March 13, 2012 | The Crooked Bough

editor: The GRC maintains cooperation agreements with major partners such as Emirates Bank, Shell, Glaxo Smith Kline, the University of Queensland, the Saudi Arabian Marketing and Agencies Company (SAMACO) group, the National Defence College and the FRIDE Foundation. In the Article below it seems Dr. Christian Koch would have those who aspire to democracy, give it up for the pretense of “democratic reform” lead by post-colonial Monarchs, that line their pockets with oil, security state technology and weapons wealth, they and their “friends” lavish upon themselves. Further, Dr. Koch argues that unanimity on reforms was prevalent before “extremist voices” caused the “unanimity of reform” to fail in Bahrain.

All of this might make sense if 14 February had never happened, but it did and a small faction of “reformers” tried and failed to bring the “Majority Society” to the regimes “table of reforms” that was swimming in a pool of blood. 14 February will go down as regime’s greatest misstep and perhaps that of the Majority Society, the message was clear, the hopes and dreams of democracy were not to be as long as the regime possessed the hand to crush those who would hope to break out of the cycle of inter-generational tyranny. Those within the Ranks of the Majority Society knew better and would not have it. The “would be reformers” retreated to retain their stature. The distance between the reforms on the table, which looked more like bribes from a corrupt regime and the demand for liberty from the Nations tyrannical leaders, was simply too great and mired in decades of lies, misdeeds by the brutal regime.

Now a year later with much maneuvering from the Saudis, the al Khalifa’s and Obama’s Department of State, a grand charade is about to take place, the deal for reform that promises democracy that will never come is on the table again. The reality is the Bahrainis cannot have it both ways, they can settle for the promise of democracy that will never come or they can demand the democracy that is rightfully theirs. The quite diplomacy Mr. Koch is speaking of, has filled the prisons with opposition leaders, made scores of Martyrs and entombed the villages in a clouds of toxic gas as regime thugs torture, steal and murder with impunity. Phlipn.

Bahrain: time for reforms
13 March, 2012 – Bahrain Freedom Movement

Interview with Dr. Christian Koch – Director of the Gulf Research Center Foundation.

Well, the protests in Bahrain have quite a long history and they go back even to the 1970es when there was a debate in the country about the setting up of the parliamentary functions and how to really divide governance and rule in the country. We’ve seen spiraling protests in the early 1990es when the Government was suspended and this continues to the modern days.

The issue of course in Bahrain is that you have a ruing family that is from the minority Sunni side and a majority Shia population. The exact figures are not available but the estimates are that 60% of the population of Bahrain is Shia and the two sides have simply not come to any kind of agreement of how to reform politics in the country and how to have greater access to decision making also by the Shia majority population.

And what is the balance between the Shias and the Sunnis in the region?

In the region of course you do have Shia minorities also located in Saudi Arabia which mostly are in the eastern province, so geographically located right across from Bahrain. And there have been protests also inside Saudi Arabia by the Shia there. And then you have also the minority Shia in Kuwait that has been quite politically active, although here in Kuwait they are represented more in the Parliament and use that avenue through the Parliament to voice their concerns in the opposition.

Do I get it right that last year when there were major protests in Bahrain Saudi Arabia had to intervene?

It’s a little bit more complicated, I would argue. I think that when the protests started in Bahrain, there was a common position even among the elements of the Sunni population inside Bahrain for a political reform. There has been a movement for that in Bahrain as a whole. And it was only at the later stage when there was no agreement on what kind of reform to propose that sort of extremist voices on both sides, both on the Sunni and the Shia, began to harden their positions and no agreement was eventually possible.

And there was a real concern even in the Saudi Arabia that the events in Bahrain would deteriorate further and we would have a very chaotic situation taking hold on the island and that this situation would then deteriorate to the point that a country like Iran, which has in the past even made territorial claims on Bahrain, that Iran would stand and try to interfere into the domestic politics. And the message from the Saudi Arabians at that time was to send some of their security forces to help guard vital installations and to simply signal a red line to the Iranians that any kind of domestic interference inside one of the Gulf countries would not be tolerated.

