The Syrian conflict takes center stage at an Arab summit starting Tuesday in Kuwait, where a regional rift over Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has been kept off the agenda because it is too hot to handle. The dispute which broke out in the run-up to the summit pits Qatar against Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the […]
The governments of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates have withdrawn their ambassadors from Qatar, accusing that government of “failing to implement the principles of the Gulf Cooperation Council.” The three Gulf countries pulled their ambassadors in protest over Qatar’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, especially in Egypt. Qatar sent billions of dollars […]
This morning, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) released its findings of the government’s response to protests that occurred in February and March. The findings were expected to be critical and hold the government accountable for the abuse that took place. They did not disappoint. Placing significant emphasis on Bahrain’s security services, the report […]
by Daniel Pipes National Review Online November 8, 2011 The Arab upheavals of 2011 have inspired wildly inconsistent Western responses. How, for example, can one justify abiding the suppression of dissidents in Bahrain while celebrating dissidents in Egypt? Or protect Libyan rebels from government attacks but not their Syrian counterparts? Oppose Islamists taking over in […]
Bahrain and Syria are countries ruled by sectarian minorities. Bahrain’s Sunni royal family rules over a Shia majority whereas the Assad regime, which rules over a Sunni majority, belongs to the tiny Alawite sect. While this division has exacerbated both of the uprisings, the similarities end here. Bahrain’s royal family has reacted to the protests […]
by Daniel Pipes May 31, 2011 Cross-posted from National Review Online “Arab Spring” has taken off as the default description of the turbulence in the Middle East over the past 5½ months; Google shows 6.2 million mentions as opposed to 660,000 for “Arab Revolt” and a mere 57,000 for “Arab Upheaval.” But I never use […]
The Middle East uprisings are turning Muslim Shi’ites and the Sunni elite against each other. The Bahrain Chamber of Commerce has called for a boycott of Iran, and the kingdom orderd a senior Iranian diplomat to leave the country. Iran threatened retaliatory diplomatic action. Iran’s Shi’ite leaders have condemned the Sunni rulers in Bahrain for […]
UAE to Iran: Butt Out! Iran should reconsider its policies in the region and respect the unity of Gulf countries, UAE foreign minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan said Wednesday in Abu Dhabi. “Iran should reconsider its policies in the region,” Al Nahyan, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Gulf Cooperation Council, […]
The U.S. State Department reports countries in the entire Middle East, and some countries elsewhere, are riddled with human rights abuses. In its annual government-mandated report, the State Department said that government repressions of political freedoms were rampant. The report, which has been submitted each year for the past 35 years, cited actions by police and […]
(CNSNews.com) – Iran officials and state media continue to ignore, downplay, or see conspiracies behind the anti-government protests and violent clampdown in Syria, in sharp contrast to their response to unrest elsewhere in the Arab world. As protests swept countries including Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Yemen and Jordan in recent months, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali […]
