The campaign against Qatar is the latest example of more assertive approach in regional politics first seen in the war against Yemen and associated with Prince Muhammad bin Salman, now the heir apparent. In light of these regional changes we will be holding an evening seminar, followed by a drinks reception, to discuss a variety of points.

The presentation will cover the following topics:

• Longer term diplomatic and economic implications of a less predictable Saudi foreign policy
• Stalemate and likely outcomes in Yemen
• The campaign against Qatar and Doha's response (and resilience)
• Developments in the escalating regional tensions with Iran
• The prospects of achieving NTP 2020 and Vision 2030 and the likely consequences of success and failure

Speakers

Dr. Nader Alyani

Náder is Menas Associates’ Gulf region lead. His academic, consulting and managerial activities focus on capability development, facilitating risk analytics with inter-professional judgement, and implementing innovation for strategic alignment in firms. His career has spanned positions in the public and private sector in London and abroad, and as an adviser to MNCs (on FDIs, PPP and local content), having served with research, consulting and policy-design and implementation institutions.

Dr. Noel Brehony

Noel sat as Chair of the Council for British Research in the Levant, and was former chair of the British Society for Middle East Studies, the British Yemeni Society; the Anglo-Jordanian society and the Middle East Association. He co-edited “British-Egyptian Relations from Suez to the Present Day”, was author of “Yemen Divided: the story of a failed state in South Arabia”, published in March 2011. Noel is also co-editor of “Reconstructing Yemen”, which was published in 2015.