But as far as I remember last year the Government of Bahrain indicated that they were about to introduce some reforms?

The problem at the moment is that there is no consensus within the ruling family of Bahrain about which way to go forward. There are certainly the voices, even within the ruling family, they have been arguing for more political reforms and for more wide and open political dialog to be held with the Shia elements. But there are also elements within the ruling family that are very adamantly opposed to any types of concessions. So, they are very split within the Khalifa itself which has really prevented any form of dialog to take place with the Shia elements and the Shia opposition and to try to resolve the current situation in Bahrain.

It’s interesting that these developments which are illustrating the crisis of, shall we say, the monarchial model in the Middle East and the Gulf region coincides with the conference that was held in Tunisia this weekend which insisted on getting back to governmental type of a khalifate. Is the system in Bahrain, does it resemble the khalifate in any way?

No, I don’t think it resembles the khalifate in any way. Yes, you do have the monarchial system to prevail in the Persian Gulf but overall, I mean you shouldn’t argue that the system in place has done quite well. They have provided a tremendous economic development for the population over the past 40 years, they have survived multiple crises in regional relations including wars, for example the invasion of Iraq and the Iran – Iraq war, the invasion of Kuwait back in 1990. And throughout the time the Gulf States do have prospered quite well and a lot of credit has to go to the ruling families for this.

Now, that doesn’t mean that the model in necessarily going to be hold up over a long period of time and I think even the monarchies in the region now are challenged to come up with more widespread reforms that will maintain the legitimacy in the future. If they don’t, then they will be surprised by increased domestic political opposition as you have quite a young generation coming up that is no longer just interested in being wealthy but would like to have demands in terms of freedom, of accountability, of transparency, of against corruption and other issues like that.

So, we are in for a period of continued and heightened actually political discussions in all the Gulf States and Bahrain is simply the most obvious example that we are facing at the moment, and it is more delicate because of the sectarian element involved.

But then what could the international community do, it is so often that the international community intervenes with the most inefficient consequences?

I think there needs to be more consolidated efforts of also working with the GCC states, with the other GCC countries as well as with some of the international community. Behind the scenes they tried to promote a dialog in Bahrain, at the moment you don’t have the dialog going on and so basically you do have these daily protests that are really having a negative impact on the social and the human rights situation in the country and in the long term this will benefit no one.

So, there needs to be some more quiet diplomacy behind the scenes to try to encourage more of the reform-minded elements within the Bahraini ruling family and some of the more open-minded people within the opposition to try to come up with some sort of initial solution that then can be carried forward. I think that if they are just left by themselves we will just continue to see this civil conflict protract and even get worse. …more

Bahraini protesters hold anti-regime demonstration in Diraz
13 March, 2012 – Shia Post

Bahraini protesters have held a demonstration against the ruling Al Khalifa regime in the northwestern village of Diraz, Press TV reports.

Protesters chanted slogans against the Al Khalifa regime during the demonstration in Diraz on Tuesday.

In addition to the Tuesday demonstration in Diraz, Bahraini people in several other towns and villages also protested against the Saudi support for the Manama regime.

In mid-March 2011, Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates, deployed troops in Bahrain to help the Manama regime crush anti-government demonstrations.

Saudi-backed Bahraini forces continue the violent crackdown on anti-regime protests.

On March 10, regime forces killed a 21-year-old protester who was trying to get to the iconic Pearl Square in Manama with a group of other demonstrators.

Bahrainis hold King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa responsible for the death of protesters during the popular uprising in the country that began in February 2011. …more

Russia seeks monitors, China presses political solution in Syria
13 March, 2012 – AL-Akhbar

China and Russia were both active on Tuesday in pressing for a political resolution to the Syrian crisis, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov calling for international monitors to observe a ceasefire in the country.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia was discussing the proposal both with the Arab League and at the United Nations, where the Security Council debated the crisis on Monday.

“The objective is for both sides to understand that there is an independent observer watching how they meet demands – and we are definitely going to be making such demands – for an immediate ceasefire,” he said.

“This must be simultaneous. We must not have a situation in which the government is required to leave the cities and villages while the armed groups are not made to do the same.

