Turkish-Chinese Spat Puts Central Asian Leaders on the Spot

by James M. Dorsey A Turkish-Chinese spat as a result of Turkish criticism of China’s crackdown on Turkic Muslims in its strategic but troubled north-western province of Xinjiang complicates efforts by Kazakhstan and other Central Asian states to at best… Continue Reading

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

The U.S. Role in Hardening Hard Lines in the Middle East

by Paul R. Pillar Realism in foreign policy recognizes that all countries have some interests that conflict and some that conform with the interests of one’s own country. A U.S. foreign policy grounded in realism would see all countries as… Continue Reading

China and Saudi Arabia: The Xinjiang Factor

by Giorgio Cafiero As the Jamal Khashoggi affair and the ongoing war in Yemen continually increase the amount of criticism that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) receives in Western countries, he embarked this month on a three-leg… Continue Reading

Is the United Arab Emirates Really Our Friend?

by William D. Hartung Unlike Saudi Arabia, which has been strongly rebuked for its murder of Jamal Khashoggi and its strikes against civilians in Yemen, the other major U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has… Continue Reading