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

Operation Peace Spring Has Further Exposed Close Turkish-Qatari Ties

By Giorgio Cafiero Some member-states in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) join Egypt in viewing Turkey’s agenda in the Arab/Islamic world as a major threat. Specifically, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh perceive Turkey’s “neo-Ottoman” and Muslim Brotherhood-friendly foreign policy with serious… 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

Diverging Gulf Responses to Kashmir and Xinjiang Ripple Across Asia

by James M. Dorsey Recent diametrically opposed responses to repression of Muslims by China, India and other Asian countries highlight deep differences among Gulf states that ripple across Asia. The different responses were evident in Gulf reactions to India’s unilateral… Continue Reading