GCC unity questioned as summit begins

The mood at the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) summit, hosted by Kuwait on 10-11 December, may well have been somewhat fractious. The six states of the GCC have been pulled in different directions over the past 12 months, tested by major changes in Cairo, a worsening conflict in Syria and the looming prospect of Iran coming in from the cold. One might have hoped for a show of unity at a time of such regional tension but, just days before the summit, Oman’s de facto foreign minister, Yusuf Bin Alawi, chose to speak out against the idea of a Gulf Union, a pet project of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz