Planet Watch
A ‘New Oil Order’?
Experts declare a "new oil order" in which hydrocarbons will lose market share to renewables. But is it market conditions or geopolitics that explain the current price slump?
Tag: Gulf states
Greater Middle East
Revolution in Syria and Turkey: mutual betrayal?
One of the greatest tragedies on the global stage now is that revolutions are going on in both Syria and Turkey—and they are being pitted against each other in the Great Game.
Greater Middle East
Kuwait upholds four-year term for tweeting
Kuwait's Supreme Court upheld the four-year prison sentence against an activist found guilty of insulting judges on Twitter—the latest in a string of such convictions for illegal tweeting.
Greater Middle East
Syria: ‘ceasefire’ signals escalation (of course)
The Syrian ceasefire announced in Munich does not apply to US or Russian air-strikes on "terrorists," and comes as Turkey and Saudi Arabia are preparing military intervention.
Greater Middle East
Amnesty: Bahrain rights reform outlook bleak
Amnesty International reports that nearly five years after Bahrain's Day of Rage protests sparked international concern over human rights, the hope for reform has dwindled.
Greater Middle East
Regional powers exploit Bahrain protests
Shi'ite protesters have repeatedly mobilized in Bahrain to demand the release of imprisoned dissident cleric Sheikh Ali Salman—ignored by the foreign media except in Iran.
Watching the Shadows
Last Kuwaiti Guantánamo detainee repatriated
The last Kuwaiti held at Guantánamo, supposed Osama bin Laden advisor Faiz Mohammed Ahmed al-Kandari, was repatriated after years of pressure from Kuwait's government.
Iran
Iran, Saudi Arabia wage execution war
Violent protests in Iran against Saudi Arabia's execution of a dissident Shi'ite cleric come as the Islamic Republic is itself preparing a mass execution of Sunni political prisoners.
Iran
Ahwazi Arabs charge Iran with ‘ethnocide’
The Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, seeking autonomy for Iran's Arab minority, met in Copenhagen, drawing support from Syrian rebel leaders.
Greater Middle East
Rights groups criticize arms sale to Saudi Arabia
Human Rights Watch called on the US to cancel a pending arms sale to Saudi Arabia in the absence of serious investigations into alleged laws-of-war violations in Yemen.
Greater Middle East
Bahrain sentences political activist to prison
Bahrain's Court of Appeals convicted rights activist Zainab al-Khawaja on charges related to her ripping up a photo of the country's king during a court hearing in 2014.
Greater Middle East
Yemen: Amnesty demands halt to arms transfers
Citing "damning evidence" of war crimes, Amnesty International is calling for the suspension of transfers of certain arms to the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen.