2010 Strategic Sheba Report

Author:Prepared by a group of researchers
Date:July,2011
Publisher:Center for Strategic Studies

This report is the first one to be issued by SCSS since its inception in August of 2008. It is going to be  issued by the Center on an annual basis to not only cover domestic, regional and international events that take place over a whole year but also to analyze these events and foresee the future so that this annual report can be a reference for political decision makers, the educated, academicians and the media people.

The present report contains a range of important analyses by a number of Yemeni, Arab and foreign intellectuals, researchers. There are three main sections, starting with the global issues and ending with the domestic ones. The first is concerned with the most important global developments; it has four key parts which discuss the change in the powers of the global structure, the implications and effects of the global credit crisis, the world new financial system, and the networks of al-Qaeda as a global threat.

The second section discusses the regional developments, particularly the internal developments in the GCC countries, the Arab-Arab relations, the regional competition in the Middle East, and other significant issues such as the Palestinian cause. The third and last section has various parts that discuss the developments and interactions in the Yemeni internal affairs during 2010, including political, security, economic and social issues; it discusses also relations between some superpowers and regional states with Yemen.

In fact, the Center does not claim that it is fully acquainted with all the important issues of the last year (2010) and the first quarter of the current year (2011). However, the Strategic Sheba Report has certain features peculiar to it and different from those of other reports issued by other research centers in the region; it is different in terms of divisions, format, content, analysis, and production. Thus, the Center hopes that this annual report would be an asset as to be complementary to other similar reports issued by other fellow centers to add up to knowledge at the level of the Arab World.