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What made Vladimir Putin’s ‘call’ to Elton John so believable
Vladimir Putin did not call Elton John and suggested they meet to discuss LGBT rights in Russia, but a lot of people believed that he did. On Monday, John wrote a post on Instagram...
Pssst! Need a passport? Forgery a lifeline for fleeing Syrians.
Obaida, a 22-year-old refugee from an area of Syria controlled by Islamic State, said he tried hard to get a passport the legal way. In May, he paid his way to Istanbul from the...
Are Syrian refugees a security threat to the Middle East?
Many of the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees arriving in Europe were previously living in camps and cities across Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. They are now leaving these countries because life there has...
Western dream of regime change in Iran is over, so what’s next?
The signing of the nuclear accord between Iran and the P5+1 answered a question that has bedeviled the U.S.-Iranian relationship for 36 years.
Decades after the 1979 uprising that ousted Washington's ally, Shah Reza Pahlavi,...
Let’s help those who find it difficult to perform Haj
Every year, Saudi authorities renew their warnings about illegal domestic pilgrims who seek to go to the holy sites to perform Haj without a permit. The campaign to stop domestic pilgrims from going to...
Reflections on Saudi education system
With the reopening of schools, students have embarked on a new journey of their lives. Is this journey going to be any different? Will the routine remain the same as before or will it...
Saudi Arabia’s ‘image deficit’? We are part of the problem.
The recent attack on a British man by members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) in Riyadh has reignited the debate on Saudi Arabia’s public image...
Absence of civility in Austria
Recently, an Italian friend told me, “Arabs blessed us with their presence in Europe for 700 years.We have been so lucky!” Although this is a sentiment that not many Europeans might be inclined to...
Jeddah Municipality cracking down on land robbers
Earlier this year Jeddah Municipality launched a major crackdown on land encroachers. They started by bulldozing the many walled plots of land that belong to the state and that have been illegally seized by...
Saudis must be grateful to expatriate workers
The development witnessed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the past 40 years is unparalleled anywhere in the world. No doubt this can be attributed to a number of factors. The first of...
