GCC members to form a NATO-style Gulf alliance

© Reuters

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani welcomed on Tuesday leaders of the GCC ahead of the 35th session of the GCC Supreme Council.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) just concluded its 35th annual summit in the Qatari capital of Doha. Despite key differences between some of the members, they've taken initiatives to move their military integration further and push forward with a NATO-style Gulf alliance.

The Doha Summit led to all the GCC members agreeing to form a regional Interpol-like organization and their own regional naval force to be based in Bahrain. They hadn't taken any measures to further integrate their militaries since 1986, when the five-year-old alliance created the Peninsula Shield Force to combine some of their land units. Although they spoke of destabilization all across their land-based periphery, they interestingly made the decision to integrate their navies, not their armies, showing that the GCC as a whole sees Iran as a greater threat than ISIL.

Comparing The Coalitions

Let's look at how closely the GCC compares to NATO.

Out-Of-Regional Scope:

GCC: The grouping has close working relationships with Jordan and Egypt (which is trying to form a military alliance with some of the members) and has hinted at possible intervention in Yemen, all of which are non-Gulf states.

NATO: The Atlantic Alliance includes states that were never previously identified as 'North Atlantic' at any point in their histories (Turkey, Eastern Europe) and has played a significant out-of-regional role in Afghanistan, among other places.

Spats and Stumbling Blocks:

GCC: The previous Qatar-Gulf split made some observers think that the alliance was on the ropes, and some members have fears of becoming Saudi pawns if they integrate more closely within the Council.

NATO: Gaullist France's withdraw from NATO's unified command created some serious fears about the alliance's future and effectiveness, and Eastern and Western Europe are currently divided over how to best counter Russia.

Shared 'Enemy':

GCC: The organization was created in 1981 to protect the monarchies from what they expected would be a spillover effect from the Iranian Revolution, and despite some members being more pragmatic towards Iran (Qatar and especially Oman) nowadays, the group as a whole has still been arming itself against it with billions in American weaponry.

NATO: This anti-Russian alliance has reverted back to its roots after a two decades-long identity crisis and is once more trying to 'contain' Moscow.

Overlapping Battlefields:

2011 Libya: Qatar and the UAE cooperated with France, the US, and the UK in bombing the country and overthrowing Muammar Gaddafi.

2014 Iraq and Syria: The Saudis, Qataris, Emiratis, and Bahrainis joined forces with the US in bombing Syria (Qatar says they only provided logistical and defensive support), while the US and its French, Canadian, Australian, and British allies are bombing Iraq, showing a convergence in the anti-ISIL campaign.

'Big Brother':

The US 'Leads From Behind' by empowering its allied regional alliances to take the initiative in fulfilling what are seen as shared strategic objectives, while basing a massive presence of units and infrastructure in many of these affiliated countries to 'scare off' the 'shared enemy'.

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