Bahrain's ruling family has a long history of promising reform, and a long history of failing to deliver. We saw it most recently in connection with the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, where key recommendations are still to be implemented. But that's nothing new: arguments about reform… Read more
Archive: bahrain
18th July 2013
The right of people to get together and organise themselves in pursuit of shared interests is one of the building blocks for a free and open society. It is also something that Arab regimes fear, since active citizenship undermines their authority.
Consequently, many of them have introduced laws… Read more
15th July 2013
The Gulf Daily News, which bills itself as "The voice of Bahrain", is up to its old tricks again. Under the jubilant headline "Opposition vanishing", it reported yesterday:
"A major new survey reveals that support for Bahrain's opposition is dramatically waning as the Premier steers the nation into… Read more
8th May 2013
When a Gulf regime needs to state in public that relations with its most important ally are "robust and strong", we can be pretty sure that something is amiss. Thus, Bahrain's insistence that all is well between Washington and Manama comes amid increasing friction between the two countries..
Last… Read more
24th April 2013
Bahrain's foreign ministry has expressed "dissatisfaction" with the US State Department's annual country-by-country report on human rights.
It says the section on Bahrain "lacks objectivity and impartiality, and overlooks Bahrain’s progress in maintaining and promoting human rights issues".
It also… Read more
29th March 2013
A group of British MPs have "hailed the positive political and economic atmosphere reigning in Bahrain as well as landmark development strides", the Gulf Daily News ("The Voice of Bahrain") reports today.
The delegation of MPs, headed by Richard Ottaway, chairman of the House of Commons Foreign… Read more
29th March 2013
Human Rights Watch says it stands by its assessment of the situation in Bahrain following an attack on its findings by Britain's ambassador in the troubled Gulf kingdom.
At the end of a fact-finding visit last month, HRW said Bahrain’s rulers had "made no progress on key reform promises, failing to… Read more
27th March 2013
Backing the regime in Bahrain: Liam Fox and John Bolton
The idea of holding an international conference on "institutional developments and political reforms in Bahrain" prompts the obvious joke that there won't be much to talk about, but this is the theme for the Bahrain International Symposium… Read more
11th March 2013
There was a time when Arab media habitually reshaped the news to fit their official line – deliberately omitting salient facts, grossly misrepresenting what people said, and so on. In a pre-internet age, when national borders could still be sealed against information coming from outside, they were… Read more
27th February 2013
Bahrain has expressed its appreciation to the UAE for turning away a British academic who was due to speak at a conference in the Emirates last Sunday.
Bahrain's foreign ministry said the UAE's decision was "a true reflection of the strong bonds of fraternity between the UAE and Bahrain and an… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
