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Late October saw a flurry of activity in London aimed at boosting Gulf Co-Operation Council-UK ties. If the crowded programme had been the result of a co-ordinated plan by the UK’s (relatively) new coalition government it might be seen as a reaffirmation of UK-Gulf ties organised by a dynamic new administration.

Rare was the commentator who predicted that the overthrow of Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in (was it only?) mid-January would be followed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s demise and the probable overthrow of the even more entrenched Qadhafi regime in Libya.

Since Kuwait was the first Arab state to have a parliament in 1962, it is no stranger to voices of dissent and opposition within its governing system. It has a powerful and democratically elected National Assembly, with a strong sense of constitutional rights (GSN 891/1). This has earned the emirate a reputation for a vigorous political culture.

It has been a year when war compounded misery across the wider region, from Yemen – where Saudi Arabia remains mired in conflict with the Houthis – to Libya, where the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) was effectively saved from UAE-backed forces bearing down on Tripoli by the intervention of Turkey. The Saudi/UAE-led boycott of Qatar continued, although regional leaders and the administration of US President Donald Trump worked to mend the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC)’s deepest rift.

Differences between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) and his Emirati counterpart, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (MBZ) have been mounting ever since Riyadh led the way towards reconciliation with Qatar at the Al-Ula summit in January.

Bringing crowds on the streets, Saudi Arabia celebrated its first Founding Day on 22 February, following a royal order by King Salman Bin Abdelaziz in late January. The decision to base the celebrations on events in 1727 was particularly significant, as the new national holiday marks an implicit, but significant break from Wahhabi influence on the Saudi state.

Amid their growing distance from western powers, Gulf states have continued to try and maintain a neutral stance on the Ukraine crisis. However, a weakened Russia could lead to the GCC powers stepping up their outreach to the pariah state of President Bashar Al-Assad’s Syria. That engagement has been energetically driven by the UAE, whose foreign affairs and international co-operation minister Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan visited the Syrian capital in November for talks with Assad.

Allies of Iran-backed Shia party Hizbollah under-performed in Lebanon’s 15 May parliamentary elections, when they failed to secure a majority in the 128-seat National Assembly. The shake-up to the Lebanese political environment offers new opportunities for Gulf states that may be thinking about re-engaging with Beirut after a period of keeping their distance.

After months of failed efforts to form a new government, Shia leader Moqtada Al-Sadr’s call for his 73 Council of Representatives (parliament) members (MPs) to resign has thrown the Iraqi political scene into fresh turmoil.

They may not see eye to eye on many issues but, in their different ways, all Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) members have made themselves useful to Donald Trump, as the US president seeks to tick off his regional policy points ahead of a bid for re-election in November. Trump’s “Deal of the Century” to wrap up to the Israel-Palestine conflict requires key Arab allies, led by Saudi Arabia, to play an expensive leading role; they have paid lip service to the plan despite public reluctance to support arrangements that cannot play well on the street.

The outbreak of fighting between rival generals in Sudan in mid-April has been met with an increasingly active diplomatic stance by Saudi Arabia, which has taken a clear lead among Gulf countries in responding to the crisis  – offering further evidence of the new approach being taken to international relations by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS).

It is almost a year since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was arrested in Tehran for failing to adhere to Iran's strict dress code for women. She died in police custody on 16 September, prompting nationwide outrage which soon morphed into the "Women, Life, Freedom" protest movement. The Iranian government has been nervously preparing for the anniversary of Amini's death, by targeting protestors and their supporters.

Conservative tribal and Islamist voices are increasing their power and influence in the Kuwaiti political arena, with the government providing tacit support to their growing dominance over liberal and urban merchant figures.

The turmoil that has broken out in Israel and Gaza in recent days may lead to a recalibration by Yemen's Houthis of what they should put on their list of demands and how much pressure they can exert on Saudi Arabia in any further rounds of talks. It might also concentrate minds in Riyadh about the need to secure a viable settlement in Yemen, so that the land beyond its southern border is not a long-term harbour of potential danger.

The latest Israeli-Palestinian flare-up is an all-too familiar expression of scarcely bottled-up frustrations in the West Bank and Gaza, which the aggressive departure from any two-state solution by Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and his allies has exacerbated (GSN 1,097/1). GSN’s analysis of social media shows that, in the era of the Abraham Accords (GSN 1,109/1), the crisis – which began in the Jerusalem suburb of Sheikh Jarrah and spread more widely before focusing on Gaza and then, on 18 May, triggering mass protests on the West Bank – has exposed new rifts in attitudes. The ‘Arab street’ hasn’t disappeared – it has gone online.