This week Thomas Lippman added several good resources to the list of reference materials for understanding the nuclear fuel cycle, enrichment and the process of separating plutonium from spent fuel in a posting to the G2K e-list. These processes are increasingly important in discussing defense and security issues in the Gulf — as in the recent SUSRIS interview with Jean Francois Seznec — as the Iranian nuclear enrichment challenge moves forward and countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE move toward nuclear energy for electrical power generation

CNN’s Randi Kaye in a report that was touted as bringing the facts to the case of the Cordoba House, the proposed Islamic Center in lower Manhattan, was discussing sources of finances for the project on the “Anderson Cooper 360″ show on Friday, August 20, 2010. In reviewing prospects for support from overseas she [...]

Letter to New York Mayor Bloomberg – Khashoggi

The other day SUSRIS circulated a copy of Mr. Amr Khashoggi’s open letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg concerning his stand on the Cordoba House, a Muslim community center, in lower Manhattan.  [SUSRIS Item]   The letter appears in today’s edition of Arab News and has attracted some comments from readers interested in the issue.  You [...]

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Kingdom, BlackBerry Avoid Killing the Messenger

The impending shutdown of the BlackBerry messenger service in the Kingdom was averted, according to a Saudi official today, after the Kingdom and Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the popular smartphones reached an agreement.

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Riyadh-Cairo-Damascus Triangle

King Abdullah was on the road for “unity” discussions in several Arab capitals in recent weeks [King Abdullah Travels for Regional Unity Talks] to tackle the challenges facing the Arab countries. Yesterday, Middle East specialist and University of Vermont Professor F. Gregory Gause, discussed the King’s “busy summer vacation” in an essay [Working the Angles] for Foreign Policy’s “Middle East Channel” blog.

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Americans Warned of Threat

U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, the Consulate General in Dhahran and the Consulate General in Jeddah advise American citizens in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that we have received credible information that an unidentified extremist(s) in Saudi Arabia may be planning to attack Westerners working and living in al-Qasim, Saudi Arabia.

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Saudi Arabia and Syria Pledge to Back Lebanon Stability

King Abdullah and President Bashar al-Assad “affirmed that they care about backing concord in Lebanon and support all what contributes to its stability and unity,” according to Reuters, as they met in advance of joint travel to Beirut on Friday. King Abdullah was in Damascus as part of his four-country journey to discuss Lebanon, Arab unity, Middle East peace and Iran. The Saudi monarch is traveling in the region in what the U.S. State Department called his “significant leadership role.”

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Foggy Bottom Take on King Abdullah’s Arab Unity Tour

King Abdullah has played a significant leadership role in the region. So his prospective travel to Syria and to Lebanon is consistent with his search for peace, his promotion of the Arab Peace Initiative, and I would suspect also reflects his concern about other regional security developments, including his concerns – his well-known concerns about Iran. So I would – we certainly value King Abdullah’s leadership in the region and certainly would support his having conversations with a country like Syria and hoping that Syria would respond and play a more constructive role in the region.

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Foot in Mouth Diplomacy?

Syria’s Foreign Ministry pushed back against Washington’s comments about distancing itself from Iran, as Saudi Arabian King Abdullah was on a tour of country’s, including Syria [SUSRISblog, Jul 28], to build Arab unity. “NightWatch,” citing a CBS News report, reported on Damascus’ statement which said Syria and Saudi Arabia are independent states and know best how to handle events in their countries’ region without external interference. It went on to blast the United States which, it asserted, had no duty or right to determine Syria’s relationship with other countries in the region.

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King Abdullah Travels for Regional Unity Talks

Saudi Arabian King Abdullah arrived in Egypt today for the first stop in a four-nation itinerary for talks with regional leaders on challenges facing the Arab world, strengthening Arab unity and getting Middle East peace efforts back on track. He will continue to Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. King Abdullah met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Sharm El-Sheikh for talks, described by Arab News, as including “the Arab-Israeli conflict, the standoff between Iran and the West on Tehran’s nuclear program and efforts to form a unity government in Iraq.”

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Saudi Religious Leaders Issue Tough Terrorism Denunciation

The ruling of the Council of Supreme Ulema on these issues, which apparently received little American media attention apart from SUSRIS, was tipped to Washington Post op-ed columnist David Ignatius by senior U.S. military commanders who, he says, were impressed by the “tough condemnation of terror and the underground network that finances it” in Saudi Arabia.

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Impact of Religious Edict In Context – Lippman

Yesterday’s post about Saudi Arabia’s Senior Ulema Council [“Saudi Religious Leaders Issue Tough Terrorism Denunciation”] inspired these comments from Council on Foreign Relations Adjunct Senior Fellow Thomas Lippman. He is author of “Inside the Mirage: America’s Fragile Partnership with Saudi Arabia,” and the forthcoming, “Saudi Arabia on the Edge: the Perilous Future of an American Ally.”

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Stuggle to Reclaim Islam

Takfir, or the process of being declared apostate among Muslims, is the focus of an international conference being organized in Saudi Arabia, according to Caryle Murphy writing today for GlobalPost.com.  Her report, “Saudi’s struggle to reclaim Islam,” is one in the series “House at war,” which examines Saudi Arabia’s “fight to reclaim Islam from Al [...]

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G-20 Summit in Toronto Set for June 26-27

Group of Twenty member Saudi Arabia will be represented at the June 26-27 Summit in Toronto by King Abdullah according to a statement of the Royal Court, as reported in SUSRIS.com.  The Kingdom is the only Arab and only Middle East country member of the world’s “premier forum for international economic cooperation,” as described in the [...]

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A Girls’ Guide

Today we noticed Vanity Fair, where Dowd serves as a contributor, ran a teaser on the web site for her “A Girls’ Guide to Saudi Arabia,” by Keenan Mayo. The Dowd piece will be in the August VF but the teaser was accompanied by her “vacation slide show.” You can catch the 28 pic portfolio of Ms. Down, her traveling companion and encounters HERE.

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Obama and Abdullah Engaging in Quiet Diplomacy?

In addition to the King Abdullah at the White House articles and videos over on SUSRIS.com following this week’s visit, you should look at yesterday’s Arab News editorial, “Quiet Diplomacy.” It takes note that, as is typical with meetings between American and Saudi officials, not much of consequence was shared with the media.  However, it [...]

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The Education Boom in Saudi Arabia

Improving educational infrastructure is one of Saudi Arabia’s top priorities according to a report today by Oxford Business Group which noted the Kingdom “has reiterated its commitment to education with a large budgetary allocation” and developing avenues for international cooperation. The report, carried by Zawya.com, noted Saudi institutions are beginning to receive international recognition.

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The United States and Saudi Arabia: Old Friends

Earlier this month we talked about the late-June visit of King Abdullah to Washington for meetings with President Obama and American officials ["Obama and Abdullah Engaging in Quiet Diplomacy?"] following the G-20 Summit in Toronto. That post pointed to an Arab News editorial which peered behind the usual post-meeting PR. A postscript to the reporting on the summit appeared in VOAnews this week with “U.S. And Saudi Arabia Old Friends.”

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James Akins, Former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dies at 83

Ambassador James E. Akins, who served as America’s top diplomat in the Kingdom in the 1970s died on July 15.

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