You are here: Home / Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

Opinion Headlines

  1. Saudi Arabia “As the Middle East Burns, the Saudis Ease Up at Home” by Karen Elliot House 6-25-14
  2. Saudi Arabia. “It’s Time for the Saudis to Stand Up.” By Karen Elliot House 8-29-14
  3. Saudi Arabia. “A Smooth Saudi Succession, but a Rough Road Ahead.” By Karen Elliott House. [Threatened by Iran and Islamic State, worried about restless Saudi youth.] 1-24-15
  4. Saudi Arabia. “The Saudis Reply to Iran’s Rising Danger.” [The Weekend Interview with Anwar Eshki, by Sohrab Ahmari.] [An influential Saudi former military commander on making common cause with Israel and warming toward Russia as the U.S. backs away.] 8-22-15
  5. Saudi Arabia. “Who Lost the Saudis?” [Iran and Russia have an interest in toppling the House of Saud.] 1-4-16
  6. Saudis. “Why the U.S. Should Stand by the Saudis Against Iran.”   By Bret Stephens. [Much about the House of Saud is detestable, but that isn’t a reason to abandon a vital ally.] 1-20-16
  7. Saudi Arabia. “Inside the Turmoil of Change in the House of Saud.” By Karen Elliot House.. [As oil prices drop and external threats mount, a 30-year-old crown prince is suddenly ascendant.] 2-5-16
  8. Saudi Arabia. LTE “Poor Reviews for the Saudis’ Yemen Gambit.” 4-5-16
  9. Saudi Arabia. “The 30-Year-Old Saudi Revolutionary.” By Karen Elliott House. [Mohammed bin Salman, deputy crown prince, is pushing an agenda of social and economic change.] 5-11-16
  10. Saudi Arabia. “Where Oil Prices Go From Here.” By Daniel Yergin. [With political change in Saudi Arabia and the market rebalancing, look for $50 a barrel by the fall.] 5-16-16
  11. Saudi Arabia. “An Obama Veto Worth Backing.”  [A bill targeting Saudi Arabia will boomerang on American interests.]  9-21-16
  12. Saudi Arabia. “Saudi Society Dips a Toe Into the 21sth Century.”  By Karen Elliott House.  [Under the prince’s reforms, religious police can’t arrest women for not covering their hair.]  11-3-16
  13. Saudi Arabia. Foreign Relations. “Trump Goes to Saudi Arabia.” By Karen Elliott House.  [Given the badly frayed relations between the U.S. and Riyadh, the president is guaranteed a win.]  5-19-17
  14. Saudi Arabia: “Fear Is What Changed Saudi Arabia.”  By Walter Russell Mead.  [Why is Riyadh taking risks?  It worries it can no longer depend on the U.S. – or on oil.]  6-20-17
  15. Saudi Arabia. “Change in the House of Saud.”  [Mohammed bin Salman wants to transform the hidebound Kingdom.]  6-22-17
  16. Saudi Arabia. “This is Not Your Father’s Saudi Arabia.”  By Karen Elliot House.  [The new crown price, 31, promises economic revival and a more assertive world role.  Can he deliver??]  6-22-17
  17. Saudi Arabia. “How the Saudis Can Promote Moderate Islam.”  By Max Singer.  [Riyadh’s new leaders may be amenable to modestly scaling back the country’s exporting of Salafism.]  8-4-17
  18. Saudi Arabia. “The Saudi Cauldron.”  [Weekend events show the Middle East conflicts to come.]  11-6-17
  19. Saudi Arabia. “The Strategy Behind the Saudi Strife.”  By Karen Elliott House.  [The young crown prince is gambling that personal freedom will encourage financial responsibility.] 11-7-17
  20. Saudi Arabia. “Riyadh is Delivering on Vision 2030.” By Majid Al Qasabi  [The anticorruption actions will help make Saudi Arabia a vibrant 21st-century economy.]  11-13-17 (Mr. Qasabi is the Saudi minister of commerce and investment.)
  21. Saudi Arabia. “Saudi Reforms Get a Boost from Google.” By Karen Elliott House. [Alphabet’s interest in the kingdom is a signal that Crown Prince Mohammad is serious about change.] 2-5-18
  22. Saudi Arabia. “Rising Oil Prices Are Bad News for Saudi Arabia.” By Karen Elliott House. [A windfall will compound the kingdom’s economic and social malaise.] 9-26-18
  23. Saudi Arabia.  “Jamal Khashoggi’s Fate.”  [A Saudi Journalist is said to have died in his country’s consulate.]  10-8-18
  24. Saudi Arabia.  “A Royal Saudi Mess.”  [The disappearance of a journalist could mean a crisis in U.S.-Saudi ties.]  10-13-18
  25. Saudi Arabia.  “Why Kill Jamal Khashoggi?”  by Karen Elliott House.  [The most charitable interpretation is that this was an abduction that went horribly wrong.]  10-15-18
  26. Saudi Arabia.  “America and the Saudis.”  [Saving the alliance will require telling the truth about Khashoggi]  10-22-18
  27. Saudi Arabia.  “The Saudi Crown Prince’s Uncertain Fate.”  By Karen Elliott House. [If he loses power, it could be by the gentle hand of his father or, like Caligula, in a violent overthrow.]  10-23-18
  28. Saudi Arabia.  “The ‘Modernizing Dictator’ Is No Myth.”  By Azar Gat. [Can the crown prince reform Saudi Arabia?  Maybe not, but there are precedents.]  11-14-18
  29. Saudi Arabia.  “Nixon, Now More Than Ever.”  By Wm McGurn.  [Trump could use an elder statesman to tell the Saudis what they need to hear.]  11-27-18
