Jamal Khashoggi

I always found it ironic when a Saudi official bashes Islamists, given that Saudi Arabia is the mother of all political Islam - and even describes itself as an Islamic state in its 'Higher Law.'

The Trump administration always says it wants to correct Obama's mistakes. It should add his mishandling of Arab democracy to its list.

There can be no political reform and democracy in any Arab country without accepting that political Islam is a part of it.

Terrorism and the refugee crisis have changed the political mood in the West and brought the extreme right to prominence there.

My publication, 'The Post,' has taken the initiative to translate many of my pieces and publish them in Arabic. For that, I am grateful. Arabs need to read in their own language so they can understand and discuss the various aspects and complications of democracy in the United States and the West.

The expectation that 'Trump as president' will be starkly different from 'Trump as candidate' is a false hope at best.

I don't want anything to affect my freedom, and we don't want Saudi Arabia to be another Iran.

Many other countries in the region also have money and oil, but they haven't done much good with it - at least not enough to stop the Middle East's disastrous wars. Saudi Arabia at least has something else: stability, a scarce commodity in the region.

I really don't like being in jail.

The impulsivity of M. B. S. has been a consistent theme - from the war in Yemen to the wave of arrests of constructive critics, royals, and senior officials accused of corruption.

Writers like me, whose criticism is offered respectfully, seem to be considered more dangerous than the more strident Saudi opposition based in London.

Many Saudi clerics believe that letting women drive means they will be free to leave the house whenever they like - something that will have a liberalizing and, therefore, unwanted effect on society.