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The mountainous province in Saudi Arabia's south-west has been earmarked as a future centre for tourism, notwithstanding the threats posed by attacks from Houthi rebels across the border in Yemen. Asir could be a model for Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s post-oil development ambitions, as well as for more short-term efforts to stabilise potentially restless populations.

The position of opposition figures exiled in Turkey is the hottest issue being debated on social media – a reflection of the issue’s importance to many Kuwaitis and why the exiles are playing such a part in the national dialogue intended to build bridges between a government weakened by Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed’s frequent absences for treatment in Germany and a fractious parliament’s determination to block vital legislation needed to kick-start the stagnating economy.

Probably not the region’s worst offender, Doha has bristled about western criticism of its human rights record before and during the football World Cup, with comments from German government ministers proving a particular irritation. However, European politicians have other concerns about Qatari actions closer to home, with a corruption scandal involving alleged influence-peddling in the European Parliament among the issues that could threaten Doha’s perceptions of which allies are most worth cultivating.

Manama and Doha took a significant step towards reconciliation at the Jeddah Summit for Security and Development, with a face-to-face meeting between Bahraini King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani.

Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani arrived in Washington on 30 January for a two-day official visit – the first by a Gulf leader since President Joe Biden took office one year ago.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani named foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al-Thani as prime minister in March, following the resignation of Sheikh Khalid Bin Khalifa Bin Abdelaziz Al-Thani, who had been premier since January 2020. Tamim’s youngest full-brother Khalifa Bin Hamad Al-Thani  was named interior minister, a position Khalid Bin Khalifa had also held.

The deal at Al-Ula reflected Qatar’s determination to achieve a close to the three and a half-year boycott, but only on terms that didn’t compromise Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, sources in Doha told GSN. “Qatar has been ready to come to the table for a while, so long as they didn’t have to cross red lines,” a Doha-based analyst said – which would mean not cutting ties with Iran and Turkey, or declaring the Houthis in Yemen or Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimeen (the Muslim Brotherhood) are ‘terrorists’.

The approaching political transition in the United States is focusing minds across the region. It could lead to at least a partial diplomatic resolution of the Qatar dispute, which has been the defining feature of relations within the Gulf Co-operation Council since June 2017. Saudi Arabia’s public tone has softened, but there are fewer signs of movement from Abu Dhabi.

Dubai’s head of general security and deputy police chief Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim on 6 June launched another of his idiosyncratic attacks on social media, advocating an invasion of Qatar and the arrest of “a young boy”, a reference to Qatar’s Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani. The tweets inevitably generated a storm of heated responses. General Tamim is a controversial figure. When GSN last met him, in the receiving line for a diplomatic reception, he appeared to be an enthusiastic follower of the history of 20th century Germany (where he owns a home).

Qatar has finally completed the demarcation of its border with Saudi Arabia, agreed in 2001. Social media posts in early November showed a Qatari flag being raised on land to the south of the Khor Al-Udeid inlet in the peninsula’s south-east, at a place called Ras Al-Qasasir. Previously Saudi Arabia had a maritime border with Qatar in the inlet – which is so narrow in places that beach goers on the Qatari side could wave at the Saudi guards on the opposite bank.

Isolated by its erstwhile ‘GCC-3’ allies, Qatar gave some very public thanks to those who had stuck by it following the boycott launched by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt in June 2017 when, in the first half of October, it invited senior officials and companies from the likes of Iran, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan to Doha to share a stage with Qatari government ministers.

GCC: The Co-operation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) was set up on 25 May 1981 in Abu Dhabi, when the leaders of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates agreed to establish a council whose aims were to “achieve unity”, formulate “similar regulations” for the economics, customs, commerce, communications, education and culture sectors, and to stimulate scientific and technological progress.

Disputes continue to fester between Doha and Manama, despite the early January Gulf Co-operation Council reconciliation deal. Bahrain has reopened its airspace to Qatari aircraft and invited Doha to send an official delegation to iron out bilateral issues, but it has also complained bitterly about its fishing boats being detained after allegedly straying into Qatari waters. The arrest of Bahraini bodybuilder Sami Al-Haddad earlier this month while on a fishing trip was a particular bone of contention.

Foreign affairs minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani spent five days in Washington during the second half of July for a series of meetings with senior officials. This was swiftly followed by a visit to Tehran, in a sign that Qatar may be acting as an intermediary between the United States and Iran at a time when talks to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal have stalled.

Qatar and Mauritania are to re-establish diplomatic relations, which had been severed during the recently-ended boycott of Doha by the Gulf trio of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.