Gulf States Archive

This time last year, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey appeared to be on opposing sides of a range of issues spanning the broader Middle East and North Africa region. But recently, leaders from the two countries have started to talk again. Concerns in 2019 and 2020 that a regional “cold war” pitting Emirati and Turkish interests against each other in Libya, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Horn of Africa and even the Caucasus have given way to a thawing of relations. The shift in approach by Abu Dhabi toward deescalating regional points of tension is part of a broader effort […]

Editor’s note: This is the web version of our subscriber-only weekly newsletter, Middle East Memo, which takes a look at what’s happening, what’s being said and what’s on the horizon in the Middle East. Subscribe to receive it by email every Monday. If you’re already a subscriber, adjust your newsletter settings to receive it. Talking is good, but how much should expectations and hopes be raised now that Middle East rivals are talking without necessarily putting a pause on their disputes?  Friday saw the unveiling of a new “public display of diplomacy” in the broader region when an aide to […]

Editor’s Note: This is the web version of our subscriber-only weekly newsletter, Middle East Memo, which includes a look at the week’s top stories from and about the Middle East. Subscribe to receive it by email every Monday. If you’re already a subscriber,  adjust your newsletter settings to receive it directly to your email inbox. The long-suffering people of Lebanon might finally have some good news on the horizon. A new government finally has been formed and, critically, the International Monetary Fund will replenish Lebanon’s nearly empty foreign reserves on Thursday, depositing $1.13 billion in IMF Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, in […]