The desire to harness the power of the sun to meet Saudi Arabia’s energy needs is understandable. With intense, year-round solar radiation, as well as a vast expanse of land, the Kingdom is blessed with the physical requirements needed to take advantage of this source of renewable energy. Likewise, the opportunity cost of the countless barrels of oil that are currently used for power generation is a cause for considering alternative energy sources. While the neighboring United Arab Emirates may have taken an early lead in developing a solar generation capacity, Saudi Arabia has launched a variety of reforms and projects that are rapidly establish

Iran’s government and foreign policy have been thrust into turmoil by the sudden resignation from his post and subsequent reinstatement of foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. The unexpected development adds to the increasing difficulty of the Hassan Rouhani administration to avoid slipping into the classic “lame-duck” position of presidential tenures approaching their end. With little over two years remaining of his second and last mandate, Rouhani is increasingly hemmed in by a growing inability to direct the key levers of policy, particularly the economic and foreign-policy components, and has now been hit by a salvo of unexpecte

Saudi Vision 2030 aims to involve the national citizenry as motivated stakeholders in the Kingdom’s transition to a knowledge-based economy. In doing so, it recognizes the need to inculcate up-to-date skills sets among young nationals. Nevertheless, today, the types of knowledge and skills required in the economy are rapidly changing, driven by the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution. “The Future of Jobs Report 2018,” a report published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in September 2018, for instance, underscores the need for a comprehensive workforce strategy to meet the challenges of accelerating change and innovation. Likewise,

In early 2016, an enormous amount of classified documents related to ISIS foreign terrorist fighters were leaked. It was later acquired by a limited number of media and academic institutions, including the International Center for the Study of Extremism at King's College London, where I spent a year and a half working as a visiting research fellow. This report examines deeply these leaked documents, with particular emphasis on citizens and residents came from Saudi Arabia. The English translation of this study is currently not available.

China is a great and ambitious power, despite being plagued with internal problems running the gamut from poverty to racial and sectarian conflicts. Its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which in part strengthens Sino-Arab cooperation on political, economic, and, presumably, cultural issues—even though cooperation on cultural issues is problematic for Arab societies, which tend to be partial to Western languages and cultures—aims to emphasize Beijing’s quest for regional stability, with the aim of accomplishing the country’s global goals. Of course, because the Middle East in general, and the Arab world in particular, occupy such

The 1979 Iranian revolution continues to reverberate throughout the Middle East. While many of the more pronounced Iranian proxies, such as Lebanese Hezbollah and the Houthi militia in Yemen, are the focus of a wide assortment of terror-state explorations, it is important to look at some of the other organizations that Tehran utilizes in pursuit of its regional and international interests. Bahrain, has long been of a strategic interest to the Islamic Republic as it regards it as its Fourteenth Province and a stepping stone to a more direct confrontation with Saudi Arabia. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp prioritizes operations against Bahrain, for

This study aims to describe the status of the renewable energy sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its development stages, by presenting the course of government's development policies in supporting and encouraging the spread of renewable energy uses since previous years until today. The study also tries to monitor the reality of the changes and challenges faced by this sector, and its impact on the restructuring of the sector, and some other relevant entities. In the second part, the study reviews the strategy of strengthening local content and policies to support local industries and export development. The study is also based, in its policies ana

Recently, the armed conflict in Syria has witnessed an increasing political, military, and operational role of two of the conflict’s major stakeholders: Turkey and the United States. The implications of Washington’s and Ankara’s evolving foreign and security policies vis-à-vis Syria showcase how the connotation of foreign interference has become a synonym for the intractable reality on the ground, making inclusive, tangible diplomatic compromise a daunting task. Accordingly, the paper will first outline the growing role of Turkey’s political and military engagement and its ambivalent effect on the inter

Increased tensions between Syrian Kurds and Turkey resulting in cross-border shelling during the month of November underline the complex system of conflict unfolding in northern Syria with the emergence of a Kurdish-dominated federation across the Jazira (Hassaka and Qamishli) and Euphrates (Kobani and Tell Abyad), and encompassing more recently the Deir ez-Zour governorate and Raqqa. Afrin is also theoretically included in the structure but is nonetheless currently under Turkish occupation. In this mosaic, multiple local and regional forces with rivaling interactive agendas are complicating the final phase of the war against the so-called Islamic

This study attempts to shed light on the geopolitical importance of the Red Sea and attempts to find an approach to the definition of the Red Sea and the Maritime Strategy, in addition to highlighting Saudi Arabia's efforts to preserve the security of the Red Sea, which is a common Arab security front. Many Arab states bordering the Red Sea share the collective responsibility to protect it. The Suez Canal and the Bab al-Mandab Strait are the main entrance points of the Red Sea and for the security and navigation of it. The security of the Red Sea is part of the security of the surrounding countries, As well as its importance to the major Power