Sep 11 2017
Has Saudi-led military intervention against Qatar been prevented, or merely postponed until conditions allow? By Abdel Bari Atwan With the almost instant collapse of Qatar’s surprise ‘initiative’ to seek dialogue with Saudi Arabia last week, hostile media exchanges between the two principal parties to the crisis in the Gulf have resumed with ever-increasing venom, and […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia, The Gulf •
Aug 20 2017
The Saudis are making clear they want the Qatari emir ousted, but how do they plan to achieve that? By Abdel Bari Atwan The crisis between Qatar and Saudi Arabia has recently taken a potentially serious turn for the worse. More than two and a half month months into the quarrel – during which […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia, The Gulf •
Aug 18 2017
After clearly trying to ease tensions with Tehran, why has Riyadh suddenly changed course again? By Abdel Bari Atwan Saudi Arabia’s angry denial that it is interested in any kind of reconciliation with Iran has come as something of a shock. An official statement on Thursday insisted that the kingdom ‘has not asked for any […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia, Yemen •
Aug 1 2017
Riyadh’s wooing of Iraqi Shia leaders won’t be credible without a radical change of strategy By Abdel Bari Atwan It came as a surprise to many in the Middle East – specifically in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran – to see Iraqi Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr pay an official visit to Saudi Arabia. Speculation […]
By mahaburbar1 • Iraq, Saudi Arabia •
Jul 31 2017
Bringing the issue of Saudi control of the holy places into the dispute can only make it worse By Abdel Bari Atwan No new measures or sanctions against Qatar were announced after Sunday’s meeting of foreign ministers of the four countries that have been subjecting the country to an air, sea and land blockade. […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia, The Gulf •
Jul 14 2017
With the Saudi-led camp faltering, the region’s geopolitics could be on the verge of a transformation By Abdel Bari Atwan It may be pure coincidence that the recapture of Mosul by Iraqi forces was accomplished on the anniversary of the defeat of Israel’s July 2006 assault on Lebanon. But there is a clear link […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Jul 11 2017
Rather than resolving the Gulf crisis, the US may be setting the stage for further escalation By Abdel Bari Atwan US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s belated intervention in the Gulf crisis – preceded by that of British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson – implies that all other mediation efforts have reached a dead-end, and that […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia, The Gulf •
Jul 6 2017
military or a security intervention (or both) is the more likely outcome of the Gulf crises. By Abdel Bari Atwan We watched the press conference held by the foreign ministers of Qatar’s four adversaries after a meeting in Cairo that was meant to ‘coordinate’ their next steps, since the 12-day period granted to Qatar to […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia, The Gulf •
Jul 2 2017
Riyadh is in a hurry to ‘legitimize’ its burgeoning relationship with Israel, and silence all critics By Abdel Bari Atwan The evolving relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia is set to become a key feature of regional politics in the forthcoming phase. This goes beyond the creeping normalization of relations between the two […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Jun 22 2017
Escalation against Qatar and Iran may follow Muhammad Bin-Salman’s sudden but unsurprising appointment as crown prince By Abdel Bari Atwan Muhammad Bin-Nayef will go down in Saudi history as the second crown prince in two years to have been deposed and stripped of all his powers. His sacking on Wednesday means that his foe and […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Jun 18 2017
The latest batch of Saudi royal decrees aims, again, at bolstering the young deputy crown prince’s succession prospects By Abdel Bari Atwan Most of the many Saudi royal decrees that have been issued of late are aimed in a single direction: to rearrange the affairs and institutions of state in accordance with the […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Jun 10 2017
Trump talks tough and calls in the generals after Qatari emir, fearing a trap, snubs his mediation offer By Abdel Bari Atwan The strongly-worded warning issued to Qatar on Friday by US President Donald Trump – accusing it of being a “funder of terrorism… at a very high level” and demanding that it […]
By mahaburbar1 • Other, Saudi Arabia, The Gulf •
Jun 8 2017
Trump seems to be have had second thoughts about supporting the Saudi-led campaign against Qatar, for now By Abdel Bari Atwan Donald Trump has intervened twice in the crisis that erupted between Qatar and Saudi Arabia (along with its allies the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain). On the first occasion, he tweeted his support for […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia, The Gulf •
May 10 2017
Tehran sees Muhammad bin-Salman’s talk of ‘taking the battle to Iran’ as a serious statement of Saudi intent By Abdel Bari Atwan The unprecedented threat delivered to Saudi Arabia by Iranian Defence Minister Gen. Hossein Dehghan shows that the Iranian leadership is taking seriously the threat made earlier by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
May 5 2017
Muhammad bin-Salman acts as if he’s already on the Saudi throne — and reveals recklessly misguided views on Iran, Yemen and much else By Abdel Bari Atwan The televised interview given by Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad bin-Salman broadcast on Tuesday night was among the most, if not the most, important of its kind […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Mar 15 2017
The US administration’s apparent endorsement of the young Saudi deputy crown prince comes at a price By Abdel Bari Atwan We have not been told why US President Donald Trump decided to bring forward his scheduled meeting with Saudi Deputy Crown and Defence Minister Prince Muhammad Bin-Salman from Thursday to Tuesday and […]
Feb 21 2017
Kuwait and Oman want no part in Saudi Arabia’s wars in Yemen and Syria, nor it’s anti-Iran alliance with Trump and Israel By Abdel Bari Atwan It is not clear whether Monday’s visit to Oman by the emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, was aimed at mediating to mend strained relationships […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia, The Gulf •
Jan 27 2017
Saudi Arabia and its partners are finally seeking dialogue with Iran. They should have done so years ago. By Abdel Bari Atwan Three years ago I called in this column for Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies to engage in dialogue with Iran to resolve their ongoing conflicts on the basis of mutual […]
By mahaburbar1 • Iran, Saudi Arabia •
Jan 8 2017
2016 was a bad year for Saudi Arabia and its partners, and 2017 will be worse if they do not change political course both at home and in the region By Abdel Bari Atwan 2016 was a bad year in every respect for Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) partners generally. […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •
Sep 14 2017
Crackdown in Saudi Arabia
The authorities’ ruthless determination to throttle all dissent and disloyalty is likely to backfire By Abdel Bari Atwan The detention last week of the well-known reformist Saudi preachers Salman al-Odeh and Awadh al-Qarni did not come as a surprise. It was only to be expected given the current state of political and tribal polarization […]
By mahaburbar1 • Saudi Arabia •