Can Saudi Arabia reform itself?

All people from the relevant fields are welcomed to put there views regarding the above issue in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Weekly Summary #106

Human Rights Front
Bahrain will investigate allegations by the Human Rights Watch group that interrogators are again using torture in the Gulf Arab country after a lull of several years, the foreign minister said on Wednesday. Human Rights Watch said in a report on Monday that detainees in three cases mostly linked to protests in 2007 and 2008 in Shi’ite Muslim villages had been beaten and abused during interrogations.
Kuwait is fully committed to international human rights legislation, with any human rights violations that take place in the country being an "individual" matter that will be tackled as such, said a cabinet member.
Freedom of Expression
Bahrain has been accused of stifling political debate after a series of high-profile seminars was allegedly cancelled because authorities deemed them too sensitive. The KitSon, a Paris-based non-governmental organisation, was planning to hold monthly debates in Bahrain to address a variety of topics. Its first dinner-debate on March 8 was due to focus on GCC counter-terrorism, but organisers have been told that local laws prevented it from taking place.
Labor Front
The government of Oman will extend the amnesty deadline of March-end granted to overstaying expatriates to leave the country without paying fines. This will facilitate the repatriation of the large number of expatriate workers who have registered themselves in their respective diplomatic missions in Oman.
Social Front
A Saudi appeals court upheld a verdict against an airline sales clerk sentenced to five years in prison and 1,000 lashes for boasting on a television programme about his sexual exploits. In the meantime The Shoura Council approved on Sunday a proposal requesting a full report of the rights and duties of the members of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia). The Shoura’s Islamic Affairs and Human Rights Committee presented the proposal last week after listening to an annual report by the Haia’s umbrella, the General Presidency for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
International Front
US President Barack Obama’s charm offensive on Muslim states comes to a weekend forum in Qatar, where he will send a video message and his chief diplomat will give a speech, organizers said Thursday. Obama will deliver his message to the seventh annual US-Islamic World Forum in the Qatari capital.
GCC and EU officials held a meeting here Tuesday to discuss ways of activating the cooperation agreement. Meanwhile GCC Secretary General Abdulrahman Al-Attiyah categorically rejected Sunday the International Criminal Court's (ICC) accusation of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir of genocide in Darfur. The ICC took the decision while the Arab League and African Union (AU) were making progress in the Darfur peace talks in the Qatari capital, Doha, Al-Attiyah said in a statement.
In Saudi Arabia, the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has said that no complaints have been received from Saudis concerning tightened security inspections and searches at US airports.
Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon denied apologizing to a senior Saudi diplomat before a rare public handshake between officials of the two states. Prince Turki al-Faisal had said he shook hands with Ayalon at a security conference in Munich, but only after the Israeli apologised for actions Turki objected to giving Turkey’s ambassador a public dressing down. However, Ayalon said it was not true he said sorry to Turki. “Everyone who was present at the conference knows there was no apology from the deputy minister to the Saudi prince,” said a statement from his office. To those who did not take part in the conference we suggest they check the video recordings to verify what really happened.

In UAE, Dubai would seek the arrest of Israel's prime minister if it found evidence intelligence service Mossad was behind the killing of a senior Hamas official, its police chief was quoted as saying in a newspaper report. Hamas has blamed Israel for killing Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, one of its top military commanders, in a Dubai hotel last month. Israel has declined to comment.

Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed stressed on the strength of ties between Bangladesh and Kuwait in all fields, during her visit to the state.
Economic Front
Bad managers, lack of adequate investment in scientific and technological research initiatives, near-absence of technical and vocational training for local manpower and the private sector ignoring manufacturing ventures are hurting the diversification effort in the GCC. These are the major challenges in steering the Gulf economies away from their dependence on hydrocarbon resources, experts said at a key conference. Banks in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economy are expected to return to profit growth in 2010, benefiting from higher oil prices and a sharp recovery in regional economies because of expanding public spending and rebounding confidence, analysts said.
The Saudi Arabian insurance industry has emerged as one of the fastest growing insurance industries across the world. While the global economic crisis has severely hit other industrial sectors, the insurance industry posts 25-30 percent annual growth rate on the back of compulsory insurance lines, research report. In addition to this Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry will for the first time allow local firms to bid to supply basic materials excluding arms with the long-term goal of encouraging a domestic military industry, officials said.
In UAE, Abu Dhabi is spending more on infrastructure development than any other capital in the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), said a senior municipality official. Giant infrastructure projects are being undertaken in the city and its suburbs in line with Abu Dhabi Vision 2030.
Oman and Iran signed the minutes of the consultative meeting of the Joint Technical Committee regarding implementation of memorandum of understanding on tourism.
Renewable Energy Front
Massive renewable energy projects undertaken by the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries could turn them into solar energy exporters along with their large hydrocarbon exports, according to a veteran Arab energy analyst. "After oil, Arab countries could start exporting solar energy.
Oil and Gas
Global demand for crude oil this year is expected to rise by 170,000 barrels per day (b/d) to reach 86.5 million b/d, an increase of 1.8 percent over 2009 levels, due largely to a pick-up in the world economies, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report.
Saudi Aramco has concluded supply deals to purchase up to 7.14 million barrels of gas oil for delivery in 2010 from private trading firms and international oil companies, industry sources said.
Yemen Turmoil
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has issued a directive on cessation of hostilities against the Shiite Houthi rebels in the northwestern part of the country. The presidential decree was announced in a press release after Saleh presided over a meeting of the higher security commission tasked with the implementation of the government's six-point ceasefire proposal accepted by the Houthis.Yemen’s Shia rebels said Saudi warplanes intensified attacks on northern Yemen on Tuesday, and that the insurgents had surrounded a Yemeni paratroopers unit.

