Region loses a diplomatic heavyweight as Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah dies

Sheikh Nawaf takes over from his half-brother at a time of fiscal crisis and wider economic upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic and a sclerotic political system. Many question whether the new octogenarian emir has the skills, ambition or good health to decisively deal with the emirate’s many problems, let alone assume the mantle of regional statesman that helped to define Sheikh Sabah’s rule. There is much speculation about further political change ahead