Dec 3 2018
The G-20 summit has demonstrated that money outweighs morals in international relations By Abdelbari Atwan The G-20 summit in Buenos Aires was a key test for Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Salman. It was his first appearance at such a high-level international forum, surrounded by world’s top leaders, since the assassination of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Nov 25 2018
The Saudi crown prince is trying to signal it’s business-as-usual. But it may not be. By Abdelbari Atwan We do not know precisely which advisors continue to surround Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad in-Salman, after several of them were sacked or side-lined for being implicated in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. What we do know […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Nov 18 2018
The ‘crime of the century’ could scupper the ‘deal of the century’ and the US’ entire Middle East strategy By Abdel Bari Atwan The ‘crime of the century’ – the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in his country’s consulate in Istanbul — has not only damaged Crown Prince Muhammad Bin-Salman, the main suspect accused […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Nov 2 2018
Top-level changes could be coming in the Saudi ruling family By Abdel Bari Atwan Many questions were raised about the prolonged stay in London of Prince Ahmad Bin-Abdelaziz, youngest of the seven Sudairi sons of Saudi Arabia’s founding monarch – especially after he told a group of protestors outside his residence that they should not blame […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Oct 30 2018
Could a reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Qatar be on the cards? By Abdel Bari Atwan Qatar may yet emerge as the biggest beneficiary of the crime of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The coalition opposed to it, led by Saudi Arabia, has been weakened to an unprecedented degree, and has begun to […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia, The Gulf •
Oct 29 2018
The US, Israel and Arab partners set the stage for the launch of their anti-Iran alliance By Abdel Bari Atwan It was no coincidence that the star of the ‘Manama Dialogue’ conference held in the Bahraini capital over the past few days was US Secretary of Defence James Mattis. He was joined by the foreign […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia, The Gulf •
Oct 28 2018
Why are Gulf governments increasingly flaunting their ties with Israel? By Abdel Bari Atwan Three painful normalisation blows were dealt in as many days to what remains of the Arab states’ self-respect. The first was the participation of an Israeli delegation at a sports tournament in Qatar. The second was the despatch of another sporting […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia, The Gulf •
Oct 23 2018
Riyadh hopes the lure of cash and trade deals will offset international revulsion over the Khashoggi murder By Abdel Bari Atwan It is ironic that Saudi Arabia is holding its Future Investment Initiative conference – the so-called ‘Davos in the Desert’ — at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh. That is where Crown Prince Muhammad […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Oct 19 2018
Attempts to bury the Khashoggi case by blaming rogue operatives are unlikely to succeed By Abdel Bari Atwan There are three main parties currently standing in the way of US President Donald Trump’s plans to whitewash the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside his country’s consulate in Istanbul, and to absolve Saudi Arabia’s de facto […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Oct 14 2018
We may see a ‘Megrahi Scenario’ being applied to cover up the Khashoggi Affair By Abdel Bari Atwan In his recent comments, US President Donald Trump gave us an indication of how the case of the Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, who went into his country’s consulate in Istanbul last Tuesday and never reappeared, may be […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Oct 10 2018
If Turkey doesn’t reveal the truth, there should be an international inquiry into the Saudi journalist’s disappearance By Abdel Bari Atwan It is painful to see the case of the disappearance of the well-known Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi becoming more mysterious by the day. With all the conflicting information, and the absence of conclusive evidence, […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Oct 8 2018
The disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi is a message to all the Saudi crown prince’s critics, wherever they may be By Abdel Bari Atwan The Turkish security authorities have yet to live up to their promise to reveal full details, with supporting video evidence, of the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi since he went into […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Oct 2 2018
Why did the Saudi crown prince’s visit go so badly wrong? By Abdel Bari Atwan The biggest question being asked in most diwaniyas and gatherings in Kuwait and the Gulf region is about Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin-Salman’s visit to Kuwait. Why did he postpone it for a day, from Saturday until Sunday? And why did he […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Sep 23 2018
More attacks can be expected as US/Saudi destabilisation plans unfold By Abdel Bari Atwan When US President Donald Trump accuses Iran of being behind most if not all terrorist attacks in the world; Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin-Salman openly vows to take his battle with Iran into Iranian territory; and Israel threatens to continue attacking […]
By mahaburbar1 • Iran, Saudi Arabia •
Aug 21 2018
Why is the US getting Saudi Arabia and the UAE to pay for its deployment in Syria? By Abdel Bari Atwan Donald Trump treats most of his Arab allies in the Gulf region as cash-dispensing machines. His shamelessness in this regard reached new heights at the weekend when he tweeted that he had decided to stop providing […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia, The Gulf, United States of America •
Aug 12 2018
Riyadh seems to think it needs no other friends so long as it has Donald Trump By Abdel Bari Atwan Saudi Arabia has ratcheted up its harsh punitive measures against Canada in response to the Canadian foreign minister’s tweet condemning the detention of Saudi rights activists and demanding their immediate release. The Financial Timesreported that […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Aug 9 2018
Targeting civilians has become a deliberate policy of the Saudi-led coalition By Abdel Bari Atwan It is hard to comprehend the logical and moral criteria on which spokesmen for the Saudi-UAE coalition base their defence of the air-strikes their warplanes – the world’s most modern, expensive and precision-killing – launch against civilian targets in Yemen. […]
By mahaburbar1 • Islamic emirate of the Caucasus, Saudi Arabia, Yemen •
Aug 7 2018
Saudi Arabia should practice what it preaches before complaining about foreign interference in its internal affairs By Abdel Bari Atwan It would be an under-statement to describe Saudi Arabia’s response to the Canadian government’s criticism of its human rights record as a mere over-reaction. The Canadians publicly called for more freedom for Saudi women’s rights […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia, The Gulf •
Jun 15 2018
What will the Arab governments that yielded to Trump’s blackmail and betrayed Morocco say to their peoples? By Abdel Bari Atwan It was shocking and shameful that seven Arab states voted for the US-led three-country North American bid to host the 2026 World Cup football finals at the FIFA Council meeting held in Moscow on […]
By mahaburbar1 • Morocco, Saudi Arabia •
Dec 11 2018
Death of the GCC
The Gulf regional grouping is being sent the way of the Arab League By Abdelbari Atwan Far more important than the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit — which convened for just a few hours in Riyadh on Sunday — and the ‘poetic’ closing statement it issued, were the remarks made by Saudi Foreign Minister Adel […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •