Empowering women in the Arabian Gulf states is nothing more than a deal or an attempt to alter the mental image that the Gulf authorities are trying to export to the world as “advanced” and “civilized” countries. It is not an exaggeration…

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 hardest was that which saw him launch an oil price war with…

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 region. A comprehensive assessment by London-based…

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 and how Tehran would fulfil its pledge to wreak vengeance on…

While constitutional articles clearly guarantee the affairs of the governance and the succession in both the Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Qatar, other Gulf Arab states are facing several challenges in the medium and long terms. …

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 in major cities are ongoing and the results are…

On Sunday 17 November in cities across Iraq tens of thousands of people came into the streets answering a call for a general strike. This comes after weeks of protest that have seen 300 killed and more than 15,000 wounded. The fear…

On 3 November, after several false starts and nearly four years on from when the Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman first went public with his plan to sell off a portion of the energy giant Aramco in an initial public offering (IPO),…