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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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Sharia considers conventional insurance haram because it involves the transfer of risk.

Two years into his presidency, Nicolas Sarkozy is starting to reap the rewards of an election night promise to place the Middle East among the key priorities of French foreign policy. Arab governments now see Paris as a key point of contact and leverage, a useful counterpoint to their traditionally close relations with Washington, and a strategic ally in propping up the peace process and countering the strategic challenge posed by Iran.

Maan Abdelwahed Abdelmajid Al-Sanea was relatively little known outside the region until he bought a high-profile stake in HSBC in 2007 (GSN 804/10, 803/9). Al-Sanea, in his mid-50s, holds Kuwaiti and Saudi nationality. According to a Kuwaiti source, he grew up in Shamiya, a middle class suburb of Kuwait City. But his maternal family is the Al-Gosaibi, from Hofuf in eastern Saudi Arabia.

Opposition supporters remain passionate about the rightness of their cause, but as Basij and other militia stalked the streets of Tehran, the regime appeared to be regaining the initiative in realpolitik terms as this special issue of GSN went to press.

Al-Ghanim & Sons has signed a MoU with Russian state-owned power trader Inter Rao and VTB Bank to invest up to

Rahbar (Supreme Leader) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Friday prayers speech at Tehran University on 19 June was awaited with great anticipation; Khamenei normally only makes public appearances to mark Ramadan and the anniversary of the 1979 revolution. Iranian state television promoted his appearance as a major event.

According to UK publication Horse & Hound, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum has demanded to know why the International Equestrian Federation (FEI - an organisation whose president Princess Haya Al-Hussein is MBR’s wife) delayed notifying him of a positive dope test on his horse, Tahhan

Rapidly spreading protests are seen as a challenge not just to the election result and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but also to Rahbar (Supreme Leader) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – and may eventually challenge the basis of the Islamic Republic (although this latter challenge still seems a long way off).

Crown Prince Sultan: Plenty of visitors but no news, Saud Al-Faisal: Talks about Obama, Faisal Bin Abdullah: Mawhiba deputy chairman, Mohammed Bin Fahd: Meetings, Investment: European property plays