In The News

Madaya Syria: Aid Convoy Sets Off for Besieged Town

January 11, 2016
Small towns in rural Syria are blocked from basic supplies due to a protracted civil war and blockades: “only 10% of the UN's requests to deliver aid to people to in besieged and hard-to-reach areas were granted,” reports BBC News. “Blockades have been a feature of Syria's civil war but the plight of Madaya has drawn international attention, partly due to images emerging of severely...

Iranian-Saudi Tensions Have Little to Do With Religion

Arshin Adib-Moghaddam January 8, 2016
Saudi Arabia miscalculated on how global observers might react to its execution of Shia cleric Sheikh al-Nimr. Reflecting poor judgment and insecurity, the execution “demonstrates that the kingdom has lost its cool,” writes Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, a philosophy professor at the University of London. He suggests the notion that the Sunni-Shia divide in Islam spurs conflict is “analytically flawed.”...

Middle East Tensions Boil as Saudi Arabia Cuts Ties With Iran

Sam Wilkin January 4, 2016
Iran and Saudi Arabia are rivals for influence in the Middle East. The latest clash is driving up oil prices, deepening a sectarian divide and sparking new violence in the region, reports Sam Wilkin for Reuters: “Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran on Sunday and fellow-Sunni Bahrain followed suit on Monday, two days after Iranian demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran in protest at Riyadh...

The Spread of Wahhabism and the West’s Responsibility to the World

Karen Armstrong December 28, 2015
Colonial arrangements, business deals and support of authoritarian leaders have contributed to the instability of the Middle East, argues author Karen Armstrong for the NewStatesman. She is among the many analysts who key in on Saudi Arabia, using oil wealth to proselytize a fundamentalist form of Islam around the globe: “Wahhabism originated in the Arabian peninsula during the 18th century as an...

In Fighting the Islamic State, Obama Is a Tortoise and the GOP is Harebrained

David Ignatius December 18, 2015
Combative rhetoric in free elections challenges a united national foreign policy. More than 15 candidates in the US presidential race, to be decided in November 2016, compete by siding with President Barack Obama or criticizing his policies. After serving two terms, Obama cannot run for reelection. The current point of contention: how to address religious extremism. Obama takes a deliberative...

Saudi Arabia Forms Muslim Anti-Terror Coalition

Ahmed Al Omran and Asa Fitch December 16, 2015
Saudi Arabia announced plans for a coalition to battle terrorism in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan. “Absent from the list was predominantly Shiite Iran – the kingdom’s main rival for leadership in the Muslim world – as well as Israel and Shiite-led Iraq,” report Ahmed Al Omran and Asa Fitch for the Wall Street Journal. “Still, it remains unclear what the Sunni kingdom is asking the...

Islamic State Oil Is Going to Assad, Some to Turkey, US Official Says

Guy Faulconbridge and Jonathan Saul December 14, 2015
Among the many rebel groups determined to overthrow the Assad regime since Syria’s civil war began in 2011 is the Islamic State. The terrorist group quickly targeted oil fields in northern Syria and Iraq to fund its campaign. A US treasury official, speaking at a Chatham House forum in the United Kingdom, suggests that Islamic State extremists have made more than $500 million selling oil. The...