SJS3- “The Ruba'iyat”

Source- Wehrey, Frederic. “The Saudi Thermidor.” Current History, vol. 113, no. 767, Dec. 2014, pp. 344-49.

Author Credentials- Frederic Wehrey is an American scholar of Middle East per affairs. He also is knowedgable on the Libyan and Gulf politics. Whrey is also a Senior Associate at the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and earned his PhD from Oxford University.

Summary- This journal mainly focuses on the threats of ISIS and al-Queda and also relations between different countries. Saudi Arabia has a fence stretching across its border with multiple layers and the intent to keep out the jihadist threat from al-Queda and ISIS. The United States and Saudi Arabia had a untrusting relationship since the there was talk of a US nuclear deal. However, Saudi Arabia and the United States came back together in September 2014 to perform airs strikes on ISIS. The threat of ISIS was growing stronger throughout 2014 and more antiterrorism groups were forming. Saudi-Iranian relations became stronger because of the threat of ISIS along with the US-Iranian relations. In Egypt, Riyadh was attempting to contain Iran and the Iranian threat. Egypt and the United States relations were shaky and Egypt believed the the US was going to retreat from the deal and stop helping them so Riyadh attempted to forge a more unified Gulf Coast.

Analysis- Overall, I think that the journal was very well written. It included a lot of detail and views on different relations between nations. One thing I think that Wehrey could have done was included more about the views and stands against ISIS.