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HBJ was in Saudi Arabia again on 15 September

Alarm bells have sounded over reports that Saudi Arabia is preparing to sign an unprecedented $2bn arms deal with Russia. Saudi defence procurement is usually the domain of the United States, Britain and France – leading observers to speculate that a geopolitical shift is under way. This might also involve shifting attitudes towards Iran, with Riyadh offering Moscow juicy contracts if it cools relations with Tehran.

Ras Al-Khaimah ruler’s court in mid-September announced the death of Sheikha Ghaya Bint Sultan Bin Salem Al-Qasimi

In an era when Gulf money has poured into English Premier League football clubs, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal’s business empire has decided to invest in London Welsh, a British rugby union club.

Interior Minister and Second Deputy Premier Prince Nayef Bin Abdelaziz has held meetings with his Bahraini counterpart Sheikh Rashid Bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa and Qatar’s State Minister for Internal Affairs Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al-Thani and other Qatari internal security officials.

Attempts to reassure world markets that the emirate’s debt is no more than $80bn have been overshadowed by the revelation that Dubai World alone owes $59.3bn. Last November, Emaar Properties chairman Mohammed Ali Alabbar – for long a key ally of UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (MBR) – attempted to reassure financial markets that Dubai’s debt was no more than $80bn. It now appears the figure is higher.

King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz has held talks with visiting Bahraini Crown Prince Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa and US assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism John Brennan.

As well as apparently playing a part in arranging the release of Libyan Lockerbie bomber Abdelbasset Ali Mohammed Al-Megrahi, Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani held talks with visiting Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who also visited the UAE.

The former ambassador to London and Washington has written an article in Foreign Policy magazine in which he said that for US politicians, invoking energy independence is now as “essential as baby-kissing” and accuses them of “demagoguery”.

The Majlis has approved 18 of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 21 nominations to government posts, many of whom are hardliners loyal to the president and with backgrounds in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The composition of the new government further fuels suspicion that the IRGC is seizing power in the Islamic Republic. It has become more prominent since it backed Ahmadinejad in June’s disputed presidential election, subsequently clamping down on dissenters and opposition.

Partnership to encourage US students to visit Saudi Arabia

Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan is in Washington DC for meetings with senior US officials. Accompanying him in talks with President Barack Obama is UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan.

Various princes have begun returning to Saudi Arabia at the conclusion of their summer holidays, including several who had been staying in Morocco with Crown Prince Sultan.

Still convalescing in Morocco, Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdelaziz has had visits at his Agadir palace from Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan, in his capacity as head of the Tourism Development and Investment Company, has been in London to sign an MoU with the Prince of Wales’ School of Traditional Arts.