The Corrupt Tyrants of the Gulf Close Circles
The Wives of Arab Tyrants
The Shaking Throne of Arab Tyrants
Hugo Chavez: Lover of Tyrants
Corrupt Elements in the Government Named
End of Tyrants: Universal Jurisdiction is Pandora’s Box
The Qatari regime, and its voice heard through al Jazeera (owned by the royal family), has supported the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt but has stayed silent if not opposed similar protests in Bahrain, Oman and now Saudi Arabia.
al Jazeera, while strongly supporting the demonstrators in Tunisia and Egypt, has avoided extensive coverage to Bahrain and scant mention of the other oil-rich neighbors. And Qatar sent its foreign minister to actually express support for the corrupt, authoritarian and sectarian Bahraini Emir.
The Gulf nations have made it clear that they'll close ranks and see to it that the Arab revolution wave started in Tunisia does not wash away their regimes. Democracy is all well in good in north Africa and Arab republics, but the royal families rule (in this minds) almost by divine rite and do not have time for democracy. They are keen to stop Arab revolutions at their border and to outlive or crush internal dissent.
Saudi Arabia is already rounding up newly confident dissidents, including a Shia' cleric, and the man behind a Facebook calling for a "day of rage" akin to Egypt's January 25th revolutionary start has actually been shot and killed. The regime is preparing its security forces for a brutal crackdown if Saudis go ahead with a planned March 11 demonstrations.
Bahrain's king initially ordered the army to open fire, but seems now to be adopting a ostensibly conciliatory course promising reform, but it is a farce. He offered his proposal after meeting the king of Saudi Arabia, and if you think the king of Saudi Arabia would ever be a voice for respecting popular aspirations and reform then I got a oil well to sell you. The Bahraini monarch only seeks interminable negotiations designed to exhaust the opposition and demoralize them so as to turn their protest into nothing more than an abeyance from forced subservience.
And now the Gulf Cooperative Council has proposed, get this, a Marshall Plan for Bahrain and Oman (two already oil-rich nations) in order to buy off dissent. Saudi Arabia has already proposes its own internal $36billion cash flood (A footnote: note that none of these corrupt regimes awash with oil wealth [Saudi Arabia alone has reserves of over $400billion and has no foreign aid budget] have bothered to offer assistance to either Tunisia and Egypt, both nations which could greatly use development aid now but instead of using funds to aid newly won democracies they are putting together a budget of malice to fund repression in already wealthy nations. The bastards! This is why Arab brotherhood will never exist when such regimes continue to exist. Their selfishness is another reason for overthrow. And then all Arabs can work together in the name of freedom and prosperity).
The GCC is an American-backed order among Arab oil rich nations designed to, really, divide and conquer Arabs and to create an idea of regionalism more in league with American Empire.
And now this body is making it clear that it will do what is necessary (including force) to stop democracy in its bloc. What the aid will mean is not clear since the demonstrators in the Gulf are already mostly well-off and are not asking for aid but dignity and a voice.
But tyrants never learn and think they can buy off their people. Let them learn that their people are not cheap so enough!