weekly Summary of GCC States (105)

GCC

Expert says closing gender gap in enrolment and degree choices should be priority with emphasis on job training. Economists and scholars on Tuesday shared views on a roadmap for an education system that can meet labour market requirements across the GCC region.
A senior Iranian military official told Gulf States yesterday not to squander money on US missiles, boasting that Iran can render them useless, and the state news agency IRNA reported. Tehran had on Wednesday slammed plans by the United States to beef up defences in the Gulf against potential Iranian missile attacks, with the Islamic republic insisting it posed no threat to its neighbours.
Kuwait's immigration bureau has directed to not allow maids into the country unless their sponsors had the approval from the police. Kuwaitis and residents in the past could send the visa and the plane ticket to the recruited helper without resorting to a manpower office. The new measures, according to unnamed sources, aims to ensure that the maids had a police clearance from their home countries.

Labor Front

In Bahrain, A plan to replace the current sponsorship scheme or kafala system is under study by the cabinet. The Ministry of Labour has made a proposal to the cabinet laying out the framework for a new employment system for expatriates, a cabinet source told Gulf News on condition of anonymity. The plan is currently under discussion and no decision has been made yet on approving it, said the source, refusing to divulge details of the proposed system. A leading Bahraini lawmaker has expressed "tremendous concerns" that claims about Al Qaida in Yemen threats to world security would turn out to be as baseless as the ones made about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. "Al Qaida in Yemen has been given incredibly impressive proportions which it does not deserve," Adel Al Mouawda, an MP representing Al Asala, said.

Human Rights Front

A Bahrain women's rights group has stepped up pressure to make the citizenship issue among the top priorities in the application of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
UAE remained in 2009, as in the year before, at third place in press freedoms among Arab states, following Kuwait and Lebanon, according to the Index. The UAE took a major step backward in press freedom last year. That is according to the latest Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, and confirmed by prominent media personalities in the country.

Health Issues

Oman’s Health Minister, Dr Ali Bin Mohammed Bin Moosa, told 84 elected Shura members that the country’s health services were under pressure and the ministry had plans to open more hospitals to cope with it.

International Front

Qatar and Iran are expected to sign agreements in oil and gas industry, tourism, investments and other important fields to boost their economies.

GCC Summary # 103

SUMMARY

Gulf Economy
Qatar's index slumped to its biggest loss for seven weeks yesterday as investors sold off bank stocks after a muted response to bumper earnings from the country's largest listed lender. Dubai slunk to a new five-week low, dropping 2 percent, Abu Dhabi fell for a fifth session and Oman extended its losing streak to three, but Kuwait and Bahrain rose and Saudi Arabia hit a 12-week high on optimism its banks had turned the corner after a tough 2009. Qatar National Bank fell 2.3 percent as the feel-good factor from a 65 percent rise in quarterly profit proved fleeting. Doha's benchmark fell 2.4 percent. On the other side more than 300 officials and businessmen from Gulf oil producers and India will meet in Saudi Arabia in mid-2010 to discuss joint projects and opening up of their markets to each other's products. While Kuwaiti Finance Minister is still hopeful on UAE return to fiscal union. Meanwhile the Gulf Cooperation Council joint rapid deployment force could be set up this year. GCC states had agreed at their last summit in Kuwait in December to create a joint rapid deployment force that would address security threats in the world’s top oil-exporting region. Abdul Rahman Al Atiyyah, GCC secretary general, said that the force would be one of the pillars supporting stability and security in the region.
Saudi Arabia’s economic recovery this year will most likely follow a gradual, steady track. Economic growth should accelerate following a stagnant and difficult year, inflation will remain at manageable but historically high levels and expansion of the private sector is set to take a turn for the better along with credit expansion at Saudi banks. The government, through a stimulatory public spending program, will continue to lead the pick up in the economy as Saudi oil averages around $74 a barrel and low levels of government debt bolster the Kingdom’s fiscal position. A higher oil price environment will enable Saudi Arabia to experience comfortable budget and current account surpluses.
The property market in Qatar, that witnessed a downturn during 2009 on the back of the global financial crisis is expected to recover this year, with a great degree of stability in demand and prices. House rents fell by 25 to 30 percent over the past one year, while the prices of real state properties dipped by 30 to 40 percent. The market is currently witnessing a surge in supply of residential properties, resulting in lower prices.

