Iranian and Saudi Youth Try to Bury 1979

Iranian and Saudi Youth Try to Bury 1979. The biggest question about the recent protests in Iran — combined with the recent lifting of religious restrictions in Saudi Arabia — is whether together they mark the beginning of the end of the hard-right puritanical turn that the Muslim world took in 1979, writes Thomas Friedman on the New York Times. 

Even Saudi Arabia’s Allies Are Questioning Its Mideast Power Plays. Pushback against Iran meets setbacks in Yemen, Qatar, Lebanon. Europeans are critical and some Arab allies steer clear (Bloomberg).

Mohammed bin Salman’s Next Saudi Challenge: Curtailing Ultraconservative Islam. Crown prince’s overhaul includes a crackdown on religious fundamentalists who exercised rigid control; female drivers and music concerts (the Wall Street Journal - Paywall).

It snowed in the Sahara Desert. Really (the washington Post).