“This is unrealistic, not because we want the bloodshed to continue, but because the unilateral withdrawal of government forces is completely unrealistic,” Lavrov told reporters.

“The Syrian authorities will not go for that, whether we like it or not.”

Lavrov argued that President Bashar Assad’s forces will continue to wage their campaign until Western and Arab governments with sway over the opposition can force the rebel forces to also lay down their arms.

Russia and China have vetoed two Western-backed UN Security Council resolutions on Syria, and Moscow has expressed reservations about a new US-backed version of the text now under discussion.

China was also on a diplomatic offensive to bridge international divisions over the Syrian crisis, with Chinese envoy Zhang Ming saying on Tuesday that Beijing and Arab countries agree on the need to find a “political solution.”

“We all recognize that there is great agreement between China and the Arab League for a political solution to the Syrian crisis,” Ming said after talks at the Cairo headquarters of the Arab League.

He told reporters he was on a mission to discuss a six-point Chinese initiative and talk with Arab officials about ways of reaching “international agreement and finding a peace solution.”

The initiative calls for dialogue between Assad’s regime and the opposition and rejects foreign interference or “external action for regime change” in Syria.

Last week, China said it would be dispatching envoys to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and France to explain its position on Syria.

Beijing and Moscow are critical of what they see as Western and Gulf Arab attempts to sow discord in Syria and plunge the country into civil war.

On Monday, China’s UN ambassador Li Baodon insisted there could be no military intervention in Syria and denied that “self-interests” had motivated its veto of the UN Security Council resolutions. …more

editor: the neocolonial wealth held in the gulf has been systematically robbed from it inhabitants for centuries. Its curious how the wealthy seem to forget the origin of their wealth but embrace brutality when it seems necessary to retain it. Phlipn.

“Progress vs democracy” in the Gulf
13 March, 2012 – POMED

In a comment, Mishaal Al Gergawi proposed comparing democracy and development focusing on Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). Al Gergawi said that Kuwait is perceived as an “aspirational beacon of political participation in the Gulf,” and the U.A.E. as a “successful post-oil development attempt.” Considering any comparison between democracy and development, the author reports that “Khaliji (states from the Gulf) capitalists will note that democracy has an adverse effect on development,” and Kuwait would be cited as “a state gone wrong via democracy.” However, Al Gergawi noticed that Dubai and Kuwait achieved soft power strength; following a different path, Kuwait “gave Khalijis contemporary cultural depth and a disposition towards self-criticism” while “Dubai raised the bar of the Khalijis’ own expectations of their cities.”

Al Gergawi called the Kuwaiti ruling system an “hybrid democracy,” and said “it’s in principle a parliamentary system, elections are limited to 50 of 65 seats; the Emir of Kuwait appoints the remaining 15. Those form 15 of the 16-member cabinet, the 16th is ceremonially chosen from the parliament’s 50 elected members.” This system has driven to ensure “a continuous state of crises,” as the parliament is often in conflict with the cabinet.

The author also noticed that “the abundance of oil in Kuwait and its near lack in Dubai required the latter to pursue a policy of revenue diversification while the former became a welfarist rentier state.” The different economic situation impacts the development of both cities. Dubai met an economic growth “driven by internal realities such as limited natural resources and a heritage of trade that precedes its discovery of oil.” On the other hand Kuwait’s deceleration was driven by a crisis-prone hybrid political system that was meant to balance the interests of the ruling family and people but has really antagonized both,” moreover Al Gergawi believed that the ruling family bought the Kuwaities’ apathy by expanding the state reaching an inefficient size.

The author concluded that “democracy shouldn’t be given more credit than its due or held accountable for what it does not have a direct effect on,” and added “development is the product of thorough planning and dynamic execution. If anything, it is more susceptible to oil wealth and welfarism than anything else … even if that was a well-functioning democracy.” …more

The GRC maintains cooperation agreements with major partners such as Emirates Bank, Shell, Glaxo Smith Kline, the University of Queensland, the Saudi Arabian Marketing and Agencies Company (SAMACO) group, the National Defence College and the FRIDE Foundation.