The announcement of the China-brokered Iran-KSA normalization plan triggered pearl-clutching around the globe. Some headlines even implied that Israel’s PM Netanyahu was surprised by the news, even though the negotiations have been ongoing since early in the Biden administration’s tenure. Indeed, there are signs that the Beijing-backed phase of the talks that began in Iraq […]
President Tsai Ing-wen arriving in Panama City on her first overseas state trip in June 2016 (photo: The China Post) The days of countries paying tribute to China, in order to stay in China’s good graces, may long be gone, but nowadays the tribute appears to flow in the opposite direction. Since opening up its […]
While the diplomatic tension between Saudi Arabia and Qatar existed since the Arab Spring, the break up caught foreign policy experts by surprise.
Saudi Arabia and Iran project influence using their interpretations of Islam and the politicization of sectarian identities as instruments of foreign policy.
Despite defense spending cuts and a greater reluctance to use military force, Britain remains a key player in international security.
Current governments of Syria, Iraq and Kurdistan should rule over their ethnic populations while Sunni areas should be occupied by foreign Sunni powers.
There is little chance that Iran and the Arab monarchies, led by Saudi Arabia, can countenance each another’s respective aspirations. The U.S. is trying to make a deal with Iran while still tying itself to the demands of its other security partners in the region.
Over the past fifty years, art in the Gulf has witnessed an artistic revolution, starting in Kuwait.
With the appearance of oil in the mid-20th century, the structure of the average Arabian family began to change. So, too, did women’s participation in the economy and their societal status.
The Iran-Saudi “cold war” carries, for both countries, a dimension that raises particular security concerns: the presence of minority communities in their respective backyards that show sympathy to the other side due to domestic repression.
The [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is comprised of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Sultanate of Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. According to the GCC’s Charter, what unites these countries are their “special relations, common characteristics and similar systems founded on the creed of Islam.” “Their […]
For many of us, February 14 is celebrated as St. Valentine’s Day, an occasion marked by lovers expressing their love for each other by presenting flowers, candy or greeting cards. For Bahrainis, the day is marked quite differently, as it represents the third anniversary of the uprising on their tiny Gulf archipelago of 1.7 million people. […]
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The “Arab Spring” that began with the self-immolation of a vendor in the streets of Tunisia spread potently throughout the Middle East-North Africa (MENA). The small country of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf was also hit by the wave of the regional quest for political transformation in 2011. Due to the crisis caused by […]
The Government of Bahrain and opposition movement are at a stalemate. Last November, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), comprising of individuals selected for their human rights expertise released a damning report outlining the many abuses committed by Bahrain’s government during the February 2011 crisis. While the government has made progress in implementing the […]