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Pilot Officer Sheikha Aisha Bint Rashid Al-Khalifa, a granddaughter of prime minister Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa, has become the first Bahraini woman to pilot a Royal Bahrain Air Force jet, taking control of a Hawk aircraft on a one-hour demonstration flight from Sheikh Isa Air Base on 11 July.

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) hosted a Saudi economic forum on 11 July, sponsored by Riyadh-based BMG Financial Group. It offered an opportunity for the LSE to restate its credentials as a home for Saudi companies looking to tap international investors. LSE chairman Donald Bydon told guests “the time for Saudi privatisations is now and the LSE is the natural partner”. This is despite increasing doubts that Riyadh’s ambitious plans to sell state-owned assets, headlined by persistent indications that the plans for the Saudi Aramco initial public offering (IPO) are stuck.

Oman’s faltering drive towards diversification and a greater role for the private sector has come to a grinding halt as oil prices have held steady at relatively high levels. The more comfortable macroeconomic situation appears to have removed fiscal pressures that were pushing the government to implement a more vibrant and inclusive reform programme. Critics complain that reforms have been silently but strongly opposed by entrenched business interests who want to maintain their hold over entrepreneurial opportunities.

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS)’s desire to bury the kingdom’s history of exporting militant Wahhabism around the world was on show in Mecca and Jeddah on 10-11 July, when the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) held a major conference on Afghanistan which unequivocally condemned the notion of Muslims fighting each other. The outcome was observed with great interest in Afghanistan, where generations of Taliban leaders have been brought up on a Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi diet which has hitherto demanded that non-conformity with a strict interpretation of sharia should be dealt with strictly on earth.

One specific claim linking Qatar to Ibrahim Al-Jathran’s attack on Libyan ‘Oil Crescent’ facilities is the allegation that his military force included Chadian rebels opposed to the regime of President Idriss Déby Itno. Doha is linked to these rebels, whose leader Timane Erdimi took up residence in the Qatari capital in 2009. The significance of that link can be interpreted in different ways. Erdimi is Déby’s nephew and until they fell out in 2004 had served as the Chadian leader’s chief of staff and ran the key cotton parastatal CotonTchad.

The US Department of Defense (Pentagon) has confirmed two large orders for fighter jet sales to its Gulf allies, in the latest evidence of the region’s arms race in the sky. The multi-billion dollar sales to Bahrain and Kuwait come alongside progress with Qatar’s Eurofighter Typhoon order and suggestions the UAE may be learning from Israel’s experience with the F-35 jet.The first order to be confirmed was a $1.1bn sale of F-16 V Block 70 aircraft to the Royal Bahraini Air Force.

Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani was in France for an official visit from 5-6 July. His opening day was centred around a visit to Qatari service personnel who are receiving training in the operation and maintenance of Dassault Rafale fighter jets at Mont-de-Marsan Air Base in the south-west of the country; he was accompanied by french armed forces minister Florence Parly.

Politics: Established in 1971, the federation of seven emirates – Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al-Quwain is economically liberal and progressive, but remains politically conservative. Ultimate control is held by the emirate rulers, led by oil-rich, politically savvy Abu Dhabi and regional/global commercial hub Dubai. The federal government has legislative and executive jurisdiction over sectors including foreign affairs, security, defence, education, health, currency, electricity and immigration. Each emirate retains considerable economic independence and control over mineral rights and revenues.

The standoff between Qatar and its GCC-3 rivals Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE seems intractable more than a year after the embargo began, with new fronts in the dispute steadily opening up in other nearby regions. The battle for diplomatic influence and control of strategic assets in the Horn of Africa – enlivened by the UAE’s desire for military bases close to the Yemen conflict (GSN 1,055/6) – has been one notable arena. Libya has been a theatre of activity for Gulf and other regional players, notably Turkey, since the 2011 revolution that overthrew the late dictator Muammar Qadhafi. Recent manoeuvres involving Qatar and the UAE fit into what is becoming a familiar pattern.

Lawyers representing a Russian businesswoman imprisoned in Kuwait have launched legal proceedings against the Kuwait government for what they claim are breaches of a bilateral investment treaty with Russia and an attempt by Kuwait to expropriate $496m in assets.Law firm Crowell & Moring LLP (C&M), which represents Marsha Lazareva, has filed a notice of international arbitration alleging that Kuwait breached the treaty with Russia and has subjected its client to a co-ordinated campaign to damage her reputation and diminish the value of her investments.

Crown Prince and defence minister Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) signed an agreement with French armed forces minister Florence Barley to protect classified information, following talks in Jeddah on 9 July.

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.

Prime Minister Haidar Abadi’s government has clamped down on a wave of protests that began in Basra on 5 July and spread to eight other provinces. The first demonstrations focused on a lack of jobs, but complaints about corruption, lack of electricity and other poor public services also featured.

The Saudi government has at last signed the contract to buy five corvettes from Spanish ship-builder Navantia, according to local media.

Kuwait foreign minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah signed an agreement with his Saudi counterpart Adel Al-Jubeir to set up a bilateral co-ordination council on 18 July. The new council’s role has not been clearly defined. However, it’s the second time in recent months that Riyadh has set up a new bilateral mechanism with a neighbour in an initiative that is bound to raise questions about Riyadh’s commitment to the Gulf Co-operation Council. In June, it finalised a co-ordination council with the UAE.