Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Saudi Arabia will not become a democracy soon. But the United States can still engage with the monarchy constructively to make some gains on human rights, defend against authoritarianism and promote regional integration.
Tunisia’s president has just prepared a new constitution, whose principal aim is to enhance his own authority.
The U.S. president will discuss the country with everyone in the region—except Yemenis.
The field of family or “personal status” law is technical in some ways (precise legal provisions for guardianship or for registering divorces, for instance) but the details on such matters pack tremendous punch.
For countries in the Middle East and North Africa, this is something with which they have lived for decades, and their response to the war in Ukraine has generally been to remain neutral and pursue their own interests.
For Iran, the rupture in Western-Russian relations over the Ukraine crisis may mean an opportunity to boost its standing in Eurasia.
Iran, through Hezbollah, has invited itself into Lebanon’s negotiations with Israel over offshore gas fields.
It looks like negotiations with the IMF are progressing. The international community is very worried about the potential for financial collapse in Tunisia and seems willing, for now, to overlook Saied’s authoritarian consolidation and push forward with assistance without political conditionality.
Tunisia is staring down an unprecedented fiscal crisis while a would-be dictator smashes checks and balances.
Few observers expect a new Lebanese government soon, but the prime minister-designate remains hopeful ... publicly.