AlJazeera – Inside Story – Has the Arab Spring widened the Arab divide?

As the Arab League summit attends to regional concerns we ask if leaders are being forced to shift alliances.

Has the Arab Spring further divided an already-fractured league? And with Syria at the forefront of disagreement, will the Arab states be forced to shift their alliances?

Joining presenter Sami Zeidan on Inside Story for the discussion are guests: Saad Almuttalibi, a member of State of Law Alliance and a former advisor to the Iraqi National Security Council; Fahad Shulemi, a retired colonel in the Kuwaiti Army and the president of the Gulf Peace and Security Forum; Joseph Kechichian, an independent Middle East analyst and a columnist for Gulf News.

Run Time: 25:00

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Arabia Monitor’s Florence Eid discusses her economic outlook for the Middle East.

Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, discusses U.S., European, and Chinese oil imports, as well as the consistent annual growth in global temperatures.

SPEAKER:
Fatih Birol, Chief Economist, International Energy Agency
PRESIDER:
Edward L. Morse, Managing Director and Global Head of Commodity Research, CitiGroup Global Markets, Inc.

Run Time: 00:59:22

Newly named Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz al Saud is profiled in an Al Jazeera report and panel discussion, including Saeed Al Shihabi, Michael Stephens, and Hussein Shobokshi.

Run time: 00:24:24

The BBC program “Hardtalk” interviewed Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles concerning change in the Middle East. [Also check our companion web site, the Saudi British Relations Information Service (SBRIS) for an exclusive interview with Sir Sherard. (www.saudibrit.com)]

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“Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, a former British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Israel, says the key to a stable Middle East is to provide the youth with education and jobs as well as a representative government, not necessarily a Western liberal democracy. This comes as President Obama, on a visit to Europe, says that he supports those fighting for democratic freedoms in the Arab world. Zeinab Badawi spoke to Sir Cowper-Coles about whether he believes Western foreign policy in the Muslim world now reflects values – or is it based on self-interest?”

Run Time: 00:03:48

Dr Fatih Birol, Chief Economist at the International Energy Agency, explains some of the key topics which feature in the 2011 World Energy Outlook, which will be launched on 9 November.

Inside Story, an AlJazeera news magazine, featured a discussion of the warnings by Saudi Arabian Prince Turki al-Faisal, former Ambassador to the US, about consequences of American action to defeat a Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN in September 2011. In addition to background reporting in this extensive coverage panelists Jamal Khashoggi, P.J. Crowley and Salman Shaikh provide additional context to the story.

Time: 00:25:30

CNN’s John King talks to Fouad Ajami and author Robin Wright about the Middle East’s reaction to President Assad.

Run Time: 6:03

Tom Friedman of the New York Times opens this week’s GPS with fascinating insights into current events in the Middle East.  He analyzes the dueling speeches of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Obama, assess the chances of peace in the Middle East and thinks through future scenarios in Egypt, Syria and Libya.

Perhaps the biggest question mark in the Arab world is what happens next in Saudi Arabia. Obama didn’t even mention that country in his “Arab Spring” speech. So Fareed sits down with Saudi Prince Al-Waleed this week. Will the revolution reach the House of Saud? Will it be crushed? Bribed away? Al-Waleed has some fascinating answers.

According to Forbes, Al-Waleed is also the 26th richest man in the world with significant investments in the U.S. So Fareed asks whether he is confident about investing in America.

Finally – the price of oil. If there was ever a “central banker of oil” it’s the Saudis. Fareed asks: Will prices continue to go up?

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Run Time: 40:29

Bahgat Korany’s remarks at the Gulf Research Meeting in Cambridge, 2011. This is part of a panel discussion on the Arab Spring and changes in the region.

Run Time: 8:23