... resist the temptation to include new conditions for a “new” deal. This path of the United States can delay the process and create new problems, especially if the Americans take into account the views of their Middle Eastern allies, such as Israel or Saudi Arabia. The Iranian nuclear issue remains resolvable only when it is discussed outside the regional policy issues and with limited participation of international players. The 2015 deal was optimal in this regard, and the parties should be committed to the existing ...
The U.S.-Saudi Arabia-Iran Tensions: It Seemed We Were Moving Towards a Conflict More Dramatic Than Anything We Have Already Seen
Key ideas from Daniel Levy’s speech during the “Persian Gulf: War and Peace” session of the
9th Valdai Discussion Club’s Middle East ...
... threatening the whole world order. The tension between the ruling elites and citizens will reshape regional political geography.
With conflicting principles of superpowers, the Middle East will undergo a high risk of conflict in spheres of influence between Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey and other rising regional powers which seek to play a pivotal role in local and global affairs, attempting to shape the multipolar world.
The persistence of conflicts and the absence of real effective political and economic ...
... capable of organizing such an attack all on their own since they had previously shown cruise missiles with the necessary range to the public. However, in all fairness, we should note that experts identified them as radically simplified knock-offs of Iranian cruise missiles. Debates about the military capabilities of the Houthis are likely to continue, but some conclusions can be drawn. The war in Yemen costs Saudi Arabia dearly, both economically and in terms of its public image. Saudi Arabia is also clearly vulnerable to new attacks, despite enormous military spending and assistance from the United States. The media has added fuel to the fire by
suggesting
...
Repeated attacks and growing tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran put a question mark over the future of Middle Eastern exports
The attack on the infrastructure facilities of Saudi Arabia’s national oil and gas company
Saudi Aramco
is the largest interruption of energy supplies in history (in absolute terms)....
...
Andrey Kortunov, Michel Duclos:
Helping Iran to Make the Right Choice
Bahrain is a very good example of a small country surviving a very difficult strategic environment. If you think about the Gulf, one thinks of both the regional powers such as Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the global actors: the US, UK, Russia. I decided to look at something else, at Bahrain, the smallest state in the region. It is less than one thousand-square-kilometers. And the academic question of how Bahrain could survive against such ...
... expanded to include the navies of the leading European powers, as well as Japan and South Korea, which also receive a large share of their hydrocarbons via the Strait of Hormuz. Subsequently, it would be wise to involve the navies of the United States, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other coastal states of the Gulf in the operation.
However, even before joining the operation, the United States could demonstrate to the entire world that protecting the freedom of navigation is indeed a priority of its foreign policy,...
... slowly stabilising. A peace process in Syria is gaining momentum, and ISIS’ defeat is getting closer. However, Middle Eastern problems remain massive. Among them we have selected three main issues, which are also interconnected: the hostility between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Sunni and Shia; the stabilisation of oil prices, which are now rising but remain — as always — difficult to predict; the presence of terrorism, which, despite ISIS’ decline, is still a problem well beyond the region.
Starting with the geopolitics,...
... ongoing research project, Asian investors continue to increase direct investments in the EAEU. During the monitoring period (2008–2016), FDI stock originating from 12 Asian countries (China, Japan, Turkey, India, Israel, Mongolia, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iran, Singapore, and Vietnam) has increased from $32 billion in 2008 to $75.6 billion in the beginning of 2017.
China continues to expand its economic presence in EAEU countries and other CIS states, retaining its leadership among Asian countries in terms ...
... Tailspin: To Be Continued
Or is Trump’s idea to simply shock the international community once again, forcing it to live with any decision that may take his fancy, even the most extravagant ones?
If Netanyahu hopes that the common interest of Israel and Saudi Arabia to restrain Iran will force King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammad to reconcile with the fact that all hopes have been lost for retaining Muslim control over at least some part of the third most significant city in the country (after Mecca and Medina),...
