Gulf frenemies making waves
It is hard to recall that until January of this year the GCC remained divided with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, joined by Egypt, tilted against Qatar. The Saudis, encouraged by…
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Easing tensions between Israel and Iran
The game of cat and mouse that Israel and Iran are playing out is continuing along a dangerously escalatory route. Most recently it saw an explosion at the Iranian nuclear…
The Rehabilitation of MbS: what will it take?
On 10 April the Saudi Ministry of Defense announced that it had executed three soldiers after what it called a “fair trial” in a specialist court. The men were convicted and…
New hope for human rights in the Gulf
Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, the Bahrain human rights activist, was arrested on the night of 9 April 2011. During the arrest at his family home, he was brutally assaulted and his jaw…
Haftar in retreat has consequences for both UAE and Qatar
The rout of the Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar continues apace with forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA) lifting the siege of Tripoli on 4 June. The following day the…
A tale of two leaders
There is little love lost between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Abu Dhabi crown prince and de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates Mohammed Bin Zayed. In the…
An oil price war Saudi Arabia may come to regret
Of all the decisions that Mohammed Bin Salman, the crown prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia has made over the past five years, the one that may come back to bite him…
Covid-19 and Gulf economies
As the coronavirus, Covid-19, continues to impact markets and national and global economies, it is worthwhile noting that Gulf economies were already slowing before the virus hit…
The world watches and wonders what moves Trump and Tehran will make next
In the days since the 3 January assassination of Iranian General Qassem Suleimeni on the orders of US President Donald Trump, the world has anxiously waited to see whether, where…
Arab Spring 2.0: Iraq and Lebanon
Iraq and Lebanon have experienced an extraordinary rebirth of the power of the street in the Middle East, one that has toppled two prime ministers. In both countries, the protests…
