Recent weeks have seen tensions between the United States and Iran soar, initially after a May 2019 incident in which four commercial vessels were struck in the Gulf of Oman (two Saudi oil tankers, one Norwegian and an Emirati ship), ebb thereafter and escalate yet...
Silence of the Lambs: The Case of Marzieh Hashemi
In the wake of the outcry after the abduction and murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi – in a foreign country and under the directive of a rogue Crown Prince – one would think the threshold to condemn the detention of an American journalist in the...
There Is No Proxy War in Yemen
Those in the Western media too busy to be bothered trying to understand the complexities, intricacies and nuances of the Middle East often resort to concluding nearly all conflicts there are some kind of "proxy war" between Saudi Arabia and Iran. This is...
The Saudi Project Has Failed
Books will be written on the designs of the Saudi regime to reshape the greater Middle East. Entire chapters could be dedicated to the depth of United States and Israeli involvement and their shared partnership with the House of Saud and other Gulf Cooperation Council...
Al-Awamiya: City of Resistance
As the United States prepared to sign a multi-billion dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia, royal forces laid siege to al-Awamiya, a restive town of approximately 30,000 in the Qatif district of the country’s Eastern Province. Bulldozers, backed by armored tanks and...
Dismantling Civil Society in Bahrain
Like a vise which first grips its object and then slowly, deliberately and inexorably crushes it, the al-Khalifa regime has done similarly to civil society in Bahrain. It did not stop when peaceful, pro-democracy, reform protests erupted in 2011 and were violently put...
Attack of the Five Monarchies
It is the irony of ironies. A cadre of repressive monarchies is chosen to liberate the captive peoples of Iraq and Syria from the tyranny of ISIS. Combating a group known for its violent sectarianism, the five Arab allies ordered by the United States to participate in...
The Bahrain Uprising in Numbers
Population of Bahrain: 1.2 million Number of citizens: 535,000 Percentage of citizens who are Shia Muslim: 70 Percentage of those in government: 13 Number of senior positions they fill in the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Cabinet...
Bahrain and the Freedom Contagion
“Saudi Arabia did not build a causeway to Bahrain just so that Saudis could party on weekends. It was designed for moments like this, for keeping Bahrain under control.” —Dr. Toby Jones, expert on Saudi Arabia at Rutgers University If Saudi Arabia was rattled by the...
Bahrain: Days of Rage, Decades of Oppression
"Bahrain has one of the most advanced medical systems in the Middle East, the best ICT sector in the region, and the fastest growing economy in the Arab world. "But despite all these accomplishments, the country seems to be missing just one little thing: a doctor who...