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Given half a chance, Iranians will vote against the establishment – not just in disaffected urban areas, but in the countryside (where incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is widely believed to have the edge), and even within the ruling elite, whose members may swap from faction to faction while maintaining staunch support for Iran’s velayat-e faqih system of clerical rule. Ahmadinejad has made a global career by presenting himself as an underdog – a status that tends to attract Iranian voters (as the reformist Mohammad Khatami found when he beat conservative rivals in 1997). But he has other elite ‘underdogs’ to compete with.

Sharjah Ruler Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al-Qasimi’s prominent daughter Sheikha Budoor has been appointed chair of the UAE Publishers Association’s first board of directors.

Prince Mishal Bin Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz arrived in Najran province in mid-May to begin his duties as governor. He appears to be a popular choice, being received by large crowds who lined roads from the airport on his arrival. Mishal, King Abdullah’s son, was appointed following the November dismissal of hard-line governor Prince Mishal Bin Saud Bin Abdelaziz.

Saudi Arabia, after all, is to house the planned Gulf Co-operation Council central bank. Following the 11th GCC consultative summit, held in the Kingdom on 5 May, the GCC’s outgoing secretary-general Abdelrahman Al-Attiyah announced that Riyadh would be the new joint monetary council’s base; this institution will eventually evolve into the GCC central bank.

The Abu Dhabi ruling family has earned international respect for its discreet behaviour and traditionally unostentatious stewardship of its huge wealth, so that some senior Al-Nahyan were genuinely embarrassed at the media circus surrounding Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed’s takeover of British football club Manchester City.

Sheikh Khalid Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan has married a daughter of Education Minister Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al-Nahayan.

UAE Prime Minister and Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum has been busy as usual.

In the immediate post-9/11 years Gulf watchers became used to the level of ‘Saudi-bashing’ coming out of the United States. Sensationalist authors churned out books such as Princes of Darkness: The Saudi Assault on the West, or Hatred’s Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism that sought to explore the flaws in Saudi culture and religious thought that had allowed the Kingdom to produce 15 out of the 19 hijackers.

Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is playing a canny game ahead of May’s general election. It is only ten months since Kuwait went to the polls – and two years since the previous election – a political cycle that illustrates the pattern of confrontation between parliamentarians and ministers which has repeatedly blocked legislation and approval of major projects.

The mood in Bahrain was edgy in the run-up to the 26 March trial of 35 individuals including Haq leader Hassan Mushaima,

Compared to the likes of the Qatar Investment Authority, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority or the Dubai group of funds, not much is known about the Omani State General Reserve Fund (SGRF) or how it makes its investments. But some details have now emerged following its acquisition of a majority stake in the AIM-listed, BVI-incorporated Equest Investment Balkans Ltd (EIB). The SGRF holds 32.27% of EIB, which invests primarily in Bulgaria and Romania. Following the acquisition of a stake, the fund named two Omani directors, Warith Mubarak Al-Kharousi and Faisal Amur Mohammed Al-Riyani to the EIB board.

Sheikh Ahmed Bin Juma Al-Maktoum died on 23 March

On 18 March, Sultan Qaboos received Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak for talks.

The region stretching from the Bosphorus to the Gulf must accommodate itself to a new strategic reality, as the United States – under new management and with a harrowing roster of domestic issues to resolve – disengages from Iraq, while focusing hard on Afghanistan and its neighbours.

Yemen is trying to counter the threat of falling oil production by bringing in more IOCs – with recent changes to the hydrocarbons law intended to entice back the majors, rather than giving new incentives to the minnows who have helped build up its industry. The emergence of export LNG is an added incentive to invest, provided gas-gathering systems and other infrastructure can be efficiently developed. President Saleh is looking to old friends in Russia to help develop such projects, but all participants are welcome during a period when many western IOCs are confronted with financial pressures, and equity stakes will become available as firms seek to cash in their assets.