Arab(ian Peninsula Focus) Spring

For those few (but cherished) regular readers who were concerned about my disappearance from the blogosphere...fear not! I went off-line last week (but certainly not off-piste) as I spent my time learning how to slide down some medium-sized French mountains with a pair of flat plastic planks stuck to my feet in a (mostly) controlled manner. After a week of skiing and breathing in the alpine air I am now back in the big smoke and in front of my laptop again. To celebrate the fact that I have made it back to London in one piece,  I have prepared an extravaganza of a comeback post.

Welcome to Arab(ian Peninsula Focus) Spring 

In today's post, I will talk through five news stories, one for each working day that I didn't post last week, which caught my eye.


 1. It appears there has finally been some affirmative action from the gulf countries regarding Syria. The months of empty rhetoric from the likes of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have been replaced with action in the form of a pledge by gulf countries to create a multi-million-dollar fund to pay members of the Free Syrian Army and soldiers who defect. Whilst I have previously been critical of Arabian Peninsula countries who have voted to recognise the Syrian National Council as the official representatives of the Syrian People before the Syrians themselves have had a chance to do so, I do feel that providing the SNC with funds is a positive step in ousting Asad. (This was covered by Al-Jazeera and BBC, amongst others)

2. In Yemen, clashes have continued between suspected al-Qaeda militants and government troops. Last week, in one violent episode in South Yemen seventeen soldiers and twelve suspected militants were killed. It is clear that the tensions between Al-Qaeda in Yemen and President Hadi continue, and are turning into a drawn out series of clashes rather than initial teething problems while Hadi asserts his power. Yemen's new president continues to state the same message: fighting al-Qaeda is one of his top priorities. If this is really the case, I think it's time for Hadi to rethink his counter-al-Qaeda strategy. (This was covered by the BBC) 

3. Hillary Clinton has openly expressed concern at the recent closure in the United Arab Emirates of the Dubai office of the National Democratic Institute (NDI). The NDI is a US-based organisation and is seen as a champion of human rights in some parts of the Middle East. Whilst the closure has forced Hillary to tut and shake her head in a concerned manner, it is difficult to see how she will take any actions which risk threatening the UAE's relationship with the USA. (This was reported by Al-Jazeera)

4. Saudi Arabia has arrested 681 alleged drug smugglers in the last 4 months. I find this particularly interesting. Saudi Arabia's punishments for drug trafficking and use are as tough as they can be, with the strictest punishment being death. It amazes me that, given the tough consequences, so many people are allegedly prepared to risk their lives in drug smuggling. That said, the tough punishments for those caught in possession of drugs will undoubtedly push up the cost of narcotic substances in Saudi Arabia. Just like anything, the greater the risk - the greater the reward. (This was covered by AFP)

And finally...it appears that nothing of note whatsoever happened in Oman whilst I was tumbling in the snow. Somehow this does not surprise me.

A call but no response - Bahrain's opposition reaches out

Work has been somewhat all-encompassing these last few days and consequently I have not posted anything on the Arabian Peninsula since last week. I am pleased to be back today with a (albeit brief) commentary on an Al-Jazeera news story, posted on their website today and concerning Bahrain.

Arial view of Manama, Bahrain

This morning Al-Jazeera reported that Bahrain's opposition seeks talks 'consensus'. According to the article, Bahrain's five main opposition parties have joined forces to detail the conditions which the Bahraini government must meet in order for the former to consider sharing a negotiating table with the latter. In a statement the opposition groups have specified that “any offer of dialogue requires consensus on its agenda, means, and duration in order to provide initial guarantee of its seriousness.” The opposition has expressly asked that the government include jailed former leaders of the opposition in the talks.

The fact that the five opposition parties have joined forces to draft these conditions of a meeting between themselves and the government should be seen as a positive step. Such a move shows both Bahraini's and the outside world that the country's opposition is suitably structured and mature to come up with measured concessions to progress with continued political developments. 

I sincerely hope that Bahrain's government has the sense to recognise this move as a positive step in its relations with the opposition. After all, despite the fact that the opposition has come to the negotiating table with some demands, their underlying message is that they want to talk. This is progress, and the Bahraini royal family would be foolish to snap this mini olive branch. 

Unfortunately I suspect that Saudi Arabia will not be so encouraging towards accepting this offer by Bahrain's Shia opposition and we should not ignore the House of Saud's hold over the Bahraini Sunni royals...and that makes Riyadh one of the biggest obstacles to progress in Manama. The optimist in me still hopes that Bahrain's royals will behave with an ounce of autonomy and accept the offer for talks.

