U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir walk across the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, Maryland, on September 3, 2015, as they prepared under rainy skies to welcome King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia upon his arrival to visit President Barack Obama. [State Department … Continue reading Biden’s MidEast trip
Oil & chaos
Recent Saudi newspaper commentary has charged the international community with failing to resolve the conflict in Yemen; years of Houthis missile & drone attacks have been accompanied by a shift away from c. 2019 or so commentary that suggested the coalition could simply wash its hands of the conflict. To be updated, esp as Friday's … Continue reading Oil & chaos
Russia & Ukraine
Taking a brief break from fast-paced dissertation writing to clear my head, so no time to contextualize these op-eds. You might check out this RAND report from c. 2016 on Russia's policy towards the Middle East, this note from AGSIW (Kate Dourian) on what OPEC+ is up to, and this MEI roundup on views of … Continue reading Russia & Ukraine
Catching Up
Castle, Bani Malik Mountains, Southern Jazan, Saudi Arabia (Author Photo) The academic job market took up almost all of my time in the Fall, so I'm trying to get back into this blog now. This post is mainly an assortment of what I recall seeing in various op-eds over the past few months; I'll try … Continue reading Catching Up
Discussions of Elections in Qatar
Doha, c. November 2017 There has been much discussion on social media of certain objections to how Shura Council elections in Qatar are playing out this year, with some Qatari citizens excluded from participation on the basis of the 2005 Nationality Law. I will add more when I have time - for now, adding in … Continue reading Discussions of Elections in Qatar
The Democratic Party
In a recent discussion about "anti-Americanism" in Saudi media I was gently encouraged to think more about how anti-Americanism manifests as anti-left-wing-Americanism (i.e. antni-Democratic Party, built up as the same kind of socialist bogeyman you see on Fox News) in particular. While this has changed a bit since the 2020 election, it has started to … Continue reading The Democratic Party
KSA-UAE Tensions: Oil, Trade, TV
GCC Flag, Jazan (Saudi Arabia), 2019 [Author Photo] Once again, Twitter and the occasional statement to international media has offered evidence of some below-the-surface tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as documented on this site with respect to the conflict in Yemen back in 2019. Following up on those posts, I'll put … Continue reading KSA-UAE Tensions: Oil, Trade, TV
Al-Qarar Center for Media Studies
I haven't posted for a while as I a) figure out what makes sense to cover given Ahmed al-Omran's excellent coverage of Saudi media over at Riyadh Bureau (which you should absolutely sign up for!) and b) deal with trying to finish my dissertation. One thing I've come across recently (that I don't fully understand … Continue reading Al-Qarar Center for Media Studies
March-April 2021: Yemen Peace Proposal and More
Sun over the plains of 'Asir, Saudi Arabia Been a while since I've posted, so just slowly pulling together a few articles on topics of interest. To be updated periodically, leave a comment if there's something you'd like to see covered. Yemen A fair number of op-eds towards the end of March briefly discussed the … Continue reading March-April 2021: Yemen Peace Proposal and More
Media Reactions – 25 Days of Biden
Below is a quick review of recent Saudi media reactions thus far to US policies towards Saudi Arabia and a number of regional issues - including a summary of main narratives, a note on what Biden administration policy seems to be, and quotes from some of the more prominent commentators (especially Abdelrahman al-Rashed, for reasons … Continue reading Media Reactions – 25 Days of Biden
The Bitter Lake 