Gulf States

The decline in world oil prices has hit Saudi Arabia hard. The benchmark Saudi crude, Arabian light, fell from $17 per barrel in 1997 to little more than $11 in 1998. Gross domestic product (GDP) declined in 1998 to about $125 billion. That translates into a per capita income of

On November 10, 1998, Gen. Fahad al-Amir, deputy chief of staff of the Kuwaiti Armed Forces, addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. The following is a rapporteur's summary of his remarks. Read a full transcript. Kuwait's participation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is strong and committed. Members of

The visit to the United States from Wednesday September 23 (the Saudi national day) by Crown Prince Abdullah, the heir apparent of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is part of a rare world tour which has so far taken in Britain and France, and is scheduled to include later China

Two years after the death of 19 Americans in the June 25, 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Dhahran, it is appropriate to consider the quandaries for U.S. terrorism policy that the bombing exposed. The hope that U.S. investigators could identify the perpetrators of bombings overseas as readily as

Yemen is a very traditional country and society, and to some extent it is characterized by traditional politics. Yemen's past-including its long traditions of trade and diplomacy with surrounding countries-influences its current actions. This century has been a particularly difficult one for Yemen. The North and South were divided, and

Today's announcement of the deal between U.S. law enforcement officials and Hani al-Sayigh, an alleged member of the clandestine Shi`i organization "Saudi Hizballah" with links to the al-Khobar Towers bombing, has strategic, not just legal, implications for the investigation of that terrorist act. The decision to seek al-Sayigh's deportation to

Saudi Arabia has gotten a lot of negative attention in recent months. The Saudis have been blamed for failing to pay sufficient attention to homegrown dissidents, contributing to American deaths in terrorist attacks in Riyadh and Dhahran. King Fahd's stroke in late 1995 prompted speculation that a succession crisis loomed

America's inability to devise an effective response to Saddam Husayn's recent reassertion of government control over parts of northern Iraq has spurred calls for a reassessment of Washington's policy toward Baghdad. Some analysts call for the breakup of Iraq, to end the threat Saddam poses to the region and to

The 1991 Gulf War and the post-war Arab-Israeli peace process fundamentally altered the relationship between the Levant and the Persian Gulf and prompted widespread regional and international interest in new security frameworks for the Middle East. Various existing proposals reveal divergent national positions on the future shape and boundaries of