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Heightened tensions with the United States since President Donald Trump came to power in 2017 have undermined the Iranian economy, squeezing many incomes to breaking point. Much worse could be to come. The steady escalation underlined by the killing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC)’s Quds Force commander General Qassim Soleimani and attacks on US facilities in Iraq could yet lead to all-out conflict, despite calls for cool heads and de-escalation.

The British press has been engaged in feverish speculation about the precise identity and wealth of an Al-Nahyan sheikh ever since tabloid daily The Sun broke the news on 26 May that Newcastle United owner and retailing magnate Mike Ashley had agreed to sell the Premier League football club to Sheikh Khaled Bin Zayed Bin Saqr for £350m. The ‘red-top’ labelled Khaled as a “Dubai-based billionaire… among the most successful entrepreneurs in the Gulf states”. Another tabloid, The Mirror, speculated that, although his personal wealth was unknown, “his family is thought to be worth around £150bn”.

Bahrain’s destruction of the iconic Pearl monument in Manama on 18 March, and the ripping up of grass at the roundabout, symbolises one of the state’s most aggressive acts against its people. The circular monument became the base for the opposition movement, acting as a public space where people could meet and share ideas, much like Tunisians did in Tunis’ 7 November Square (newly named Mohammed Bouazizi Square), and Egyptians in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

While US President Donald Trump’s administration and his supporters in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Manama like to portray Iran as a devious, destabilising actor in the region, Iranian observers insist the Islamic Republic is merely looking after its interests in the same way that any other country would. “Iran is a rational and accountable actor in the region,” Allameh Tabatabai University (ATU – Tehran) professor Seyed Jalal Dehghani Firoozabadi told the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think-tank in London on 30 October.

King Salman Bin Abdelaziz’s hospitalisation on 20 July showed the 84 year-old’s vulnerability, but also that the monarch since 2015 has lost none of the tough spirit that long made him the royal family ‘enforcer’ and mediator. Following the successful removal of his gallbladder, Salman chaired a cabinet meeting from hospital on 22 July, highlighting his legendary work ethic and allaying immediate concerns of his demise. However, by advertising the king’s frailties, the episode set Saudi-watchers once again to focusing on the succession. One school of thought has it that Salman’s infirmity might provide a credible excuse to justify his abdication – almost certainly in favour of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS).

There has been little evidence of a willingness to compromise between the principal antagonists, but there is a growing body of evidence that an end to the dispute dividing Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE from Qatar has risen up the global agenda, with the United States presidential election in November acting as a driver.

Kuwait’s political, social and economic landscape has been irrevocably changed by the pandemic and the death of the late Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in September 2020. These events have deepened and widened the struggles within a political and economic system already characterised by paralysis and stagnation. The medium-term outlook looks grim, with a political leadership seemingly unable or unwilling to make the tough policy decisions needed to create a more stable course.

Regular Twitter user and Rice University history professor Ussama Makdisi made a fair point among the cacophony of noise around the £305m ($415m) Saudi takeover of English Premier League (EPL) club Newcastle United FC when he tweeted @UssamaMakdisi: “The message of Western liberals so concerned seems to be: please buy our military hardware and jetliners and Range rovers but don’t buy our football clubs?”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, host of the 26th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), is rarely short of a pithy quip aimed at his support base. Indeed, whole policies have been woven around his notion that the UK electorate can “have its cake and eat it”, however misleading that may be. Johnson’s allies – and even his critics – in the Gulf’s oil and gas producing states would appreciate that sentiment as they emerge from the climate talks, due to end on 12 November.

Dubai can be almost all things to men and women – the regional commercial hub that became a glitzy global city sucks in money and talent, not all of it legal but much of it dynamic. With a small team of close aides and the enthusiastic approval of international corporations who needed a secure and open environment in the region, Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (MBR) has ruthlessly driven the development of his emirate to become an expression of globalised business ambitions, grafted onto a small and generally far more conservative local population.

For all the build-up, United States President Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia on 15-16 July ended up being a distinctly underwhelming occasion. The grubby compromises of realpolitik were on clear display, but without the glittering prizes of any ‘historic’ breakthrough, either in political or economic terms.

In his new book, 25 Days to Aden, regional risk and security expert Michael Knights – a former contributor to GSN – has offered an unprecedented view of the UAE as a rising, and effective, military power, as it became embroiled in the Yemen conflict.

The UAE’s attempts to strengthen its control over the Yemeni island of Socotra, some 380km from the mainland, continue to prompt serious concerns in Muscat, where officials see a worrying pattern emerging of Abu Dhabi’s regional territorial ambitions, as it extends its hinterland to the Red Sea littoral and beyond.The latest cause of concern was a report in early May that the UAE had deployed 100 affiliated troops to the island.

There are clear signs of fatigue and apathy among both voters and candidates, as the Kuwaiti electorate and candidates gear up for yet another National Assembly (parliament) election on 6 June. It will be the third national poll in as many years.

The decision by Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court to remove Mohammed Rikan Hadid Al-Halbousi from his position as speaker of the Council of Representatives (parliament) could undermine the court’s standing and increase the likelihood that it will turn it into another political battleground.