Iran Nuclear Deal

The Observer: Iran deal could shake up Middle East after generations of conflict (Peter Beaumont, November 30)

"The interim deal between six leading world powers and Iran over its nuclear programme, agreed in late-night talks last weekend, could – if it bears fruit in the long term – transform the wider region; it could redraw the map of an area that has been gripped by conflict or the threat of conflict for generations."

• BBC: Iran nuclear deal triggers anxiety for Israel and Gulf (Shashank Joshi, November 25)
• "Since the Iranian revolution of 1979, Israel and the Arab monarchies have viewed Iran as a major threat. Iran has given money and sophisticated missiles to militant groups on Israel's periphery, the most powerful of these being Lebanon's Hezbollah. The Arab monarchies argue that Iran has subverted their Sunni-led and mostly Sunni-majority nations by supporting disaffected Shia communities. "
  
• The Guardian: Where does the Iranian nuclear deal leave Binyamin Netanyahu? (Harriet Sherwood, November 28)
• "Netanyahu has made it his life's mission to protect the Jewish state from potential annihilation by Iran's Islamic regime. He has cast the threat from Tehran in terms of the rise of nazism in the 1930s, and warned against a similar failure to stop it in its tracks by whatever means necessary."
  
• The Guardian: Saudi Arabia irritated by the changing US relationship with Iran (Ian Black, November 28)
• "It takes insights into psychology as well as international relations to get the measure of this Saudi sulk: words like neglect, abandonment and encirclement come up again and again. Obama, said a respected liberal writer, "is selling us cheaply". A well-connected Saudi analyst spoke of the US using allies "like prostitutes" and then dumping them."
  

Israel

• BBC: Rise of the 'secret' ultra-Orthodox Jewish beauty salons (Shira Gemer, November 28)
• "A quiet revolution is taking place. It may look cosmetic but it is changing many women's lives. It is the result of a growing desire among some ultra-Orthodox women to meet the standards of beauty in the secular society that surrounds them - without compromising the religious requirement for modesty."
  

Libya

• Washington Post: A year after Benghazi attack, killings continue (Abigail Hauslohner, November 28)
• "More than a year after the deadly attack on the U.S. mission here, the dilapidated port city that was the birthplace of Libya’s 2011 revolution has become the epicenter of a shadowy campaign of assassinations and bombings. Most of the killings have targeted police and army personnel, along with a handful of judges and a political activist."
  

Syria

• New York Times: Disillusionment grows among Syrian opposition as fighting drags on (Anne Barnard, November 28)
• "A range of Mr. Assad’s opponents, armed and unarmed, inside and outside Syria, tell of a common experience: When protests began, they thought they were witnessing the chance for a new life. They took risks they had never dreamed of taking. They lost jobs, houses, friends and relatives, suffered torture and hunger, saw their neighborhoods destroyed. It was all they could do, yet it was not enough."
  
• LA Times: One Syrian rebel group balks on peace talks, another uncertain (Patrick J. McDonnell, November 26)
• "The Geneva 2 initiative—sponsored by the United States and Russia-- is to mark the first time that opposition representatives have sat down with officials of Assad’s government since the conflict in Syria erupted more than 2-1/2 years ago. The goal is to form a transitional government that could lead to a democratic government in Syria, which has been ruled for four decades by the Assad family and its allies."
  

Saudi Arabia

• BBC: Saudi crackdown on illegal workers sparks heated debate (Ahmed Maher, November 29)
• "On 4 November, the Saudi authorities started rounding up and deporting foreigners who were working illegally in the Gulf kingdom, as part of a campaign to enforce new labour laws. The start of the campaign triggered riots in some of deprived areas of Riyadh, with several Africans reportedly killed in clashes with police."
  

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