The Rising Trend of State-Sponsored Assassination Attempts
Bottom Line Up Front As the details continue to emerge, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi appears to be a political assassination, potentially orchestrated by the […] More
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia: U.S. Must Stand Up and Say ‘That’s Wrong’
Cipher Brief CEO & Publisher Suzanne Kelly sat down with Cipher Brief Expert and retired four-star General Stanley McChrystal at the NYSE in New York […] More
Lessons from the Past: MBS, Bring Back America!
As details about the disappearance of Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi are revealed, its worth looking back at the deeper roots of the U.S. – Saudi […] More
Erdogan Positioning Turkey as the Center of the Muslim World
Bottom Line Up Front The disappearance and likely murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul is the latest episode in an on-again, […] More
Saudi Arabia’s Complicated Troubles
Demands for answers about what happened to journalist Jamal Khashoggi are increasing, as the U.S. Administration puts pressure on Saudi Arabia to provide more information. […] More
Implications of a Chinese-Saudi-Pakistani Axis in South Asia
Bottom Line Up Front: Islamabad has invited Saudi Arabia to join China as a partner in Beijing’s extensive infrastructure initiative throughout Pakistan. The China-Pakistan Economic […] More
On Balance, Hezbollah has Benefited from Syrian Conflict
Bottom Line Up Front Hezbollah’s experience in the seven-year long Syrian civil war has been a mixed bag, with both positive developments and negative consequences. […] More
What Awaits Yemen After Hodeida?
In the second part of a Cipher Brief two-part series on the significant implications of the battle for Hodeida, Cipher Brief Expert Norm Roule, who […] More
The Future of Hodeida – Once a Hotbed of Global Espionage – Hangs in the Balance
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned Monday that military action in Yemen will fail. The warning comes as a Saudi-led coalition targeted Houthi rebels aligned with […] More
The Broader Implications of What’s Happening in Yemen
Pro-government forces backed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have launched an assault on rebels holding Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah. Potential humanitarian casualties are […] More
The U.S. Must Leverage Influence to Halt Assault In Yemen
The Arab Coalition’s on-going bloody attack on Yemen’s critical port city of Hodeidah, with Washington’s acquiescence, will only deepen the humanitarian tragedy of the Yemeni […] More
The Saudis Want a Nuclear Program. The Israelis Are Concerned.
In an unexpected turn of events, the sequence of dramatically different policies of the Obama and Trump Administrations has exacerbated the problem of nuclear proliferation […] More
The Saudi Crown Prince’s American Charm Offensive
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has won over the American president. He now has a simple message for the American people: we’re the modern […] More
Looking Ahead on Jerusalem, and Beyond
For this last week of 2017, we asked our experts to look back on key topics for this year, and predict what they see for […] More
Second Houthi Missile Fired at Riyadh: Saudis Stuck in the Middle?
A missile fired by Yemen’s Iranian-supported Houthi rebels and targeting the Saudi capital Riyadh for the second time in seven weeks suggests such an attack […] More
View: Despite Gulf Crisis over Qatar, GCC Pushes Ahead
The failure of the recent Gulf Cooperation Council 2017 summit to resolve the six-month long crisis that pits Qatar against Saudi Arabia, the United Arab […] More
The Iran Conundrum: Serious Containment Versus Stability
President Donald Trump put Iran on notice in October, declaring that the U.S. would counter the regime’s “destabilizing activity.” Iran isn’t listening. Instead, Iran is […] More
The Ticking Time Bomb of Iran’s Proxy Industry
Saudi Arabia’s increasingly assertive moves against Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah have provoked understandable Western concern, particularly over the potential impact of these steps on Lebanon’s […] More