Beyond Post-Desert Storm: How to Elevate the US-Kuwait Security Partnership mei.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mei.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
With the recent deaths of the leaders of Kuwait and Oman, the Gulf lost its mediators-in-chief. Omani Sultan Qaboos bin Sa’id al-Sa’id and Kuwaiti Emir Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah long played an important role in easing tensions in the Gulf – a role that many European diplomats greatly appreciated. As the successors of Sultan Qaboos and Emir Sabah settle in, Europe should quickly offer them the political and economic support they need to maintain their independence and to continue to facilitate regional diplomacy.
Sultan Qaboos and Emir Sabah were both diplomats at heart, determined to prevent the Gulf from being drawn deeper into conflict. This determination is needed today more than ever. The two new rulers in Kuwait and Muscat, Emir Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah and Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Sa’id, have repeatedly stated that they want to preserve their countries’ traditional regional policies. But strong geopolitical winds are blowing across the Arabian Peninsula, and resistin