Saudi-Emirati public reconciliation, a result of hard-earned lessons about the difficulty of going it alone, bodes well for a region at war and under attack, but there are still issues left to resolve.
Wartime pressure has temporarily aligned the leadership’s overriding interest in regime survival, even as its members continue to differ over the costs, methods, and ultimate objectives of the war.
The Gulf states want to reduce their dependence on expatriates without losing the professionals they still need for economic diversification. Pension reform is becoming part of that bargain.
The war between the United States and Iran revealed the vulnerability of static U.S. bases, while also showcasing Gulf Arab states’ capacity – bolstered with U.S. hardware and training – to intercept most Iranian strikes on their own, raising new questions about U.S.-Gulf security partnerships.
