Saudi Arabia Warns of SHIFT away from US over Syria, Iran: Old Paradigm Gone?

Upset at President Barack Obama’s policies on Iran and Syria, members of Saudi Arabia’s ruling family are threatening a rift with the United States that could take the alliance between Washington and the kingdom to its lowest point in years. Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief is vowing that the kingdom will make a “major shift” in relations with the United States to protest perceived American inaction over Syria’s civil war as well as recent U.S. overtures to Iran, a source close to Saudi policy said on Tuesday. Prince Bandar bin Sultan told European diplomats that the United States had failed to act effectively against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was growing closer to Tehran, and had failed to back Saudi support for Bahrain when it crushed an anti-government revolt in 2011, the source said.

A New Kind of War Is Being Legalized

There’s a dark side to the flurry of reports and testimony on drones, helpful as they are in many ways.  When we read that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch oppose drone strikes that violate…

Beijing’s Race to Diversify out of US Treasuries

Beijing’s Race to Diversify out of US Treasuries: New Agreements would Allow Singapore to become “Leading Offshore Trading Centre” for the Chinese Yuan         China is accelerating the role of the Chinese…