There is still doubt in the minds of serious people about Israel’s attack on the Free Gaza flotilla and the events that lead to the death of 9 of the activists aboard. There can be little surprise of…
COUNTRY » Saudi Arabia
The Iran chip in Sino-Saudi relations
Published: 02/06/2010The fourth joint meeting on economy and trade convened by China and Saudi Arabia in January 2010 in the Saudi capital of Riyadh came and went without much fanfare. Yet the meeting between China, the world’s second-largest and fastest-growing oil…
The Maturing Saudi-China Alliance
Published: 02/06/2010As Washington’s influence in the world and the Middle East wanes, Gulf countries are weaning themselves from their traditional orientation toward and dependence on the United States. America’s post-war political and economic supremacy in the region is now threatened as…
The next bomb in America
Published: 09/05/2010Faisal Shahzad was no Timothy McVeigh, let alone a Mohamed Atta. McVeigh, who killed 168 people in Oklahoma City in 1995 with a massive truck-bomb, took the trouble to learn how to make a bomb that actually works. Atta, who…
What the Palestinians should do
Published: 24/03/2010For Palestinians, the notion of two states living side by side is just a hogwash and they need to try something which is practical and achievable, which will usher in a new political framework where Palestinians and Jews will live…
A Half-Century of OPEC
Published: 18/03/2010OPEC is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its establishment in September of this year. Today, OPEC ministers in Vienna will open a new General Secretariat, five decades after the establishment of the organization, one that has changed and become a…
L’India cerca la cooperazione dell’Arabia Saudita in Afghanistan e in Pakistan
Published: 05/03/201005/03/2010
Original Version: Seeking Saudi cooperation on Afghanistan and Pakistan
La prima visita di un primo ministro indiano in Arabia Saudita dopo quasi trent’anni segna una nuova tappa nei tentativi delle potenze regionali di adeguare le proprie strategie…
I legami sauditi con i Talebani possono aiutare a stabilizzare l’Afghanistan?
Published: 26/02/201026/02/2010
Original Version: Can Saudi ties with the Taliban help stabilize Afghanistan?
La mediazione saudita che dovrebbe facilitare il dialogo con i Talebani in Afghanistan e riconciliarli con il governo Karzai va probabilmente incontro a numerose difficoltà, a…
Can Saudi Mediation Really Help in Afghanistan?
Published: 15/02/2010Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be heading to Saudi Arabia this week. The meeting in Riyadh is likely to focus on Iran, Iraq and the Arab-Israeli conflict, but it cannot be ruled out that some of the discussion will…
The 30th GCC Summit
Published: 19/12/2009The Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] was established in May 1981 to serve as an organization for the six Arab Gulf states, in their capacity as states that share political, economic, and social characteristics. More importantly, the GCC was established to…
The Copenhagen Summit: Balanced Measures are Needed
Published: 10/12/2009Climate change and global warming are certainly dangerous for the peoples of the planet, and they should be the central concern of all leaders attending the Copenhagen Summit, which will run until the 18th of the month. However, the measures…
Hajj: il pellegrinaggio alla Mecca, fra religione e politica
Published: 02/12/2009
Si è da poco concluso il rito del hajj, il pellegrinaggio alla Mecca, che ogni musulmano fisicamente abile e non indigente deve compiere almeno una volta nella vita.
Malgrado i timori della vigilia, non vi sono stati incidenti legati…
Il contrastato rapporto fra religione e politica nella stagione del pellegrinaggio
Published: 02/12/200925/11/2009
Original Version: التجاذب والتنافر بين الدين والسياسة في موسم الحج
Sebbene la logica vorrebbe che le pratiche religiose fossero fra le attività umane meno soggette ai contrasti ed alle polemiche, le dispute che circondano gli atti di…
Megaprogetti per migliorare le infrastrutture della Mecca
Published: 02/12/200925/11/2009
Original Version: Improving Mecca’s infrastructure
Ogni anno, milioni di musulmani si recano nella Città Santa dell’Arabia Saudita, la Mecca, per effettuare il pellegrinaggio (Hajj). La Grande Moschea della città è invasa dai pellegrini, e molti altri reclamano…
Egitto-Algeria: come il calcio è diventato politica
Published: 28/11/200928/11/2009
Original Version: How soccer became political
La bufera politica seguita alla partita di qualificazione per i mondiali fra Egitto e Algeria ricopre ormai da giorni un ruolo da protagonista sulle pagine di tutti i giornali arabi. La velocità…
Algeria and Egypt – How soccer became political
Published: 26/11/2009When it comes to soccer, the Arabs are probably as fanatical as say the English, Brazilians or Koreans. Or maybe not! The sad events surrounding the qualifying World Cup match between Egypt and Algeria, which was held in Sudan, have…
La crisi yemenita e il nuovo scontro settario irano-saudita
Published: 18/11/2009
Diversi analisti, ormai da mesi, stanno lanciando l’allarme sul preoccupante deterioramento della situazione yemenita, nel relativo disinteresse della stampa internazionale. L’unità stessa del paese è minacciata su due fronti: a nord dalla guerra civile con i ribelli Houthi –…
L’escalation irano-saudita e il suo afflato settario
Published: 18/11/200910/11/2009
Original Version: حول التصعيد السعودي الإيراني ونكهته المذهبية
Le dichiarazioni e le reciproche accuse scambiate ultimamente fra l’Iran e l’Arabia Saudita preannunciano una nuova fase di crisi conclamata fra i due paesi, i cui rapporti non sono…
The hidden war: the regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia
Published: 18/11/200911/11/2009 – Saudi Arabia has traditionally opted for a calculated, non- confrontational approach to counter Iran’s ascendancy as a key regional power player. Parallel to this quietest approach, however, it launched what one Saudi observer described as “a hidden war”…
Saudi Arabia and Mottaki’s “Yemeni Initiative”
Published: 18/11/200912/11/2009 - For Tehran to consciously consider Yemen’s security to be an Iranian, or an Iranian and Arab Gulf- issue, this inevitably leads to the following question: if Iran is acting now as if the issues of Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon and…
The Saudi-Iranian Neo Cold War (video)
Published: 13/11/200913/11/2009 – Saudi Arabia uses fighter jets against Yemeni Houthi rebels. Both Yemen & Saudi Arabia accuse Iran of arming the rebels. Why did Arab satellites carriers drop Iranian Al Alam TV? And will the war of proxies lead to a confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran ? (Link TV)
Iran warns against Yemen meddling (video)
Published: 11/11/200911/11/2009 – Iran’s foreign minister has sharply warned Yemen’s neighbours to stay out of the country’s internal affairs as the fighting between Yemeni rebels and Saudi forces intensifies.
