The American magazine The Atlantic runs two opposing commentaries from its foreign affairs editors looking at the plot. One finds it to be so strange that it cannot be true; the other, that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. I find that both pieces have some highly peculiar analysis of the region and relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, but differing opinions are fine…
Would Iran Really Want to Blow Up
the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S.?
Max FisherIt’s entirely possible that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement today is exactly what it looks like: the U.S. discovery and foiling of a plot by Iranian government agents to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. in a bomb attack, possibly in Washington, DC. Iran has a record sponsoring terrorism, and Iran-Saudi competition can sometimes look like a Cold War of the Middle East. But, for all the plausibility that Iran might be willing to blow up a Saudi ambassador, it’s not at all apparent what they would gain from it. Iran has never been shy about sponsoring terrorism, but only when it was within their interests, or at least their perceived interests. It’s hard to see how they could have possibly decided on a plot like the one that Holder claimed today.
What would it really mean for Iran if the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. were killed in a terrorist attack in Washington? The U.S.-Saudi relationship has been bad and getting worse since the start of the Arab Spring, with the Saudi monarchy working increasingly against the democratic movements that the U.S. supports. A senior member of the royal family even threatened to cut off the close U.S.-Saudi relationship if Obama opposed the Palestinian statehood bid, which he did. If the U.S. and Saudi Arabia really broke off their seven-decade, oil-soaked romance, it would be terrific news for Iran. Saudi Arabia depends on the U.S. selling it arms, helping it with intelligence, and overlooking its domestic and regional (see: Bahrain) abuses.
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Iran’s Logic in Assassinating a Saudi Ambassador?
Steve ClemonsMy colleague at The Atlantic Max Fisher has written a thoughtful essay questioning why Iran would consider assassinating Saudi Ambassador to the US Adel Al-Jubeir on US soil when, as he argues, it would re-energize a weakening US-Saudi alliance, animate weak Arab states in the region to more strongly oppose Iran’s pretensions as a regional hegemon, and open Iran to the possibility of full frontal attack from the US, Saudi Arabia and potentially other allies.
Fisher is careful to point out that Attorney General Eric Holder’s action against alleged agents of Iran may prove to be true — but the story’s weird points — like the recklessness of wiring funds cross border into a US bank, talking about the plot on cell phones, and working through a Mexican drug cartel raise red flags about the solvency of the Justice Department’s case. It’s just hard for some to believe that Iranian agents would operate so unprofessionally or trigger events that could seriously harm Iran’s regional and global position rather than enhance it.
A couple of quick reactions.
To measure “stupid” in the covert intel business and to give Iran a proper foil, folks should re-read the last couple of chapters of James Risen’s excellent book State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration. Risen, despite revealing the details of the Bush administration’s authorization to intelligence agencies to spy en masse on the communications of US citizens then shares, first, a case in which the US bungled a covert attempt to get the Iranians to absorb a mis-design embedded in nuclear warhead blueprints that the US was hoping to get Iran to believe were real — and second, the accidental machine readable disclosure of all of America’s intelligence network operatives inside Iran. Of course, the Iranians quickly “rolled up” that entire US-supporting intelligence network. Talk about movies.
But on the more earnest side of the question, let me suggest to Max Fisher that Iran’s “isolation” in the region is more a figment of America’s hopes than is actually real. When I was recently in Kabul, there was quite a bit of discussion about Iran’s rising influence not only in Western Afghanistan but throughout the country. We heard about cases in which Herat engineers who would attempt to manage the waterflow from Afghanistan to Iran would be assassinated — until the parties on either side of the boundary could come to terms. According to both Karzai adherents and also a former Taliban commander we met with, Iran’s agents are present in Afghanistan and are increasingly influential. The same is true in Iraq — and some would argue that many of the Muslim Brotherhood networks have been financed by Iran over the years and are a key part of the Arab spring and tide of change in the region.
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With the weekend coming to a close, Saudi media are responding to the assassination plot through editorials. It’s not quite pitchforks and torches, but their condemnation is clear. They note that the story is bizarre, but also note that strangeness does not exclude factuality. The Saudi government is certainly accepting the allegations of the plot as true.
