GCC-Iran Entente Follows Riyadh-Tehran Dialogue As The US Presidential Election Nears:.
*** The Arabs And The Moderates Of Iran Consider The Supremacist Ja'faris To Be As Dangerous As The Nazis Of Germany Were In The Wake Of & During World War Two; The Arabs & Moderates Are Accusing These Extremists Of Having Split The Muslim World, With The Radical Groups...

The Iranian Role - With Ambitions Costing Tehran $25.6 Bn.
The Shi'ite theocracy has also added the nationalist element in its mainly sectarian role in Iraq. Because the tribal Shi'ites constitute the majority in Iraq's Ja'faris, the main reason for Maliki's shift for sectarianism, the theocracy is inviting prominent Sunni as well as Shi'ite leaders of these tribes to...

Getting smart: Gulf states go for US `wonder weapons': after debate and delay, the US has agreed a multi-million arms package for the Gulf. (Arms).
Kuwait recently signed an $868 million contract with the United States for 16 Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters equipped with advanced electronics and fire-control systems. Once the weapons package is decided, the contract value will likely exceed $2 billion. The weapons are expected to include some...

Gulf water: a multi billion dollar business: the developing water sector across the Middle East and North Africa will attract investment of between $45-$60 billion through public private partnerships (PPPs) over the next 10 years with the Gulf states at the forefront. (Business & Finance).
A long with oil, water is the most vital industrial sector in the Middle East today. The region has the lowest per capita availability of water in the world and one of the fastest growing populations. Fortunately, many states in the region also have the financial clout to do...

NATO in the Gulf: who is doing whom a favor?
This article explores the current and future role of NATO in enacting Security Sector Reform (SSR) in the Gulf through the three-year-old Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. The article is grounded in recent scholarship on military reform, democratization and collective security. Enough time has elapsed since the inauguration of the initiative...

State-owned oil and gas: who gains, who loses? The oil producers of the Gulf have learned important lessons about privatising their energy resources. Could Russia and Latin America learn from their example?
RUSSIA'S PRESSURE ON the big international oil corporates such as Shell, BP and ExxonMobil, along with the recent nationalisations in Bolivia and Venezuela, demonstrates how high oil and gas prices are encouraging some of the most important producing states to take control of their own energy resources. But the...

Freedom's Unsteady March: America's Role in Building Arab Democracy.
Freedom's Unsteady March: America's Role in Building Arab Democracy, by Tamara Coffman Wittes. Brookings Institution Press, 2008. 176 pages with notes and index. $26.95. This compact, readable work of policy advocacy argues that, despite widespread skepticism about democracy promotion resulting from the Bush administration's botched "Freedom Agenda,"...

What cost defence of the Gulf? Governmental expenditure on defence among the countries of the Gulf and its neighbours is on the rise as Eamonn Gearon reports.
ACCORDING TO THE Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), global military expenditure has never been higher, with 2006 spending figures certain to outstrip the $1.12 trillion-mark realised in 2005. The US's continuing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan alone made up 80% of the 2005 expenditure increases. While the United...

IRAQ - Any ME Conflicts Ready For Resolution?
The following are extracts from an article by Patrick Seale, a prominent commentator and author of several books on Middle East affairs, published on March 2 by Gulf News (with minor editing by APS): "The Club de Monaco must be one of the most exclusive in the world because...

The 27th GCC Summit: and guess who came to dinner?
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE LONG-AWAITED COMMON market among the six nation-strong Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, will finally be launched this month following the December announcement in Doha during the two-day 27th summit. The aim of creating...