Saudi Arabia's Cultural Ambitions Reshape Middle East Power Dynamics

Ghassan Charbel, a Lebanese journalist and the director of Asharq al-Awsat, highlights Turkey, Iran, Israel, and the Arab World as pivotal geopolitical players in the Middle East, noting that the Arab World is the most vulnerable. In the last two decades, the focus has transitioned from Damascus, Cairo, and Baghdad to the Arabian Gulf. Following the Arab Spring, Syria and Egypt have experienced stagnation, while Iraq is under Iranian influence. The Gulf states rose to prominence after the First Gulf War, marked by the launches of Al Jazeera in 1996 and Al Arabiya in 2003. Although Saudi Arabia, with its 35 million population, aspires to be a cultural center, it struggles with football development and must enhance its literary and media presence compared to the UAE and Qatar. Historical reforms were initiated by political parties, raising doubts about Riyadh's future influence beyond the region.