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Will Mohammad Khatami secure the backing of Rahbar (Supreme Leader) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for his presidential comeback bid this summer? Unlikely as this might have seemed even weeks ago, Iranian political observers, whose debates GSN has joined in the past week, are agreed that this may be the decisive question
King Abdullah: Meetings, travels, Miqrin Bin Abdelaziz: To Syria and Taliban talks, Salmam Bin Abdelaziz: Support for divorcee centre, Al Waleed Bin Talal: Dubai, cinema, Saud Bin Mansour: SFO in Dubai
Attention has focused on Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah Bin Mohammed following his appointment as education minister. For several years he has served as the General Intelligence Directorate deputy chief and before that was long involved with the Saudi Arabian National Guard at a senior level.
Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdelaziz has left his residence in Agadir, Morocco, for the United States for follow-up medical checks and treatment (GSN 845/1). The state Saudi Press Agency said the prince had completed a
ABDULLAH BIN ZAYED: Travels. MOHAMMED BIN ZAYED: Meetings. MANSOUR BIN ZAYED: AC Milan rumours squashed. HAZZA BIN SULTAN BIN ZAYED: Bangor PhD
Sheikha Budoor: Emir names daughter as Shorouq head, Hoor Bint Sultan: Sharjah Biennial
Free speech has taken a small but notable step forward in Qatar with the publication of a report on media freedom and transparency in the Middle East and North Africa by the Doha Centre for Media Freedom, established just over a year ago by Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
The Obama administration’s decision to attempt diplomatic re-engagement with Iran provides a moment of excruciating discomfort for many US politicians and generals. GSN has been exposed to some of the thinking going on inside the Pentagon, as well as in the think tanks and State Department offices charged with charting a path through this dangerous territory.
King Abdullah’s reshuffle has brought in new ministers, a change of central bank governor and other senior officials across a wide range of government departments and official agencies. Below, GSN lists the newcomers. Ministerial changes:
Local trade unionists were targeted by the Iraqi military for leading a “peaceful” demonstration on 28 January in Basra, the Petrochemical Workers’ Union of Basra (PWUB) has reported.
In a fast-evolving regional situation, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is touring the Gulf again, visiting Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait
With the provincial elections successfully and peacefully out of the way, Nouri Al-Maliki’s Daawa Party appears stronger, and Iraq appears more stable than at any time since the invasion. But the advances are fragile, with fundamental tensions unresolved and the task of developing the country’s oil wealth facing mounting complications.
The GCC is struggling to develop coherence as a diplomatic player at a critical moment for the region, with the domestic politics of Israel and Iran in play, and the cast of key players going through a period of change. News that ex-president Mohammad Khatami will bid to recover his old job in this summer’s Iranian elections will be welcomed by the United States and its
Deep concerns across the region about political developments in Iran and Israel, communal tensions and ever more spats over policy between Gulf Co-operation Council member states (all discussed in Politics, below) are starting to claim victims – which seem to include the semi-public rapprochement between Israel and Qatar’s determinedly independent-minded leadership.
The UAE has deliberately stepped up its rhetoric to support US policy in the region while the Obama administration is settling in and preparing to receive its first briefings on Centcom’s region-wide assessment of Gulf policy. Personal and collaborative technology relations between the two militaries have become very close, even on such thorny policy issues as Iran’s nuclear programme.
