The region is well placed to satisfy China’s huge oil needs.
The ongoing tension between the US and China should encourage Indonesia to strengthen ties with nontraditional partners, like the Gulf states.
Sekretariat Kabinet Republik Indonesia
Key areas for cooperation between Indonesia and the Gulf countries are trade and investment, multilateralism, pandemic mitigation, and cultural exchange.
Empty chairs: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE boycotted the 2017 meeting of the Gulf Cooperation council over their dispute with Qatar.
EPA-EFE/Noufal Ibrahim
Sports diplomacy has eased relationships between nations before – here’s how it could help Israel, Bahrain and the UAE as they enter into new peace accords.
These Palestinians aren’t happy with Trump’s Israel deal, which required Israel to make no territorial concessions. Gaza, Aug. 16, 2020.
Mahmoud Issa/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Israel and the United Arab Emirates weren’t at war, so their new deal is not really a peace accord. Nor does it satisfy the Palestinians, who need Arab nations to support their drive for statehood.
The states of the Gulf Cooperation Council have exploited the underlying threats of the virus to bolster their own survival strategies.
In an effort to increase tourism, Saudi Arabia recently eased its strict dress code for foreign women, allowing them to go without the body-shrouding abaya robe still mandatory for Saudi women.
FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images
In countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, it’s now official policy that women should go to college and work outside the home. But cultural pressure to marry and have kids remains strong.
The Manchester derby at Old Trafford in April 2019.
EPA-EFE/NIGEL RODDIS
The clubs no longer ‘belong’ to the fans - they have become instruments in an ideological war between Western capitalism and the rent hungry sheikhs of the Gulf states.
Winners: author Jokha Alharthi (left) and translator Marilyn Booth (right) at the 2019 Man Booker International awards ceremony in May 2019.
EPA/Andy Rain
Saudi Arabia and the UAE led a group of countries that have severed all ties to fellow American ally Qatar over its foreign policy. The US will play a key role in whether it accedes to their demands.
US and Gulf Cooperation Council forces conduct field training, in Kuwait in 2017.
U.S. Army, Francis O'Brien/
The ongoing diplomatic spat with Saudi Arabia has isolated Qatar from the rest of the Middle East while also undermining the anti-Iran alliance among the Gulf countries.
Qatar has used its wealth to adopt policies sometimes rivaling Saudi Arabia’s. Think, for example, of the popular Al-Jazeera. Now the Saudis seem determined to limit Qatari influence as much as possible.