  30. Saudi Arabia.  “The U.S.-Saudi Partnership Is Vital.”  By Mike Pompeo.  [We don’t condone Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.  But the kingdom is a powerful force for Mideast stability.]   11-28-18
  31. Saudi Arabia.  “Congress Gets Tough on the Saudis.”  By Lindsey Graham.  [U.S. power depends on a system in which the rule of law restrains strongmen’s whims.] 12-4-18
  32. Saudi Arabia.  “The Senate on the Saudis.”  [A phony gesture on War Powers but a useful statement on Khashoggi.]  12-14-18
  33. Saudi Arabia.  “Where Is Crown Prince Mohammed?”  by Karen Elliot House.  [Out of public view, he attempts to control Saudi society with a combination of dread and circuses.]  2-12-19
  34. Saudi Arabia.  “The Saudis Hedge Their American Bets.”  By Walter Russell Mead.  [God may be great, but thro Riyadh’s temporal purposes, Xi Jinping apparently is greater.]  2-26-19
  35. Saudi Arabia.  “Arms for the Saudis.” 5-29-19
  36. Saudi Arabia. “Saudi Arabia Is Changing Fast.” By Karen Elliott House. [Social liberalization has out paced economic reform, but there doesn’t seem to be any turning back.] 11-5-19
  37. Saudi Arabia. “On Aramco and MBS, I’m Not Buying.“ by Holman W. Jenkins., Jr. [Trading in Saudi Arabia’s giant oil company does not inspire confidence in princely reform.] 12-14-19
  38. Saudi Arabia. “Oil Becomes a Risky Game for Saudis.” By Karen Elliot House. [Lower prices hurt U.S. producers, but they also cost Riyadh and imperil ties with the U.S.] 5-18-20
  39. Saudi Arabia.  “Finding the Key To the Kingdom.”  (Bookshelf by Karen Elliott House.)  “Vision or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at eh Crossroads.”  By David Rundell.  [With a nuanced policy, American officials can encourage reform in Saudi Arabia without supporting its authoritarian tendencies.]   11-23-20
  40. Saudi Arabia.  “The Khashoggi Sanction.”  2-27-21
  41. Saudi Arabia.  “Saudi Arabia Turns Toward China.”  By Karen Elliot House.  [Crown Prince Mohammed is guiding the kingdom, toward am assertive foreign-policy stance.]  11-10-21
  42. Saudi Arabia.  “How Biden Lost the Saudis.”  [The President’s brand of liberal internationalism is proving to be costly.]  3-19-22
  43. Saudi Arabia.  “Biden Needs to Make Up With Saudi Arabia.”  By Karen Elliott House.  [China is working hard to come between the U.S. and its longtime ally in a vital region of the world.]   4-1-22
  44. Saudi Arabia.  “U.S.-Saudi Relations Finally Start to Thaw.”  By Karen Elliott House.  [The overdue nomination of an ambassador suggests this vital strategic alliance can get back on track.]   5-4-22
  45. Saudi Arabia.  “Slouching to Saudi Arabia.”  By Walter Russell Mead.  [Biden’s reluctant decision to visit MBS will reset a vital strategic relationship.]  6-21-22
  46. Saudi Arabia.  Saudi Arabia Prepares to Host a Humbles Biden.”  By Karen Elliot House.  [Shunning the crown prince didn’t work.  Whether the two leaders can rebuild trust is an open question.]  7-14-22
  47. Saudi Arabia.  ‘The Last Jew From Saudi Arabia.”  By David Shuker.  [The land of my birth still bas me from entering.  I’m almost 80 and want to visit.]   8-25-22
  48. Saudi Arabia.  “The Saudis Snub Biden Again.”  [OPEC+ hears U.S. pleas and doubles its oil production cuts.]   10-6-22
  49. Saudi Arabia.  “How Not to Punish the Saudis.”  [The ideas for revenge would hurt the U.S. economy and security.]   10-13-22
  50. Saudi Arabia.  “Both Sides lose in the U.S.-Saudi feud.”  By Karen Elliott House.  [Washington and Riyadh need each other and would benefit if their leaders quieted down for a while.]   11-2-22
  51. Saudi Arabia.  “Revenge of the Saudi ‘Pariah.’”  [MBS wins again with the merger between LIV and the PGA Tour.]   6-7-23
  52. Saudi Arabia.  “The Crown Prince Gambles With Modernity.”  By Armin Rosen.  [In Sudi Arabia, pro golf and desert techno festivals are in, while religious cops are out.]   6-9-23

Issue Headlines

Foreign Affairs. “Saudis Forge Ties With Iraq.” Wall Street Journal.  8-24-17 Page. A6

[“…Saudi authorities are courting Iraq’s Shiite leaders…opening direct flights and reopening crossings closed for decades on the heavily fortified, 600 mile border…The U.S. has been a broker in the rapprochement.  Soon after the start of his tenure in February, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sought to persuade his Saudi counterpart, Adif al-Jubair, that the kingdom should carve out a bigger role for itself in Iraq…”]

Campaign Consideration

Talking Points

Foreign Affairs. “Saudis Forge Ties With Iraq.” Wall Street Journal.  8-24-17 Page. A6

[“…Saudi authorities are courting Iraq’s Shiite leaders…opening direct flights and reopening crossings closed for decades on the heavily fortified, 600 mile border…The U.S. has been a broker in the rapproachement.  Soon after the start of his tenure in February, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sought to persuade his Saudi counterpart, Adef al-Jubeir, that the kingdom should carve out a bigger role for itself in Iraq…”]

Link to more information

Related Topics