The Red Velvet Lawyer

A Hero in Qatar's Successful Resistance to the Blockade On June 5, 2017, four neighboring countries --  Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt -- imposed a blockade of land, sea, and air routes to and from Qatar.  In my book chapter , on Qatar's strategic and successful responses to the blockade, I discussed the role of the Hamad Port.  See Paula Marie Young, The Siege of Qatar:  Creating a BATNA that Strengthened the Tiny Country’s Negotiating Power , QATAR: POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ISSUES (Nova Science Pubs. 2019). In that chapter, I said: Access to alternative ports played a bigger role in Qatari planning. Its new Hamad Port, the largest port in the Middle East, opened for what appears to be a soft-launch in December 2016, with an accelerated opening of other facilities at the port shortly after the siege began. Qatar made a QR 27 billion ($7.3 billion) investment in the site. Port officials reported an intent to expand its capacity through 2020, cr

Strategic Impasse that is Unlikely to Change Absent Third-Party Intervention Pushing the Limits: US –  Iranian Brinkmanship in the Gulf Brookings Doha Center October 20, 2019 Intercontinental Hotel, Doha Qatar Three panelists expressed pessimism and pragmatism last week in assessing the current tensions between the US and Iran.  The moderator, Ali Fathollah-Nejad , Visiting Fellow, Brookings Doha Center, began the program by giving a brief summary of recent actions taken by both belligerents. He described President Trump’s unilateral withdrawal of the US from the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) . In 2018, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Iran , that among others things, affected Iran's ability to sell and export oil and natural gas. While European countries promised to mitigate the economic impact of these sanctions, their promises fell short.  As a consequence, Iran adopted a “maximum resistance str

Be Prepared U.S. citizens must begin carrying a REAL ID Act-compliant ID or driver's license by this time next year.  To apply for this ID at the state level, the law requires people: to provide documentation showing their full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, two proofs of address of principal residence, and lawful status.  The ID will allow people to travel by air.  A passport will also provide the information required by airport security under the 2005 law. More information appears here . States asked for an extension of the October 2020 deadline because COVID-19 is hampering their employees ability to process the REAL IDs.  Trump granted the extension  See here .