Many in the Gulf now openly wonder whether U.S. support can still be relied upon, given the speed with which the U.S. government has engaged Iran in negotiation and diplomacy since 2013. This incomprehension may lead to further instability in the Middle East as the Gulf States continue to take increasingly unilateral action in Yemen and other regional conflict zones. Continue Reading
Though drops in oil prices stand to impact Saudi Arabia’s economic stability, the government has turned to drawing down its foreign reserves and issuing bonds to alleviate budgetary pressures and avoid drastic domestic spending cuts. Continue Reading
Thousands of column inches and reams of (virtual) paper have been devoted to analyzing the merits or otherwise of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreed on July 14 between Iran and the P5+1. Debate, both in the United… Continue Reading
The rise of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states as regional powers with international reach raises a new set of challenges for policymaking in the Middle East and North Africa as the region emerges unsteadily from the Arab Spring. Chief among them is the growing evidence that Gulf officials increasingly seem prepared to “go it alone” and act unilaterally or, at best, as a loose regional bloc to secure their interests in transition states. Continue Reading
The centenary of the capture of Basra offers an opportunity to reflect on the nature and impact of the first Western military intervention in Iraq, nine decades before the city once again became the focal point of British activity in… Continue Reading
The latest attempt at securing a ceasefire in Gaza may have broken down, but behind-the-scenes diplomacy to resolve the conflict has once again shone a spotlight on Qatar’s mediatory role in conflict resolution. The country is attempting to restore its battered Arab Spring reputation as the ideal interlocutor that is uniquely placed to bridge divides and bring ostensible adversaries together. Thirteen months after the change of leadership in Doha, the new emir and foreign minister are adopting a far quieter, low-key approach to mediation. Eschewing the fanfare of their predecessors’ frenetic forays into the regional arena, Qatari officials are going “back to basics” and returning to the style of mediation that propelled the country to international prominence in the 2000s. Continue Reading
June 28 marks exactly 100 years since the assassinations in Sarajevo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife, Sophie, by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. The fallout from the killings ricocheted through the web of European alliances and culminated in the outbreak of World War I between July 28 and August 4, 1914. With the passing of the last surviving participants, World War I has moved from the fringes of personal experience into the history books. Yet in the Middle East, overlain by subsequent conflicts and decades of bitter contestation, the aftermath of decisions made during the war continue to reverberate across the region. Continue Reading