Arab News:
All Arab and Muslim countries must condemn such brazen terrorist attempt to kill Al-Jubeir
There will be many who are loathe to believe the US’ story of an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington, Adel Al-Jubeir. They question the motives, the evidence and the timing.
They doubt that Iran would want to take such a regionally explosive step. They see an agenda behind the story, perhaps an American plot to push Saudi Arabia and other states into openly opposing Iran and imposing sanctions on it. They ask: “Why now?,” suspecting the allegation may be a pretext to attack Iran. They point out that the story, involving a petty crook with a police record, a Mexican drugs cartel, a double agent and the blowing up of a Washington restaurant, seems straight out of Hollywood movie. They ask who was actually directing the plot. Was the unnamed double agent following it or pushing it at Washington’s behest?
They point, too, to previous Washington allegations that were false such the 1998 bombing of a factory in Khartoum which Washington said was being used by Al-Qaeda to manufacture chemical weapons but turned out to be involved in nothing more deadly than aspirin. Or, most notoriously, Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction.”
Clearly, probing questions need to be asked. But the skeptics should not allow their understandable suspicion of American statements as reason to automatically disbelieve everything Washington says. There is no place for a knee-jerk reaction. These allegations are extremely serious and cannot be dismissed straightway as a lie.
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Saudi Gazette:
Assassination plot shows Iran’s insidious character
Iran’s current regime is proving everyday that it is a rogue government which cares little for international charters and norms and does not respect countries, particularly its neighbors. This explains why the world and international organizations often criticize it for its bizarre attitude.
The recent report of a documented plot by the rogue regime to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Washington Adel Al-Jubeir demonstrated the disrespect the regime has for its neighbors. In particular, it displayed Iran’s hatred for the Kingdom.
The plot, revealed by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is conclusive evidence of the Iranian regime’s dislike for the important and credible role being played by the Kingdom as a peace-loving country that follows an intelligent and respectable policy in the regional and international arena.
Plotting against another country and even individuals is not strange in Iranian political culture. Iran tried to destabilize Bahrain at the time when it was rocked by political unrest.
Thus, it is not expected to stop plotting against Arab and Islamic societies for no reason at all but to satisfy its insidious motives. It will not give up its vicious efforts to destabilize its neighbors. At Al-Awamaya village in Al-Qatif it sent agents to instigate some naive residents to take part in a riot.
The foiled attempt to assassinate Al-Jubeir is just another of Iran’s schemes to create political chaos in the Kingdom. The failed assassination attempt is a conspiracy that shows the Iranian regime’s character which manifest itselt to the whole world as a notorious trouble-maker.
Asharq Alawsat runs a story from its correspondent traveling with the Saudi Foreign Minister, Saud Al-Faisal. Unlike his brother Turki, who no longer holds a foreign affairs or security position within the government, Saud Al-Faisal’s comments can be taken as official policy. And that policy? ‘Wait and See’, but also ‘Measured Response.’
We will not bow to pressure… and will hold Iran accountable
for any action against us – Saudi FM
Bouthaina Abdul RahmanVienna, Asharq Al-Awsat – Speaking to reporters in Vienna on Thursday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal stressed that his country will “hold Iran accountable for any action taken against us.” He described the alleged Iranian-backed plot to assassinate Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, as being “villainous”, and accused Tehran of seeking to extend its influence abroad through “murder and mayhem.” The Saudi Foreign Minister stressed that Riyadh “will not bow to such pressure” and said that his country will take a “measured response” to the purported Iranian assassination attempt.
Speaking during a press conference following the inauguration of the International King Abdullah Center for Dialogue in Vienna, the Saudi Foreign Minister stressed that “any action taken against us will be met with a measured response” adding that “this is not the first time that Iran has been suspected of carrying out similar operations [as the assassination plot].” He also denounced Tehran’s attempts to interfere in Arab affairs.
When asked what response Saudi Arabia will take against Iran, Prince Saud al-Faisal answered “we have to wait and see.”
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Saudi Gazette also runs a Reuters piece in its Opinion section that outlines options under international law that could come into play. The article notes that an attempted assassination violates the 1973 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents [7-page PDF]. The US, Saudi Arabia, and Iran are all signatories to the Convention and are all equally bound by it. The article explores the legal recourse the US or Saudi Arabia could seek were they to choose to do so.
