The seven biggest telecoms service providers in the GCC – STC (Saudi Arabia), Etisalat (UAE), du (UAE), Qtel (UAE), Batelco (Bahrain), Zain (Kuwait) and Omantel (Oman) reported mixed financial results for the second quarter of 2011. One of the key financial indicators for telecoms operators is net profit. Figures published by the operators show du,… [Read more]

Although the war in Libya has been dominating international media in recent weeks – with a brief interlude for the Japanese earthquake – events in Yemen – where President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime is on the brink of collapse – are arguably of greater geopolitical significance. Libya has dominated headlines because it is more visibly… [Read more]

With Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qadhafi’s position looking increasingly untenable, and Bahrain rocked by unrest, so soon after popular protests toppled the Tunisian and Egyptian presidents, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has been shaken like never before. Crucially, the uprisings have also overthrown the conventional wisdom. Until recently, it was generally assumed… [Read more]

The latest foiled terror attacks involving parcel bombs aboard civilian aircraft bound for the US are yet another reminder that Islamist groups are continuing to target the West using aeroplanes. However, rather than sending suicide attackers, as was the case with 9/11, the foiled ‘shoe bomber’ of December 2001, and the Christmas Day 2009 attempt… [Read more]

There was a time when audio or video messages issued by Osama bin Laden would be front-page news, and we’d all wonder if a new al-Qaeda terror attack was imminent. However, in recent years, a widespread belief has developed that bin Laden is irrelevant, and that the real terror threat to the West comes from… [Read more]

The Christmas Day Detroit airliner plot has put Yemen under the terror spotlight after it emerged that the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, lived in Yemen between August and December 2009, and after the Yemen-based Islamist group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed responsibility for the attempted attack. Given the intense media attention on the… [Read more]

As our decade draws to a close, several important developments are taking place that could have a major geopolitical impact in the 2010s. The first is obviously the foiled Christmas Day plot to destroy Northwest Flight 253 over Detroit. This was a firm reminder that international Islamist terrorism against Western countries is still very much… [Read more]