Search results

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.

The recent flurry of senior appointments by Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, including the naming of his brother Sheikh Mansour as federal vice president, highlights the extent to which Abu Dhabi controls all the main levers of power in the UAE – and its competition with Dubai for commercial, as well as political, dominance.

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.

Even since the battle to defeat the Sunni extremists of Islamic State (IS or Daesh) began to make progress, there have been voices warning that Iraq’s fractured political environment and weak economy would remain fertile ground either for a resurgence of the group or the rise of another set of extremists in its place. Now those past warnings are turning into reality, as evidence grows that IS has begun to step up its activities this year.

To mark the tenth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, and to give wider public access to some of our reporting and analysis, GSN has unlocked the archive of its newsletters published in 2003 (accessible at www.gsn-online.com). The invasion was hardly a surprise; US determination to depose Saddam Hussein had been clear for months, but too little thought went into its repercussions. Few of those behind the invasion saw the potential for the turbulence it unleashed. A reading of pre-2003 GSN shows just how inevitable conflict was. ‘Global terrorism’ was high on the agenda as the George W Bush administration came to power.

Obtaining details and confirmations remains as problematic as ever, but some sources are talking about upheavals in the Saudi military/security establishment linked to continuing dynastic struggles in the Kingdom. According to one version of events, as many as 150

The impending official visit of the Jordanian royal couple to Doha signals another step in Qatar’s efforts to rebuild regional relations that were, in part at least, hurt by Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel’s irreverent reporting of regional leaderships.

Confronted with long-term concerns over the budget’s ability to support such huge levels of public spending (GSN 906/12), and more immediate criticism over governance issues – highlighted by new reports of corruption linked to subsidiaries of European aerospace giant EADS  – how wealth is shared out in Saudi Arabia is a hot issue that will not go away, with the ‘Arab Spring’ adding urgency to complaints that many citizens are excluded from jobs and social benefits. 

Has Oman’s version of the Arab spring been overwhelmed by the model of Gulf government reaction to the blossoming of popular movements? That model has become apparent in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, where the heavy hand of the security forces is being mitigated by the promise of limited political change and the spending of more money to create jobs and improve services.

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.

Iranian envoy Ali Akbar Velayati arrived in Moscow on 11 July, carrying a verbal message from Rahbar (Supreme Leader) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a written one from President Hassan Rouhani, both addressed to President Vladimir Putin. From the Russian capital Velayati was due to head to Beijing to convey Tehran’s message to President Xi Jinping. Putin’s Syria envoy Alexander Lavrentiev was due in Tehran on 18 July.

Projects such as King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) and the new financial city north of Riyadh have been proposed as one solution to make it easier for foreign investors and banks to operate in King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz’s Kingdom than his father, Saudi Arabia’s founder King Abdelaziz Bin Abdelrahman (Ibn Saud), apparently intended.

The decision by King Salman Bin Abdelaziz to lift the ban on women drivers is a deeply symbolic development for the kingdom which could also provide a useful boost for the economy, but it also reinforces a troubling question for the Al-Saud: how to match the need for reform while maintaining their conservative credentials.If oil prices were high and the Saudi economy was doing well, it is doubtful whether the reform would have been made.

Saudi Arabia’s decision to relinquish a coveted United Nations Security Council (UNSC) seat and a spate of briefings by some of the kingdom’s most prominent Atlanticists recording Riyadh’s growing impatience with US policy and its implementation, come after at least two years of rising frustration at misfiring diplomatic initiatives and deep post-Arab Spring strains (see page 6). The critical question is whether the friction between Riyadh and Washington, which is understandable in any long-term alliance, goes deeper still, threatening the international order that the coming together of King Abdelaziz Ibn Saud and Franklin D Roosevelt helped to create.

The images and tales that emerged from Al-Shabaab’s attack on Kenya’s Westgate mall were searingly dreadful. Mothers shielding toddlers, blood pooling on tiles, the sheer terror of gunfire in what was supposed to be a benign location. Rarely has the vocabulary of winning been so unconsonant. “We have defeated our enemies,” Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta declared as the four-day siege came to an end on 24 September, leaving at least 70 people dead. For all the bravery of security forces, for all the unity of horrified Kenyans, it is wrong to suggest that anyone wins.