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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.

Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s government is under fire – literally – from opponents and in the financial mire, as the intelligence officer turned prime minister seeks to consolidate his hold on power. As his predecessors have found to their cost, in Iraqi politics cash is king and muscle too often trumps rational management. Finance minister Ali Allawi has put forward a promising new economic reform white paper, which intends to “create a strategic and policy framework for a new Iraqi economy”

There were few unknowns in the much-anticipated US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) report on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. However, the reprise of Khashoggi’s gruesome demise in Istanbul on 2 October 2018, which was declassified and released on 26 February by national intelligence director Avril Haines, was sufficient to set off a fresh wave of demands for tougher action against the alleged instigator of the Saudi hit squad, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS). But away from the noise, there has been a concerted effort by Washington and Riyadh to isolate the Khashoggi affair from their wider diplomatic and security relationship.

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.