Energy markets depend on more than supply and demand. Shipping disruptions, recessions and wars all move prices, but a producer can also move them deliberately, […]
Category: Gulf Region
Why Saudi Arabia’s Latest Confrontation with the Houthis is a Self-Goal
Liberal internationalists have long argued that the costs of war are so high that leaders will eventually stop choosing it. The record is less reassuring. […]
Beyond the “Houthis” Label: Understanding Ansarallah in Yemen
When Western media and policymakers discuss the conflict in Yemen, they almost universally deploy a single, convenient label, “The Houthis”. By filtering an entire geopolitical […]
The Shifting Gulf Security Order and Pakistan’s Growing Role
For over four decades, the security architecture of the Persian Gulf rested on a single, seemingly unshakable foundation: the American security umbrella. Arab monarchies systematically […]
Legacy of Leadership: Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and the Gulf’s New Horizon
The former Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, whose 18-year rule from 1995 to 2013 transformed a marginal Gulf Sheikhdom into an […]
Iran After the War: Between National Cohesion and Political Reform
The second war against Iran imposed by the United States and Israel in less than a year is a critical juncture in the Islamic Republic’s […]
The Hormuz Paradox: American Power Projection Meets Strategic Fragility
The recent talks between the Iranians and the Americans in Pakistan grabbed global headlines. Dubbed the Islamabad Talks, the intense direct negotiations between the two […]
Kill the Leader, Collapse the State? The US-Israeli Miscalculation on Iran
The Middle East has again descended into yet another crisis with the United States and Israel imposing a second war on Iran within a year […]
Is the Iranian Regime Falling?
The recurring question of whether the Iranian regime is on the verge of collapse oversimplifies the country’s political resilience and overlooks the complex social and […]
From Diriyah of 1727 to Vision 2030: History, Legitimacy, and the Reinvention of Saudi National Identity
History is never a neutral archive of bygone events but is rather a political resource. It has been used by nations to revisit and reinterpret […]