by Thomas Lippman For once the news from the Middle East doesn’t seem to be all bad. That doesn’t mean the news is good—most of it is not—but amid all the continuing conflicts some encouraging signs of sanity and seriousness… Continue Reading
by James Spencer Recently, the UK’s youngest suicide bomber died in Iraq, and a British convert to Islam was killed fighting for al-Shabaab against the Kenyan Army. At much the same time, President Obama has confessed that the US still doesn’t have a complete… Continue Reading
by Sheila Carapico There have been numerous reports of Saudi bombardment of Houthi targets inside Yemen, starting with the Houthi homeland in Sa’ada province but extending as far south as the Anad airbase in Lahj in the south. Early reports indicate… Continue Reading
by Mark N. Katz The states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman—are frustrated. Four of them—Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE—have vast quantities of petroleum. All of them… Continue Reading
by Graham E. Fuller Speculation has run high over the past several years about what Qatar is up to in the Middle East. At first blanch its foreign policy seemingly contains a mass of contradiction: a Wahhabi state; good ties… Continue Reading