My only word of advice to Bahrain's opposition is not to ask for too much too soon. Back in January I posted an article on this blog called "Bahrain's activists are right to ask for more...within reason" and I repeat the same warning now. Arguably the demand for jailed opposition leaders to be present at the talks is too much too soon, especially as for such a demand to be met the judiciary would be required to intervene. The danger with asking for too much is that the whole offer will be ignored, resulting in no response to the opposition's olive branch call. 

Let's hope that a little tempering of demands by the opposition and a little independent thinking from the government will result in the start of a meaningful dialogue between Bahrain's Sunni leaders and Shia opposition.   

Saudi and Bahrain - closing embassies and tweeting ministers

Today I read two news reports that Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have closed their embassies in Damascus. The articles can be found at Daily Press and the Jerusalem Post. Saudi Arabia quoted Asad's treatment of government opposition protestors as their reason for withdrawing their diplomatic representation from the country. Given the already poor state of relations between Saudi and Syria, I am not sure what difference this latest move will make other than to underscore that the two regimes do not see eye to eye.  

Interestingly, Bahrain's reason (as quoted in the Jerusalem Post) for shutting its embassy in Damascus is not a direct attack at Asad, but rather concerns the worsening security situation in Syria. I suspect a significant reason for Bahrain's action is that Manama has taken its lead from Riyadh  

Whilst the the Bahraini Foreign Minister is busy closing embassies, according to Al-bawaba Business, his minister colleagues are tweeting away.

Bahrain's ministers have been publicly encouraged to use personal twitter accounts in order to communicate better with the people. Considering that Bahrain has just been labelled as Enemies of the internet by Reporters without borders I find it interesting that days later the country’s ministers are being encouraged to behave like model social media users. I suspect the latter may be a direct result of the former. If so, Manama should realise that it is not ministers who should be taking encouragement to tweet, but rather the regime relaxing censorship and encouraging its citizens to tweet, and engage in other forms of social media.

Today's 4...Athletes, displacement, internet & hotels

The Daily Mail reported that Saudi Arabia may overturn their previous decision and allow women to compete in the London2012 Olympic Games. International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge has announced he is "confident" that Saudi will allow women to attend the sporting event. I am concerned this decision has come too late. With Saudi women banned from gyms since 2009 and still no confirmation of whether or not female contestants will be allowed to travel to London this summer I would be very surprised if Saudi's female athletes have been training sufficiently to reach Olympic standards. I wish the women of the closed Kingdom the best of luck in getting to London2012 should the decision be made in their favour.

Reuters AlertNet reported that civilian displacement in Yemen is increasing significantly due to tribal clashes in the north and ongoing violent struggles between the government and militias in the south. Such displacement is not surprising given the ongoing violence throughout the country. Nonetheless, this new challenge will be an unwelcome development for recently inaugurated President Hadi, who does not seem to be strong enough to deal with the current challenges. It is rumoured that the UN and USA are proposing aid provision to help the new President. Let’s hope they define their proposals before too long. It seems Hadi could do with some assistance.

CVT.ca reported on a recent study by Reporters Without Borders which singled out Bahrain as an "Enemy of the Internet". Bahrain is accused of clamping down on Internet freedom in response to the last year of anti-government protests on the small island kingdom, including media blackouts and harassing on social media users such as bloggers and twitter users. Whilst such behaviours are widespread throughout the region, I still find it saddening that regimes adopt such Dickensian measures to prevent the free flow of information.  

And finally...

Reuters reported that the Abu Dhabi will not issue any new hotel licenses until further notice due to over-supply. We have witnessed high-rise hotels shoot out the sand across the emirates of the UAE but now it seems there are too many. Some may see this as a sign that tourism is slowing down for the UAE, but I imagine it has more to do with the volume of hotels still under construction which has resulted in this decision.

A tale of two cities: Sanaa starves while Muscat thrives

Al Jazeera reported that the UN envoy to Yemen has warned of a potential humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East. The envoy has warned that circa 3million Yemeni citizens are in need of immediate assistance, of which 500,000 children are at serious risk of dying or suffering life-long consequences through malnutrition. When President Hadi came to power I commented that his greatest obstacle to reform is the country's lack of funds. Whilst this is still true, with the threat of malnutrition on the horizon, I think he should be more concerned about feeding the country before implementing reforms. Perhaps some of Yemen's wealthy neighbours could prove to the rest of the world that pan-Arab solidarity still exists by providing some much needed support to stricken Yemen. With Qatar now the wealthiest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita, perhaps they'd like to lead the effort?

