I knew Saleh well, having interviewed and met with him several times. He was a professional Machiavelli, fluent in all forms for political maneuvering.
By facilitating a peace agreement and leading the reinvestment and reconstruction in Yemen, Saudi Arabia can turn around a failed state and bolster its standing as a global and regional leader.
Saudi Arabia has historically attempted to influence politics in Beirut.
I champion a real campaign to tackle the rampant corruption that is draining Saudi resources, both financial and human.
In 2003 and again in 2010, I was fired from my job as editor-in-chief of a 'progressive' paper, Al-Watan. During the years in between, I served as media adviser to Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to Britain and then the United States.
I have left my home, my family, and my job, and I am raising my voice. To do otherwise would betray those who languish in prison. I can speak when so many cannot.
I'm worried for a war to break out between Saudi Arabia and Iran, even though I rule it out.
The impulsivity of M. B. S. has been a consistent theme - from the war in Yemen to the wave of arrests of constructive critics, royals, and senior officials accused of corruption.
I began to feel whatever narrow space I had in Saudi Arabia was getting narrower. I thought it would be better to get out and be safe.
I often get attacked in Saudi Arabia, but the critics don't ridicule my ideas. There were about 30 or 40 articles attacking me in the Saudi press. Not a single one debated something I wrote. They just ridiculed me as a person. They see me as a traitor who is writing in the foreign press. But discuss what I am writing? They will not.
I'm not an extremist. And I disagree with Saudis who are calling for regime change and stuff like that.
I really don't like being in jail.
I just want to be a free writer. I think I am serving my country and my people by providing an independent narrative.
The core principle of Wahhabism is anti-diverse.
The government of Dubai, as much as it is a government, it is a corporation.
That is what I want: I want a better Saudi Arabia. I don't see myself as an opposition. I'm not calling for the overthrow of the regime, because I know it's not possible and is too risky, and there is no one to overthrow the regime. I'm just calling for reform of the regime.
The Arab Spring is a true phenomenon. Embrace Arab Spring; embrace the aspiration for freedom of the people of Egypt, Syria, and Yemen.
The Arab world is facing its own version of an Iron Curtain, imposed not by external actors but through domestic forces vying for power.
Osama bin Laden's hijacked planes not only attacked the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They also attacked Islam as a faith. They attacked the values of tolerance and coexistence that Islam preaches.
Saudi Arabia is the mother and father of political Islam.
