Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- November 9, 2017

Time: The Last Thing Iran Wants Is Full-On War with Saudi Arabia. Here's Why

On the day Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman jailed rival princes and gathered about his robes the trappings of power, a missile screamed toward the airport of Riyadh, the kingdom’s capital. It was shot down before it could reach the earth, but the Saudi government claimed to know every detail about where it came from.

“It was an Iranian missile, launched by Hizballah from territory occupied by the Houthis in Yemen,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir declared to CNN three days later, on Nov. 6, naming allies of Tehran. “Direct military aggression by the Iranian regime,” the Crown Prince added a day later.

So it goes between the two great Muslim powers of the Middle East, the Sunni kingdom and the Shi’ite republic, locked in a rivalry only rarely declared so nakedly. Most of the time, especially in recent years, Saudi Arabia and Iran fight through proxies. And Iran is winning most of them, on evidence less dramatic than a missile launch:

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- November 9, 2017

Saudi Prince's Revolution Is the Real Arab Spring -- Zev Chafets, Bloomberg

Why the Saudi “Purge” Is Not What It Seems to Be -- Ali Shihabi, Arabia Foundation

Saudi Arabia Is Putinizing, Not Modernizing -- Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia, Wellspring of Regional Instability -- Paul R. Pillar, National Interest

An overview of the tensions between Saudi Arabia and its neighbors -- Philip Bump, Washington Post

Should investors fear purges in Saudi Arabia? -- Al Jazeera

Kiev is buzzing about the Manafort indictment -- David Stern, Politico

Is NATO doing enough to pressure Russia over Ukraine? -- Teri Schultz, DW

Europe in the Time of Trump -- Guy Verhofstadt, Project Syndicate

Why Trump's efforts on North Korea aren't apt to win over Putin -- Fred Weir, CSM

Oh where has Kim Jong-un’s nephew gone… and with whom can he be? -- Doug Tsuruoka, Asia Times

Don't Let Mexico's Elections Become Putin's Next Target -- Shannon O'Neil, Bloomberg

Beijing may be calm before the Trump trade storm -- William Pesek, Asia Times

Japan Works to Win Friends and Influence the Region -- Mark Fleming-Williams, Stratfor

Bitcoin and Blockchain -- Olga Kharif & Matthew Leising, Bloomberg