The U.S.-Israel-Iran war is more than a regional crisis. It has exposed the limits of global governance, accelerated the decline of post-Cold War assumptions, and pushed states to rethink security, globalization, and strategic adaptation in an emerging multipolar order.
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Key Takeaways From Pan-Arab Solidarity to Project-Based Regionalism: Gulf–Maghreb relations no longer reflect formal integration drives, but a focus on distinct projects and sectoral cooperation. This offers flexibility, but limits institutional depth. Divergences are Structural, Not Tactical: Disparities among Maghreb states in their Gulf engagement are not temporary or personality-driven. Rather, they reflect structural… Continue reading The Gulf-Maghreb Strategic Realignment
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More than just the latest episode in a familiar cycle, the February 28, U.S.-Israeli airstrikes against Iran are a structural rupture for the Gulf, a moment after which the region’s security assumptions cannot simply be reassembled. Qatar had tirelessly but fruitlessly lobbied against renewed escalation. But within 48 hours of the first strikes, Iran had retaliated across all six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, and Qatar, home to the United States’ largest regional military installation and the world’s foremost liquefied natural gas (LNG) export complex, absorbed strikes that were, by design, both symbolic and structural.
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The Gulf states are right to view Iraq as a security risk. Thirty-six years after Saddam Hussein’s forces crossed into Kuwait, and twenty-three years after the regime fell, Baghdad remains the one Arab capital whose commitments the Gulf Cooperation Council states (GCC) cannot rely upon. That is not a polemical claim it is a claim… Continue reading Iraq’s Sovereignty Gap Is a Lingering Problem for the Gulf States
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Despite its relatively small size, Qatar has forged an ambitious foreign policy in a volatile region often characterized by tension and instability. Doha has focused on strategies that prioritize its sovereignty, enable it to influence and adapt to regional developments through proactive diplomacy, expand its spheres of engagement, and maintain its political independence, all while… Continue reading Qatar Foreign Policy in a Changing Region: Preserving Balance and Strategic Autonomy
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On April 28, the United Arab Emirates announced that it would end its 59-year membership in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)—pointedly coming on the same day that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was presiding over a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit that was supposed to lead to greater unity among the… Continue reading The UAE’s OPEC Exit Leaves the Gulf Further Adrift
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