Download - Royal Australian Navy

Sealing the STRAIT
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Yet a history of symbolic rather than applied defence cooperation does not condemn the
GCC to a long-term future of critical reliance on a ‘protector’ in the Gulf. And indeed,
the GCC should not rely on the US to assume the lion’s share of the defence burden.
Mustafa Alani of the Gulf Research Center in Dubai notes that during the Obama
presidency, the US administration has increasingly voiced the idea of ‘burden sharing’,
which he attributes to the strain the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan have placed on
US resources. This does not mean the US seeks to withdraw from the Gulf, but rather
that President Obama wants US allies to assume greater self-defence capabilities. 126
This raises the question of whether the GCC has the potential to build a viable security
structure. Al Hamad argues that before the GCC can begin to establish political and
military coherency, each state will need to eliminate their respective internal problems.
In brief, Saudi Arabia needs to develop fair political and legal structures, Kuwait needs
to implement a flexible idea of citizenship, Bahrain needs to solve economic and
sectarian problems, and the UAE must stabilise a population imbalance and strengthen
federal institutions. Yemen must also be included in the GCC in some form, so as to
deter it from joining with other states such as Iraq in its isolation. 127
Satellite view of the Strait of Hormuz (NASA)