APS Diplomat News Service articles from December 2008

APS Diplomat News Service archives from December 2008

Saudi Diplomacy Focuses On Reform & Global Peace; To Gain From Obama's Soft-Power.(Barack Obama)
December 1, 2008... *** As The US-Iraq SOFA Was Passed By Baghdad's Parliament On Nov. 27, Syria Escalated Its Campaign Against The American Presence 'Next Door' - While In Iran, The Pragmatists Of The Theocracy Said The Pact Was Balanced When Compared To Such...

GCC Leaders Have A Crucial Summit As The External Challenges Get More Serious.(Gulf Co-operation Council)
December 8, 2008... *** The Terms Of Abu Dhabi Emirate For A Dubai Bail-Out Plan Is Testing The UAE's Union, As Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Is Being Squeezed Between Two Forceful Muhammads - One Is His Crown Prince & Half- Brother, And The Other Is His Deputy In...

Integration.(Brief article)
December 8, 2008... Anthony Cordesman, a former Pentagon expert and now an analyst at the Centre for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, says of the Peninsula Shield project: "progress lags far behind the rhetoric and has come at an immense cost in...

The UAE's Union Is Tested By Abu Dhabi-Dubai Rivalry.(United Arab Emirates)
December 8, 2008... It was not until the global crisis hit the GCC in recent months that the UAE was progressing more like a confederation than a real union, with wild rumours that Dubai Ruler Shaikh Muhammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum was preparing eventually to...

Towards Deeper GCC Integration.(Gulf Cooperation Council)
December 8, 2008... The GCC's problem is not that its members have their own interests, but that it lacks the institutional strength to be a balancing force. MEED on Nov. 28 quoted Christian Koch, director of international relations at the Gulf Research Council,...

The GCC Political Structure.(Gulf Cooperation Council's Supreme Council)
December 8, 2008... The Supreme Council, the GCC's highest authority, is responsible for the GCC's strategy and external relations. It holds one regular session a year, but extraordinary meetings can be convened at the request of two members. Meetings are valid if...

Free Trade.(Brief article)
December 8, 2008... An economic agreement between the six states was signed on Nov. 11, 1981, laying the foundations for a GCC free trade area. This was revised by an agreement on Dec. 31, 2001, calling for the creation of a customs union with a common external...

Military Integration & Security Co-operation.(Brief article)
December 8, 2008... On Nov. 19, 1982, the Supreme Council agreed to create the Peninsula Shield, and in October 1985 an integrated force was set up at Hafr al-Baten in Saudi Arabia. After a further study begun in 1990, the force was developed into a mechanised...

GCC Monetary Union.
December 8, 2008... When GCC rulers meet on Dec. 29-30, the official deadline set for monetary union will be only 13 months away. With issues such as the location of a central bank unresolved, the pressure is on the rulers to sign a deal as economic issues will be...

GCC Investment In Asia & Africa.(Gulf Cooperation Council)
December 8, 2008... As the GCC region's agricultural production rates slow and food prices around the world continue to rise, GCC states are investing heavily in the fertile lands of Asia and Africa. For all the GCC's plans to build a regional infrastructure, the...

Lebanon's 2009/10 Events Will Influence World Developments; Hizbullah Vs The State.
December 15, 2008... *** Under Bush, The War On Terror Was Pursued In A Uni-Polar Order, Which Has Failed *** Under Obama, The War Is Defined Differently As The Enemy Here Is 'Criminal', Requiring A New Type Of Multi-Polar Order For UNSC-Sanctioned Police...

Hizbullah's Power Structure.
December 15, 2008... Founded months after Israel's invasion of Lebanon in June 1982, Hizbullah now has two different structures - one formal and the other informal but more powerful - reflecting those of Iran's theocracy, which claims to represent as well as rule...

Egypt/GME Is Torn Between Religion & An Empire-Busting Mossad; Blow-Up Is Possible:.(Greater Middle East)
December 22, 2008... *** Now The Ruling Islamists Of Turkey, Whom The Kemalists Call Users Of Taqiyah To Create A Neo-Ottoman Caliphate, Are Telling The EU The Followers Of Ataturk Are Preventing Them From Amending The Constitution Necessary To Introduce The...