UK and Saudi: necessary cooperation but to what end?

06

No 10 says that tomorrow's visit by the Saudi crown prince could assist our mutual fight against terrorism and contribute to relieving suffering in Yemen. It would be foolish to cold shoulder Mohammed bin Salman, a young man largely in control in an important Middle Eastern country. However, a year ago the UK Cabinet was divided over unrestricted defence sales to Saudi Arabia, and the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was saying that both Saudi Arabia and Iran were dangerously stirring the

Mar

Saving Syria: Sami’s Peace Plan

12

Sami Khiyami was the Syrian ambassador to the UK until March 2012. As the fighting in his home country raged and his recommendations were ignored, he asked President Assad to allow him to resign his post. After some deliberation Assad reluctantly agreed to what Khiyami wanted, on the understanding that he would not be defecting but simply stepping aside. Since then Sami Khiyami, like many Syrians, has been based in neighbouring Lebanon. For more than a year he has been trying to build support

Sep

Terror puts question mark over UK's relations with Saudi and Qatar

07

The latest terror attack in the UK coinciding with the action of a Saudi-led Arab coalition to snuff out an independent Qatari foreign policy, has once more explicitly joined these two worlds. In the aftermath of Manchester and London,  Saudi Arabia is in the dock as an alleged source of violent extremism on the streets of the UK while in the Middle East, it is Qatar that is accused of backing terrorism. The UK’s Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron argued that

Jun

Saudi Arabia and the Trump Administration: a marriage of mutual needs

17

The Saudis have sent mixed messages in response to nascent Trumpian Middle Eastern policy. Domestic Saudi media likes the tough words toward Iran, whereas externally-based Saudi media has been more sceptical, in effect asking ‘where’s the beef?’ Saudi doublethink has long been a characteristic of the Kingdom’s foreign policy. Vague US talk of Iran being “on notice” is preferable in the Saudis’ backyard than red lines whose enforcement might take the Gulf to war (as opposed to exacerbating

Feb

Cameron's extra-judicial killing of Brits in Syria

19

The legal advice has not been published, only summarised in Parliament on Monday by the UK Prime Minister David Cameron. However it appears that his authorisation of the killing of two British nationals in Syria was legal if he was acting under the Royal Prerogative. When allowing Parliament to decide two years ago whether military action should be taken in Syria, and thus seemingly changing the UK’s unwritten constitution, Cameron said that despite a majority of MPs being against military

Sep