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On 17 September, 1980 President Saddam Hussein announced Iraq's unilateral abrogation of the 1975 Algiers agreement with Iran which defined the shared sovereignty of the two countries of the Shatt al Arab waterway. Five days later the Iraqi army invaded Iran, and the Iraqi air force struck at targets deep inside Iran. Many observers at once foresaw that the war would bog down in an inconclusive military stalemate. Despite the disruption of Iran's military forces by political purges, expert military assessments put Iraqi armed forces as not much better.
It is a fairly common custom throughout the Arab world for senior officials and civil servants to issue from time to time a bland report on the state of affairs pertaining to their particular responsibilities. Such reports are invariably laudatory in tone and often anodyne in content. They rarely, if ever, reveal anything new. The shrewd and efficient Secretary General of the GCC, Abdullah Bishara, was recently moved to remark to the Saudi daily, ''AI Youm" on the accomplishments of the Gulf Co-operation Council.
The Reagan administration is pressing ahead determinedly with its naval intervention in the Gulf, despite the considerable risks of escalating a conflict which it is officially pledged to resolve. The contradiction (and dangers) of US policy are evident both to Congress - which vainly wishes to postpone the reflagging and escorting of Kuwaiti oil tankers - and to Iran, which sees the whole exercise as a deliberately hostile act directed against itself .
The stunning and unexpected news that Iran has agreed to accept the terms of UN resolution 598 which calls, first and foremost, for an immediate ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq war brought an instant and vast sense of relief to all the countries of the Gulf region. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan at once issued statements welcoming the Iranian decision.
Across The Region, News, Data & Analysis: Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Yemen
Gulf leaders have understood the massive anger at Israel’s assault on the Palestinians. Ruling elites have generally moved rapidly to associate themselves with protests and distance themselves from U.S. policy. Where this has not proved possible—as in Bahrain—they have found
I.R.N.A., Iran’s national news agency, notable for its comprehensive political coverage, has been allowed to open a bureau in Riyadh, an indication of the deepening relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Under a new press law, the kingdom will also permit the local printing of foreign
The U.S.A. and its closest allies are turning to the first military phase of President George W. Bush’s “war on terrorism”. The widely unpopular Afghan Taliban and Osama Bin Laden are in the firing line, but the new U.S.-led ‘coalition’ will not hold for long if Washington is seen to be avenging itself on innocent Muslim populations.
Investigators are working overtime in Yemen to find those responsible for the USS Cole bombing, while the Taliban in Afghanistan are expecting a U.S. cruise missile any day. GSN examines Yemen’s Islamists, the “Bin Laden connection” and President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s delicate balancing act.
A possible resolution of the maritime border between Kuwait and Iran could open up the offshore Dorrah gas field, but other Kuwaiti oil sector projects are moving slowly.
The crackdown on what the U.S.A. calls “terrorist” financial networks are producing revelations which implicate well-known institutions and individuals. Latest U.S. lists include several notable Saudis and Kuwaitis.
Osama Bin Laden is the central target of a new anti-terrorist initiative being prepared by the U.S.. Tackling the roots of violence will be left for late.
The Gulf's security mandarins were in no mood to dismiss the New Year rioting in Bahrain as simple hooliganism when they gathered at two key meetings in early January (GSN 701/4). An impromptu meeting between GCC intelligence and security ministers in Kuwait on 4 January set the scene for further discussions at the sidelines of a scheduled meeting between Arab interior and information ministers in Tunis on 14 January.
Al-Sauds and their critics have been edging towards political reforms and a new social compact, but exiled opponents want more. They want to outflank the Jihadi insurgency with a peaceful protest movement.
