The international community largely supports the U.S. and Saudi Arabia on Syria: hope for peace, but failing that, throw more money at the conflict.
Promoting Peace, But Fueling War in Syria
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Saudi Arabia
Washington Post Keeps Administration’s Secret About Drone Base in Saudi Arabia
The U.S. drone base based in Saudi Arabia was used to kill Anwar al-Awlaki and his son.
The Wahhabi War on Indonesia’s Shiites
Indonesia’s Shi’a minority is under heavy attack. Men, women, and children have been assaulted, schools damaged, and villages burned to the ground. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Saudi Arabia’s intolerant brand of Wahabbi Sunni Islam—propagated far and wide by Saudi oil money—is behind most of assaults.
Washington’s Problem in the Middle East: Policy, Not Personality
For decades U.S. presidents have shown a willingness to hold hands with just about anyone for the price of oil.
Syria and the Dogs of War
“Blood and destruction,” “dreadful objects,” and “pity choked” was the Bard’s searing characterization of what war visits upon the living. It is a description that increasingly parallels the ongoing war in Syria, which is likely to worsen unless the protagonists step back and search for a diplomatic solution to the 17-month-old civil war.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar: Dueling Monarchies
The demise of secular autocratic regimes in the Middle East and North Africa has heralded a renaissance for Islamist parties in the region, igniting a rivalry for the hearts and minds of the Sunni world between the Gulf powers of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Although neither country is a bastion of democracy at home, Qatar has proven much more amenable than Saudi Arabia to bolstering democratic Islamist movements abroad.
Can Egypt Chart Its Own Course?
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s bold initiatives on the world stage indicate that the Muslim Brotherhood leader is attempting to pursue a more independent approach to international affairs. By visiting China and Iran before the United States, forcing several high-ranking leaders of Egypt’s U.S.-backed military to retire, and deploying forces within the Sinai, Morsi is boldly challenging the Washington-Tel Aviv-Riyadh axis of power that has defined the Middle East’s order for decades.
Bleeding Syria
Syrian rebels have been fighting Bashar al-Assad’s forces for nearly a year and a half in a conflict that has caused 20,000 deaths. As the world watches in horror, much confusion remains about the nature of the rebel troops, the identity of the regime’s supporters, and what actions — if any — should be taken by the rest of the world.
Mid-East Tweeters Probe the Tenderest of Saudi Sore Spots
So desperate were Saudi officials to make an example of Hamza Kashgari that they pressured Malaysia into arresting and extraditing him while he was traveling there.
Radio Tahrir (Part I): Tariq Ali On the Arab Awakening
Radio Tahrir: a marathon retrospective on the Arab awakening, the Indignados and the Occupy movement.