All Policy Analysis by Lori Plotkin Boghardt

A number of U.S. interests could be served by expanding support to strategic Gulf partners in their efforts to curb Iranian aid to local fighters.

The kingdom is codifying current legal practices that do not distinguish between terrorists and nonviolent activists.

The Saudi government views Twitter as a national security threat.

Secretary Kerry's planned visit to Abu Dhabi to reinforce the U.S.-UAE strategic partnership comes at an awkward time, as the country opens another controversial trial.

Turnout for the Saudi women drivers demonstration planned for late October will help gauge public interest in mobilizing for reforms in the kingdom.

Tomorrow's parliamentary vote is unlikely to calm the country's domestic scene, and special interest groups outside the legislature may take up more air in Kuwait's political life for the time being.

The dramatic developments in Egypt are likely to energize domestic dissent in some Gulf oil states, so Washington should encourage its allies there to respond in creative and forward-looking ways.

Convincing public evidence of criminal activity by defendants in the Brotherhood case would increase foreign and domestic support for future UAE security actions against the group.

Local Brotherhood groups range from regime irritants to regime supporters, and the security challenge they represent to the Gulf monarchies should be assessed on a country-by-country basis.

Washington should encourage the UAE to publicly present its evidence against the local Brotherhood group al-Islah, several of whose members are being tried for subversion.

Young activists will likely be important agents of structural reform in the small Gulf states, and Washington should make more effort to engage them.

With the world focused on the UN-Iraqi standoff, the fourth annual Middle East/North Africa (MENA) Economic Conference concluded quietly in Qatar earlier this week. As Arab world heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia officially boycotted the proceedings, the MENA summit ended on an ambivalent note: Though viewed as a general success

Last Sunday, the small Gulf state of Qatar, host to the next Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Economic Conference in November, rebuffed an attempt by Syria to postpone the event, despite the March 31st Arab League Council resolution calling for the suspension of political, economic, and cultural normalization with

Despite the multitude of regional, bilateral, and domestic political complications frustrating efforts to build upon peace, Jordan and Israel have made substantial gains toward normalizing relations since signing their peace treaty at Wadi Araba on October 26, 1994. The treaty and more than one dozen subsequent sectoral agreements have established

With Arab League foreign ministers, meeting in Cairo today, taking their most critical stance against Israel since the start of the Madrid peace process—"recommending" that member-states "stop all normalization" with Israel, suspend participation in the multilateral talks, and "reactivate" the Arab boycott—tomorrow's meeting between President Clinton and Jordan's King Hussein

King Hussein's contribution to closing the Hebron deal reaffirms his special role as an Arab leader that Benjamin Netanyahu and Yasser Arafat both talk with and listen to. His optimism after leaving a pivotal Tel Aviv meeting with Netanyahu shortly before the deal was concluded -- "I leave here confident