by Leah Schulz Last month the United States approved a $1.29 billion arms deal to Saudi Arabia. This deal is the latest in a string of major arms sales agreements totaling $20.8 billion since the Gulf country began fighting in… Continue Reading
by James Spencer It seems that there has been a rapidly building expression of international disquiet about the relationship between the ideology of Salafi Jihadism and Wahhabism, the state religion of Saudi Arabia (and—less well-known—of Qatar.) As Gideon Rachman recently… Continue Reading
by Eldar Mamedov On October 29, the European Parliament awarded the EU’s top human rights prize—the Sakharov prize for freedom of expression—to Saudi blogger Raif Badawi. Saudi authorities accused Badawi of blasphemy and sentenced him to 1,000 lashes and 10… Continue Reading
by Adnan Tabatabai Antagonism between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia reached a new peak this year. The wars in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen—as well as the nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran, and the recent catastrophic stampede in… Continue Reading
by Thomas W. Lippman Not since the royal power struggle of the 1950s have the rivalries and conflicts within the ruling family of Saudi Arabia burst into public view as they have in the past two weeks. The British newspaper The… Continue Reading