Beyond the Headlines podcast: Saudi Arabia's great change, the GCC in 2018 and Iraq rebuilding

Naser Al Wasmi is joined by his colleagues on The National's foreign desk, Dana Moukhallati and Mina Al Droubi, to look at what might be in stock for the region in 2018.

A man walks past the flags of the countries attending the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit at Bayan palace in Kuwait City on December 5, 2017.
The Gulf Cooperation Council, which launches its annual summit today in Kuwait amid its deepest ever internal crisis, comprises six Arab monarchies who sit on a third of the world's oil. A political and economic union, the GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain. Dominated by Riyadh, it is a major regional counterweight to rival Iran.
/ AFP PHOTO / GIUSEPPE CACACE

Of the six GCC countries, Saudi Arabia and the UAE look set to definitely implement VAT. Guiseppe Cacace/ AFP

Naser Al Wasmi

Dec 28, 2017

The Middle East in 2017 could end up looking relatively tame, given the region has become characterised by extreme, often dramatic, changes.

While the Arab world has been a stage for an ever-shifting political reality, with coups, civil wars, and millions of people displaced by conflict in the last decade, the Arabian Gulf, has remained relatively peaceful as its leaders have a policy of prioritizing stability.

But this year was different. Three of the biggest stories of 2017 came out of the Arabian Gulf: the reform policies of Saudi Arabia, the GCC crisis and the major changes within Iraq.