GCC

Obama administration plans to increase military support for autocratic Gulf rulers

by News Sources 10.30.2011

The New York Times reports: The Obama administration plans to bolster the American military presence in the Persian Gulf after it withdraws the remaining troops from Iraq this year, according to officials and diplomats. That repositioning could include new combat forces in Kuwait able to respond to a collapse of security in Iraq or a [...]

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OPEC rulers pay their subjects $1 trillion to keep quiet

by News Sources 09.20.2011

Bloomberg reports: Saudi Arabia will spend $43 billion on its poorer citizens and religious institutions. Kuwaitis are getting free food for a year. Civil servants in Algeria received a 34 percent pay rise. Desert cities in the United Arab Emirates may soon enjoy uninterrupted electricity. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries members are poised to earn [...]

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Bahrain boils under the lid of repression

by News Sources 09.16.2011

Anthony Shadid reports: The battle began soon after sundown. And for the next six hours, in air heavy with heat and tear gas, phalanxes of police officers in helmets battled scores of youths in ski masks, as customers at a Costa Coffee not far away sat like spectators. No one won in the clashes, which [...]

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Saudis try to shield fragile Arab thrones

by News Sources 05.27.2011

The New York Times reports: Saudi Arabia is flexing its financial and diplomatic might across the Middle East in a wide-ranging bid to contain the tide of change, shield fellow monarchs from popular discontent and avert the overthrow of any more leaders struggling to calm turbulent republics. From Egypt, where the Saudis dispensed $4 billion [...]

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News roundup — May 12

by News Sources 05.12.2011

Sunni monarchies close ranks Reports that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is considering some form of membership for two non-Gulf states – Jordan and Morocco – confirm that the conservative Sunni monarchies of the Middle East are closing ranks against Iran, Shiite-led Iraq and the democratic wave sweeping the region. GCC secretary general Abdullatif al-Zayani [...]

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Bahrain regime promoting sectarian division

by News Sources 03.16.2011

Marc Lynch writes: While the American and international debate over Libya continues, the situation in Bahrain has just taken a sharp turn for the worse. A brutal crackdown on the protestors followed the controversial entry of security forces from Saudi Arabia and three other GCC states. Media access has been curtailed, with journalists finding it [...]

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Smile sweetly and say peace for the cameras — and bring in the big guns

by News Sources 03.15.2011

Tahiyya Lulu writes: The international community is taking weeks to decide whether to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. Meanwhile, in the eerie quiet of a Bahraini afternoon a deployment of 1,000 soldiers from the Saudi Arabia who are part of the Pensinsula Shield Force entered the country. Bahrain TV proudly aired clips showing cheering [...]

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Saudis move troops into Bahrain to crush pro-democracy movement

by Paul Woodward 03.14.2011

CNN opts for the anodyne and official phrasing “Gulf Cooperation Council security forces,” but the troops who just marched into Bahrain are Saudis. When US Defense Secretary Gates visited Bahrain on Friday, I assume King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifah gave the US advance warning that his Kingdom would shortly be under something resembling Saudi martial [...]

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Revolutionary fervor in the Gulf

by News Sources 02.24.2011

Kristin Smith Diwan writes: As the GCC foreign ministers huddled in a Bahraini capital seemingly under siege, it is clear that the predicted stability of the oil states is being put to the test. Most analysts believed the Gulf would be spared the wave of rebellion spreading across the Arab World due to their relative [...]

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NEWS & ANALYSIS: The Iranian threat

by Paul Woodward 01.13.2008

Saudi cannot be launchpad for Iran attack: report AFP, January 12, 2008 A leading Saudi newspaper on Saturday ruled out any attempt by the United States to use the oil-rich Gulf kingdom as a launchpad for a possible war on Iran over Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme. Two days before a visit to Saudi Arabia by [...]

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ANALYSIS: Pumping up the Iranian threat

by Paul Woodward 01.10.2008

Degrees of confidence on U.S.-Iran naval incident By Mike Nizza, New York Times, January 10, 2008 The list of those who are less than fully confident in the Pentagon’s video/audio mashup of aggressive maneuvers by Iranian boats near American warships in the Strait of Hormuz now includes the Pentagon itself. Unnamed Pentagon officials said on [...]

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NEWS & OPINION: Mismeasuring regional dynamics

by Paul Woodward 01.04.2008

Why U.S. strategy on Iran is crumbling By Marc Lynch, Christian Science Monitor, January 4, 2008 ‘Everywhere you turn, it is the policy of Iran to foment instability and chaos,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Gulf dignitaries in Bahrain last month. But in reality, everywhere you turn, from Qatar to Saudi Arabia to Egypt, you [...]

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NEWS: Gulf states oppose military threats against Iran; Gates say danger persists

by Paul Woodward 12.09.2007

Gulf countries speak out against military option in Iran By Ali Khalil, AFP, December 8, 2007 Gulf countries, cautious about the nuclear standoff between the United States and Iran, signalled loudly at a regional security conference on Saturday their opposition to any military option against Tehran. Washington, wrong-footed by its own National Intelligence Estimate in [...]

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ANALYSIS, OPINION & EDITOR’S COMMENT: Iran’s new Arab friends

by Paul Woodward 12.07.2007

Iran’s new Gulf friends By Martin Walker, UPI, December 5, 2007 A curious event took place in the Gulf as the new National Intelligence Estimate appeared in Washington, undermining the Bush administration’s threats and angry rhetoric by revealing that Iran had suspended in nuclear weapons program back in 2003. The arch-demon of President Bush’s rhetoric, [...]

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