Middle East Aggregator

The United States on Wednesday kept Gulf Arab allies Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia on a blacklist of countries trafficking in people, but removed ally Bahrain and trading partner Malaysia. Fiji, Moldova and Papua New Guinea were added to the blacklist contained in the annual report which analyzed efforts in 170 countries to combat trafficking for forced labor, prostitution, military service and other purposes. Also remaining on the "Tier 3" blacklist are Sudan, Syria, Algeria, Iran, Myanmar, and Cuba, according to the State Department's "Trafficking in Persons Report" for 2008. Bahrain and Malaysia as well as Venezuela, Uzbekistan and Equatorial Guinea were all elevated from the blacklist last year to the "Tier 2" watch list this year, according to the congressionally-mandated report. The 14 countries on the blacklist could face sanctions, including the withholding by the United States of non-humanitarian, non-trade related foreign aid. Countries that receive no such assistance would be subject to withholding of funding for government officials to participate in educational and cultural exchange programs. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar admit men and women from Asian and African countries to work as domestic servants or other low-skilled laborers. Many subsequently "face conditions of involuntary servitude," the report said, adding that to a lesser extent, they are forced into prostitution. "For the last four years, the weak performance of several nations in the Persian Gulf has been the matter of great concern and disappointment," said State Department official Mark Lagon. Saudi Arabia is on "Tier 3," which lists the worse trafficking offenders, for the fourth time. (AFP)

Labels: GCC, Human Trafficking, Migrant Rights, U.S.

Most men, it is generally agreed, will do anything to survive. In my favorite World War II/Holocaust movie, Lina Wertmuller's 1975 Seven Beauties, a harmless little nebbish of an Italian petty thief, Pasqualino (Giancarlo Giannini), finds himself in a horrible, hellish Nazi concentration camp; the camp setting is some sort of huge, enclosed, indoor hall, a setting so evil that the inmates never even see the sun.
To survive, Pasqualino agrees to make love to the camp commandant, a ghastly, sadistic, Brobdingnagian-girthed gorgon-like SS officer, played by Shirley Stoler. Pasqualino outlasts both the camp and the war, but his soul dies. He did what he had to do to survive.
Failing being placed in a circumstance where their lives are at stake, there are things that men don't want to do. One of those is to kiss another man. In 1978, on the NBC Network program Saturday Night Live, the troupe performed a skit lampooning the legends of white slaveowners forcing themselves onto their black slaves in the US ante-bellum south. The script called for comedian Bill Murray, playing a slaveowner, to attempt to force his desires on an unwilling slave; the comedy was in that the slave was not a woman, but America's favorite, cheerful, non-threatening African-American of the time, O J Simpson. (Asia Times)

Labels: GCC, Iran, Israel, Nuclear Power, U.S.

Given their significant level of oil and gas revenues for over three decades, there can be little debate that the oil exporting countries of the Persian Gulf have failed economically. Their average annual per capita economic growth was negative from 1975 to 2002 and has only become positive and high since 2002 because of booming energy markets, underscoring their continued dependence on oil and gas.
At the same time, depletable oil and gas reserves, the underlying source of all wealth in the region and the birthright of all current and future citizens, has resulted in anything but equity among the citizenry. While oil has supported government revenues, economic failure and social injustice has become all pervasive.
It is time for a change while oil and gas reserves last. Comprehensive sovereign wealth funds, or SWFs, will afford these countries the means to achieve superior economic and social results. SWFs will take easy money away from the hands of governments and of rulers, military expenditures, waste and corruption are likely to be reduced and there will be better chance of adopting and implementing rational economic policies.
At the same time, equal annual real payouts to each citizen today and over time will support equity across generations, while promoting more rational consumption patterns because citizens will be free to do what they wish with their income instead of governments and rulers spending it on their behalf and to preserve their own power. In this way SWFs could have an all-encompassing impact on economic developments and on the lives of citizens in the Persian Gulf. (Asia Times)

Labels: GCC, Iran, Oil

When Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal greeted his Iraqi counterpart with a bear hug at a Persian Gulf conference last month, Bush administration officials watching from the sidelines were all smiles. After years of trying to bring their client state and the Arab giant together, it looked like things were finally starting to click.

But despite U.S. entreaties, there has been no second date. Riyadh -- along with every other Sunni Arab state -- still declines to send an ambassador to Baghdad or to forgive billions of dollars of Hussein-era debt.

To frustrated U.S. matchmakers, it is blindingly obvious that Iraq needs the Arabs and the Arabs need Iraq, as a stable economic and political partner and a regional bulwark against Iran. Iraq may be a Shiite-majority country with a Shiite-dominated government -- like Iran -- they say, but it is Arab, not Persian.

