RSIS Senior Fellow James Dorsey wrote in an analysis about the stark choice that the Middle Eastern leaders are confronted with due to the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout: dial down tensions to open the door toward cooperation in tackling existential challenges or risk ever more aggravated political and economic threats enhanced by a potential wave of social protest.

Dr. James M. Dorsey is an award-winning journalist and a Senior Fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. He is also an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and Co-Director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture in Germany.