Saudi crackdown targeting women’s rights activists
One year ago, just as the Saudi government finally ended the ban on women driving, many activists who had campaigned against the ban and for women’s rights more generally were… Read more »
Tag: Saudi Arabia
Signs of redemption in Arab Spring’s ‘second phase’?
What is the connection between Algeria, Egypt and Sudan, and do the rising protests worry the region’s autocratic leaders, France24 asks (above). In Algeria and Sudan, the protesters hold strong… Read more »
Arab world needs democracy, not ‘liberalizing autocrats’
In April Jamal Khashoggi gave a speech, saying the dangerous idea of the benevolent autocrat, the just dictator, is being revived in the Arab world, notes The New York Times…. Read more »
Saudi dissident’s murder roils Washington think-tanks
The murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi is causing ructions within the think-tank community. As prominent investors, media organizations, and even lobbyists have begun to pull back from involvement in… Read more »
Jamal Khashoggi, MBS, and the future of U.S.-Saudi relations
In the wake of the alleged state-sponsored disappearance and killing of Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, the latest in a series of troubling events from the Kingdom… Read more »
Can Saudi Arabia help win ‘Islam’s War of Ideas’?
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is in Washington, D.C., March 19-22, the third stop on his first foreign trip as crown prince, notes the Project on Middle East Democracy: Mohammed… Read more »
What the royal Saudi purge means: prelude to reform or power consolidation?
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has long been considered a bulwark of stability in the Persian Gulf region. But Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s extraordinary weekend roundup against alleged corruption shook… Read more »
Saudi ‘game of thrones’ consolidates autocracy
The appointment of Mohammad bin Salman, 31, as Saudi Arabia’s next king will accelerate his radical reform and further solidify the U.S.-Saudi partnership, says analyst Karen Elliott House, author of… Read more »
Saudis ‘redefining’ Indonesia’s civic Islam
When Saudi Arabia’s King Salman landed in Indonesia on Wednesday, he became the first Saudi monarch to visit the world’s largest Muslim-majority country since 1970. Officials in Jakarta hoped the… Read more »
Rights groups anxious as Saudi activist summoned for interrogation
Saudi women’s rights activist Samar Badawi has been summoned for interrogation, according to reports: In January 2016, Badawi faced charges of “incit[ing] public opinion against the state” for speaking out… Read more »