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Nobel Peace Prize for Saudi Crown Prince?
Don’t be surprised if Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gets a Nobel nod this year.
Marked by conflict, steeped in simmering geopolitical, religious, and regional tensions, the Middle East has long presented great challenges and great opportunities for Western governments and European powers.
In many ways, the Middle East has been the linchpin of globalization. On the one hand, it’s rich in natural resources and a key location for trade. On the other, the unpredictability of regional conflicts.
As for peace in the Middle East — a Middle East free of terror attacks, proxy wars, radical Islamist jihadis, and internecine conflict — it remains as elusive as ever.
Perhaps even more so.
There are several geopolitical sticking places in the Middle East, where the peace process goes “This Far and No Farther,” including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There, the peace process has been stalled in a stalemate for decades now.
For frustrated nations like the United States, it’s 20 years of reconstruction in Afghanistan and very little to show for it. It’s been nearly 25 years since the U.S. declared the “War on Terror.”
Years in Iraq produced mixed results — at best. Fighting terror to a draw wasn’t the intention. In the…