Half-heartedly trumpeted as a potential breakthrough against the insurgency, the Iraqi elections – in the short-term at least – seem to have made the security difficulties even more intractable. Indeed, any wishful thinking by American military and political planners in Iraq and their local allies... MORE

German Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder's visit to Yemen in early March was well timed. Indeed, coinciding with the closing arguments in the New York terror trial of Yemeni cleric Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad and his assistant, Mohammed Yahya Zayed, Schroeder's visit could easily be seen as... MORE

With jihadist violence having made its debut in Qatar, the issue of spreading instability in the Arab Gulf region as a whole, which supplies some 60 percent of oil imports to the United States, is now a growing concern. Already the relationship of Kuwait and... MORE

The Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organisation (MKO) is arguably the most controversial and perplexing topic in terrorism today. It is one of the greatest ironies of the recent Iraq war that an organization created in 1965, in part to combat "American Imperialism" and which after the November 1979... MORE

The al-Qaida terror attacks in Saudi Arabia have thus far spared the country's oil infrastructure, being concentrated in the capital, Riyadh. A bombing in that city on May 12 killed thirty-five people; a second bombing followed on November 8; it killed eighteen people and wounded... MORE

The traveler who walks the streets of Cairo notices the many simple bookstands that proliferate all over the city. However, he may fail to observe the titles that top the hit parade of those numerous Arab streets. There are three: Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf; the... MORE

The tumult caused by the spate of bombings in Saudi Arabia may reflect accurately the turmoil happening in the war of hearts and minds - including those of the terrorists themselves. Although Saudi Arabia has long been under the spotlight for its role in the... MORE

Two parallel, but distinct challenges to central authority underline how Yemen will take some time to shake off its reputation as a cradle of Islamist militancy. One is a resurgence of the rebellion of Shi'ite tribesmen following the cleric Badr al-Din al-Houthi, the second challenge... MORE

The deaths of two suspected al-Qaida militants who blew themselves up in Mecca to avoid arrest has highlighted what the Saudis for years have denied; that al-Qaida has a significant presence in-country, and has even penetrated Islam’s holiest city. As the legitimacy of Saudi rulers... MORE

Perceptions as to the war on terrorism in Saudi Arabia took a knock with the news of a series of armed confrontations during the month of April. The first of these, the bloodiest in a two-year struggle between al-Qaeda and government forces, was a three... MORE