Great reformers are not normally found in theocratic monarchies. Despite assertions to the contrary, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remains archaic in the way it deals with its opponents. In its penal system, executions remain standard fare. With liberal democratic countries fixated with the Ukraine conflict and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, […]
Tag: Mohammed bin Salman
Macron’s revenge for AUKUS betrayal
What distinguishes great powers like France is their sense of history and their profound understanding of the temporality of historical experience — or, how their past, present, and future are thought to be connected in their international diplomacy. That is why the AUKUS pact between the US, UK and Australia […]
Biden Makes Eye Contact With Saudi Crown Prince
What is absolutely certain about the visit by the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to Saudi Arabia and his meeting with the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, is that it couldn’t have been for extending an invitation to the Summit for Democracy that President Joe Biden […]
Yemen War A Quagmire For Saudi Arabia
With the world’s largest oil export terminal coming under missile and drone attack — a giant Saudi Aramco complex capable of exporting roughly 6.5m barrels a day, nearly 7% of global oil demand — the war in Yemen surges in the global media. During the night on Saturday, the Houthis […]
Culpability and Recalibration: MBS and the Killing of Jamal Khashoggi
It was a brutal way to go, and it had the paw prints of the highest authorities. On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi Arabian insider turned outsider, was murdered by a squad of 15 men from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He was dismembered and quite literally cancelled […]
Biden And The Saudi Conundrum
The Joe Biden Administration is expected to release the Central Intelligence Agency report on the brutal murder of the prominent dissident and well-known journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the premises of the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. ‘Top Secret’ documents implicating the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in […]
Biden Inherits Middle East’s Grapes Of Wrath
On the arid landscape of the Arabian deserts, the outgoing US president Donald Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner planted a sapling called the Abraham Accords last August. They forecast it to be the harbinger of a future vineyard of luscious grapes, richly satisfying and arousing desire, which they hoped […]
Foiled at Toronto: The Tiger Squad’s Canadian Outing
Silencing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul was a feat of primeval brutality that sent a shudder through even the most hardened officials. The House of Saud, and in particular certain members of it, had gotten a taste for blood. Soon after Khashoggi’s slicing and dicing in the Saudi consulate […]
Oil Price War Is More About Market Share
The common refrain is that Saudi Arabia has launched an oil price war against Russia by boosting production and selling at discounted price, which, coming on top of the pressure from demand destruction caused by climate change action and the onslaught on the global financial system from the coronavirus pandemic, […]
The Endgame Begins In Yemen’s War
The power-sharing agreement signed in Riyadh on November 5 between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government headed by Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and UAE-backed southern separatist group known as the Southern Transitional Council (STC) gives reason to hope that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is veering round to the political track to […]
Winners And Losers From Saudi Aramco’s Travails
Saturday’s events have shown that the roof will come down on the world economy if any regional conflagration erupts leading to destruction of the petrodollar states. Brent Crude jumped 20% higher Sunday night. If the Saudi outage could last for months, as seems likely, expect the Brent onslaught to continue until the price hits $80, and keeps moving higher.
MBS’ Asian Tour Showcased Saudi Arabia’s Newfound Eurasian-Wide Influence
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman just went on an Asian tour to Pakistan, India, and China. The three states that he visited are the most important Great Powers of mainland Eurasia east of Iran, and his visit to those countries proved that Saudi Arabia is capable of maintaining a […]
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