United Arabian Peninsula

Saudi Arabia’s military intrusion last year into the micro-sheikdom of Bahrain has effectively made the tiny island the 14th Saudi province. At the same time, a northward exodus from overpopulated and dysfunctional Yemen into Saudi Arabia could create something of a hostile merger, erasing the artificial lines between them, similar to the reunification of North and South Yemen in 1990. More broadly, earlier this year the Sunni Arab monarchies began considering a proposal to rename their Gulf Cooperation Council the “Arabian Gulf Union,” emphasizing the need for tighter regional integration to counter the rising Iranian threat.