Washington Should Challenge Riyadh Over Treatment of Women Activists

by Brian Dooley The news last Friday that Saudi Arabia will send tortured women’s rights activists to trial is another key test of U.S.-Saudi relations. The announcement came just three days after President Donald Trump’s senior adviser, Jared Kushner, met with Saudi Arabia’s… Continue Reading

Egyptian Prisons as Islamic State Recruitment Centers

by Joe Stork When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Cairo on January 10, he commended President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi for his “leadership” in combating “the ongoing threat of terrorism as well as the radical Islamism that fuels it.” In fact,… Continue Reading

World Leaders Yawn at Saudi Human Rights Abuses

by Brian Dooley When the Islamic State beheads captives, it’s nothing less than “an assault on all humanity,” President Obama told the UN last week. Good for you, Mr President, you’re right to be indignant and angry when prisoners have their heads… Continue Reading

Rare Expulsion of US Official from Bahrain Sets Back Reform Hopes

by Jim Lobe Monday’s expulsion order by Bahrain against a visiting senior US official has set back tentative hopes for internal reforms that could reconcile the kingdom’s Sunni-led government with its majority Shia community and drawn a sharp protest from… Continue Reading