Since Qatar won the bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the country’s labour practices have come under greater scrutiny, prompting the Arab state to work with the ILO towards reform. In addition to ending kafala, it has also introduced a non-discriminatory minimum wage, the first in the Middle East.

The use of cybersurveillance systems is believed to have resulted in the disappearance of many human right campaigners. However, The race to purchase spyware in Gulf states severely concerns rights groups and some western governments.

One strategy that the UAE could adopt is to provide permanent residence to Arab property buyers who have come to the UAE from politically repressive or fractured countries like Iraq, Syria and Egypt. It would benefit the U.A.E. to examine the immigration law.

With or without US participation in the nuclear deal, transatlantic cooperation remains desirable and possible. After all, the United States and Europe share the objectives of preventing Iran from becoming a nuclearweapon state, halting its development of long-range nuclear-capable missiles, encouraging adherence to human rights norms, and curbing its activities in the region.

The ruler, now 76, is ailing and has spent months at a time in Germany receiving cancer treatment. Nevertheless, Oman appears destined to maintain internal stability and its global reputation as a peacemaker. This is largely thanks to Qaboos who offered several concessions to protestors at the beginning of the Arab Spring in 2011

Yet despite noticeably closer ties, Turkey and Iran are far from being friends. Given their opposing stances on the future of Syria and both countries’ wider ambitions for regional influence, they are likely to lock horns in the future. But as partners of the moment, they are ideally suited.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani also brushed aside the effects, saying, “The negative impacts of the blockade were temporary and our economy has managed to contain most of them very quickly, while adapting and developing itself in the course of the crisis management.”