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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.

President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan has continued to hold meetings with Emirati dignitaries while on holiday in France, proviking considerable comment after the UAE head of state’s many years of staying out of the limelight. Following his publicised meeting with his Bani Fatima half-brother Sheikh Hamed Bin Zayed on 9 June, Sheikh Khalifa held talks on 15 July with Ajman Ruler and Supreme Council Member Sheikh Humaid Bin Rashid Al-Nuaimi at his residence in the French spa town of Evian.

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 – has been one notable arena.

A flagship art show patronised by King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa’s wife Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al-Khalifa and supported by development agency Tamkeen has been criticised by dealers and contractors who complain the organisation was chaotic and some participants haven’t been paid after the March 2017 second edition.

Gulf grandees arrived in Beijing for the Arab-China Cooperation Forum (ACCF) in early July, but the country that appeared to take the event most seriously was Kuwait, whose Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah was the only Gulf ruler to attend. The emir was in China from 7-10 July, holding bilateral talks with President Xi Jinping before heading on to the ACCF. In an interview with the local Xinhua News Agency, Sheikh Sabah said he hoped China would help to establish industrial and high-tech park in northern Kuwait.

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 General Headquarters (GHQ) of the UAE Armed Forces announced on 7 July that national service for Emirati males with a high school diploma or above is to be extended from 12 to 16 months – those without a high school certificate will continue to serve for two years. The UAE first introduced national service in 2014.

King Salman Bin Abdelaziz announced a pardon on 10 July for all servicemen involved in Operation Restoring Hope in Yemen. The statement referred to an amnesty for “military and disciplinary penalties, in regard of some rules and disciplines”. It gave no indication of what the pardon covers. Saudi-led coalition forces have repeatedly been accused of war crimes by human rights groups, who cite the use of cluster bombs and air strikes that appear to target civilians.

The Court of Cassation threw Kuwaiti politics into fresh turmoil on 8 July, by sentencing two current members of the National Assembly and six former MPs to jail terms of three and a half years for storming parliament in 2011. The two sitting MPs, Waleed Al-Tabtabai and Jamaan Al-Harbash, were reportedly outside the country at the time of the decision, which had been delayed from May. They are expected to lose their seats, although that will require a vote in parliament first.