US Opinion and Commentary

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Making Sense of the Mideast Oil Muddle

Posted March 21st, 2016 at 12:37 pm (UTC-4)
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Low oil prices don’t just affect the wealthy sheiks of the Gulf, but also the Kurdish peshmerga fighters operating on the front line against the Islamic State group. With the decline in market value comes a decline in oil exploration, and diminished budgetary expectations in countries like Iraq that are already hanging on by a thread.

Saudi Plays Dangerous Regional Game with Executions

Posted January 4th, 2016 at 12:37 pm (UTC-4)
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By Barbara Slavin Just when a U.S.-led coalition in Iraq appears to be making headway against the group that calls itself the Islamic State (ISIS), Saudi Arabia’s execution of a prominent Saudi Shi’ite cleric threatens to harden the sectarian divide fueling the region’s conflicts. Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who led Saudi Arabia’s Shi’ite minority in protests […]