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Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Senior Associate in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of Sectarian Politics in the Gulf: From the Iraq War to the Arab Uprisings
PROFILE
Frederic Wehrey
Guest
FROM Frederic Wehrey
To the Point
Obama in Riyadh amid Increasing US-Saudi Tensions President Obama is in Saudi Arabia today at a tense moment in USSaudi relations. The long-standing alliance is based on oil and security concerns, but now is being frayed by diverging goals in Middle East conflicts, by Obama's recent reference to the Saudis as "free riders" and renewed calls from Congress to allow Americans sue them for 9/11. President Barack Obama is greeted by officials upon his arrival at King Khalid International Airport for a summit meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia April 20, 2016. Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters We hear more about the growing tensions from Ben Hubbard, Middle East correspondent for the New York Times , and Fred Wehrey, senior associate in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace .
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The "Summit" that Won’t Be a Summit after All President Obama called the first ever summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council for this week at Camp David. Last Friday, the White House said the new King of Saudi Arabia would be there, but it turns out, he won't — and other leaders have also declined the invitation. Does the new King of Saudi Arabia really have better things to do than meet the President of the US at Camp David or is Barack Obama being snubbed? That's just one of the questions about this week's meeting with Arab Gulf-state leaders, who want guaranteed US protections against Iran, their Middle-East rival. It's not just the nuclear deal they're worried about, but also the lifting of sanctions restraining Iran's economic power. In the meantime, there's a "feeding frenzy" for conventional weapons — made in the USA.
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Fertile Ground for ISIS in Libya Last weekend, a faction of the Islamic State beheaded a dozen Christians in Libya, and the eyes of the world turned back to a nation in chaos. Egypt responded with airstrikes — designed to punish ISIS and help one of two rival governments trying to take power in Libya. The UN is trying to get the two groups together. The ISIS group may or not provide a common enemy. In 2011, Europe helped end Moammar Gadhafi's brutal dictatorship in Libya as the US famously "led from behind." With the Islamic State now on Europe's doorstep, will the West intervene again?
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Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.