The alleged assassination plot against the Saudi ambassador to the US and Saudi and Israeli embassies is a bizarre one. It’s so bizarre that many question whether or not it’s a confection of the US government. The US government, according to this piece from The Washington Post, thought it very strange itself. Following the evidence, though, it concluded that the plot was real, that it went back to elements of the Iranian government, and that it marks a dangerous escalation in US-Iranian enmity.
Assassination plot was so clumsy, officials
at first doubted Iran’s role
Joby Warrick and Thomas ErdbrinkThe straight-out-of-pulp-fiction plot by alleged Iranian operatives to assassinate a Saudi diplomat in Washington was so badly bungled that investigators initially were skeptical that Iran’s government was behind it, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Officials laying out the details of the case owned up to their early doubts about an Iranian role as they sought to counter skepticism and confusion about the unusual scheme — one that happens to carry far-reaching international consequences.
Less than 24 hours after disclosing the disruption of the alleged plot, the Obama administration spent much of Wednesday outlining the evidence, not only to journalists but also to international allies and members of Congress. In briefings and phone calls, U.S. officials sought to explain how Iran’s vaunted Quds Force allegedly ended up enlisting a used-car salesman and a Mexican drug gang in a plan to kill Saudi Arabia’s U.S. ambassador and blow up embassies in Washington and Buenos Aires.
Western diplomats who were privately briefed by U.S. officials at U.N. headquarters in New York said the Americans expressed concern that the plot’s cartoonish quality would invite suspicions and conspiracy theories. “Everyone was surprised by the amateurishness of the plotters,” said one U.N. Security Council diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity under diplomatic protocol.
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Some, including Juan Cole, find the incident too strange to believe. In his post about it, he thinks the alleged instigator, Mansour Arbabsiar too incompetent – perhaps crazy, perhaps a drunk – to have conceived of such a plot. Interesting argument, but flawed, I think. Cole, for example, thinks that Arbabisiar was wealthy because he had ‘$2 million in Iran.’ Well, Arbabsiar had real estate in Iran that was worth $2 million. That’s not at all the same as having $2 million in liquid assets. Nor does the supposition that Arbabsiar was crazy preclude the possibility that he actually did come up with a plan for assassination, harebrained as it was. Cole’s argument, essentially, is that he doesn’t trust the US government. That’s fine, I guess, but it’s not an argument with any substance; it’s purely emotive.
Reporting on Arbabsiar, The Washington Post takes a look into his personal life. What comes through is a very scattered personality, not particularly competent in business or his personal life. Again, this doesn’t preclude his coming up with a scattered plot and trying to make it work.
Mansour Arbabsiar recalled as upbeat about finances
during summer encounter
Peter Finn and and Julie TateCORPUS CHRISTI, Tex. — When Mansour Arbabsiar visited an old friend this August in Sanandaj, the capital of Iran’s Kurdistan province, the accused conspirator in the alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador was a picture of optimism.
“I’m going to make good money,” Arbabsiar told Tom Hosseini, a store owner in Corpus Christi, who has know Arbabsiar since the late 1970s, when both came to the United States as students. Arbabsiar, who had fistfuls of crisp new $100 bills, asked Hosseini to clear a couple of debts for him on Hosseini’s return to the United States.
Hosseini said in an interview Wednesday that he pressed Arbabsiar about his new business a couple of times but dropped the matter when it became clear that Arbabsiar wouldn’t talk about it.
Hosseini wonders whether Arbabsiar wasn’t referring to the alleged $1.5 million plot to hire Mexican gangsters to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States. And he wonders how anyone — but most especially an elite military organization such as Iran’s Quds force — would get involved with Arbabsiar in the first place.
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Did Arbabsiar plot to assassinate the ambassador? I don’t know. I know what the criminal complaint says and what it says is entirely plausible to my eyes. ‘Plausible’, though, is not ‘proved’. There’s a lot of work to be done before anything is proved to a legal standard. That Arbabsiar has admitted to the major elements of the charged crime, though, does not support the idea that there’s nothing here.
