The scaling back of Saudi Arabia’s colossal Line project from a 170 km long linear city to only 2.4 km is a clear warning to the viability of other urban mega-projects in a warming world.
Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meets with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Riyadh on Oct. 15, 2023.
Royal Court of Saudi Arabia/Anadolu via Getty Images
A decade of de-escalation among Gulf states could be at risk if Israel-Hamas violence spills across region. And that could threaten Saudi plans to transform the kingdom.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, pool, File
A scholar who has closely followed reforms that MBS has made to Wahhabism, an austere form of Islam, explains the changes taking place in the Saudi kingdom and their impact.
Saudi Arabia, to the surprise of many, chose China to broker its deal with Iran in March 2023.
Chinese Foreign Ministry/Anadolu Agency via Getty Image
Detente between Tehran and Riyadh will not magically solve all the political and sectarian tensions in the Middle East.
A demonstrator dressed as Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with blood on his hands protests outside the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 8, 2018.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Saudi’s crown prince approved the killing and dismemberment of a Washington Post columnist in 2018, the Biden administration says. So how can the US still see the Saudis as good partners?
Making manoevres: Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman.
Alexey Nikolsky/Sputnik/Kremlin/EPA
A year after an infamous Twitter spat and the gruesome murder of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, the Canada-Saudi relationship appears poised to return to business as usual, if it hasn’t already.
Candles, lit by activists, protesting the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, are placed outside Saudi Arabia’s consulate, in Istanbul.
AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis
Will it embolden or neuter the Arab world’s autocratic regimes?
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seen at the Future Investment Initiative conference, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Oct. 23, 2018.
(AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
The future for Saudi Arabia’s crown prince is uncertain following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, but it would be foolish to expect any successor to offer substantive change.
Trump, like Obama before him, has enjoyed a close relationship with Saudi Arabia’s royal family.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Critics say Trump’s defense of Saudi Arabia in the Khashoggi affair betrays American values. But many presidents have cozied up to dictators, ignoring human rights abuses to serve US interests.
A protest outside Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Istanbul about the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Erdem Sahin/EPA
Saudi Arabia has arrested a number of feminists, while bringing in reforms for women. An expert argues why this goes to show that the kingdom remains adamant on not opening space for more voices.
Ensaf Haidar stands next to a poster of her husband, jailed blogger Raif Badawi, in Montreal in June 2015. The arrest of Badawi’s sister, Samar, is at the centre of a bitter spat between Canada and Saudi Arabia.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson