Saudi Arabia
8 briefs
Saudi Arabia Shut Down Project Freedom. Then Reopened the Bases. Neither Act Was What It Looked Like.
Riyadh blocked US forces from using Prince Sultan Air Base for the Hormuz operation, forcing Trump to pause it after 36 hours. The bases reopened days later. What Saudi Arabia demonstrated is that it can veto American military operations from within the alliance.
Saudi Arabia Is Cutting LIV Golf Loose. The Sportswashing Bet Failed.
After three years and billions spent buying defections and legitimacy, Riyadh is walking away from a tour that never became a sport.
UAE Quits OPEC After 60 Years, and Saudi Arabia Has No Answer
Abu Dhabi's defection doesn't change oil prices today, but it signals that the cartel's era of shared discipline is over.
The UAE Walks Out of OPEC
The second-most important oil producer in OPEC just quit. The Iran war made it possible. The math made it inevitable.
OPEC's Loudest Quitter
The UAE just left OPEC after 59 years. Saudi Arabia now runs a cartel where the most capable member is gone and three others are watching to see if they should follow.
The Gulf States Just Watched the US Go to War Next Door. Now They're Reconsidering.
The Iran war exposed a fault line the Gulf states had managed for decades: the US security guarantee requires hosting a war you didn't choose. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are quietly hedging.
Pakistan's Both Sides
Pakistan is hosting US-Iran peace talks while simultaneously sending fighter jets to Saudi Arabia under a mutual defense pact. The two moves are not contradictory. They are Pakistan's bet on being indispensable to everyone.
Saudi Arabia Killed The Line and Built a Data Center Instead
MBS suspended his $500 billion linear city after 1.4% completion, pivoted $23 billion to AI infrastructure, and made Elon Musk's Grok the kingdom's national AI layer. The geopolitical bet underneath this is enormous.