Syria Sans Assad

Less than a year ago, when the first tremulous shoots of the Arab Spring were pushing through North African clay, practically every political analyst and commentator agreed that whatever was growing in Tunisia and Egypt would not—could not—take root in Syria. Political society was too closed, they said, and President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime would be sheltered from the fervour of regional popular protests by a robust authoritarian system. Nevertheless, today the widely held view is ...

Read more »

Taking Stock of Conditions: Prince Turki Al-Faisal

Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, updated the frame of reference for understanding the challenges, opportunities and conditions Saudi Arabia confronts in a speech hosted by the Washington, D.C. World Affairs Council yesterday. The former ambassador to the United States and chief of Saudi Arabia’s General Intelligence Directorate, built upon a tour d’horizon construct, a 360 degree assessment of the “weather” facing the...

Read more »