Retired Commodore of the Royal Saudi Navy Abdulateef Al-Mulhim has become my favorite commentator at Arab News. He brings a fresh and important point of view to the paper and I always find him worth reading.
Today, he notes – with a massive understatement – that Arabs have not been very good with public relations. More than simple failures to get a message across, PR efforts end up being counter productive, damaging relations further than if no effort had been made at all. Saudis are not immune to this weakness, though they’ve learned to do better since 9/11.
He writes to commend a new film on the history of Saudi Arabia, a film that simply tells the story without burdening it with ‘self-evident’ and self-important ‘facts’ that are not pertinent to the message being sent. The film, ‘Arabia’, appears to be an interesting one. Sadly, this PR step, meritorious as it may be, is self-limiting in its success: It’s an IMAX presentation. IMAX is a special film format that offers excellent visuals. But there are fewer than 600 IMAX theaters in the world. Unless and until the film is ‘down-converted’ to a more general format, not many people are going to be able to see it. Here, I think, the technology serves to trip up the message. Down-converting isn’t a difficult technological hurdle, but it really does need to be done if this film is to serve its purpose.
‘Arabia’ and the other side of Saudi Arabia
ABDULATEEF AL-MULHIMIn the Arab world, the science of public relations is not taken seriously.
And when something that has a negative effect on a country in the Arab world takes place, then you would only hear official versions of the event. The audiences in the West don’t like and don’t want to hear the official side of the story. The Arab world lost a lot of battles in the United Nations because we didn’t know how to talk to the outside world. There are many cases in which the Arab elite didn’t know how to talk to their own people. So, if their own people have no trust or no interest to listen to what the Arab elite would say, then would you expect the outside world to listen to them.
The Arab world always resorts to official statements issued by embassies. And there is no attention to what a simple Arab man or woman can do. For example, a lot of people didn’t know who this Yemeni woman (Tawakkul Karman) was, until she was recognized by the Nobel Peace Committee. Also, the Egyptian Nobel Prize winner Ahmed Zuwail was an unknown figure in Egypt, until the Americans and the Scandinavians told his countrymen and the whole Arab world about what a genius this man is. The Arab world fails to show its brighter side. The reason for that is we appoint people based on who they know, not what they know.
After Sept. 11, 2001, Saudi Arabia found itself caught in rough seas of international media. News around the world was all focused on us and we were not prepared for this amount of media attack. We, the Saudis lacked the official and private public relations. I am not talking about good public relations that make black white or vice versa. I am talking about things that can be explained. We saw Saudi Arabia pay millions of dollars to public relations companies. I knew from the start that they would do more damage than repair. Others will judge you based on what you do that will help others, not listening to what a media company would say about you. To the surprise of a lot of Saudis, it was the old American pioneers who worked in the Saudi oil fields with Saudi Aramco who did most of the successful public relations for us in the US. They showed the brighter side of Saudi Arabia. The expensive public relations companies couldn’t do it.
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While the media inside Saudi Arabia are still relying on news agency reports on the story of the alleged assassination plot, Asharq Alawsat, based in London, offers the first own-reporting. It includes not only strong Saudi condemnation, but also that of the GCC. Interestingly, it also includes a bit of a walk-back from Pr. Turki Al-Faisal’s comments suggesting direct retaliation against Iran.
The Asharq Alawsat piece usefully reminds of earlier Iranian attacks against Saudi diplomats both within and outside the Middle East, going back to 1989.
I suspect that the lack of Saudi media reaction is due to the fact that it’s the weekend in the Kingdom. Editors and staff are not fully up to speed. I suspect, too, that the editors see this as not an entirely bad thing; the delay gives them a chance to figure out just how their responses should be shaped. We’ll see about this tomorrow.
Saudi Arabia, GCC condemn assassination plot against Al-Jubeir
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- Saudi Arabia and the GCC strongly denounced and condemned the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Kingdom’s Ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir.
In a statement issued yesterday the Saudi government said that it is, “considering the critical procedures and steps that must be taken in this regard to stop these criminal acts and to firmly address any attempts to destabilize the Kingdom, threaten its security and spread sedition among its people”.
In a separate statement, Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), condemned the assassination attempt as a “flagrant and unacceptable violation of all laws, conventions and international norms, seriously harming the relations between the GCC member countries on the one hand and Iran on the other hand.”
