In time the reasons why the Egyptian uprising took place and the reasons for its success will appear ever clearer and perhaps some elements will jump out that we cannot discern now. Civil disobedience could be traced back, ironically, to the period from […]
Word is Egypt’s post-uprising prime minister will be in Riyadh next week meeting King Abdullah. One would like to be a fly on the wall at that one. It’s not been a good year for the Gulf dynasties. The regional discourse was […]
As-Safir Newspaper – غسان بن جدو يستقيل من «الجزيرة». This was just waiting to happen. The article says Ben Jiddo feels the dream of Al-Jazeera is over as an independent serious Arabic channel because it has become a source for “incitement and […]
I had the good fortune to receive a copy of a rare and arresting critique of Abdelrahman Munif’s classic Cities of Salt novels. It is by Elias Nasrallah, a London-based Palestinian writer, and just came out in Arabic last year under the […]
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy wants to tell us that “U.S.-Saudi relations are in crisis” (http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC06.php?CID=1612). We’ve heard this one many times before and quite frankly who’s buying it. The “conflict” over the U.S. administration’s rhetorical commitment to democracy and freedom to choose your […]
Reading Lohaidan in Riyadh: Media and the struggle for judicial power in Saudi Arabia Arab Media & Society, Issue 7, Winter 2009, http://www.arabmediasociety.com/?article=702 Along with a reported one in seven viewers across the Arab World, Saudis were glued to their television sets […]
“Liberal enclaves: A royal attempt to bypass clerical power”, in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 1979-2009: Evolution of a Pivotal State, published by The Middle East Institute in Washington DC in Oct 2009. http://www.mei.edu/Portals/0/Publications/SaudiArabiaViewpoints.pdf Liberal enclaves: A royal attempt to bypass clerical […]
Saudi Arabia’s Media Empire: keeping the masses at home Arab Media & Society, Issue 3, Fall 2007, http://www.arabmediasociety.com/?article=420 Since the 1990-1 Gulf crisis when the United States used Saudi Arabia as a launchpad for a campaign to evict occupying Iraqi forces from Kuwait, Saudi […]