On Friday, the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center held a discussion with David Ottaway, senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, with a welcome by Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center, who opened the discussion by describing Ottaway’s new paper and how it relates Saudi Arabia to the Arab Spring.  For full event notes, continue reading. Or, click here ...

Farnaz Fassihi writes in the Wall Street Journal that Iran's support for Syria "has rapidly eroded Tehran's credibility among Arab's" resulting in a "foreign policy dilemma" for Iran.  Fassihi argues that Iran's support for President Bashar al-Assad will further isolate Iran within the region, however, abandoning Assad "will crumble Iran's platform in Syria." Fassihi writes that Iranian officials have taken a "selective approach" to the Arab Spring hailing Egypt's movements as ...

Writing in The Daily Star, Bernard Haykel examines Saudi Arabia's policy of promoting stability in the face of uprisings across the region. Haykel outlines how the Saudi regime has quelled domestic dissent, provided massive subsidies, and used the threat of chaos (as seen in Libya, Syria, and Yemen), to maintain stability. The author also examines how Saudi policy towards Bahrain, Libya, Yemen, and Syria has consistently been driven by the ...

Al-Wefaq, Bahrain's largest Shiite group, reported on Friday that it would boycott the parliamentary elections taking place next month.  Khalil Marzooq, a leader of Al-Wefaq, said at a rally near Bahrain's capital that "if the party participates in the September elections, it will be giving the government a stamp of approval."  He added that the group disagrees with how security forces treated protesters. Anthony Mathew Jacob writes in Tehran Times that ...

Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, wrote a letter to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah today, urging him to withdraw from cabinet consideration the draft Penal Law for Crimes of Terrorism and Its Financing. Roth argues, "the draft law contains numerous flaws that seriously undermine basic human rights and fundamental freedoms in the name of combating terrorism." HRW also attached a memorandum with the letter, identifying the following ways in which the law seriously ...

Amnesty International (AI) reports that the Draft Penal Law for Terrorism Crimes and Financing Terrorism, a new anti-terrorism law in Saudi Arabia, will allow authorities to prosecute peaceful dissent as terrorist crime. The law provides a broad definition of "terrorist crimes," including "endangering…national unity," "halting the basic law or some of its articles," or "harming the reputation of the state or its position." AI Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director Philip Luther argued that the ...

A Saudi Arabian woman was arrested earlier this week in Jeddah for driving during what she said was a medical emergency and will be put on trial.  The unnamed 35-year-old woman was released after her father acted as her "guarantor."  A Saudi daily newspaper, Okaz says that the woman had been suffering from a hemorrhage and did not have access to public transportation or a personal driver to take her ...

Ellen Knickmeyer wrote an article in Foreign Policy about what effects a democratic transition in Yemen would have on Saudi Arabia entitled "Trouble Down South." Knickmeyer gives an account of political struggles within the region including, Yemen since 1978.  In addition, she includes a brief synopsis of the history of Saudi Arabia's relationship with Yemen. Knickmeyer asserted that Saudi Arabia wants a Yemeni government that is strong enough to stop ...

Barbara Surk argues in the Associated Press that the approach of Bahrain's rulers to the National Dialogue depends on "how far Saudi Arabia is willing to allow concessions," since "for the powerful Saudi royal family and its Gulf partners, Bahrain represents a line that cannot be crossed." Marina Ottoway, director of the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, notes that the dialogue is meant to "defuse criticism of the ...

The New York Times describes the "tensions beneath the surface calm of U.A.E. political life," including the opening of a trial earlier this month of five activists. And The Economist writes about how the Arab Spring is making U.A.E. "nervous," citing the growing campaign against even mild dissent. While calls for reform were met with the official announcement of plans to expand the right to vote to all U.A.E. citizens,  the government shows no ...

On Wednesday, the Project on Middle East Democracy hosted a panel discussion on recent developments in Bahrain and the impact on political dynamics in the Gulf region. Stephen McInerney, Executive Director, POMED, moderated the discussion. Panelists included Joe Stork, Deputy Director of Middle East and North Africa Division, Human Rights Watch; Hans Hogrefe, Chief Policy Officer and Washington Director, Physicians for Human Rights; Leslie Campbell, Senior Associate and Regional Director ...

Paul Mutter at The Arabist blog wrote today about the "special relationship" between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia in the context of the Arab Spring. He discussed the history of the U.S. - Saudi relationship, how the uprisings in Bahrain and Yemen have affected the relationship, the threat Iran poses to Saudi interests, the "deafening" silence from the U.S. on Saudi human rights violations, and prospects for the relationship's future.