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Bahrain’s legally registered political groups are working to shore up their vote and persuade their constituencies they remain worthy of support ahead of National Assembly and municipal elections scheduled for this year, probably November. Much attention has been paid to parties supported by the Shia majority, led by Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, which holds 17 of the 40 Majlis Al-Nawab (Chamber of Deputies) seats.
The US Department of Defence has awarded Lockheed Martin Corporation a $46.2m contract to produce advanced helicopter weapons-targeting systems for the Apache helicopter fleets of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Netherlands.
While the secession of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) area has occupied most attention, a failure of state-building in post-Baathist Iraq might also see other regions looking for at least Kurdish levels of autonomy, if not outright independence. Of most concern to Baghdad would be the hydrocarbons-rich south. GSN spoke to a range of decision-makers in Basra to test the support for different kinds of decentralisation in the province, which has been called ‘the failed Gulf state’ by historians of the area
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Allawi meeting
United Kingdom, BAE Systems, Germany, Italy, Spain, Royal Omani Air Force, Jaguar squadrons, UK's Royal Air Force, RAF Coningsby, Eurofighter Typhoon,
Freedom of expression is a proud Kuwaiti boast in a region where most countries restrict public debate and media comment. The existence of a powerful and democratically elected parliament is only one facet of a society that can justifiably claim to stand out from its neighbours for the pluralism and vigour of its political culture.
As the United States pushes for further sanctions over Iran’s nuclear programme, China’s emergence as a major player in oil production threatens to undermine efforts to target the Islamic Republic’s besieged energy industry
Bahrain’s ongoing labour market reforms are attracting increasing attention from the media and policymakers in neighbouring Gulf Co-operation Council countries. In a region where expatriates account for over 50% of the labour force – more than 90% in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – increasing national employment is seen as a policy priority.
In a major breakthrough for Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Kuwait’s combative MPs have approved a national five-year development plan, the first for decades, and the creation of a Capital Market Authority (CMA). But, with confrontation looming over MPs’ insistence on passing a $13bn measure to buy up unpaid consumer debts, it remains too early to talk of a lasting transformation of the political atmosphere.
Emirati foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan has been in Australia for talks.
While Qatar is no stranger to negative stories in the more scurrilous regional papers, British media, including Euromoney magazine, have picked up the case of senior British banker David Proctor, who has reportedly been unable to leave for nearly a year after his all-powerful sponsor refused to sign his exit visa.
Qatar ‘bet the farm’ on LNG but, more than a decade later, its determination has paid off
For long a staunch opponent of the climate change agenda, Saudi Arabia’s resistance to a new deal on the environment will be put to the test as representatives of 190 countries hammer out an agreement on global energy policy in Copenhagen. Critics say the world’s largest oil exporter has played an obstructionist role in the fight to limit the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that a majority of governments now believe cause climate change.
Foreign journalists seem unable to mention the phrase ‘Qatari foreign policy’ without including the adjective ‘maverick’. But there is much more to the peninsula’s unusually prominent role in international relations than mere game-playing. Qatari international relations have long included backchannel diplomacy and high-profile conflict resolution, allowing Doha to become a key regional actor.
