July 23, 2020

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With Morsi Gone, Hamas Turns Back to Iran

By September 29, 2020
jonathan-spyer

A number of recent reports have noted the revival of Iranian financial backing for Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement which rules the Gaza Strip. The Iranian decision appears to follow a series of meetings between officials of the Islamic Republic and senior Hamas members in recent days. It is not yet clear what this apparent Iranian rapprochement with Hamas will mean in practice. Iranian arming and support of Hamas never entirely ended, though its levels were drastically reduced after … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Egypt, GLORIA, Iran, Qatar, Radical Movements Tagged With: ,

ALL I WANT IS EQUALITY WITH GIRLS: GENDER AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY GULF

By March 3, 2021

  INTRODUCTION In January 2004, Lubna Olayan stepped up to the lectern to deliver a speech to the Jeddah Economic Summit. She was a natural choice to be the first woman to address the forum in the Saudi port city because she headed one of Saudi Arabia’s best-known conglomerates, the Olayan Financing Group. Lubna was a daughter of Sulayman Olayan, who had risen from humble circumstances to become one of Saudi Arabia’s most successful businessmen. Yet the organizers of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bahrain, Gulf, Kuwait, MERIA Journal Volume 14, Number 01 (Mar 2010), Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Women in the Middle East

Motives and Interests in Israel-Gulf Relations

By September 7, 2020
barry-rubin

In early August 2009, Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faysal visited Washington. He praised the Obama administration and then hammered nails into the coffin of its Middle East policy. There was nothing subtle about the Saudi response. For the first time, a non-radical Arab regime--that is, one nominally allied with the United States--has openly ridiculed the U.S. government’s new policy. Naturally, the prince was full of praise for the Obama administration, in general. In specific, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bahrain, Gulf, Israel, Kuwait, MERIA Journal Volume 13, Number 03 (Sep 2009), Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates

Russia and Qatar

By December 1, 2020

RUSSIA AND QATAR Mark N. Katz* This article discusses the improvement in relations between Russia and Qatar between the years 2004 to 2007 and the significance of this rapprochement. From 2004 to 2007, relations between Russia and Qatar went from extremely poor to remarkably cooperative. How did this happen? Considering that Russia and Qatar are both among the world's three largest producers of natural gas (the third being Iran), what does this Russian-Qatari rapprochement … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Gulf, MERIA Journal Volume 11, Number 04 (Dec 2007), Qatar

The UAE: Political Issues and Security Dilemmas

By March 3, 2021

  Volume 3, No. 1 - March 1999 THE UAE: POLITICAL ISSUES AND SECURITY DILEMMAS By Sean Foley At the end of the twentieth century, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) enjoys a favorable strategic position compared to the rest of the southern Gulf states. The federation faces no immediate threat of invasion, overwhelming debt, organized domestic opposition or economic collapse. The emirates' rivalries have largely abated and there appears to be the beginnings of a federal civil society. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economics, Gulf, MERIA Journal Volume 03, Number 01 (Mar 1999), Middle East Politics, Qatar, Saudi Arabia

Imperfect Alliances: Will the Gulf Monarchies Work Together?*

By July 3, 2020

Formally speaking, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a coherent alliance; but is it in fact so? The six GCC states (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman) have much in common: socioeconomic and political structures, political culture, and obsessions of security and threats. Although they differ in their perceptions of threats, the GCC states define security in a very narrow, one-dimensional way: as the status-quo continuity of the political … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bahrain, Gulf, Kuwait, MERIA Journal Volume 01, Number 02 (Jul 1997), Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates