(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Olivier Decottignies and Soner Cagaptay - In December, Ankara announced that it will establish a new military base in Qatar, putting Turkey in a small group of nations willing and able to project power in the Persian Gulf. While the U.S. remains by far the largest provider of security in the Gulf, the French established a multipurpose air, sea, and ground base in the UAE in 2009, while British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond took part in a groundbreaking ceremony for a similar project in Bahrain last November. Russia has deployed forces to Syria, while China controls commercial operations at the Pakistani port of Gwadar, not far from the mouth of the Persian Gulf.
2016-01-14 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive