The Murder of Ali Abdullah Saleh May Lead to a More Violent Saudi Campaign in Yemen
Clashes erupted in Yemen’s capital Sana’a on November 29, 2017 between former tactical allies, the armed Houthi militias and supporters of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh (who led the country from 1978 to 2012). On December 2, following severe fighting within the city limits and in its suburbs that involved the use of grenade launchers and artillery, Ali Abdullah Saleh announced the split with the Houthi forces...
On November 12–13, 2017, Abu-Dhabi hosted the Fourth Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate, organized by Emirates Policy Center with the support of UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The meeting brought together around 300 participants. Timur Makhmutov, RIAC Deputy Director of Programs, took part in the panel session on the role of Russia’s foreign policy in the Middle East region.
On November ...
... What’s Next?
The first model was centered on a regional hegemonic power that could takes responsibility for stability in its “natural” sphere of influence. In the Gulf case, the role of the regional hegemon is claimed jointly by Saudi Arabia and UAE, with Saudis providing most of the “hard” power, while Emirati contributing its political ideology and strategic vision. Even if we put aside moral and legal deficiencies of this model, both Yemen and Qatar cases question the mere feasibility ...
... relations with Iran and expressing support for the Muslim Brotherhood (a terrorist organization banned in Russia).
Doha later said that the agency's website was hacked and there was no such statement from the Qatari leader. Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain viewed the explanation as unconvincing. A number of other states, including Turkey and Kuwait, have been attempting to mediate the crisis.
Source:
Sputnik
... Arab Emirates and five other states cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorist organisations and destabilising the situation in the Middle East. Senegal and Chad also recalled their ambassadors from Qatar. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain suspended flights to Qatar and shut their land borders with the country. To a large extent, Qatar’s current conflict with Saudi Arabia and its allies is a recrudescence of old controversies between these Gulf monarchies, dating back ...
Despite differences over Syria and the Iranian nuclear deal, contemporary GCC-Russian relations are arguably at an apex, both in terms of shared interests and mutual understanding
Russian and GCC commentators are well-acquainted with the Western views regarding the GCC region. However, Russian and GCC commentators are comparatively uninformed about each other’s perspectives regarding this important topic due to the nascent nature of research dialogue between the two. The report prepared by Alexander...
On November 12-14 Abu Dhabi (UAE) hosted
The Third Annual Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate
, one of the key international platforms for regional and global security issues discussion, debate about long-term tendencies in international relations system development, and global economy.
...
On November 1-2, 2015, a RIAC team made of Director General Andrey Kortunov, RAS Academician Vitaly Naumkin, Yuri Barmin, Vasily Kuznetsov, Ekaterina Stepanova and Elena Suponina, RIAC experts, took part in the Second Annual Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate (
ADSD 2015
), a key international platform for discussing regional and global security, as well as long-term trends in international relations and world economy.
Sponsored by the Emirates Policy Center, the event was attended by almost 500 diplomats...
... crude oil stockpiles, on the other hand, are estimated at approximately 17 – 35 million barrels/day, or less than 0.2% of global oil production. Moreover, Iran – where oil production costs may be higher than in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or the UAE – lacks investment capital. Finally, cheaper oil should push the global economy to expand fuel consumption in the future, as historically it has often been the case that periods of low oil prices have fuelled the conditions needed for global ...
By intervening squarely on the side of Shiite Bashar Assad against his own mainly Sunni people and the entire Sunni Middle East, Russia may once again be the center of attention from the global Sunni jihadist movement. But, unlike the 1980s in Afghanistan, these mujahadeen are much more experienced, much more sophisticated, much more capable, have a larger radicalized population from which to draw, and are able to strike anywhere, including Russia itself.
By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, Facebook...
