Tag: Saudi Arabia
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Russia, Turkey, L. Paul Bremer III
Saudi-Russia Ties A fair bit of commentary in Okaz on the Kingdom diversifying its relationships by strengthening ties to Russia – to be updated as more comes in. Update [10/17/2019]: Key Themes of Commentary: The Kingdom pursues a flexible foreign policy that balances old relationships with new, pragmatic engagements – explicitly mentioning the U.S. relationship…
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CBS, MBS and Un-aired Excerpts
Much of the domestic media/social media scene has been abuzz with anticipation of, and then coverage of, the Crown Prince’s appearance on CBS for an extended interview with Norah O’Donnell – Al-Watan provided a full run-down of topics raised in past interviews with Western media outlets. Of the three main topics covered (Jamal Khashoggi’s murder,…
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Attacks on Abqaiq and Khurais, Continued
There has been a lot of back-and-forth in the Saudi press about what’s happening with respect to Abqaiq and Iran, although coverage has understandably focused more on Aramco claims of swiftly restoring production than concerns that it will take considerable time to fully repair the severe damage to facilities. This in turn has led some…
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The Eye of the Storm – Abqaiq and Khurais
Given the demands of other work I don’t have time to cover the Saudi media scene at present in depth – suffice to say that coverage of the (almost certainly but not conclusively Iranian-backed) attacks on oil facilities at Abqaiq seems somewhat muted from inside the Kingdom, and there being less of a tense atmosphere…
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A View to a Deal? [Updated]
In advance of a visit this Thursday by Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al Sabah to the White House, more rumors than normal are circulating about a potential solution to the 2+ year standoff between Qatar and the “anti-terror” quartet of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt (Beth Dickinson with a run-down).…
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العرض العامّ الأولي لأرامكو – مكان العرض وإدارة الشركة
أرامكو تقترح العرض العامّ الأولي بمرحلتين وقال هؤلاء الأشخاص إن شركة أرامكو تميل نحو طوكيو كمكان للمرحلة الثانية من خطتها المقترحة للعرض العامّ الأولي، حيث تقلل التطورات السياسية في المملكة المتحدة والصين من جاذبية الأسواق في لندن وهونج كونج… شجع ولي العهد السعودي الأمير محمد بن سلمان على عرض أرامكو في نيويورك كوسيلة لتعميق العلاقات…
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The UAE and its leadership are a red line, yet…
The latest flare-up of KSA-UAE tensions regarding Yemen appears to have come to something of a close with Dubai police chief Dhahi Khalfan, a major instigator behind a series of international Twitter spats over the weekend, opting to take a 10-day Twitter sabbatical. While it remains to be seen whether Dhahi Khalfan keeps to his…
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Aden and the STC: 3 Views
Three recent op-eds in three separate Saudi papers (Okaz, Al-Sharq al-Aawsat, Al-Jazirah) on recent developments in Aden. Events in Aden – why now? Perhaps the events in Aden were linked to the reports of behind-the-scenes efforts underway to reach international understandings aimed at reigning in some of the region’s crises, including the crisis with Iran…
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UAE/Yemen in Saudi Papers (July 8-Aug. 8)
Still playing around with this blog – for now, I’ll just be posting collections of articles on specific topics. It has been about a month since Emirati officials confirmed the UAE’s “drawdown” from war in Yemen, following initial reports by Reuters based on “Western diplomatic sources.” The move was mostly framed as a coordinated, strategic…
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KSA Papers: 6.22-6.29, 2019
UN Report on the Death of Jamal Khashoggi “What is always happens is that the hostile media has its material ready and its agenda set, as in the case of the report of the UN Rapporteur on Wednesday. The report was heralded by Qatar’s Al-Jazeera Qatar and hostile Turkish media channels, with the European Union…
The Bitter Lake 