Gulf States

It is going to be a long, hot summer in Riyadh. True, it normally is. But this year will almost certainly be different. And the rest of the world will need to pay attention. Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Islam, oil. Pick your preferred crisis. The chances are that all will be

On December 4, 2006, Jennifer Windsor, Carl Gershman, and Martin Kramer addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. Jennifer Windsor is executive director of Freedom House and also a member of the Secretary of State's Advisory Commission. Carl Gershman is president of the National Endowment of Democracy and a member

On December 2, 2006, the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain held the second round of runoff elections for its national assembly, an advisory body. Meanwhile, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), December 16-20 will see the first-ever elections for half of the advisory federal national council, all of whose members

From October 30 to 31, 2006, U.S. military forces in the Persian Gulf will join the armed forces of several other countries to hold a naval exercise in the interception and search of ships carrying weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and missiles. Though long planned, the exercise has added importance

As a longtime negotiator in the Middle East, I learned that the most demanding requirement of peacemaking was just getting each side to adjust to reality. In Iraq today, 3 1/2 years after the United States went to war there, no one seems to be doing that. The Shiites, who

The June 29 parliamentary elections in Kuwait achieved international media coverage because women were allowed to stand for office and vote for the first time in the sheikhdom. Less well reported were the local political divisions that had brought about elections a year earlier than expected. The results of the

In a June 4 speech marking the anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a warning to the United States in the crisis of over Iran’s nuclear program. “If the Americans make a wrong move toward Iran, the shipment of

"Gulf stability is not just a regional issue; it is a global one. This book is a critical reference for understanding the security challenges in an area containing the bulk of the world's energy reserves." --Anthony Cordesman, former director of intelligence assessment, Office of the Secretary of Defense Whatever the

On March 21 and 22 as many as three thousand foreign construction workers rioted in the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai in protest at conditions on the site where the world's tallest building is being built. Cars and construction machinery were wrecked and office windows broken as the workers demanded