All Policy Analysis by Simon Henderson

The custodian of the infamous scientist’s four-decade-long journal offers new insights into his proliferation role and relationship with Pakistani military authorities.

Riyadh’s purchase of a struggling English club could shift some of the region’s core tensions and maneuvering to a different field of play.

The long timeframes and commercial calculations involved in such a transition have left Washington and other capitals more reliant on OPEC+ decisionmaking than they would like.

The long-delayed poll will be watched carefully by the country’s neighbors, though the sundry restrictions on voters and council members may limit its near-term policy impact.

Yet the photo of an informal meeting among the Saudi, Qatari, and UAE leaders also suggests their uncertainty about American support.

Given ongoing environmental concerns over energy cooperation, the chances that the two partners will fully realize their commercial potential are still up in the air.

Although Pakistan will be playing its own games in Afghanistan (and against India), planners in the Pentagon will still need to work with Islamabad to preserve future overflight options.

The question is whether and how these historical echoes will affect decisionmaking in Russia, Iran, China, Pakistan, and India.

The announcement raises several awkward geopolitical questions, but market factors may ultimately make U.S. pressure moot.

The latest price lurch was rooted in the pandemic’s impact on China’s economy, not the apparent Iranian strike on an Israeli tanker.

A bureaucratic skirmish in Naftali Bennett’s coalition government could impede Jerusalem’s growing ties with Abu Dhabi.

Although more supplies will be coming to market, the economic impact of this decision will depend on issues of timing, royal rapprochement, and new COVID surges.

Gulf squabbles over production quotas highlight the industry’s uncertain future, but in the meantime Washington may have to deal with heightened pressure at home.

Hosting Prince Khalid is a good look for the bilateral relationship, but discussions may prove difficult given complications over defense sales, Israeli normalization, OPEC infighting, and continued fallout over the Khashoggi affair.

The issue will likely dominate discussions at the next OPEC+ meeting, but the longer-term economic and geopolitical repercussions are trickier to gauge.

Such weapons have spread surprisingly slowly since the end of World War II, but this template may be changing amid unsustainable ambiguity over the future of Tehran’s program.

News of apparent enrichment setbacks has been offset somewhat by troubling developments in other aspects of the program, not to mention sharp Israeli warnings, diplomatic uncertainty in Vienna, and a pair of sobering nuclear anniversaries.

A post-oil future isn’t without risks, whether for Middle Eastern producers or Western economies still tied to hydrocarbons in myriad ways.

Manama is still grappling with the complex challenge of developing ties with Israel while coping with homegrown Shia militancy.

Benefitting from offshore natural gas reserves should be a win-win situation, but in this case the players may turn it into a zero-sum game.