Gulf

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Human-caused global heating is hitting the Middle East hard, and rates of cancer in Middle Eastern women are increasing. Is there a correlation? This is the question asked by Wafa Abu El Kheir-Mataria and Sungsoo Chun at Frontiers . These scholars are at the American University in Cairo, my alma […]

China

Trump’s Middle East Pivot aims to counter China’s rising Influence

The Conversation

By Maria Papageorgiou, Newcastle University (The Conversation) – The US president, Donald Trump, claimed he was able to secure deals totalling more than US$2 trillion (£1.5 trillion) for the US on his tour of the Gulf states in May. Trump said “there has never been anything like” the amount of jobs and money these agreements […]

Donald Trump

The Gulf States have Long Boosted US Economic Dominance, even if not every President Got a Free Private Jet

The Conversation

By Adam Hanieh, University of Exeter (The Conversation) – After signing a US$142 billion (£107 billion) arms deal with Saudi Arabia, Donald Trump said the US bond with that country was “more powerful than ever”. He was also reportedly quite pleased with the gift of a private jet from Qatar. But these arrangements are just […]

Donald Trump

For all Trump’s new Mideast Contracts, Two Big Deals Elude Him

Shahram Akbarzadeh

By Shahram Akbarzadeh, Deakin University (The Conversation) – US President Donald Trump’s visit to Arab states in the Middle East this week generated plenty of multibillion-dollar deals. He said more than US$1 trillion (A$1.5 trillion) worth of deals had been signed with Saudi Arabia alone, though the real total is likely much lower than that. […]

China

Even as it Strikes Deals with Trump, the Gulf Embraces Chinese Tech Giants

Neil Thompson

Chinese technology firms are increasingly competing with US ones in major Middle Eastern markets, escalating technology-related US national security concerns. London (Special to Informed Comment; feature) – Chinese technology companies are poised to play a growing role in the Middle East’s digitalization process, amid expanding ties between Chinese entities and local regional partners. Firms including […]

Featured

The Center of the World: A Global History of the Persian Gulf

Marc Martorell Junyent

Review of Allen James Fromherz, The Center of the World: A Global History of the Persian Gulf from the Stone Age to the Present (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2024). Munich, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) –– Historically known as the Persian Gulf, the body of water stretching from Iraq on the northwest to […]

Arab World

Expansion of BRICS, the anti-G7, in the Mideast: Is the Oil Gulf no Longer Pax Americana?

Hamdullah Baycar

Exeter (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – BRICS, a group of five developing countries that include China, Russia, and India, has invited another six countries to join the bloc, making the group 11 if all accept the invitation. Among 40 interested states in membership, of which 22 had already officially asked for admission, BRICS leaders […]

China

Mideast AI: Saudi, UAE Chip imports from US imperiled by Their Close China Ties

Neil Thompson

London (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Efforts by Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to join the race for artificial intelligence could be hindered by US opposition to China’s growing footprint in the region. US President Joe Biden and his administration appear concerned that rising Chinese influence in […]

Bahrain

Are China’s increasing Economic ties with the Gulf states reducing the West’s Sway in the Middle East?

The Conversation

By Emilie Rutledge, The Open University | – At the end of November 2022, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak announced that the “golden era” between Great Britain and China was over. China may not have been too bothered by this news however, and has been busy making influential friends elsewhere. In early December, Chinese president […]