James M. Dorsey
ARTICLES BY: James M. Dorsey
Facing a Pandemic of Crises, Few Middle Eastern Leaders Step Up
A second wave of the coronavirus pandemic is raising its ugly head. It is putting Middle Eastern leaders at a crossroads as they struggle to...
UAE-Turkey Rivalry Wreaks Havoc in Libya and Syria
The Saudi-Iranian dispute might dominate headlines, but a similar rivalry between Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is wreaking just as much havoc in...
As Arab States View Trump Administration as Unreliable, Doors Open for Israel
The Firefly, an Israeli-built loitering kamikaze drone, part of the Spike family of missiles that the Jewish state has sold to various European nations, may be...
Staring Into the Abyss of US-China Decoupling
Israel knew the drill even before US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo boarded his flight to Tel Aviv in mid-May, shortly after the death of...
Gulf Security: The Arab Gulf States Have No Good Options
According to one analyst, the US faces a stark choice in the Middle East if it continues its maximum pressure campaign against Iran: confront the Islamic...
Saudi Arabia’s Problems: Coronavirus, the Economy, and Geopolitics
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) may feel the global coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout are the more immediate of his problems as...
Coronavirus Threatens to Drive Wedge Into US-Gulf Relations
The coronavirus crisis is changing the political landscape of the Middle East, as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and militants in countries like Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon...
Turkey’s Erdogan Makes a Risky Regional Power Bid
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s relations with his US and European allies are strained over unilateral Turkish moves in the eastern Mediterranean, Turkey’s acquisition of a Russian...
Saudi Arabia and Iran Both Persecute Religious and Ethnic Minorities
Arch rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran both violate the rights of religious and ethnic minorities. Victimized populations include Uighurs threatened with deportation to China, where...
Iran Looms Large in Central Asia Despite Sanctions and Saudi Financial Muscle
Saudi Arabia may have gotten more than it bargained for when authorities in Khujand, Tajikistan’s second-largest city, ordered that the city’s largest and most popular mosque...
Coronavirus in the Middle East: A Missed Chance for Reform
Iran has become the poster child of what happens when the public distrusts a government that has a track record of being untransparent from the...
The Long-Term Political Fallout of Coronavirus
The coronavirus pandemic, which is by definition egalitarian in the extreme and recognizes no physical or social borders, could cause complete breakdowns in already weak...
Protesters Push Arab Militaries Off Their Pedestal
Long gone are the days when protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square chanted “the military and the people are one.” In 2011, the protesters managed to...
Sports as Another Venue to Whitewash Human Rights Abuses
The responses of sports associations to denunciations of repression in China’s troubled northwestern province of Xinjiang and support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong by soccer...
