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Qatar’s emergence as a world-scale natural gas producer has influenced its political choices—and was a factor in Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani’s 1995 putsch against his father Sheikh Khalifa Bin Hamad Al-Thani.

A rumour did the rounds of foreign currency traders returning  from  their  Easter  break  that  a  senior member  of  the  Saudi  ruling  family  and  security establishment  was  about  to  be  named  by  the  US authorities  as  a  supporter  of  Islamist  radical  groups linked  to  Al-Qaeda.  Such  were  the  concerns  that  this claim  would  prompt  the  Saudi  leadership  to  pull substantial funds out of the USA as a sanction against Washington   that   the   Euro   bounced,   further strengthening against the dollar.

The US public  was  shown  further  grounds  to  support  an attack  on  Iraq,  when  a  leaked  intelligence  report  suggested that  a  US Navy pilot  lost  in  1991  might  still  be  alive  and  in captivity. It touched on a topic of exceptional sensitivity in the USA — where  many  people  still  believe  missing  servicemen from  the  Korean and Vietnam wars  are  either  alive  or  were held  until  their  deaths.  It  also  forced  a  reluctant  Pentagon  to publicly admit that the Iraqi Air Force (IrAF) scored a single air-to-air victory on the first night of the Gulf War.

The  New  Yorker magazine,  required  reading  for  MidEast watchers,  has  revived  suggestions  of  a  “new”  link  between Iraqi intelligence  and  Osama  Bin  Laden’s Al-Qaeda network. Its claim that the two pariahs jointly ran a terrorist organisation in Kurdish northern Iraq—if true—could provide the smoking gun  that  US hawks  have  been  seeking  to  take  the  “war against terrorism” to Iraq. Efforts to link 11 September suicide hijacker Mohammed  Atta with  Iraqi  intelligence  in  the  Czech Republic did  not  convince,  and  until  now  the  Central Intelligence  Agency — but  not  its  influential  former  directorJames  Woolsey—had  largely  discounted  reported  links between President Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda.

Washington’s  intention  to  remove  President Saddam Hussein from power is no longer in  doubt, but  opposition  from  regional allies—robustly  expressed  during  Vice  President Dick  Cheney’s  mid-March  tour  of  potential coalition  partners — has  prompted  a  reassessment of  the  US  war  machine’s  capabilities  to  effect regime change in Iraq.n .

Opposition groups, infuriated by the final shape of constitutional reforms announced by King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa—the former Emir who on 14 February promoted himself to full monarchical status—are pondering whether to boycott Bahrain’s 9 May municipal and 24 October parliamentary elections.

News of the Royal Saudi Air Force’s decline has been exaggerated. Efforts are underway to overcome problems. These include fast jet accidents, training problems, budget struggles between Prince Sultan and Crown Prince Abdallah, and poor procurement planning.

Bahrain will hold municipal elections, with women allowed to vote, on 9 May, and parliamentary elections on 24 October—one year after the referendum on a shift to constitutional monarchy—Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa has announced.

Senior U.S. Air Force officers told GSN the U.S.A.F. is ready to move on to smaller, and more co-operative, G.C.C. states even if Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Air Base is the jewel in the crown of U.S. contingency planners.

Officials in Jersey remain tight-lipped about investigations into the Qatari Foreign Minister’s trust fund. The probe is examining payments flows and follows the freezing of assets controlled by Hamid Bin Jassem—a move that could damage relations with the U.K.

Saudi Arabia has not taken kindly to unusually severe foreign media attention, but some of this criticism reflects uncomfortable facts the leadership must confront if it is to reduce tensions in the Kingdom and reassure allies.

Winds of political change are blowing slowly but with increasing vigour in the U.A.E. Direct elections to the Federal National Council still seem some way off, but changes to the Council’s composition and powers are expected in 2002. Women could well join, according to GSN’s

Iran is preparing a 25 percent subsidy cut, with more to come, which will require a rethink of social protection for poorer families as the Islamic Republic reforms.

The U.N. Office of the Iraqi Programme is deeply frustrated at the failure of Baghdad and 661 Sanctions Committee governments to reform trade into Iraq. Much of the responsibility for hold-ups and supply shortfalls lies with the Iraqi government, but the U.S. and U.K. have

Governments across the Gulf are clamping down on citizens who are tempted to give more than moral support to Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban. A substantial number of arrests have been made in Saudi