After Asian Cup victory, revelry and gunfire erupt in Baghdad
Reuters Jul 29, 07 3:16 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Iraqis celebrated their national soccer team's triumph in the Asian Cup today in an emotional bout of revelry marked by joyful gunfire in the streets of Baghdad. "We achieved the dream. Allahu Akbar!" a crying fan told Iraqiya state television after Iraq defeated Saudi Arabia 1 to 0 in Jakarta.
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Saudi role in
Iraq complicates
$20B deal
New York Times Jul 28, 07 8:43 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The White House is proposing a $20 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia and five Gulf neighbors, despite increasing dismay over the Saudis' undermining the US-backed Iraqi government, the New York Times reports. The deal, likely to generate resistance in Congress, makes no demands for Saudi cooperation on Iraq; its aim is to counter Iranian power in the region.
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Ally undermining Bush strategy and fledgling government
New York Times Jul 27, 07 6:23 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Saudi Arabia is working at cross purposes with the Bush administration in Iraq by backing Sunni tribes engaged in sectarian violence there, the New York Times reports. King Abdullah has funded the Sunnis and is allowing insurgents to enter the country, US officials charge. Of up to 80 foreign fighters who enter Iraq monthly, they estimate, nearly half come from Saudi Arabia.
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Forget Iran: 45% of foreign fighters are Saudis; half are suicide bombers
Los Angeles Times Jul 15, 07 10:33 AM CDT
(Newser)
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While the US has accused both Syria and Iran of abetting sectarian violence in Iraq, the largest source of foreign insurgents there is Saudi Arabia, the Los Angeles Times reports. Saudi fighters constitute 45% of all foreign militants in Iraq, a US official told the Times . Almost half of them are said to be suicide bombers.
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British arms giant BAE said to have paid 'fees' to Bandar for 10 years
Guardian (UK) Jun 7, 07 6:40 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, the former Saudi ambassador to the US and a close friend of President Bush, allegedly accepted nearly $2 billion from the British arms giant BAE in connection with an $86-billion arms deal. The Guardian claims the payments, made in $60-million increments over 10 years, through a US bank, were sanctioned by the British government.
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$11.6B deal is Gulf region's biggest ever
Bloomberg May 21, 07 1:29 PM CDT
(Newser)
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A Saudi chemical company will take over General Electric's plastics division in a deal worth $11.6 billion, the companies said today. Saudi Basic Industries Corp., or Sabic, beat out Dutch-owned Basell for GE Plastics, which was put up for sale in January. The purchase, the largest ever by a Gulf-based company, is seen as a coup for Sabic.
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US, Iran, Syria to cross paths at Egypt summit
BBC May 3, 07 7:52 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is begging other nations to write off Iraq's debt, saying the country needs reconstruction funds. He spoke today at a regional summit that will feature the first high-level talks between the U.S. and Syria since 2005; prospects of Secretary of State Rice sitting down with her Iranian counterpart are far less certain.
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Bush's Saudi conduit, Prince Bandar, is out
of step with Abdullah
New York Times Apr 29, 07 5:15 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi ambassador and longtime Bush conduit to the Saudi leadersip, may no longer be speaking for his country. The New York Times notes that Bandar's uncle, King Abdullah, has taken several stands recently that surprised the White House by being in direct conflict with assurances given by the Prince.
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BBC Apr 27, 07 3:59 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Saudi police have arrested 172 militants involved in a plot to launch suicide air attacks on oil fields and military bases, officials said this morning. They also seized massive weapon stores and millions in cash. "Almost all the elements for terror attacks were complete except for setting the zero hour for the attacks," an Interior Ministry spokesman told the AP.
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Why gay life flourishes in Saudi Arabia, even though it's a capital crime
Atlantic Monthly Apr 20, 07 1:35 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Sodomy is a capital crime in Saudia Arabia, but that hasn't stopped a gay scene from flourishing there. Quite the contrary, writes Nadya Labi in the Atlantic. Men and women are so zealously separated that homosexual encounters are easier to pull off. One Syrian who moved to Riyadh seven years ago calls it a "gay heaven."
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Poorest will be hit hardest
BBC Apr 6, 07 8:46 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Expect floods, droughts, fires—and resulting starvation, conflict, and mass migration—as climate change becomes more pronounced, says a U.N. report released today. And expect the poor to get hit the hardest, as deserts get drier, deltas flood more often, and small islands are overwhelmed.
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Cites Saudi peace
plan as positive step
Haaretz (Israel) Apr 2, 07 1:06 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Ehud Olmert says he's keen for multilateral talks with Arab leaders, after a Saudi summit last week produced the outlines of a peace plan, Haaretz reports. "The readiness to accept Israel as a fact and to debate the terms of a future solution is a step that I cannot help but appreciate," the PM told a press conference yesterday.
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Latest evidence of breach with ally
New York Times Mar 29, 07 8:53 AM CDT
(Newser)
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King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia fired a warning shot at the Bush administration yesterday, calling Iraq “an illegal foreign occupation” and urging Arab leaders to unite to prevent U.S. domination of the region. The Saudis "are telling the U.S. they need to listen to their allies rather than imposing decisions on them,” Middle East expert Mustapha Hamarneh tells the New York Times.
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Building binge aims to diversify boom-or-bust oil economy
Los Angeles Times Mar 12, 07 1:23 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Saudi Arabia is on a building binge. King Abdullah City—a planned $26.7-billion development where multi-million-dollar yachts will dock in the ports that currently welcome 300,000 Mecca-bound pilgrims—is one of five major “economic cities” the government is building in an attempt to spur private-sector growth and create new industries to stabilize its boom-bust oil economy. "Oil is a volatile commodity and we cannot keep a country hostage to it," says Fawaz Alamy, the country's chief technical negotiator for World Trade Organization accession. Is Saudi Arabia—a.k.a. "the land of the two holy mosques"—on course to become the next Dubai?
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