by Thomas W. Lippman When Ramadan arrives in mid-summer, as it did this year, it usually guarantees that nothing of significance will happen in Saudi Arabia. The days of fasting are long, the heat is intense, and everybody who is… Continue Reading
by Emile Nakhleh Does repression force Islamic parties to moderate? This is the key question Shadi Hamid raises in his seminal book on political Islam, governance, and Islamist “illiberal” democratic ideology. Temptations of Power: Islamists & Illiberal Democracy In a New Middle… Continue Reading
Marches of Folly by James Russell Painful as it is to watch black clad Sunni extremists marauding their way through Mosul — a city that Americans died defending — we should all be required to take a dose of the… Continue Reading
How Egypt’s Generals Sidelined Uncle Sam by Dilip Hiro Since September 11, 2001, Washington’s policies in the Middle East have proven a grim imperial comedy of errors and increasingly a spectacle of how a superpower is sidelined. In this drama, barely… Continue Reading
by Thomas W. Lippman An Arabic-speaking friend who has been doing business in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf for decades and seems to know everyone there invited me to lunch the other day. He wanted to know if I could… Continue Reading