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Jordan: Silent Brother in Gulf Politics

While Saudi Arabia’s relations with a number of Arab monarchies have experienced some strain such as Kuwait and Oman as well as outright diplomatic crises in the case of Qatar and Morocco, Jordan is seeking to gain greater autonomy from Riyadh’s geopolitical orbit at a time in which more players in the Arab world are growing more unsettled by vague Saudi reactions towards some regional issues including the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, Algeria and Lebanon.

Islam in the UAE’s Foreign Policy

Although the UAE and Qatar (the GCC’s two wealthiest states in terms of income per capita) did not experience major unrest during the Arab Spring, the other four member-states of the Council plus Yemen did to varying degrees, demonstrating how the Gulf region was no longer fortressed from the turmoil throughout the rest of the greater Middle East.