The 2022 World Cup: Is Qatar Putting its Best Foot Forward?
By James M. Dorsey This is Qatar’s year to put its best foot forward. A major producer of natural gas, the tiny Gulf state is under the magnifying glass as…
The IRGC in Iranian politics
by Neville Teller IRGC stands for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a branch of the Iranian armed forces. It was founded shortly after the Iranian revolution in 1979 specifically to…
Always a major Middle Eastern power, Israel now takes centre stage
By James M. Dorsey A straightforward message emerged from this week’s meeting in the Negev desert of the foreign ministers of four Arab countries, Israel and the United States: Israel…
New Books Network Review: Rivals in the Gulf
By James M. Dorsey Rivals in the Gulf: Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, Abdullah Bin Bayyah, and the Qatar-UAE Contest Over the Arab Spring and the Gulf Crisis (Routledge, 2021) goes to key questions of…
The US’s new non-NATO ally
by Neville Teller “Major non-NATO Ally” (MNNA) is a US legal designation conferred on nearly 20 countries including Australia, Israel, Japan and Brazil. On March 10, President Joe Biden formally…
Autocratic vs. Democratic Islam = UAE vs. Indonesia
By James M. Dorsey Indonesia has emerged as a primary battleground between democratic and autocratic visions of Islam in the 21st century. The battle pits Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the world’s…
In Saudi Arabia, dance maybe, dissent no
By James M. Dorsey Three scantily dressed samba dancers wearing traditional feather headdresses laid bare the limits of social liberalisation in Saud Arabia when they earlier this year danced…
Can Israel help Europe with its energy needs?
by Neville Teller Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has resulted in unprecedent unity of action by the Western world. Acting in concert, the West has imposed…
The Gulf crisis has lessons for Vladimir Putin. Not all may work in his favour
By James M. Dorsey The Ukraine crisis may constitute a more impactful, historic watershed than the 1989 fall of the Berlin wall in the mind of Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister…
Putin hums ‘Georgia on my mind’
By James M. Dorsey What did Russian President Vladimir Putin think when he ordered his troops into Ukraine? Ray Charles’ ‘Georgia on mind’ must have been humming in his head.…