United Arab Emirates

Authored by Giulio Meotti via The Gatestone Institute,

Blackwater USA founder Erik Prince blasted the US Intelligence community for a "political abuse of the intelligence infrastructure" after leaking information on his whereabouts to the Washington Post. The former Navy SEAL and brother of Trump's Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, made the comments during his November 30 testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee, according to transcripts released Wednesday. 

Two days after Israel reportedly destroyed an alleged Iranian airbase in the city of al-Qiswa near Damascus in Syria, Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed they fired a cruise missile toward the $20 bilion Barakh nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi in the UAE (which is still under construction) which "successfully hit its target", the group’s television service said on its website Sunday, however without providing evidence.

Authored by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,

Trying to figure out what on earth is happening in the Middle East appears to have gotten a lot harder. Perhaps (because) it’s become more dangerous too. There are so many players, and connections between players, involved now that even making one of those schematic representations would never get it right. Too many unknown unknowns.

Authored by Cyril Widdershoven via OilPrice.com,

The geopolitical reality in the Middle East is changing dramatically.

The impact of the Arab Spring, the retraction of the U.S. military, and diminishing economic influence on the Arab world - as displayed during the Obama Administration - are facts.