On 6 June in Jeddah the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) and his Abu Dhabi counterpart Mohammed bin Zayed (MbZ) convened the first meeting of the Saudi – Emirati Coordination Council. Abu Dhabi is one of seven emirates that…

We journalists are often accused, and not without merit, of focussing on the negative and ignoring the positive. The good stories, we are told, are not getting the attention they deserve. So allow me to write about what looks to be a…

On 5 June, the Gulf crisis wraps up its first year—a year that has witnessed major financial losses the involved states incurred on the one hand, and pressing political, economic and social repercussions and a fierce media war on the other.…

Amidst the turmoil of Donald Trump’s White House, uncertainty reigns over what this most unpredictable, irascible and ignorant of presidents will do about the Iran nuclear deal. He is due to sign the next waiver to keep the deal alive on 12…

On the eve of the 14th of February that coincides with the seventh anniversary of the start of the protests  in Bahrain, Sheikh Hussein Al-Dayhi, the Assistant Secretary General of the (dissolved) Islamic National Accord Society announced a…

With the announcement on February 5 of a major new energy deal, Saudi Arabia has sent a clear signal that it is seriously committed to developing solar power in a significant way as part of a larger campaign to wean the country off oil…

I wonder if anyone reading this can imagine living in a state where criticism of the rulers results in life imprisonment, where human rights activists are given long sentences because they dared to challenge authority, where a son who…

In 2017 the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman marked himself out as a Middle East leader to be reckoned with. The consolidation of his power was completed with two audacious manoeuvres that saw the removal of the 32 year old’s chief…