In contrast, the website AME Info posted an article today to report on the ""Invest in the Sultanate of Oman" Symposium held in Bahrain. During the gathering, Oman has been complemented for its excellent investment environment. Only yesterday I posted a comment on the fact that an Omani private sector company currently has an tourism portfolio of over $2million for investments in the sultanate's thriving tourist industry. The proximity of Yemen and Oman merely highlights the huge gulf in terms of development and prosperity between the two countries. Whilst it will take years, indeed many decades, for Yemen to catch up with its prosperous neighbour, let's hope that one day the two countries will be more evenly matched. 

Today's 4...Tweets, tourism, talkies & titles



Twitter Arabic hails a new era in Middle East social media

 The BBC reported that Twitter is now available in 4 right-to-left languages, including Arabic. Obviously this impacts more than just the countries of the Arabian peninsula, but seeing as the countries of the Arabian Peninsula have dubious records at best when it comes to freedom of speech I imagine that this latest development is causing some concern amongst the peninsula's various corridors of power. It was one thing monitoring the tweets of those members of the population who could speak English or another European Language. It will be a much greater challenge now that twitter, a channel which arguably promotes free speech, is open to all those who can access a computer/smartphone. Globally, we have seen how powerful social media tools such as twitter can be as a call to arms (take the London riots of 2011 which took the Metropolitan Police completely by surprise: Twitter was a key tool in spreading the "riot" word.) The governments of the Arabian Peninsula and wider Arab world should not underestimate the potential impact of this latest twitter development. I think they'll regret it if they do.

The Times of Oman revealed that Oman's leading tourism related investment company declared that it's tourism-related portfolio of projects is currently worth $2billion. This tells us two things. First, considering this is the first news story I have quoted concerning Oman for at least a fortnight and considering that this was the best I could find today, it is clear that Oman's presence on the pages of the international press is still notable in its absence (I wonder if we'll start to read more now that Twitter Arabic is up and running?!). Secondly it tells us how seriously Oman is taking its tourism ambitions. There is clearly a strong sense throughout both the Omani private and public sectors that there is a sound future for tourism in the country. I think they may be right.

The Times of India reported that for the second time in 30 years a film has been shown publicly in Saudi Arabia. The film was called "Journey to Mecca" and was funded by the state. It was aired in the Hilton in Jeddah. The first film to be shown in 30 years took place in 2008, and whilst it was not a religious film, it was produced by Saudi billionaire, Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal. I somehow think the showing of "Journey to Mecca" does not hail the start of the beginning of Saudi's cinema age. Instead, I think today's lesson is that the only way for films to be aired publicly in the closed Kingdom is for them to be funded  by the House of Saud, preferably with a religious focus. I don't think Sex and the City will make onto the Jeddah Hilton's projector screen anytime soon.

And finally

First it was Kuwait...now it's Bahrain. Today Gulf News reported that the Bahraini parliament's lower chamber is pushing for the island's government to ditch Asad and recognise Asad's opposition, the Syrian National Council, as the official representatives of the Syrian People. The debate is yet to reach a conclusion and I would urge Bahrain to avoid taking such a step. Whilst I fully acknowledge that Asad's regime is currently responsible for one of the greatest acts of tyranny in Syria's short history and that it should be stopped without delay, I take issue with foreign parties deciding on behalf of another country's people who their official representatives should be. Regretfully, Asad is still the Syrian leader. I am keen for him to be replaced by a new regime, but it is for the Syrian people to decide who that regime is. It is not up to Kuwait; it is not up to the lower house of the Bahraini parliament; it is not up to any government in the Arabian Peninsula, Arab World or globally. We should concentrate on stopping Asad, rather than adding a title which is essentially meaningless in the current Syrian context to Asad's opposition. 

Shootings & killings shrouded in mystery and bias

Today has been a rather long day so I have customised "Today's 4" again into a slightly shorter version. I'm sure we'll be back to our full 4 posts before too long...

Pictures of Dhaka

Al Jazeera reported that a Saudi diplomat posted to Bangladesh has been shot in Dhaka. The victim, who was the head of the Citizens' Affairs department in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's embassy to Bangladesh, later died in hospital. 


The article does not allude to whether the shooting was an accident of whether there are more sinister undertakings at work.


I plan to keep a beady eye on this particular story, especially on the reaction from Saudi Arabia


The Tehran Times  reported that a Bahraini child has been killed by tear gas fired from government forces. At this point I should stress that this is deeply moving. However, I do have to criticise the way in which the Tehran Times chose to report the story. The opening paragraph begins: 

"Another Bahraini infant has died from asphyxia after inhaling poisonous tear gas fired by Saudi-backed regime forces in the capital, Manama."

The tone then continues in the same way throughout. It is very interesting to read Tehran's view on the situation in Bahrain. Personally, I feel Tehran might convince a more informed audience to follow their perspective by adapting a more subtle approach to biased news reporting.