President Bush plans to press for closer ties again today at a Riyadh meeting with Saudi King Abdullah. (Washington Post)

Labels: GCC, Iraq

Air forces from the United States and several Western and pro-Western Arab countries have started a joint exercise, the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported on Sunday. BNA did not give its exact location or duration but said that Bahrain's armed forces chief of staff, Sheikh Duaij bin Salman al-Khalifa, attended part of the drills on Sunday. It said the exercise, which has been conducted almost every year since 1988, involves the US, France, Italy, Australia, Egypt, Jordan and the six Gulf Cooperation Council member states - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The US Navy's Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, had no immediate comment. BNA said the Bahraini and Kuwaiti armed forces would also start joint drills in Bahrain on Monday. (Daily Star)

Labels: GCC, U.S.

Persian Gulf states, including Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, are talking about dropping their currencies' pegs to the US dollar. Inflation in these states is spinning out of control, as the peg causes their currencies to follow the dollar lower.
They have been somewhat hesitant about this, not least because of concern over a viable alternative. They could peg to another currency, such as the euro, or even the yen, but pegging to either of these could at some point create the same difficulties that the dollar peg is creating now. It was not that long ago that the euro was trading at US$0.87.
Another option is some sort of currency basket, as is used by Singapore. This is not a bad solution, as it provides some diversification among central bankers' errors. However, in the sort of dollar-led worldwide inflation that is happening today, typically all currencies sink together.
Of course, these countries could try to go it alone, with an independent currency. But there is hardly any guarantee that the home-grown central bankers would be better than those at the US Federal Reserve or European Central Bank. Smaller countries have a history of regular currency crises.
The problem with all these alternatives is that, at their base, they rely on some personage like US Federal Reserve head Ben Bernanke to manage the currency properly. There is little evidence that this ever happens. Central bankers always screw up, eventually. (Asia Times)

Labels: GCC

Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's three-nation tour of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India and the welter of agreements and understandings reached between Tehran and these governments serve notice beyond the mere issue of energy security and Iran's expanding role in the sub-continent's energy market; rather, these developments signify a new stage in Iran's foreign policy that is best described as "pan-regionalism".
From the Persian Gulf to the Caspian region, the Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia and beyond, thanks to its unique geographical location, Iran is in many ways an ideal connecting bridge that has not until now fully exploited its advantageous "equidistance" from India and Europe.
Straddled between the two energy hubs of the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea, Iran is a suitable conduit for trade, energy and non-energy, between the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, which are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and the landlocked Central Asian states. The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Also, with ambitious transportation links projected under the veneer of a "north-south corridor", Iran, Russia and India have conceived new areas of cooperation that connect northern Europe to the Indian Ocean via Iran and the Russian Federation [1] . Already, Iran is an energy exporter to Europe through Turkey, funneling through Turkmenistan's gas and swapping oil with Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. (Asia Times)

Labels: GCC, India, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Sri Lanka

New momentum for United States-Iran dialogue on Iraq has been generated as a result of this week's Kuwait summit of Iraq and its neighbors. It will likely trigger a cooling of tensions between Tehran and Washington in the near future after several weeks of vitriolic exchanges.

Although on the surface the summit did not break any ice between Iran and the US, and there was no direct interaction between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, there was sufficient fuel, both at the summit's open- and closed-door meetings as well as on the ground in Iraq, to help improve the hostile climate dominating US-Iran ties.

This is a welcome mini-turnaround from barely two weeks ago, when the US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, blamed Iran for waging a "proxy war" in Iraq and undermining the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki by backing Mahdi Army militiamen of Muqtada al-Sadr. The US is now putting the accent on "common ground" and "convergence of interests" that, per an article in the New York Times, means backing the Baghdad regime against Muqtada's army, labeled as "outlaws" by Iran's ambassador to Baghdad, Hassan Kazemi Qomi. (Asia Times)

Labels: GCC, Iran, Iraq, U.S.

NATO's secretary-general told Gulf Arab states on Thursday that Iran's nuclear ambitions were a major threat to regional stability.

"Iran's pursuit of uranium enrichment capability in violation of its U.N. Security Council obligations is a serious concern not just for Iran's neighbors but for the entire international community," Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a conference to promote ties between NATO and Gulf Arab states.

Iran says its nuclear program is aimed solely at producing electricity but the West accuses it of trying to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies. Gulf Arab states have also voiced concern over Iran's nuclear plans.

"We in the Gulf think Iran has the right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but we fear Iran's intentions. We (the Gulf states) speak the same language on Iran," Bahraini politician Sheikh Khaled Khalifa al Khalifa told Reuters.

NATO, a 26-nation security and defense alliance of North American and European countries, has sought to bolster ties with Gulf Arab states. Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have agreed to explore cooperation opportunities.

At the conference, Bahrain signed an agreement with NATO on the exchange of security information. (Reuters)

Labels: Bahrain, GCC, Iran, NATO

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Bahrain for a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Ms Rice repeated calls for Arab states to open full diplomatic ties with Baghdad to counter Iranian influence in the region.

Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki has made a similar appeal.

He said he was bewildered by the position of countries that did not recognise the Iraqi political process and incited strife.

From Bahrain Ms Rice will travel on to Kuwait for talks with countries that neighbour Iraq.

Officials from Iran and Syria are expected at the discussions in Kuwait although there are no plans for the secretary of state to meet them. (BBC)

Labels: Bahrain, GCC, Iraq, U.S.

