Today's Interesting Links

And here are today's interesting links . . .

Saudi Arabia:

• "Child Bride Married to Elderly Man Escapes After Wedding" (Riyadh Bureau).  This story has also been reported on the BBC and in Canada's National Post. 
• I also found this interesting BBC Documentary on Saudi Arabia called Inside the Saudi Kingdom, in which the filmmakers follow Prince Saud bin Abdul Muhsin al-Saud (the governor of the Kingdom's Ha'il Province and one of the many, many grandsons of the Kingdom's founder and namesake Abdul Aziz ibn Saud).  After a quick internet search, I see that this is actually pretty old . . . from 2008, it seems.  But you know what?  I missed it then, so you get to see it now.

Counter-Terrorism:

• "US Strategy for Countering Violent Extremism: An Assessment" (Will McCants and Clinton Watts, Foreign Policy Research Institute)
• "If You Thought Obama's Drone Godfather Was Powerful, Wait 'til He's at CIA" (Wired's Danger Room)

Libya:

• "Assailant Killed in Assassination Attempt on Libya Islamist" (NYT)

Syria:

• "Hints of Syrian Chemical Push Set Off Global Efforts to Stop It" (NYT)
• "Syria: Why Assad May Yet Claim Victory" (The Guardian's Comment is Free)

Iran:

• "Iran: Oil Exports Decline 40% Due to Sanctions" (Jerusalem Post)