How the Salman Rushdie Fatwa Changed the World
Khomeini’s decree stoked Muslim anger and paralyzed the West’s response to Islamic fundamentalism.
Mecca
Hamas-Fatah reconciliation attempts are DOA
The recent Abbas-Haniyeh handshake signifies the desperate state of both Palestinian factions – as well as of their Algerian hosts
Op-eds
The Israeli Moment
If anyone is going to derail the Islamic Republic’s regional ambitions, Israel is really the only local counterweight that counts.
Op-eds
Unfriending Pakistan
A reconsideration of the relationship is long overdue
Op-eds
Why America Should Hope the Regime in Iran Collapses
Advancing the collapse of the Islamic Republic will not bog the United States down into another Middle Eastern war or cost further blood and treasure. It can be done by maintaining sanctions on the Islamic Republic and its officials and by beginning a policy of maximum support of the Iranian people.
Op-eds
The Realignment
On Iran, Biden is finishing what Obama started. And his top advisers are all on board.
Op-eds
COVID-19 in the Gulf
The coronavirus pandemic and Russian-Saudi oil price war have triggered an historic drop in oil prices, shaking the economic and fiscal foundations of the oil-dependent Arab Gulf states and stretching their...
Policy Briefs
Some ‘Modernizer’
Is Saudi Arabia’s crown prince joining a long line of absolutist rulers in the Middle East?
Op-eds
Another grim anniversary
The approach of an anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 always concentrates my mind. It was, astonishingly, 16 Septembers ago that a team of foreign terrorists hijacked three American pas...
Op-eds
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Saudi Arabia Still Hostile To Israel
Before visiting Jerusalem in several days, President Trump will stop in Saudi Arabia for meetings with Islamic leaders to discuss joint efforts against extremism. He may wish to start with Saudi...
Op-eds
A Turkish TV blockbuster reveals Erdogan’s conspiratorial, anti-Semitic worldview
“The Last Emperor” is Turkey’s newest television blockbuster, consistently rating among Turkey’s ...
Op-eds
Saudi Arabia’s Charm Offensive with New U.S. President
Saudi Arabia’s most powerful prince, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, became the first Arab leader to meet in the White House on Tuesday with President Donald Trump, who was accompa...
Policy Briefs
Mohsen Qomi: A Revolutionary Diplomat on the Rise
FDD Research
Memos
The West isn’t worse than the rest
Intellectuals of the left and those influenced by them judge the United States and certain European nations as uniquely guilty of imperialism, colonialism, racism, sexism, xenophobia, homop...
Op-eds
The kingdom, the power and the petroleum
Saudi Arabia is changing. When government officials here tell you that, you take it with an oversized grain of salt. But when Saudi human rights activists say the same, you pay attenti...
Op-eds
The Face-Off
Donald Trump has promised a foreign policy of muscular retrenchment, in which a better-resourced U.S. military intimidates our enemies without serving as a global cop. More than any pr...
Op-eds
The Death of Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, a Machiavellian Prince
Co-written by Ali Alfoneh. Last week Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, the principal architect of the Islamic Republic, died of a heart attack at 82. The former parliamentary speake...
Op-eds
Rizvi’s Reformation
The Atheist Muslim opens with snow in Saudi Arabia. The author, Ali Rizvi, is in fifth grade at the American school in Riyadh, where students are folding glittery snowflakes out of construction p...
Op-eds
Attacks Highlight Terrorists’ Goals in Saudi Arabia, but Also Limits
Suicide bombers struck three Saudi cities on Monday, detonating themselves near the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, a U.S. diplomatic facility in Jeddah, and a Shiite mosque in the eastern city...
Policy Briefs
Analysis: Attacks show radicals retain foothold in Saudi Arabia
A wave of suicide attacks Monday in Saudi Arabia, especially one near the burial site of the prophet Mohammed, shows that radicals are increasingly challenging the Al Saud royal family and its ro...