Qatar

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) comprises Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. In recent years it has faced severe internal divisions, especially a Saudi-Qatar split over the Muslim Brotherhood, which Riyadh wanted to crush but which Qatar generally has supported. After […]

Barack Obama

Was that a White House- Gulf Arab Summit or an Arms Bazaar?

contributors

By Thalif Deen | (Inter Press Service) | – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry chats with Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia on Mar. 5, 2015, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, before the two and their counterparts attended a meeting of the regional Gulf Cooperation Council. Credit: U.S. State Department/public domain UNITED NATIONS, May […]

Featured

Obama: No Mideast NATO, but US committed to Security of Arab Gulf States

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council came to meet President Barack Obama at Camp David in search of a renewed, formalized US commitment to their security. They came away disappointed. Though they did get firm oral commitments, there is no prospect of formal treaty obligations binding […]

Barack Obama

Saudi Arabia as the Incredible Hulk: King Salman snubs Obama’s Gulf Summit

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — Watching Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia nowadays, is like Kremlin-watching in the old days of the Cold War. It is not as if most Western journalists have a really good idea of the maneuverings inside the Saudi palace or know why exactly things happen. Since King Salman […]

GCC

Saudi-led attacks in Yemen demonstrate the Gulf’s new assertiveness

contributors

By James M. Dorsey | ( Your Middle East ) – “Everything is underground, nothing is public.” The current Saudi-led intervention in Yemen designed to prevent Iranian-backed forces from gaining power symbolises the Gulf’s new assertiveness. This is unfolding as the various Gulf states seek to hedge their bets with different strategies that complement rather […]

Arab Spring

The Arab Political Crisis: It isn’t a Matter of Civilization and it isn’t Unique

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Hisham Melhem has a piece on what he calls the collapse of Arab civilization. The piece is riddled with contradictions and fuzzy thinking and with all due respect to Milhem, who is a knowledgeable and experienced correspondent, I am going to disagree with it vehemently. I think he is arguing that Arabs […]

Economy

Under World Cup Pressure, Qatar reforms Guest Worker Laws, abolishes Sponsorship System

Juan Cole

Qatar to end sponsorship system for foreign workers (via AFP) Qatar, host of the 2022 football World Cup, said Wednesday it will abolish its controversial sponsorship system for foreign workers, whose treatment in the energy-rich state has stirred mounting international criticism. FIFA chief Sepp Blatter described… ——- AFP: “Qatar to end sponsorship system for […]

Climate Change

The Ukraine Crisis and Qatar’s Ascendancy should Make us think Big Solar, not Gas

Juan Cole

Originally published on SolarWakeup.By Yann Brandt Solar may be a small portion of energy production globally but the importance in geo-politics continues to grow. All energy usage may be local, when a homeowner plugs in their cell phone charge into…

Islam

Will the US side with Saudi or Qatar in the Great Gulf Civil War?

contributors

(By Omar Ali) The Saudi strategy of offering military support to the US while exporting Muslim militancy and portraying itself as the protector of the two holiest sites in the Islamic world has backfired for both Saudi Arabia and the US. Tensions are increasing in the Persian Gulf, with Qatar on one side, and Saudi […]