International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

Trump Visits Arab Kings: Making Deals, Accepting Bribes, Shifting Policy

Dan La Botz — 2025-05-19T08:47:28Z

President Donald Trump visited three of the Persian Gulf monarchies last week, receiving adulation, praising the feudal regimes, making deals, and accepting bribes while also carrying out a significant shift in U.S. Middle East policy. Amidst beautiful palaces and mosques, surrounded by Arabian horses, and watching sword dances, Trump and the monarchs heaped praise on each other.

- IVP604 - May 2025 / United States (USA), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Yemen on the brink

Gilbert Achcar — 2025-03-21T08:08:00Z

Now that Trump has returned to the White House with far greater arrogance than during his first term, the possibility of re-escalating the war in Yemen with direct US involvement has become very real.

- IVP602 - March 2025 / United States (USA), Israel, Saudi Arabia, Yemen

So-called axis of resistance

Joseph Daher — 2025-03-09T08:04:20Z

Joseph Daher discusses regional and multipolar imperialism, the limits of Iranian resistance, and the international path toward Palestinian liberation.

- Features / Palestine, Syria, Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen

Normalizing Bashar al-Assad's Regime

Joseph Daher — 2023-06-07T09:20:36Z

“Saudi Arabia and the other Arab states are dropping their isolation of Assad merely to stabilize the region under their collective authoritarian rule over brutally unequal societies.”

- IV581 - June 2023 / Syria, Saudi Arabia

What is the significance of the Saudi oil decision?

Gilbert Achcar — 2022-10-17T06:57:09Z

“With the OPEC+ announcement, the kingdom is taking a decision that serves the Russian interest par excellence.”

- IV573 - October 2022 / United States (USA), Russia, Saudi Arabia

Biden's Trip to Middle East Angers Progressives, Socialists

Dan La Botz — 2022-07-21T04:31:12Z

“Pres. Joseph Biden's trip to the Middle East last week, where he met with government leaders in Israel and Saudi Arabia, has disturbed many members of his own Democratic party and angered some progressives.”

- IV570 - July 2022 / United States (USA), Israel, Saudi Arabia

Exacerbating the Contradictions

Joseph Daher — 2022-07-14T11:00:21Z

“But more than this, it is necessary to build social movements and encourage self-organization from below. The struggles accumulated by the Resistance Committees and the revolutionary movement in Sudan are one of the best regional experiences of organization from below, and can serve as valuable models.”

- IV570 - July 2022 / United States (USA), MENA (Middle East/North Africa), Russia, Ukraine, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

The Other Regional Counter-Revolution: Iran's Role in the Shifting Political Landscape of the Middle East

Danny Postel — 2021-07-14T07:48:02Z

“The counter-revolution confronting the Middle East today in this period of dramatic upheaval is not headquartered in a single capital. Riyadh and Tehran form what we might think of as a regional counter-revolutionary hydra.”

- IV558 - July 2021 / Syria, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia

Beirut's devastating blast has not shaken the ruling class's grip on Lebanon

Gilbert Achcar — 2020-08-27T09:52:19Z

Many Lebanese people had hoped for a silver lining to this tragedy of an independent government and new elections.

- IV547 - August 2020 / France, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia

A Marxist Guide to Understanding the Gulf States' Political Economy

Adam Hanieh — 2020-08-05T09:36:24Z

Western analysts often regard the Gulf as a strange anomaly among capitalist states. In fact, it has the same underlying dynamics as capitalist countries elsewhere, and it is powerfully shaping the politics of the Middle East.

For an analysis of the state of the Gulf's political economy, Hamza Culin spoke with Adam Hanieh. His most recent book, Money, Markets, and Monarchies, examines how the six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council are shaping the political economy of the wider Middle East. Here, he discusses the specific nature of Gulf capital, its role in regional and global markets, and its future in a post-COVID-19 world.

- IV547 - August 2020 / Marxism, MENA (Middle East/North Africa), Economy, Saudi Arabia