Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman attends the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Photo Credit: TASS via Getty Images The January announcement of Saudi normalization of relations with Qatar will likely help Saudi Arabia’s efforts to acquire an elite soccer team, which would allow Riyadh to enhance its tarnished global image.[i] Saudi Arabia’s neighbors, the UAE … Continue reading Saudi Pursuit of Soft Power Through Soccer: Saudi Arabia aims to match what UAE and Qatar have achieved

Saudi youths demonstrate a stunt known as "sidewall skiing" (driving on two wheels) in the northern city of Hail, in Saudi Arabia. Photo Credit: Reuters Graveyard of Clerics: Everyday Activism in Saudi Arabia (2020)by Pascal MenoretStanford University Press, 250 pp., $24.00 Saudi Arabia is a country of extremes: extreme heat, extreme wealth, and as Pascal … Continue reading There is No Society: Islamic Action and Activism under the Thumb of the Saudi State

Sudan has become just the third Arab country to normalize ties with Israel since 1994. Will normalization last? Photo Credit: Anthony Beck/Pexels Just over a month after it was announced, the normalization deal between Israel and Sudan has come under fire.  Sudan’s representatives said they would exit the accords if the U.S. cannot guarantee Sudan’s … Continue reading Why Israel-Sudan Normalization is Unlikely to Last

Photo Credit: Bing.com President Trump’s acclaimed ‘peace deal’ in the Middle East may be historic, but only time will tell if it will bring any semblance of peace to the region. On Tuesday, September 15, President Trump sat with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al-Zayani, and Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin … Continue reading The Abraham Accords: A Peace Deal in Name Only

Parade of Kata'ib Hizballah fighters. Photo Credit: Geopolitics News As the U.S. threatens to close its embassy in Baghdad, questions loom over the long-term status of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). The PMF possess enough influence and firepower to prevent meaningful action by the Iraqi state to undermine them. Their independence from the official security … Continue reading This Time is Different: Can Iraq Rein in the PMF?

Demonstration against Israeli Government in Jerusalem, July 25 2020. Photo Credit: Gershon Diner, Mehazkim NGO public domain stockpile. Introduction The past year has been one of an almost unprecedented turmoil for Israeli politics. The small state had gone through three consecutive elections prior to the emergence of the coronavirus crisis. The latter eventually led to the … Continue reading Reclaiming Security: The Time Has Come for a Progressive Israeli Security Agenda

Hezbollah military parade in Nabatiyeh, Lebanon, late 2014. Photo Credit: Al Jazeera/Getty. In the past year, Hezbollah has come to face a paradigm shift in the Middle East. As economic turmoil raises domestic tensions and regional instability continues to threaten Lebanon, the group must continue to meet its fundamental policy needs. Key determinants of Hezbollah’s … Continue reading The Future Direction of Hezbollah