A microcosm of Iran’s domestic problems, port city bears brunt of crackdown
The Iranian port city of Bandar-e-Mahshahr has emerged as the scene of some of the worst…
Author James M. Dorsey
Attack in Iran raises spectre of a potentially far larger conflagration
An attack on a military parade in the southern Iranian city of Ahwaz is likely…
Egyptian ultras: Down but not out
Egyptian general-turned-president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi won a second term virtually unchallenged in what is widely…
Make Wine Not War: Wineism’s recipe for a sustainable political future
When Miguel Torres, scion of an iconic Spanish winemaking dynasty, described the impact of the…
Pakistan struggles to get a grip on militancy and ultra-conservatism
Seventy years after its birth, Pakistan is struggling to get a grip on Sunni…
Valentine’s Day pinpoints limits of Saudi prince’s Islamic reform effort
Valentine’s Day in Riyadh and Islamabad as well as parts of Indonesia and Malaysia…
Expanding regional rivalries: Saudi Arabia and Iran battle it out in Azerbaijan
It’s the pot calling the kettle black. As Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of seeking to…
Surrendering a Brussels mosque: A Saudi break with ultra-conservatism?
Saudi Arabia, in an indication that it is serious about shaving off the sharp…
Qatari vs. Saudi Wahhabism and the Perils of Top-Down Change
State Mosque of Qatar under construction, image by Omar Chatriwala via Flickr CC EXECUTIVE…
Arab media: Saudi purge promises tighter control
Long-standing Saudi efforts to dominate the pan-Arab media landscape appear to have moved into high…
Murder in The Hague: Saudi-Iranian proxy war heats up
Shot dead this week on a street in The Hague, Ahmad Mola Nissi may have died the…
Saudi crackdown raises spectre of wider spread dissent
Few paid attention to a rare protest in Saudi Arabia in late January 2011 as…
In shadowy covert wars, Iran takes centre stage
In the shadowy world of covert proxy wars, Iran is taking centre stage, both as…
Crown Prince Mohammed’s vow to moderate Saudi Islam: Easier said than done
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s recent disavowal of the kingdom’s founding religious ideology had a…
Countering supremacy: Johor Sultan battles Muslim equivalent of Islamophobia
Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, the sovereign of the Malaysian state of Johor, does not…
Women’s driving: Saudi Prince Mohammed’s litmus test
Saudi Arabia’s long-awaited lifting of a ban on women’s driving, widely viewed as a symbol…
Pot, Kettee: why Iran blames Saudi Arabia for Islamic State attacks
Terrorist killings at Iranian parliament and mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini bring into focus something Riyadh…
Gulf crisis: Surrender or dig in for the long haul
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, by breaking off not only diplomatic but…
Policy differences emerge among Gulf states days after wooing President Trump
Cracks have appeared in a Saudi-led, US-backed anti-terrorist political and military alliance days after US…
Conflict in the Middle East threatens Pakistan and lynchpin of China’s One Belt, One Road
Increasingly caught up in the Middle East’s multiple conflicts, Pakistan is struggling to balance relations…
Blasphemy and Terrorism: Catchall Phrases to Repress Dissent
Blasphemy has joined terrorism as a catchall phrase to intimidate, incarcerate and kill critics…
Kuwaiti Sheikh Ahmad: The rise and fall of political corruption in international sports
For Kuwaiti Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, long seen as one of the three most…
Pakistani military engagement: Walking a fine line between Saudi Arabia and Iran
Pakistan is emerging as an important military player in the Gulf as its struggles to…
Bowing to pressure: Iran grants women spectators access to sporting event
Iran, bowing to external pressure, has allowed women spectators to attend a premier international men’s…
Qatari backtracking on labour rights and cooperation with Russia reflects new world order
Vladimir Putin gives Sheikh Tamim a falcom A Qatari decision to backtrack on minimal improvements…
Creating a legal precedent: Palestine considers suing Israel in international sports court
The Palestine Football Association (PFA), in a first testing of Palestine’s ability to fight its…
Taking on militants: A fight for the soul of Pakistan
Two high-level meetings in recent months involving senior military commanders and intelligence officials and/or top-level…
Israeli-Palestinian struggle returns to the soccer pitch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused world soccer body FIFA of allowing FIFA-sanctioned matches…
Egypt hopes soccer will help polish its tarnished image
An Egyptian businessman with close ties to general-turned-president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has submitted a bid…
Creating Frankenstein: The Saudi Export of Wahhabism
Remarks at 2016 Exeter Gulf Conference This book project on Saudi public diplomacy using…
With mosques under surveillance, IS turns to soccer for recruitment
Abu Otaiba, the nom du guerre of a self-taught imam and Islamic State (IS)…
Is Saudi Arabia Zion?
Kamal Salibi, one of the Arab world’s foremost contemporary historians, kicked up a storm when…
Sports: A barometer of Saudi reform
Mohammed Simsim, the president of the Saudi Arabian Weightlifting Federation, embodies existential dilemmas involved…
Jihad v. Soccer: The Islamic State’s convoluted love-hate relationship
If the Islamic State (IS) was serious about attacking Euro 2016, its plans clearly never…
Men’s hair takes centre stage in battle over legitimacy of political Islam
The Muslim world’s battle over the legitimacy of political Islam has expanded to the…
Turkish soccer brawls: The battle for the future of the Kemalist state
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dresses up his increasing authoritarianism with nationalist and religious overtones,…
Turkish stadiums: A contested political battleground
Last month’s opening of storied Istanbul soccer club Besiktas JK’s renovated Vodafone Arena stadium was…
Women: A Benchmark of Saudi and Iranian Reform
With Saudi Arabia announcing plans for a major restructuring of the kingdom’s economy and Iran…
Turkish soccer pitches tell the story of hardening fault lines
Turkish soccer pitches tell the story of the country’s multiple sharpening fault lines that are…
Subtle policy changes could reinforce Qatari focus on sports
Subtle changes in the way Qatar projects itself on the international stage symbolized by a…
Saudi Arabia uses soccer to isolate Iran
Saudi Arabia is using soccer and its influence in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to…
Soccer highlights domestic drivers in Saudi-Iranian dispute
Saudi Arabia and Iran, highlighting the domestic drivers of mounting tension that threatens to deepen…
Soccer: Iranian moderates and hardliner lock horns on the pitch
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani suffered in the run-up to crucial elections in early 2016 what…
Staunch Sisi supporter calls for opening of stadia and dialogue with ultras
A staunch supporter of general-turned-president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, has called on…
Saudi Arabia and Iran: Volatile Political Geography of Oil and Minorities
Synopsis The political geography of oil and minorities in Saudi Arabia and Iran highlights a…
Yemen Conflict and Arab Uprising: Regional Fissures and Repercussions
Synopsis The Saudi military intervention in Yemen against Houthi rebels has repercussions in the kingdom…
Druze Mount next flashpoint in Syrian conflict: Implications for Israel
Synopsis This month’s killing of 23 Druze clan members by Jabhat Al Nusra jihadists has…
Ethnic tensions spill onto Iranian soccer pitches
Iranian Azeri Soccer Fans Burn the Iranian Flag Against a backdrop of the violent…