Experts in the News

“We're not yet seeing quite the same degree of sort of physical surveillance [in Saudi Arabia] as we've been seeing in China, for example, but China is working with the Saudis and other Gulf countries to start to implement that,” nonresident fellow Annelle Sheline told Insider of China's involvement in Saudi's futuristic Neom project.

U.S. officials say diplomacy is the best way to address Iran’s nuclear program, but Washington has not ruled out a military option against Iran’s nuclear facilities. “It would certainly not be in the U.S. interest to get dragged into a war between Israel and Iran, which is the way things seem to be going for the past several weeks and months,” fellow Annelle Sheline told Al Jazeera.

The agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia may also be part of “a Saudi effort to extract maximum concessions from the U.S.,” fellow Annelle Sheline says. “Riyadh’s decision to normalize with Tehran, under the auspices of Beijing, may be primarily aimed at Washington.”

“The UAE, and possibly Saudi Arabia, appear to have concluded that isolating Syria has only deepened its ties to Iran while failing to dislodge Assad, a counterproductive outcome,” fellow Annelle Sheline says of Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud's comments on the Arab region's consensus against Syria’s isolation. “In general, it has become obvious that international isolation is hurting the Syrian people.”

Following the earthquake that struck Syria, affected citizens in the area are in need of serious humanitarian assistance. Fellow Annelle Sheline joined CBS News to discuss the latest ongoings in Syria and what other countries can do to help the region.