Because the proposed Israeli embassy move is a potential headache for the palace, it will no doubt be high on the king’s agenda, but U.S. officials should be prepared to offer assurances on other pressing security and economic concerns as well. On January 30, Jordan’s King Abdullah arrives in Washington for meetings with the new… Keep reading →
News that Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud passed away sent oil prices sharply higher on Friday, but analysts dismissed the move as a knee jerk reaction, noting the recent trend remains intact. “It’s not an extraordinary move in oil prices, given the recent volatility and turmoil in the oil markets,” said Michael Levi,… Keep reading →
With King Abdullah in the hospital, the West should be bracing for a stormy succession battle in the House of Saud. The latest news from Saudi Arabia is that 90-year-old King Abdullah is, in the words of the crown prince, “recovering from [his] illness.” That could be about right: The king went into a hospital… Keep reading →
Although Iran’s nuclear potential will likely dominate talks between President Obama and King Abdullah on March 29, Riyadh’s own nuclear plans should also be part of the discussion. A major probable consequence of Iran achieving a nuclear weapons capability is that Saudi Arabia will seek to match it. With President Obama currently rating the chances… Keep reading →
It’s no secret that the rise of distributed generation is fundamentally altering the traditional centralized power generation, transmission and delivery system, but utilities are dealing with these changes in different ways and NRG appears to be embracing new models instead of fighting to preserve the status quo. In this letter originally printed on the company’s… Keep reading →
President Obama’s meeting with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah tomorrow is expected to largely focus on Iran, but other topics are likely to include Egypt, Syria and of course the US-Saudi strategic partnership. US-Saudi relations have been tumultuous of late – making this meeting especially important – due to disagreements over US-Iranian negotiations, the lack of… Keep reading →