The United Nations' top humanitarian official urged wealthy Gulf Arab states on Tuesday to contribute aid to international organizations, rather than focusing on bilateral aid.

"There is an imbalance between the bilateral assistance from the GCC [Gulf Cooperation CouncilOil-Producers-Buying-Spree ] countries and their multilateral assistance," said UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes.

The GCC includes six members: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.

Aid given to UN relief agencies by the oil-rich GCC "is relatively small," Holmes told a conference in Dubai on international humanitarian aid and development. He did not disclose any figures.

"I am concerned that many countries, in this region and elsewhere, underestimate the fundamental value - and benefits - that come with the multilateral humanitarian approach," he said. "If you give aid through a project, it is very clear where the money is going ... There are ways to be sure that it has gone to the right places."  (Daily Star)

Labels: GCC, U.N.

Conservative oil-rich Gulf monarchies need to introduce political reform and modernize their education systems as part of a comprehensive program of change, regional experts told a conference that opened here on Monday. Gulf Arab states have undergone social change brought about by economic development, such as women's entry into the workforce, Saudi academic Khalid al-Dakhil told a conference in Abu Dhabi organized by the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research.

What remains conspicuously absent in most of them is "political reform as part of a comprehensive reform program," Dakhil wrote in a paper read on his behalf.

The three-day conference began under a theme which places the region "between conservatism and change."

Speakers agreed that Kuwait has gone further than any of its other Arab neighbors in democratizing. But Kuwaiti professor Abdullah al-Shayiji cautioned that "the Kuwaiti model touted as a prototype is facing a lot of challenges." (Daily Star)

Labels: GCC

A conference in Qatar has urged Arab states to step up the fight against human trafficking, seen as widespread in the oil-rich Gulf region. Delegates called for an agreement within the framework of the Arab League "to combat human trafficking in all its forms," according to a statement issued at the close of the conference late Thursday. They urged the Riyadh-based Gulf Cooperation CouncilOil-Producers-Buying-Spree (GCC) to take the lead in boosting "coordination and cooperation among member states to enhance measures to fight human trafficking."

The two-day conference was organized by Qatar and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Delegates called for "a network to exchange information and expertise under the supervision of the Arab League," and the inclusion in school and university curricula of material on fighting the phenomenon. Five of the six GCC member states - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia - are on a US blacklist of countries where trafficking in people is rampant. (Link)

Labels: GCC, Human Trafficking

For decades, much of the Arab world has liked to look down on the countries of the Gulf, writing them off as all oil and gas - and no gravitas. However, as a result of energetic leadership and a number of creative initiatives, that view is gradually changing, and the effects are making themselves felt on several levels. The Gulf Arabs still have those lucrative energy reserves at a time of sky-high prices, but this time the boom is being managed with an eye toward preparations for the leaner times that will inevitably lie ahead. Investments are being made in education, research and economic diversification, all prerequisites for societies that can thrive in a post-resource environment. They are also channelling more of their liquidity abroad, but not at gambling tables in Monaco: Instead they are pushing aid, trade and investment into other countries, both Arab and not.

It is in the cultural and intellectual spheres, however, where Gulf capital and influence have the potential to bring about the most revolutionary changes. Westernized elites in places like Lebanon and Morocco might still snicker at such an idea, but the new generations in places like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates mean business, and not just in the literal sense: Wholesale changes may be just around the corner for much of the Arab world, and much thanks will be due to some long-mocked monarchies in the Gulf. (Link)

Labels: GCC, Qatar

Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the US central bank, or Fed, has said that inflation rates in Gulf states, which are reaching near record levels, would fall "significantly" if oil producers dropped their US dollar pegs.

Speaking at an investment conference on Monday in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, he said the pegs restrict the region's ability to control inflation by forcing them to duplicate US monetary policy at a time when the Fed is cutting rates to ward off an economic downturn.

Debate is rife in the Gulf on how to tackle inflation.
Levels have hit seven per cent in Saudi Arabia, the highest in 27 years and a 19-year peak of 9.3 per cent in the United Arab Emirates in 2006. (Link)

Labels: GCC

Gulf states believe Israel will destroy Iran’s nuclear programme rather than allow it to acquire an atomic bomb, an adviser to the Kuwaiti government and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said on Tuesday. If Iran did build the bomb, said adviser Sami Alfaraj, then the Jewish state might be one of the countries — along with the United States and Pakistan — Gulf Arab nations would ask to provide a “nuclear umbrella” to guarantee their security.

Alfaraj, president of the Kuwait Centre for Strategic Studies, said Israel might bomb Iranian nuclear facilities in the same way it destroyed Iraq’s main atomic reactor at Osirak with a military strike in 1981. “I believe in something on the same Iraqi model...We are assuming in the Gulf that Israel will take it out. We are not saying that, but Israel would,” Alfaraj told Reuters at the start of an analyst ‘roadshow’ organised by Realite-EU, an independent body which tracks Middle East security developments. (Link)

Labels: GCC, Iran, Israel, Kuwait