Brandon Friedman

In late March 2015, Jamal al-Khashoggi, a well-connected Saudi journalist, wrote that Saudi Arabia could no longer bear Iran’s policy of regional expansion and “American silence over it.” He said the king had decided that Saudi interests must come first, and Saudi Arabia would act on its own, if necessary. These two points, according to […]

You can’t be all things to all people,” the saying goes. Yet the ruling Al Thani family of Qatar has been actively trying to turn this bit of conventional wisdom on its head over the last 15 years. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, assumed power in a bloodless coup against […]