Rutgers University
Toby Jones is an associate professor of Middle East History at Rutgers University and and the author of Desert Kingdom: How Oil and Water Forged Modern Saudi Arabia. From 2008-2009, he was a fellow in the Oil Energy and Middle East Program at Princeton University.
Saudi Arabia's weekend purge Crown Prince bin Salman Crown Prince bin Salman is in line to be the next King of Saudi Arabia, and he's tightened his grip on power with a weekend purge of 11 princes, four ministers and tens of former officials. The Royals are being held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh, but all of the officials are being charged with "corruption."…
The Return of the Jihadi and Rethinking Our Failed War on Terror “The US has begun to mobilize a broad coalition of allies behind potential American military action in Syria.” That’s according to today’s New York Times, which reports that the intended target is the ultra-extremist Islamic State, which now holds much of Iraq and an entire province in Syria.
Is the Syrian Crisis about More than Chemical Weapons? In Sweden today, President Obama shifted responsibility for punishing Syria -- "I didn't set a 'red line,' the world set a red line" – and said the credibility of Congress is on the line. As the debate continues in Washington, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has delayed debate on a bipartisan resolution to authorize force against Syria.
Politics, Oil Production and the Price of Gasoline In North Africa and the Middle East, recent disruptions are all about politics and liberation from despotic regimes. For the energy industry and for speculators it's the price of oil by the barrel. The concern of most Americans is the price of gasoline by the gallon, and it's rising fast.
Politics, Oil Production and the Price of Gasoline Moammar Gadhafi may or may not be driven from power. In the meantime, unrest and international sanctions have cut Libya's oil production by half. On Friday, unhappy Saudi Arabians plan a "Day of Rage," threatening instability for the biggest oil supplier of all.
The Price of Gasoline: Good News and Bad Since the high of $147 a barrel in July, the price of oil has dropped like a stone, to about $45 a barrel. The Automobile Association of America says gasoline prices have dropped in the US for the eighty-second day in a row, to an average of $1.70 a gallon.
One year later, the threat of more mudslides still exists One year ago, torrential rain pelted the hillside community of Montecito, which was scorched a month earlier by the Thomas Fire. It unleashed a flow of mud and boulders the size of cars and killed 23 people. We check in with the community one year later and talk about what’s being done to prevent another debris flow.
Politics, the World Order and Donald Trump’s New Year Newly divided government could mean change in this new year… or not. House Democrats don’t always stick together--and presidential campaigns could get in the way. The GOP might not heed Mitt Romney’s call for respectability. Meantime, will America’s allies unify to sustain world order without America’s leadership?