The Gulf Countries and the American Security Umbrella - What Comes Next?

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with analyst Annelle Sheline about the history of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. They discuss the state of the American "security umbrella" from the perspective of leadership in Qatar and Saudi Arabia and the perspective that American military bases are liabilities. They also look at prospects for greater regional integration due to greater insecurity. See this brief by Annelle Sheline: "Are Qatar and Saudi Arabia Reassessing Their Reliance on the US?" (Quincy Institute, 2/26/26) Annelle Sheline, Ph.D., is a research fellow in the Quincy Institute's Middle East program. She previously served as a Foreign Affairs Officer at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor’s Office of Near Eastern Affairs (DRL/NEA), before resigning in March 2024 in protest over the Biden administration’s unconditional support for Israeli military operations in Gaza. Annelle is completing a book manuscript on religious authority in the Middle East, focused on the countries of Jordan, Morocco, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. She is a senior non-resident fellow at the Arab Center of Washington DC, a non-resident fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, and an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from George Washington University. Listen to additional conversations she's held with FMEP: "Jordan, the Gulf, and American Policy in Palestine" (November 2025) and "RESIGNED: The Former Biden Admin Officials Who Left Their Jobs Over Gaza" (April 2024). Ahmed Moor is a Palestinian-American writer born in Gaza and a Fellow at FMEP. He is an advisory board member of the US Campaign for Palestinian rights, co-editor of After Zionism (Saqi Books) and is currently writing a book about Palestine. He also currently serves on the board of the Independence Media Foundation. His work has been published in The Guardian, The London Review of Books, The Nation, and elsewhere. He earned a BA at the University of Pennsylvania and an MPP at Harvard University. You can follow Ahmed on Substack at: https://ahmedmoor.substack.com. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.