… In London, a former Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Prince Turki al-Faisal, said “somebody in Iran will have to pay a price.” The prince’s aides said his remarks were personal views and did not reflect official policy.
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While the Saudi media appears to still be digesting the news of the alleged assassination attempt, the wire services are pushing forward. Reuters carries this story in which the Saudi government ‘vows’ that Iran will not escape its responsibility in the plot.
With King Abdullah going into the hospital soon for back surgery, I find it likely that the Saudi government is going for a more muscular response than it might otherwise have chosen. Then again, as an ambassador is the personal representative of the head of state, this alleged attempt is a pretty personal attack. The Saudis certainly are not viewing the plot as a ‘tail wagging the dog’ story as many American conservatives are doing. These conservatives (and some liberals, too, for that matter) are expressing extreme cynicism about the allegations, seeing them as an effort to deflect American attention from a variety of woes currently facing the US Administration, from the poor economy to congressional investigations into the ‘Operation Fast and Furious‘ project.
Saudi says Iran will “pay the price” for alleged plot
Parisa Hafezi and Jeremy Pelofsky(Reuters) – Saudi Arabia vowed on Wednesday that Iran would “pay the price” for an alleged plot to kill its ambassador in Washington and U.S. officials said there could be a push for a new round of U.N. sanctions.
Tehran angrily rejected the charges laid out by a number of top U.S. officials on Tuesday as “amateurish,” but a threat nevertheless to peace and stability in the Gulf, a region critical to global oil supplies with a number of U.S. military bases.
“The burden of proof is overwhelming… and clearly shows official Iranian responsibility for this. Somebody in Iran will have to pay the price,” senior Saudi prince Turki al-Faisal, a former ambassador to Washington, said in London.
Vice President Joe Biden echoed those hawkish sentiments, telling U.S. network ABC Iran would be held accountable. He said Washington was working for a new round of international sanctions against Iran, warning that “nothing has been taken off the table.”
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UPDATE: I’ll note that former CIA analyst Robert Baer is expressing extreme doubts about this plot. He finds it atypical of Iran. Now, Baer definitely has some experience in the region, though his seriously flawed Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude shows the limits of his analytical skills. It’s not necessary for this plot to have been hatched at the highest level of any branch of the Iranian government. It’s enough that some element of some branch thought it a good idea and was willing to spend serious money to make it happen, as is alleged.
The New York Times reports that the FBI has broken up an Iranian-backed plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador to the US, Adel Al-Jubair, as well as bomb the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, DC and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Iran says it’s all a fabrication. A Saudi official says Saudi-Iranian diplomatic relations are likely to be ruptured. That sounds about right.
This certainly doesn’t do anything to convince that Iran isn’t playing a role in Shi’a-Sunni conflicts in the Gulf States. If Iran were concerned about Arab Shi’ites, it would back off its aggressive tactics against those states instead of giving the governments an easy excuse to avoid necessary reforms.
U.S. Accuses Iranians of Plotting to Kill Saudi Envoy
J. David GoodmanFederal authorities foiled a plot by men linked to the Iranian government to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States and to bomb the embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a news conference on Tuesday.
The men accused of plotting the attacks were Manssor Arbab Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri, according to court documents filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York. The Justice Department said men are originally from Iran.
There is “no basis to believe that any other co-conspirators are present in the U.S.,” Mr. Holder said.
… Abdullah Alshamri, a Saudi official in Riyadh, predicted the disclosure would send Iranian-Saudi relations to “their lowest point yet.” Though no government steps had been taken, he suggested that a diplomatic row was inevitable.
“We’re expecting from our government a serious and tough reaction to give a message to the Iranians that enough is enough,” he said by telephone. “If we keep our diplomatic ties with the Iranians, they will think we are weak and they will keep trying to attack us.”
He said this was only the latest Iranian attempt to attack Saudi diplomats.
“This is their hobby,” he said. “Iran has no respect for international law.”
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The criminal complaint filed by the FBI can be found at this link [21-page PDF].
UPDATE: Saudi media today (10/12/2001) appears to have not had time to assess the story. They are all running international wire service reports or modifications thereof. I expect that there will be substantive commentary put together over the weekend.
