August 11, 2009

Peacemaking with Israel-- the Gulf Arab dimension

My latest news analysis for IPS is just out. (Also, here.) The title the IPS editor gave it was Saudi Arabia May Not Follow Obama’s Plan. Not a bad summary...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:11 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

May 09, 2009

On Qatar and Sheikha Mozah

Last weekend I had my first visit to Qatar. I went to participate in a two-day conference there, that was co-organized by UNESCO and the office of Sheikha Mozah bint...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:53 AM | Fulltext link (11 comments)

May 02, 2009

Some notes from UNESCO klatch, Doha

I got into the hotel at 1:30 a.m. last night, grabbed five hours sleep, wrote my presentation for the conference I'm at, which is jointly hosted by UNESCO and the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:06 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

April 14, 2008

Livni, at a conference on WHAT??

This is truly a hysterically funny (or tragic) joke. The ruling authorities in Qatar, ever eager to be taken seriously as "intellectual power-houses" in the Gulf region, are holding their...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:26 PM | Fulltext link (15 comments)

January 12, 2008

More on today's "Tonkin" from Lobe

Jim Lobe suggests that the Pentagon's release last Tuesday of a fear-inducing report (backed up by audio and video) of Iranian patrol boats allegedly threatening US Navy ships in the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:40 AM | Fulltext link (39 comments)

December 03, 2007

Ahmedinejad schmoozing with Gulf leaders

Another important point about Iran today. Remember how so much of the spin about the Annapolis meeting focused on the fact that this was a big sign that the Gulf...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:57 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

July 25, 2007

A UN maritime policing role in the Gulf?

I've just been writing a sidebar text on "Outcomes in Iraq and the Gulf" for my new book. The book is about the big-picture, slightly longer-term global fallout from the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:53 PM | Fulltext link (64 comments)

April 06, 2007

Iran and Britain in the Gulf, contd.

The 15 British naval POWs arrived home yesterday, after having been freed by Iran late Wednesday night. But even as they were boarding their plane to freedom in Teheran, four...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 07:31 AM | Fulltext link (19 comments)

March 29, 2005

'Red+white' movement, Bahrain

A great post on the Bahraini blog Chan'ad Bahraini about the big demonstration there last Saturday in favor of "Constitutional Reform First!" 50,000 or so people from a national population...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:06 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

December 28, 2003

Geopolitics of the Gulf 201

Ever since 1970, when the British withdrew the sizable forces they had maintained "East of Suez", with the primary mission of guaranteeing the security of the Gulf and of its...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:58 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

October 29, 2003

Iran: not quite so "evil"?

US deputy Secretary of State Rich ("Muscle-man") Armitage has been telling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the administration is now prepared to talk to Iran about matters of common...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:06 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

March 28, 2003

GEOPOLITICS OF THE GULF 101:

GEOPOLITICS OF THE GULF 101: Why are so many Iranians inside and outside the regime taking evident satisfaction at the imbroglio to their west? Had it occurred to anyone in...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:20 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

THE BRITS SHOULD KNOW BETTER:

Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:52 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)