Sovereign wealth funds: Investment vehicles or political operators?
The $6.85 billion acquisition in 2006 of Peninsular & Oriental (P&O) Steam Navigation Company, a storied British shipping and logistics company, by Dubai’s state-owned...
Salafi mission calls into question Saudi concept of moderation and policy in Yemen
Plans to open a Salafi missionary centre in the Yemeni province of Al Mahrah on the border with Oman and Saudi Arabia raise questions...
Iranian protests expose contours of leadership in the Muslim world
If week-long anti-government protests in Iran exposed the Islamic republic’s deep-seated economic and political problems, they also laid bare Saudi Arabia’s structural inability to...
Saudi sports: The dark side of Crown Prince Mohammed’s reforms
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will be putting his best foot forward when enthusiastic women soccer fans this week attend for the first...
Pakistani politics risk aggravating problems and heightening regional tension
Self-serving Pakistani politics threaten to aggravate the country’s myriad problems that have strained its relations with the United States and could heighten tension in...
Covert wars: Iran and Saudi Arabia revisit their strategies
Expressions of support by US President Donald J. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu have provided the grist for Iranian claims that anti-government...
A game of chess: Gulf crisis expands into the Horn of Africa
The six-month-old Gulf crisis has expanded to the Horn Africa, potentially fuelling simmering regional conflicts.
Renewed fears of heightened tension in the Horn, a region...
Iranian protests raise tricky questions for US and Saudi policymakers
If Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s chequered foreign policy track record is anything to go by, Iran could tempt him to embark on...
Betting on the wrong horse? US and Iranian hardliners spin anti-government protests
In supporting recent anti-government protests in Iran, both Iranian hardliners and the US State Department may want to be careful what they wish for....
Chess Tournament puts Sports Governance and Saudi Change under the Microscope
Saudi Arabia’s hosting of an international chess tournament focuses attention on the fundamental problem wreaking havoc in international sports governance and shines a spot...