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Managing the Politics of Water
This year’s World Water Day, on March 22, provides an opportunity to highlight what in many countries has become a grim reality: The availability of fresh water is increasingly a defining strategic factor in...
Oil price war threatens U.S. sense of energy security
The political economy of oil prices in the United States is complicated.
The United States is the world's largest oil consumer and one of its biggest importers.
But it is also a substantial producer with large...
A solid ray of economic sunshine
Amidst all the gloomy news of ratings downgrades and a slowing Saudi economy there is at least one ray of sunshine and it could be a very large ray indeed. It is called solar...
Mr. Obama, we are not ‘free riders’
No, Mr. Obama. We are not “free riders.” We shared with you our intelligence that prevented deadly terrorist attacks on America. We initiated the meetings that led to the coalition that is fighting Fahish (ISIS),...
Ratings agency signals Saudi downgrades
Moody’s Investors Service has played the role of bearer of bad news for the Saudi economy. On 4 March Moody’s announced that Saudi sovereigns which are currently rated at Aa3, that is still a...
Time for a new Sykes-Picot Agreement to fix the Middle East
It's time to renegotiate the contract that put the Middle East together.
The "contract" is the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement, which divided up most of the Arab lands that had been under the rule of the...
After all the insults and bile, can Donald Trump become a ‘unifier’?
One of the great speeches of Hollywood cinema is delivered by Marlon Brando, playing Terry Malloy, a longshoreman who dreams of being a prize fighter, in "On the Waterfront" (1954). His brother, Charlie (Rod...
Super Tuesday victories are nice, but Trump was already a ‘winner’
"We have expanded the Republican Party," Donald Trump declared in Palm Beach, Florida, as he discussed his Super Tuesday primary wins. "We are going to be a much bigger party. We have done something...
How the Oscars’ social activism took on Hollywood
With Chris Rock, an acerbic black comedian, set to host Sunday night's Oscar broadcast in Hollywood, even as Al Sharpton led a protest outside the Dolby Theatre and director Spike Lee and actress Jada...
Saudi economy faces a challenging year ahead
Leading economists are forecasting that the economic slump in Saudi Arabia, caused in large part by the dramatic collapse of oil prices, is set to continue with little optimism that an upturn is in...
