Bitter Frenemies

The Not-Quite-Alliance Between Saudi Arabia and Turkey

Meliha Benli Altunisik
Bitter Frenemies
Prince Saud Al Faisal, left, visited Turkey's foreign minister in Ankara in January. (Courtesy Reuters)
Saudi Arabia and Turkey seemed to come together in recent years over trade, energy, Iran, and, most recently, the revolution in Libya. But the two countries' regional goals -- Sunni hegemony in Saudi Arabia's case and region-wide soft power in Turkey's -- differ too much for friendly ties to last long.
Snapshot

What Hollande Does Now

Martin A. Schain
The new French president is going into the June legislative elections with strong, if not overwhelming, advantages.
Snapshot

Dangerous Doses

Tim K. Mackey, Bryan A. Liang, and Thomas T. Kubic
As much as 15 percent of the medicine in circulation around the world is counterfeit. These drugs can be deadly, yet they are freely available online and have even made their way into reputable health clinics.
Capsule Review

Liberal Peace: Selected Essays

G. John Ikenberry
Michael W. Doyle is best known for his seminal essays on democratic peace theory, which have shaped debates about liberalism and war for an entire generation of scholars.
Essay
Quintus Tullius Cicero and James Carville

In 64 BC, the great Roman lawyer and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero ran for consul. His younger brother, Quintus, thought Marcus had a chance -- as long as he ran a good campaign. So Quintus wrote a detailed strategy memo laying out just what Marcus needed to do to win. It’s the best guide to electioneering you’ll ever read, presented here with a commentary by the legendary political consultant James Carville.

Video
Gideon Rose and Micah Zenko

Gideon Rose, editor of Foreign Affairs, discusses "threat hyping" with author Micah Zenko, who argues that the United States is much safer than its politicians and government officials would lead the public to believe.

Snapshot
Anna Husarska

China's Chen Guangchen, the asylum seeker of the moment, is hardly unique. All oppressive regimes generate defectors, but each regime deals with them in its own way.

Snapshot
Yossi Klein Halevi

Israel's new coalition government will strengthen Benjamin Netanyahu's hand on Iran. But it will also force him to address long-standing internal issues, suggesting that Israelis, even as they trust Netanyahu on foreign policy, are no longer willing to defer domestic change.

Snapshot
Patrick Clawson

Sanctions have succeeded in bringing Tehran back to the negotiating table, but they are a tactic, not a strategy. Any long-term policy has to aim for a democratic Iran.

Snapshot
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

If the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago is to be more than an exchange of lofty speeches and question-riddled commitments about the future of Afghanistan, it is time to take a hard look at the promises the United States and others are making -- and whether they are too big to keep.

Discussion

To create a conflict of the magnitude that the author suggests would vastly undermine Pakistan's more liberal leaders.
Submitted by Lawrence T. on May 10, 2012 - 3:29pm