But Saudi Arabia says its military offensive will continue until the Houthi rebels withdraw from the two countries’ border.
L’antagonismo fra Iran e Arabia Saudita raggiunge il punto di ebollizione
Published: 26/10/200926/10/2009
Original Version: Saudi-Iranian hostility hits boiling point
L’attentato che domenica 18 ottobre ha ucciso diversi alti ufficiali della Guardia Rivoluzionaria iraniana nella regione sud-orientale del Sistan_Baluchistan è stato rivendicato da Jundallah, un gruppo sunnita attivo nella regione. Teheran ha…
Saudi-Iranian hostility hits boiling point
Published: 23/10/2009Conventional wisdom suggests that the terrorist strike by Jundallah in southeastern Iran on Sunday might have had the backing of the United States or Britain. But Jundallah today holds “fatal” attraction for a number of foreign powers that are interested…
Are the Huthis a Yemen or Saudi Problem?
Published: 22/10/2009
The Al-Qaeda organization was viewed in the beginning as a problem that concerned the Americans. Nine years ago when Osama Bin Laden and his sons started their activities in Africa and in the Arab region, many people insisted that…
Il disgelo fra la Siria e l’Arabia Saudita
Published: 14/10/2009
La visita ufficiale compiuta la scorsa settimana dal re saudita Abdullah a Damasco ha sancito al più alto livello il disgelo fra la Siria e l’Arabia Saudita, a coronamento di un lungo percorso di riavvicinamento cominciato con il vertice…
La Siria e l’Arabia Saudita tracciano un percorso di pace
Published: 14/10/200908/10/2009
Original Version: Syria, Saudi Arabia plot peace path
La visita del re saudita Abdullah in Siria, la prima da quando è salito al trono nel 2005, è stata salutata dagli osservatori mediorientali come storica e pionieristica.
Abdullah,…
La pace senza prospettive di Obama e il vertice di Damasco
Published: 14/10/200910/10/2009
Original version: سلام أوباما الخاسر وقمّة دمشق
Si è conclusa la visita ufficiale di due giorni compiuta dal re saudita Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz a Damasco, durante la quale egli ha avuto colloqui a tutto campo a…
Concordia fra Damasco e Riyadh
Published: 14/10/200910/10/2009
Original Version: تلازم بين دمشق والرياض
Mercoledì scorso la capitale siriana Damasco ha assistito all’importante visita del re saudita Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz che aveva lo scopo di cancellare definitivamente le residue tracce della freddezza che aveva…
Restoring the Warmth of Saudi-Syrian Ties
Published: 14/10/200909/10/2009 – As part of the important news of the inauguration of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology [KAUST], the arrival of the Syrian President Bashar al Assad [to Saudi Arabia for the celebrations] was greeted with acclaim…
The Damascus Summit and the Course of Constants
Published: 14/10/200909/10/2009 – When US President Barack Obama fails to force Israel to freeze the settlement activities in the West Bank, this does not change the picture in a way that makes us expect the White House to be able to…
Kingdom, Syria call for a unity govt in Lebanon
Published: 14/10/200909/10/2009 – RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and Syria called Thursday for the formation of a national unity government in Lebanon. They also backed the Yemeni government in its ongoing efforts to reinforce peace and stability across the country.
“With regard to…
The Regional Moment and the Return of Tripartite Coordination
Published: 06/10/2009There is growing optimism about the improvement in inter-Arab relations, as a result of the initiative by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to participate in the opening of King Abdullah University in Jeddah last week, and his meeting with the King…
Gli insediamenti e il fallimento della “missione Mitchell”
Published: 30/09/200923/09/2009
Original Version: Why Mitchell mission failed
Insultante, scandaloso e risibile. E’ così che bisognerebbe descrivere il “pasticcio” della missione statunitense di George Mitchell in Medio Oriente, il cui tentativo di mutare la posizione di Israele sugli…
Al-Qaeda in Arabia Saudita: cosa c’è dietro l’adozione della tattica degli “omicidi mirati”?
Published: 15/09/200915/09/2009
Original Version: القاعدة في السعودية: ماذا وراء تبني “تكتيك الاغتيال”؟
Malgrado il recente attentato ai danni del principe saudita Mohammed bin Nayef, non ci si aspetta che i salafiti jihadisti entreranno in uno scontro diretto con le autorità saudite,…
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