The Saudi Foreign Minister recently reaffirmed that the GCC is still negotiating a security pact with the US despite the so-called "Arab NATO" being a long-discussed idea that never seems to amount to anything. He made his remarks while speaking at the organization's annual meeting last weekend, reminding the world that this idea just won't die despite the many difficulties inherent to its inception. The general idea of a mutual defense treaty between the US, the GCC, and their Egyptian ally is simple enough, but the first main challenge lies in rectifying the intra-organizational split between Qatar and the rest of the bloc.
Secondly, should that first very serious issue surprisingly be surmounted, there are obvious questions about the distribution of responsibilities within this military alliance and whether it'll form the institutional basis for more concerted integrational moves between its members. This is a very sensitive issue since some of the smaller Gulf Kingdoms, like Qatar of course, fear falling under Saudi hegemony and losing their sovereignty. Furthermore, in the event that these two challenges are somehow addressed, then the issue of the bloc's official relationship to the US' Israeli ally naturally arises, seeing as how most of the GCC states are thought to secretly be on solid terms with it already.
Israel's role in the "Arab NATO" is crucial because the multilateral military alliance is aimed against two of its rivals, first and foremost Iran but also Turkey to an extent too, and Tel Aviv has self-interested reasons for supporting any country or collection thereof that thwarts its regional adversaries. Whether the bloc remains purely "defensive" in the textbook sense of the word or twists the definition to justify involvement outside of its borders in Yemen, Syria, or possibly even Iraq, it'll still nevertheless be a force to be reckoned with if it formally coalesces, but therein lays the rub because the "Arab NATO" never seems to get off the ground despite always being talked about.
Andrew Korybko is joined by Ammar E. Abou-Sarhan, Syrian political commentator based in Damascus and Hamid Tariqi, Moroccan political commentator who lived in Russia from 1993-2004.
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