Bush/Blair war on Iraq. The divide is all the more...
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Published in: HomeEurope’s guns, debt and corruption
This second of two essays on military spending and the EU crisis, explores the role of the European arms trade,...
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Published in: HomeSyria, war without exit
The rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran is at the heart of Syria's destructive stalemate. This proxy conflict,...
