RYAN BYRNE WRITES – Last week, after more than a year of trading barbs and lawsuits, the world’s preeminent golf circuit, the PGA Tour, announced that it, along with the European-based DP World Tour, would merge with the Saudi-backed LIV Tour. The LIV Tour, then, managed to leverage the enormous coffers…
MOHAMMED ALKANDARI WRITES – We celebrate the Saudi Arabian National team’s biggest upset in World Cup history in its extraordinary 2-1 triumph over Lionel Messi’s Argentina in their first match-day of the World Cup. The world’s bookies had Argentina as heavy favorites, and Saudi Arabia as all but certain losers…
HEATHER CREAMER WRITES – News about Iran sentencing 15,000 protestors to death predictably spread like wildfire across various publications and social media outlets. Posts from celebrities, politicians, publications, and other users condemning the action have been seen by millions. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted about it, before deleting it, furthering…
HEATHER CREAMER WRITES – Documents with highly sensitive intelligence on Iran’s missile program and China were part of materials recovered by the FBI during an August search of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s home in Florida, according to recent reporting from The Washington Post. Citing at least two sources familiar…
ABDULLAH AL HAJERI WRITES – A vibrant society, a thriving economy, and an ambitious nation-these are the three pillars of Saudi Arabia’s mapped-out expansion of its 2030 Vision, a vision increasingly under world scrutiny. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman’s 2030 vision, which includes reduced carbon…
BENJAMIN BARRETT WRITES – On Sept. 13th, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was taken by the Iran morality police, enforcers of traditional Islamic behavior and dress, for incorrectly wearing a head covering. Sadly, Amini died in their custody, leaving many to believe that the morality police were responsible for her death. This…
ARYANA KHALILZADEH WRITES – One year ago, the world watched images of desperate Afghans clinging to taxiing military planes in hopes of fleeing the Taliban regime at Kabul Airport, or seeing hundreds of desperate Afghan citizens pushing the fences on the tarmac to be flown out of the country. That…
BENJAMIN BARRETT WRITES – The FIFA 2022 World Cup hosted by Qatar begins in late November and history is already being made. This year, Asia is boasting a record six teams that have qualified for the tournament: Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, South Korea, and Qatar. Only second to Europe,…
RYAN BYRNE WRITES – The June kick off of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund-backed LIV Golf Tour has torn the golf world apart. Some have derided the tour, and the players who defected to it, for being bankrolled by a nation with a poor human rights record, while others…
ARYANA KHALILZADEH WRITES – The major headline out of Iran the past week was not about the ongoing nuclear talks, but the continued struggle of Iranian women fighting for gender equality. The final match of the World Cup qualification between Iran and Lebanon was held in the holy city of…
AHMAD ALSADHAN WRITES — For a long time, Kuwait’s economy has been dependent on its abundant oil reserves. Once a poor country by the Arabian Gulf, oil has played an integral role in its development. Although this strategy worked during the previous century, is it sustainable? Maybe not. Kuwait’s dependence…
BADER ZAINAL WRITES — On April 20, Farah Hamza Akbar was killed in broad daylight after turning down the marriage proposal of the perpetrator. In another tragic killing, Fatima Al Ajmi was shot dead by her brother, who felt hate and anger because she had married someone outside of their…
FRANCESCO FIMIANI WRITES — I’m deeply honored to have had the opportunity to interview Father George Bet-Rasho of St Mary Assyrian Church of the East in Tarzana, CA. Father George gave me a tour of the Church grounds and he explained each biblical reference painted on the walls of the…
AHMAD ALSADHAN WRITES –Kuwait, a small oil producing country situated in the north of the Arabian Gulf, has been heavily impacted economically by the pandemic. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the worst economic crisis since the 2008 Financial Crisis. While the world almost stopped operating as…
Disclaimer: To protect the privacy of the subjects of this article, the names of the interviewees have been changed. AIDAN SMITH-FAGAN WRITES — “It was a very atypical afternoon soccer game.” Will remembers the hushed tones in the voices of parents on the sidelines. It was unusually quiet and “parents…
TOM PLATE WRITES — The agony in Afghanistan makes for many sorrows. Beyond the scenes of chaos at Kabul airport is the unseen anguish of all those US veterans back home who are dealing with various psychological and physical traumas and are now especially unproud of their country; of families…
