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Issue 859 - 08 August 2009

MBR equestrian ban

Subscriber

The Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) has banned Federal Premier and Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (MBR) from riding in endurance races for six months after his horse twice failed doping tests

United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Free

Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Saeed’s three-day official visit to Iran has cemented decades of steady relations between the troubled Islamic Republic and Oman, for long seen as a moderate and sensible state whose good offices are valued by international partners. The visit, the Sultan’s first since Shah Reza Pahlavi’s fall in 1979, has highlighted the importance that Muscat attributes to maintaining steady relations with its large and powerful neighbour.

Iran | Oman
Issue 858 - 25 July 2009

A jihadist presence in Bahrain

Subscriber

Like Yemen, the militant threat in Bahrain is intimately linked to Saudi Arabia. This was underlined by recent attempts to secure the extradition of three Bahrainis being held in Saudi Arabia on terrorism charges. Bahrain’s Al-Adala group (National Justice Movement) and National Detainees Committee are demanding the release of the men. The first is Guantanamo detainee Abdullah Majid Al-Naimi, who was detained by Saudi police at the King Fahd causeway on 10 October; he is one of six Bahrainis detained at Guantanamo, a surprisingly high number given Bahrain’s tiny population.

Bahrain
Subscriber

Washington’s decision, announced on 9 July, to release five Iranian officials detained by US forces in Iraq since January 2007 was unusually timed. The men were described by Tehran as ‘diplomats’ but were said to have included the operations chief and other members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds force, which was accused of arming local Shia militias and inciting attacks against US forces

Iran | Iraq
Subscriber

Senior Saudi princes were seen lining up to praise King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz during recent celebrations of the fourth anniversary of the pledge of allegiance (bayaa) to the new monarch. Several of the most senior princes wrote special speeches, with observers pointing to a strict protocol and hierarchy in how they were reported.

Saudi Arabia
Subscriber

The King is overseeing a programme of cautious change, but is reluctant to ease the family hold on real power or alienate powerful religious interests. It takes fine political judgment to bolster the position of his Shammar branch of the family without provoking a rift with the Sudeiris and other powerful factions

Saudi Arabia
Subscriber

Keeping up with tradition, Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel has fallen out with the Palestinian Authority (PA), although it has resumed broadcasts in the West Bank after a PA ban was lifted.

Qatar
Subscriber

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad managed to add further complexity to the Iranian crisis with the appointment of Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie as first vice president. Known to favour cultivating diplomatic relations with Israel, the move created a political storm among leading hardliners. Rahbar Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reportedly instructed Ahmadinejad to sack Mashaie, suggesting a potential split between the Supreme Leader and his protégé.

Iran
Issue 857 - 11 July 2009

Defence procurement boom

Subscriber

Securocrat's nervousness at a deteriorating regional security situation was highlighted by reports that Saudi Arabia may place an order for extra Typhoon warplanes from BAE Systems. Saudi Arabia is anyway looking to develop

Saudi Arabia
Subscriber

Iran’s post-election crackdown has deepened GCC concerns about regional security. But that does not mean the Saudis would tacitly grant Israel airspace to mount a strike against the Natanz nuclear plant.

Iran | Saudi Arabia | Israel
Issue 857 - 11 July 2009

Royals Watch - Saudi Arabia

Subscriber

Expat Sudeiri meets King Abdullah; Backing the Mutawa; Promotion by royal order; Diplomatic opening in Syria; High-profile marriages; Turkish holiday; Recovering from surgery; Critical comments; Shopping embarrassment; Criticises brother Alwaleed; Turkey meeting; Red Sea initiative

Saudi Arabia
Subscriber

The withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq over the next 12 months presents Kurdistan with its greatest political risk since the end of the four-year KDP-PUK civil war in 1998. The prospect of the US military no longer guaranteeing the Kurdish/Iraqi peace heads a long list of negative factors that are competing to undermine the KRG region’s stability and end its enviable recent track record in terms of lack of violence.

Iraq
Subscriber

Ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum has bought a Suffolk property, the Grade II-listed Dalham Hall, for £45m. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum is the latest Emirati royal to become caught up in a horse doping enquiry.

United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Subscriber

Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani said Qatar would not allow anyone to damage relations between Tehran and Doha. Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani and his wife Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Misnad were in Paris in late June. Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani was insistent that Qatar does not interfere in the affairs of other countries.

Qatar
Issue 857 - 11 July 2009

AHMED BIN SAQR: Mystery Club

Free

Unconfirmed reports have suggested that Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saqr Al-Qasimi has purchased a majority stake in an English Premier League club

United Arab Emirates (UAE)