The Gulf Cooperation Council is shooting itself in the foot

The most accurate portrayal of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is perhaps the 2017 Kuwait summit, which was held at the height of the Saudi-UAE-Bahraini blockade of Qatar and was attended by none of the quarrelling states’ leaders — except for Qatar’s Emir, Tamim bin Hamad. Kuwait’s late Emir, Sabah Al-Ahmad, found himself effectively addressing a single guest at what was supposed to be a ‘Gulf’ summit. This unintentionally declared that the GCC shines socially, but fractures politically. This fracture is not new. The GCC was formed in 1981 as an urgent security response, one year after the Iran–Iraq War erupted, rather than as a mature political project. Iraq was excluded on the pretext of its republican system, despite being […]