Tunisia Feels Heat from the GCC

by Giorgio Cafiero and Khalid al-Jaber On December 22, tension between Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) heated up. Citing “credible security information” about militant female members of the Islamic State (ISIS or IS) planning on entering the UAE… Continue Reading →

Why China Sold Qatar the SY-400 Ballistic Missile System

by Theodore Karasik and Giorgio Cafiero On Qatar National Day, the Qatar Armed Forces showcased their newly acquired Chinese SY-400 short-range ballistic missile system with a range of 400 kilometers. China’s sale of the SY-400 missile system to Qatar underscores… Continue Reading →

The Logic Behind Iran’s Regional Posture

by Adnan Tabatabai On December 3, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei convened Iran’s top military brass. Iranian media circulated one key sentence of his remarks on the front pages of newspapers: “Today, the armed forces are in need of the best… Continue Reading →

Doha and Abu Dhabi’s Incompatible Visions for the Arab World

by Giorgio Cafiero When Gamal Abdel Nasser’s secular Arab nationalist regime began purging Egypt of Muslim Brotherhood members during the 1950s and 1960s, many of these Islamists relocated to the Arab Persian Gulf monarchies. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—a… Continue Reading →

The Qatar Crisis in an Age of Alternative Facts

by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) holds its annual Summit in Kuwait City this week, exactly six months since three of the six GCC states—Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—cut diplomatic relations and imposed economic… Continue Reading →