TV Channel CNBC carries this story on a recent report by the World Health Organization on air quality. It finds that Saudi Arabia is fifth on the list of the most polluted countries in the world. The story notes Saudi governmental efforts to control pollution.
UAE, Saudi in most polluted nations’ list
CNBCEmerging nations around the world are often heralded for their fast growth but we don’t often hear about the downsides of that rapid development.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently released a report on air quality in countries around the globe, on which we based a list of the ten most polluted countries. Almost all the worst offenders are either major oil and gas producers, or emerging economies that are growing rapidly.
… 5. Saudi Arabia
Pollution level: 143 ug/m3
Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest producer and exporter of petroleum. It also the second largest oil producer and holds one-fifth of the world’s oil reserves.
Over the past few decades, as Saudi Arabia’s oil industry has boomed, environmental pollution along its 2,175-mile coastline has also grown. Oil, power, desalination and other industrial activities near the coast have led to sewage outflows, and oil and chemical plumes. The country also struggles with high levels of vehicle exhausts, which account for 50 percent of hydrocarbon pollution in the air. That, added to its dry desert climate and windstorms has led to widespread outbreaks of respiratory diseases.
The government has stepped up efforts to clean up the country’s air. Earlier this month, French engineering group Alstom announced a multi-million dollar deal to supply machinery to reduce carbon emissions from power plants in Saudi Arabia’s eastern Ras Tanura city. The country also launched its first solar power plant this month, which is expected to save 28,000 barrels of diesel fuel annually.
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The mill of justice grinds slowly in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Gazette reports on the case of a former member of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice who has had his case running for 13 years. He claimed that the head of the Commission’s office in Riyadh had defamed him by accusing him of forging a signature on a letter. Now, the courts have found against the head, sentencing him to 50 lashes. A civil complaint for monetary damages is likely to follow.
The article notes that regulations on the Commission’s internal operations are grossly out of date and are in need of a revamp. Perhaps that can be done as part of the process of reforming the Saudi legal system. The Commission is quasi-governmental; its functions certainly carry legal ramifications. While many outside the Kingdom cannot see the purpose of having religious police, the Commission remains popular with many Saudis who see it as entirely appropriate that someone police the moral behavior of others. Those supporters, however, tend to be less thrilled when the Hai’a come down on their own heads.
Hai’a official gets 50 lashes for lying 13 years ago
RIYADH – After 13 years of legal struggle between a former employee of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Hai’a) and a Hai’a head in Riyadh, the Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the former employee and sentenced the head to 50 lashes for lying to the court.
The incident took place in 1998 when Abdul Rahman Bin Sa’ad, a former Hai’a employee, was accused by the head of the Hai’a in Riyadh of forging his signature.
In 2007, the Bureau of Grievances acquitted Sa’ad of the forgery charge. Sa’ad then filed a case against the Hai’a chief for harming his reputation and for having him dismissed from his job.
The General Court sentenced the accused to 50 lashes for lying. The ruling was endorsed by the Court of Appeal in August. The court, however, did not look into Sa’ad’s demand for compensation and referred it to the Bureau of Grievances, according to a report in Al-Hayat newspaper.
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Also on the Commission front, a woman has filed a complaint against the morals police in Madinah. Saudi Gazette/Okaz report that as the woman was traveling in a taxi with her uncle, Hai’a members stopped the car and dragged her out, roughing her up in the process. Once they realized they had erred in their assumptions, they tried to make the problem go away with minor tokens of contrition. Those were entirely insufficient for the woman, however, and she filed a complaint directly with the Governor of Madinah, who has ordered an investigation.
Emir vows action as woman claims Hai’a abused her in Madina
Khaled Al-JabriMADINA – A Saudi woman has claimed she was violently attacked and interrogated by staff members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Hai’a) here in a case of mistaken identity. She has registered her complaint with the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) branch in Madina.
“I am still shocked at what happened. It happened suddenly and so fast,” M.N. Al-Shammari, the woman, said as she showed the reporter the place of the incident at Sultana Street. She said the Hai’a staffers did not give her any chance to explain.
