LATEST
2018-04-19T21:40:29-04002018-04-19T21:24:51-04002018-04-19T21:14:14-04002018-04-19T06:50:31-04002018-04-19T06:47:52-0400

James M. Dorsey

Home
James M. Dorsey

AUTHOR

James M. Dorsey
James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, a syndicated columnist and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer. A veteran, award-winning foreign correspondent whose career focused on ethnic and religious conflict, James focuses at RSIS on political and social change in the Middle East and North Africa, the impact of change in the Middle East and North Africa on Southeast and Central Asia and the nexus of sports, politics and society in the Middle East and North Africa and Asia.

Author's Posts

The Saudi Export of Ultra-conservatism in the Era of MbS – an Update 0
- Commentary
- April 18, 2018
by James M. Dorsey 18/4/2018 Edited remarks at The Middle East and the Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power, Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University and the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC 18-19 April 2018 There has long been the debate about the
READ MORE
Turning Qatar into an Island: Saudi cuts off its nose to spite its face 0
- Commentary
- April 13, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 13/4/2018 There’s a cutting-off-the-nose-to-spite-the face aspect to a Saudi plan to turn Qatar into an island by digging a 60-kilometre ocean channel through the two countries’ land border that would accommodate a nuclear waste heap as well as a military base. If implemented, the channel would signal the kingdom’s belief that
READ MORE
The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of the Politics of Middle Eastern Soccer 0
- Commentary
- April 12, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 12/4/2018 Edited remarks at The Beautiful Game? Identity, Resentment, and Discrimination in Football and Fan Cultures conference, Center for Research on Antisemitism, Berlin, 12-13 April 2018 The virtually continuous role of soccer as a key player in the history and development of the Middle East and North Africa dating
READ MORE
Remembering Syria: Iran struggles with potentially explosive environmental crisis 0
- Commentary
- April 8, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 8.4.2018 Iranian leaders are struggling, three months after anti-government protests swept the Islamic republic, to ensure that environmental issues that helped sparked a popular uprising in Syria in 2011 leading to a brutal civil war don’t threaten the clergy’s grip on power. Like Syria, Iran has been confronting a
READ MORE
Moderating Islam: Saudi Prince Mohammed walks on shaky ground 0
- Commentary
- April 5, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 5/4/2018 Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has dazzled international media and public opinion by lifting some restrictions on women’s rights, holding out hope for the abolishment of others, and a vow to return the kingdom to a vague form of moderate Islam that many believe is defined by
READ MORE
China Moves To Counter Violent And Non-Violent Expressions Of Uighur Identity 0
- Commentary
- April 4, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 3/4/2018 China is moving on multiple fronts to pre-empt in the short-term Uighur foreign fighters fleeing Syria and Iraq from reasserting themselves in Central Asia and longer term prevent the emergence of an ever more vocal Diaspora like what Tibetans have achieved. The multi-pronged Chinese approach involves weaving Afghanistan more
READ MORE
Anticipated harder US policy towards Iran magnifies Iranian Arab protest 0
- Commentary
- March 31, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 31/3/2018 Protests have erupted in Iran’s oil-rich province of Khuzestan barely three months after the Islamic republic was rocked by mass anti-government demonstrations. Sparked by anger at the depiction of the province’s community of Arab descent on an Iranian New Year show about the country’s diversity that was broadcast on
READ MORE

Will the real Pakistan stand up, please?0
- Commentary
- March 29, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 29/3/2018 Two headlines this month beg the question US officials have been grappling with for more than a decade: Will the real Pakistan stand up, please? Pakistan’s The News reported that the government had designated Islamabad as a pilot project to regulate Friday prayer sermons in the city’s
READ MORE
Natural gas: An underrated driver of Saudi hostility towards Iran and Qatar 0
- Commentary
- March 27, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 27/3/2018 Debilitating hostility between Saudi Arabia and Iran is about lots of things, not least who will have the upper hand in a swath of land stretching from Central Asia to the Atlantic coast of Africa. While attention is focused on ensuring that continued containment of Iran ensures that
READ MORE
Saudi Prince Mohammed’s Religious Moderation Unlikely To Change Asian Realities 0
- Commentary
- March 24, 2018
March 24, 2018 James M. Dorsey Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may be seeking to revert his kingdom to an unspecified form of moderate Islam but erasing the impact of 40 years of global funding of ultra-conservative, intolerant strands of the faith is unlikely to be eradicated by decree. Not only because ultra-conservatism has taken root in
READ MORE
Saudi moderation: How far will Crown Prince Mohammed go?0
- Commentary
- March 21, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 21/3/2018 In his effort to improve Saudi Arabia’s badly tarnished image and project the kingdom as embracing an unidentified form of moderate Islam, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has hinted that he envisions a conservative rather than an ultra-conservative society, but not one in which citizens are
READ MORE
Pakistan struggles to get a grip on militancy and ultra-conservatism 2
- Commentary
- March 10, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 10/3/2018 Seventy years after its birth, Pakistan is struggling to get a grip on Sunni Muslim ultra-conservatism and its militant offshoots that were aided and abetted by successive governments as well as Saudi Arabia and at times the United States. The stakes for Pakistan are high as it
READ MORE
Smoking and drinking: Churchill sets an example today’s Western leaders can learn from 0
- Commentary
- March 9, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 9/3/2018 To understand that Western emphasis on human rights is at best a fig leaf to do business with autocrats whose rule is based on repression, contrast Winston Churchill’s encounter with Mohammed bin Salman’s grandfather, King Abdulaziz, with British prime minister Theresa May’s recent talks with the crown prince.
READ MORE
International soccer bodies ignore blatant rule violations in run-up to Egyptian election 0
- Commentary
- March 7, 2018
By James M. Dorsey 7//3/2018 International soccer bodies, in violation of their own bylaws, have ignored the blatant mixing of sports and politics in advance of this month’s Egyptian presidential elections that general-turned-president Abdel Fattah Al Sisi is set to win after ensuring that no credible candidate would challenge him. Despite recently warning
READ MORE

SAJ on Facebook

SAJ Socials

Top Authors

Dr. Adfer Shah

AUTHOR
Garga Chatterjee

CONTRIBUTOR
Muhammad Yunus

CONTRIBUTOR
ANM Muniruzzaman

CONTRIBUTOR
Shabnam Hashmi

CONTRIBUTOR
Mandeep Singh

CONTRIBUTOR
William Milam

AUTHOR
Abira Ashfaq

CONTRIBUTOR

Donate to SAJ

South Asia Journal is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization (EIN/tax ID number: 27-3164547).

Your donations are fully tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law.

Copyright Policy

Copyright © South Asia Journal. All contents distributed in printed form or produced as original work for South Asia Journal are the sole property of South Asia Journal and subject to federal copyright law.

Get Monthly Policy Feed from SAJ

Top

Covering Policy Issues from South Asia

James M. Dorsey

AUTHOR

Author's Posts

SAJ on Facebook

SAJ Socials

Top Authors

AUTHOR

CONTRIBUTOR

CONTRIBUTOR

CONTRIBUTOR

CONTRIBUTOR

CONTRIBUTOR

AUTHOR

CONTRIBUTOR

Donate to SAJ

Copyright Policy

Get Monthly Policy Feed from SAJ