Saudi Arabia issue
The Saudi regime won’t like this magazine. Nor will the Western governments who kowtow to it while exploiting its wealth and paranoia. The Saudi justice ministry threatened to sue a Twitter user who compared the regime with ISIS after poet Ashraf Fayadh was sentenced to death ‘for spreading atheism and disrespecting the prophet’. It’s illegal to speak to foreign journalists without authorization and what you say could easily land you in jail. What is guaranteed to please neither the Saudi ruling elite nor Western governments is our interview with Julian Assange. He talks about the latest batch of SaudiLeaks. All that and much more in this magazine.
March 2016, Issue 490
From the magazine
Each month we publish some of the best stories from New Internationalist magazine.
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'Our friends': Saudi Arabia and the West
Vanessa Baird takes a look at this ‘special relationship’.
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Saudi Arabia: Arming up…
Its not just for show, as the bombing of Yemen illustrates, writes Vanessa Baird.
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Saudi Arabia – The Facts
The key facts you need to know about the country's people, environment, oil economy, human rights and more.
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Saudi activists – who are they and what do they want?
Madawi Al-Rasheed examines the prospects and limits of activism in the absolute monarchy.
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Saudi Arabia is gambling with Islamic State and Co
The birth country of violent Islamic puritanism is playing a dangerous game, writes Alastair Crooke.
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What the Saudi leaks tell us: An interview with Julian Assange
Since June 2015 WikiLeaks has been releasing details of leaked cables and other documents from within the Saudi Foreign Office. Julian Assange explains what's inside.
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Oil on the skids
The quiet power of oil and money has for decades enabled Saudi Arabia to buy silence and influence. But not for much longer, predicts Nafeez Ahmed.
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Who gives a damn about democracy?
Roberto Savio argues for a revival and re-engagement, before it is too late.
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Crocodile smiles and con tricks
Fiona Broom reports from Nepal on the scandal of the ‘orphanage industry’.
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Angolan activists jailed for reading
They were arrested for organizing a bookstore discussion in the capital, Luanda. Marc Herzog reports.
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Introducing... Freddy Lim
Who would have imagined that a tattooed heavy-metal musician would break the stale stand-off in Taiwanese politics? Richard Swift asks.
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A volley of protest in Iran
Human Rights Watch has thrown its weight behind a challenge to Iran’s ban on women watching volleyball matches. Kelsi Farrington reports.
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Golden goal for child miners in Burkina Faso
Child miners are finding an unlikely escape from goldmines, through football, writes Rebecca Cooke.
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Innocents detained in Nigeria
Ayuba Ijai was held hostage for months by Boko Haram terrorists before government soldiers detained him on suspicion of being a Boko Haram member. Samuel Malik explains.
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Worldbeaters: Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Turkey’s president is one of the political class’s more humourless and intolerant specimens.
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Mixed Media: Films
This month's film reviews.
Subscribers only
Here are all the stories available to subscribers.
Coming soon
Subscribers get the latest stories at the start of the month.
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Mail-order abortion from India
Indian entrepreneur Mohan Kale has a solution for some of the 21.6 million women who resort to unsafe abortions every year, Cristiana Moisescu writes.
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Ocean litter-pick off the Netherlands
An ambitious project designed to rid the world’s oceans of plastic is due to begin its first test in open waters, Beulah Maud Devaney writes.
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Poverty in the land of black gold
Paul Aarts and Carolien Roelants on the plight of poor Saudis.
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Music reviews
Like a Bird or Spirit, not a Face by Sainkho Namtchylak; De Montevert by De Montevert.
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Book reviews
Where the Dead Pause and the Japanese Say Goodbye by Marie Mutsuki Mockett; This Is An Uprising by Mark Engler and Paul Engler; Bad News by Anjan Sundaram; Betty Boo by Claudia Piñeiro.
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Our shadowy, corporate overlords.
In what world does it make sense to hand over democratically accountable power to non-accountable corporate interests? Chris Coltrane asks.
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Polyp’s Big Bad World cartoon.
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Revolution beyond the ballot box.
The surge of interest in socialism and a willingness to break with deep-seated American political taboos owes much to Bernie Sanders, writes Mark Engler.
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Letters
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Letter from Bangui
Closing our heart to suffering suppresses our humanity, writes Ruby Diamonde.
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Country Profile: Cameroon
With the terrifying exception of overloaded trucks speeding vast tree trunks from forest to port, things tend to move slowly in Cameroon.
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Making Waves
Dario Sabaghi talks to Kholoud Waleed about her battle for freedom of speech in Syria.
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And Finally
Author and reporter Anjan Sundaram on self-expression, dictatorship and the importance of a free press.
Only want this issue?
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Past issues
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Issue 489: Migration issue
December 2013 -
Issue 488: 10 economic myths
December 2013 -
Issue 487: Paris climate summit
December 2013 -
Issue 486: The transgender revolution
December 2013 -
Issue 485: Syria's good guys
December 2013 -
Issue 484: Alternatives to Capitalism
December 2013
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