Greater Middle East
Yemen war fuels dope-for-guns trade
Both sides in Yemen's bitter Sunni-Shi'ite divide—equally intolerant of hashish-smokers and khat-chewers—are turning to the dope trade to fund their arsenals.
Tag: Saudi Arabia
Europe
UN meeting on anti-Semitism… Oy vey
The UN hearings on anti-Semitism will certainly enflame anti-Semitism—affording Israel the opportunity for propaganda exploitation, and for Jew-haters to exploit the backlash.
Greater Middle East
Saudi blogger to be flogged for blasphemy
Blogger Raif Badawi, convicted of "offenses to Islamic precepts" in Saudi Arabia, is to receieve 1,000 lashes at the start of his 15-year prison term.
Planet Watch
Behind oil slump: shale boom or geopolitics?
Experts tell us the North American shale oil boom is responsible for low prices despite Middle East unrest. But the price slump serves Western aims of weakening Russia and Iran.
Greater Middle East
Yemen: Saudis suspend aid as Houthi power grows
A failed US commando raid on al-Qaeda in Yemen comes as Saudi Arabia has suspended aid to the country in response to the growing power of Shi'ite Houthi militants.
Greater Middle East
Saudi Arabia: mourners repudiate sectarian terror
Hundreds of thousands from across Saudi Arabia converged on a village for the funeral for victims of a sectarian attack, chanting "Sunnis and Shi'ites, we are brothers!"
Greater Middle East
Saudi women’s rights campaigner arrested: report
Saudi Arabian rights activists reported that authorities had arrested Suad al-Shamari, a prominent women's rights advocate, for insulting Islam.
Greater Middle East
Saudi court sentences lawyers for public criticisms
A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced three lawyers to between five and eight years in prison for accusing the country's justice system of arbitrary detentions on Twitter.
Greater Middle East
Saudi Arabia sentences Shi’ite cleric to death
Sh'iite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was convicted of sedition and other charges in Saudi Arabia and sentenced to death—posing greater sectarian tensions in the Gulf states.
Greater Middle East
Saudi Arabia slammed over persecution of activists
Amnesty International charges that Saudi Arabia is persecuting activists and government critics, especially targeting the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association.
Iraq
First US air-strikes on ISIS targets in Syria
Warplanes flying from the USS George HW Bush carried out the first US air-strikes against ISIS targets in Syria, with planes from five Arab countries also participating in the raids.
Iraq
Obama sees long war against ISIS
The Obama administration is preparing to carry out a campaign against ISIS that may take three years to complete, involving a coalition of some 40 countries.