“I thought they were thieves trying to rob me and my uncle, but later I saw the Hai’a’s emblem on a GMC car,” she said, insisting she would pursue the matter to its logical conclusion, especially after getting an assurance from Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Majed, Emir of Madina region, that he would follow up the issue.
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For such a vast country, Saudi Arabia has amazingly little railway infrastructure. At present, there is a short line running between Riyadh and Dammam via Hofuf (yellow on the map below). This is actually two lines, one for passengers and one for freight. There’s a high speed rail line under construction to link Mecca and Madinah, via Jeddah and Rabigh (red) as well as the North-South line, also under construction, that runs across the north of the country, primarily used for hauling mineral freight between the Gulf, Riyadh, and Jordan (green). Now, Arab News reports, the Cabinet has given the go ahead for the Land Bridge, a line that will link the Red Sea and the Gulf. Essentially, this is a new line connecting Jeddah with Riyadh and Dammam with the industrial city of Jubail (dark blue).
Current and Future Saudi Rail System
Cabinet flags off east-west railway
P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR | ARAB NEWSJEDDAH: The Council of Ministers on Monday took a landmark decision to implement a land bridge project that would link the Kingdom’s east with its west with a railway line, bringing about a dramatic change in the region’s transport system.
The project, which will be financed by the state-owned Public Investment Fund, involves the construction of 950 km of a new line between Riyadh and Jeddah and another 115 km track between Dammam and Jubail and expansion of the current Riyadh-Dammam Railway.
“The Cabinet adopted a number of measures regarding the land bridge project as its implementation will be the same as the North-South Railway and the Haramain High-Speed Railway, with the Public Investment Fund financing the project’s infrastructure,” Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja said while explaining the Cabinet decision.
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After twenty years at the helm of Arab News, Khaled Al-Maeena is stepping down. He is being replaced by Abdulwahab Al-Faiz, the Editor-in-Chief of Al-Eqtisadiah, the economics and business paper, also part of the Saudi Research & Marketing Group. According to the statement carried in Arab News, Al-Maeena will continue to write commentary for the paper.
I enjoyed knowing and working with Khaled. He was generous of his time, both professional and personal, and I always appreciated the effort he would take to explain Saudi Arabia to the plethora of visitors I brought his way. I wish him well.
Al-Faiz new editor in chief of Arab News
ARAB NEWSRIYADH: Abdulwahab Al-Faiz, editor in chief of Al-Eqtisadiah business daily, has been appointed new editor in chief of Arab News. Prince Faisal bin Salman, chairman of Saudi Research & Marketing Group (SRMG), announced the appointment on Saturday.
Prince Faisal also appointed Assistant Editor in Chief of Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic daily Salman bin Yousuf Al-Dossari as the new editor in chief of the Arabic business daily Al-Eqtisadiah.
“The new appointments have been endorsed by the company’s board of trustees,” an official statement from the prince’s office said.
Al-Faiz takes over from Khaled A. Almaeena, who has been editor in chief of Arab News for more than 20 years, the statement said.
Almaeena stepped down at his own request but nonetheless wants to devote time to writing and being a columnist for Arab News and Al-Eqtisadiah, the statement added.
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Two of the things Saudi Arabia has: A huge and growing demand for drinking water and a bountiful supply of radiation from the sun. King Abdullah University for Science & Technology (KAUST) reports that it’s about to put the two together in a commercial scale plant. The plant will use solar energy to desalinate water from the Red Sea. At the same time, the process will also produce cooling as as a useable by-product. The project, as KAUST reports, is the further development of a process first demonstrated at the National University of Singapore.
KAUST solar powered desalination prototype plant
nearing commercial stageKing Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is committed to four globally significant areas of research: energy, food, water, and the environment. In line with this commitment, University scientists are looking to utilize Saudi Arabia’s year-round solar radiation to provide another element essential to all life: potable water.
Professor Kim Choon Ng and his team at the University’s Water Desalination and Reuse Center (WDRC) are working to introduce solar-powered water desalination technology in Saudi Arabia. He is a visiting professor in the WDRC from the National University of Singapore (NUS).
The technology is adapted from his adsorption desalination (AD) project at NUS, where he has a prototype water plant built for cooling applications such as air conditioning.
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