by Paul R. Pillar Personal fondness for a foreign country plays such a large role for many participants in the debate about U.S. foreign policy (including policy toward the Middle East) that I should begin this piece with a disclosure:… Continue Reading
by Thomas W. Lippman No one should have been surprised by the tepid response from the U.S. government to the latest arrests of prominent activists in Saudi Arabia. It has been U.S. policy since the administration of Harry S. Truman… Continue Reading
By James M. Dorsey Saudi conduct of its ill-fated war in Yemen coupled with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s alignment with the Trump administration and Israel, and his often coercive approach to diplomatic relations, has opened the door to challenges… Continue Reading
by James Watt From a Western viewpoint, never has the international scene looked more provisional, more uncertain. Some of the confusion is self-inflicted (Trump, Brexit). Some results from a century of political failure and social crisis inflicted for the most… Continue Reading
By James M. Dorsey An offer by a Saudi-backed bank to lend financially strapped Pakistan $4 billion is likely intended to bolster Saudi influence when former international cricket player Imran Khan is sworn in in the coming week as the South Asian… Continue Reading