The Gulf's dinosaurs continued their battle for survival yesterday. In Bahrain they demolished the monument on the Pearl Roundabout which had been cleared of protesters on Wednesday. The official reason was to give the area a facelift and "boost the flow of traffic", though the foreign minister said it was done to erase "a bad memory".

In Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah dipped into his pockets again and found SR500 billion or so ($133 billion), though he's not going to spend all the money immediately.

The package includes more housing and medical facilities, more welfare benefits and bonuses for government employees. Arab News has a detailed list.

Among this spending is SR200 million ($53 million) to provide more offices for the detested religious police (along with a request for the media to treat them more sympathetically), plus SR 500 million for religious institutions (Qur'an memorisation and Dawa') along with pay rises for the military and the creation of 60,000 new military jobs under the Interior Ministry – none of which can be classified under the heading of "reform".

The king did, however, announce that an anti-corruption commission will be set up – answerable to himself.

John Burgess, of the Crossroads Arabia blog, writes that the measures seem to "signal a retreat on reform":

"The ferment today, while it does include those who cry for the brakes to be put on reforms, is mostly coming from those who want liberal political reform and greater freedoms. Further empowering the religious authorities does nothing to address those concerns. Seen in company with an increase in security force staffing ... it looks as though the government has shifted toward a more repressive modality.

"Perhaps I’m being pessimistic here. I hope I am. Other than a few fatter paychecks, I don’t see how these steps are to the longterm benefit of the country or its citizens."

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 19 March 2011.