Can A Soccer Tournament Help End The Gulf Cooperation Council Crisis?

By Khalid Al-Jaber and Giorgio Cafiero Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain’s football associations recently announced that they would participate in the Arabian Gulf Cup football tournament, which begins tomorrow. As many experts have posited, the reversal… Continue Reading

Intra-Gulf Competition in Africa’s Horn: Lessening the Impact

by International Crisis Group What’s new? Middle Eastern states are accelerating their competition for allies, influence and physical presence in the Red Sea corridor, including in the Horn of Africa. Rival Gulf powers in particular are jockeying to set the terms… Continue Reading

Gulf Wealth: All That Glitters Is Not Gold

by James M. Dorsey Little suggests that fabulously wealthy Gulf states and their Middle Eastern and North African beneficiaries have recognized what is perhaps the most important lesson of this year’s popular uprisings in Algeria and Sudan and the 2011… Continue Reading

The Tangled Mess in the Persian Gulf Echoes 1914

by Mitchell Plitnick The current situation in the Persian Gulf is all too similar to Europe in 1914, according to a new report by the International Crisis Group (ICG). In “Averting the Middle East’s 1914 Moment,” the ICG makes the… Continue Reading