Saudi Women Carve Niche in Medicine

May 7, 2012

In 1975, the only university in the Eastern Province was a small petroleum college. It was located in Dhahran and it is an all-men school.

Any student from the Eastern Province who didn’t attend this petroleum college would have to go to Riyadh to attend the university there — King Saud University. Students in Saudi Arabia were lucky, because they got a free education and monthly stipends. Those who went to Riyadh would use the monthly payments to cover their own personal expenses. The situation for young women was a little harder. Yes, they still got the same free education and monthly payment, but the young Saudi women who wanted to continue their university education in Riyadh would only be able to finish their university degrees if they had relatives or family friends to live with.

Gulf Political Union – Gause Talks with “Iran Primer”

May 2, 2012

This month the leadership of the Gulf Cooperation Council will consider the question of a federation among the six Arab Gulf states — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. They will take up recommendations of a special commission established by the December 2011 GCC Summit in Riyadh.

Is Visiting Jerusalem Recognition of Israel?

1 May 2012

Since 1948 until today, the Arab states have been in a state of war with Israel. There were four major wars (1948-56-67-73) and many more military conflicts. And until 1979, there were no formal relations between any Arab country and Israel.

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Economy Snapshot from Finance Minister Al Assaf

23 April 2012

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Finance Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al Assaf gave his assessment of the Kingdom’s economy in an interview with KippReport yesterday. He talked about the strength of the economy — “performing very well”; and risks ahead for the Saudi economy — “moving in the same direction”, and the global economy — “this is another issue which will take a long time to talk about.” Minister Al Assaf mentioned the industrial sector in particular when asked about areas of the economy where he was enthusiastic.

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Muslims’ Hijrah to Europe

23 April 2012

Just last week, the radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada was arrested in London by British authorities and could be deported to Jordan. But, why is a Muslim cleric fighting deportation from a non-Muslim country to a Muslim country? And why is he preaching against the country that hosted and protected him? If he is considering himself a Muslim cleric, then didn’t he know the meaning of Alhijrah?

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The Legacy of Saudi Aviation: Dhahran Airport, Pan Am and TWA

20 April 2012

Dhahran International Airport, Pan American Airways and Trans World Airlines had a share of the biggest impact and influence on the history of civil aviation in Saudi Arabia and the world. The three wrote the most beautiful history books about civil aviation. But, sadly, the three ended up in the history books and archives of civil aviation.

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The GCC Challenge in Missile Defense

17 April 2012

Two weeks ago U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Saudi Arabia for bilateral talks with King Abdullah and other leaders in the Kingdom. She also participated in the inaugural US-GCC Strategic Cooperation Forum while in Riyadh. Among the short list of topics on Clinton’s agenda for discussion at the forum, during a time of high anxiety over issues like Iran and Syria, was the preparedness of America’s Gulf allies in the area of missile defense. As tensions in the Gulf over Tehran’s nuclear program reach new heights the United States and its Gulf partners are more mindful than ever of the ballistic missile threat posed by Iran.

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The Eastern Province, Land of Opportunities

17 April 2012

Saudi Arabia consists of 13 provinces of which the Eastern Province is the largest in terms of area, with a population of about four million. It covers an area of about 260,000 square miles and is almost as large as the US state of Texas. The capital of the province is Dammam, where the office of governor Prince Mohammad bin Fahd is situated. The young prince was educated in the West and graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), where he majored in economics and political science.

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Social Media, Security and Israel

17 April 2012

We don’t often dip into journals like the Joint Forces Quarterly of the U.S. National Defense University for items to share in SUSRISblog but the April edition of the quarterly brought an interesting article by Brigadier General Naef Bin Ahmed Al-Saud of the Royal Saudi Army. He wrote at length about “The Evolution of Saudi Security and Enforcement Policies on Communication,” in particular about social media. Naef linked these communications as “vital to Saudi policy concerns.. ..both national and internal security, with such policy “being derived to a significant extent from recent external precedents, particularly government actions in the United States and Great Britain, as well as India, Israel, and other countries.” The abstract for General Naef’s JFQ article lays out his thesis and points to irony of the countries that “applauded” social media in disrupting other governments who now have their own internal troubles controlling communications.

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Syrian Spring, Israel’s Easy War

4 April 2012

Syria is a country that gained independence from France on April 17, 1946. Two years later the Syrians were engaged in a war with Israel. And 19 years later a very strategic part of Syria, the Golan Heights, was overtaken by Israel during a five day battle in June of 1967. Syria only won a pride war in 1973 with the Israelis. The Syrians never regained the Golan Heights. In the early 1980s the Syrian Air Force took a very big blow by the Israeli Air Force. Final score was 79 planes lost by Syria and Israel lost only one plane. And it wasn’t the Syrians who shot down the Israeli plane. It was a Palestinian who was carrying a shoulder held missile. In all the wars that Israel had with Syria, Israel used every weapon in its arsenal. In 2011, Israel had the easiest war with Syria, but in this war, Israel didn’t fire one single bullet. The Syrian Army did the job for the Israelis. It is called the Syrian Spring war. It is Damascus versus Damascus. It is a war where even the winner is a loser.

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