Yemen Turmoil
Yemeni warplanes struck outside a desert village near the border with Saudi Arabia on Friday, killing six Al-Qaeda operatives, including the group's top military leader in the country, security officials said. The military chief, who escaped a government attack targeting him last month, was one of Yemen's most-wanted militants and had plotted to assassinate the US ambassador. Yemen, with the help of US counterterrorism aid and training, has intensified an offensive against an Al-Qaeda offshoot that has dug in to pockets of the mountainous, impoverished nation, sometimes under the protection of powerful local tribes that have their own grievances with the weak government. Meanwhile Yemen decided not to issue tourist visas on arrival to foreigners in an effort to prevent militants entering the country as it steps up its war on Al-Qaeda. On the other side the number of Saudi soldiers died fighting Yemeni infiltrators during the last three months has increased to 113.

International Front
Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the headquarters of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Saudi Arabia and expressed his satisfaction over the 57-member group’s increasing role on the world stage. Addressing a press conference at the residence of OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Erdogan thanked the King Faisal Foundation for awarding him the prestigious King Faisal International Prize for Service to Islam.
The first 100-tonne aid plane of the UAE air bridge to relieve quake victims in Haiti left Abu Dhabi last week. Meanwhile Qatar Red Crescent has launched an emergency appeal to gather around 4 million Qatari Riyals of financial aid for those affected by the earthquake that hit Haiti last week. It was launched in a press conference held Monday in the presence of the Secretary General of the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) and its Board's Deputy Chairman, Dr Mohammad Bin Ghanem Al Ali al Mahdaadi and the Venezuelan Ambassador to Qatar, His Excellency Dr Juan Antonio Hernandez. "
"As part of a growing business interest in foreign countries, Kuwait has recently signed two investment projects with Kazakhstan," disclosed Abdulwahab Al-Wazzan, Honorary Deputy Treasurer Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI). He met with members of Kazakhstan economic delegation yesterday at its headquarters in Kuwait City. The two sides agreed to carry out projects in Astana-the capital city of Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, Kuwait has denied allegations made by Iraqi MPs that it is holding Iraqi land, either offered by the former Iraqi regime or annexed by its citizens. "Kuwait has never sought to expropriate land of other countries and has repeatedly called for the full respect of international borders," the An Nahar daily reported Kuwaiti diplomats as saying on Sunday. "What the Iraqi officials are referring to is in fact Kuwait land owned by Kuwaiti citizens, and this is clearly indicated in the internationally recognised maps. On the other side Kuwaiti lawmakers have often criticised the government for providing assistance to Iraq, which invaded their country in 1990. A Kuwaiti MP has lashed out at his government after it announced plans to fund the building of a hospital in Basra and homes for Iraqi farmers, charging that it was making "unjustified concessions" to Iraq. While Tehran said that it was ready to talk with the Kuwaitis on the "thorny" maritime border issue as Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani is making a visit to Kuwait on Saturday, Kuwaiti and Iranian sources have said. During the two-day visit, part of a tour that will also take him to Uganda and Kenya, Larijani, who will be accompanied by several members of the parliament and foreign ministry officials, will discuss with Kuwaiti officials bilateral relations and cooperation, the sources said without elaborating.

Social Front
Scientists on board the Tara, a sailboat that has set out on a three-year scientific expedition across the oceans to study the secrets of the earth’s climate and marine environment, have said they are keen on establishing links with King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST). Two of the research scientists of Tara Oceans told reporters at the French Consulate General on Saturday they would visit the KAUST to meet with officials of the university before sailing out of the Jeddah Islamic Port. Meanwhile Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the first countries to win preliminary approval for Internet addresses written entirely in their native scripts. Since their creation in the 1980s, Internet domain names have been limited to the 26 characters in the Latin alphabet used in English, as well as 10 numerals and the hyphen. Technical tricks have been used to allow portions of the Internet address to use other scripts, but until now, the suffix had to use those 37 characters.
In a few years time, Dubai will see more than 60 per cent of UAE nationals in private schools as an even greater number is currently enrolled in primary grades in these schools, according to the emirates education authority. In a trend where UAE nationals in private schools have increased in the last five years from 37.8 per cent to 52.3 per cent in 2008-2009, the head of education authority in the emirate said that the figures need to be watched and studied for future policies. This is the first time Dubai has reached this threshold of more nationals attending private rather than public schools. It is also the first time for any emirate in the UAE.
Bahrain’s labour minister has joked that he should be made member of the all-females Supreme Council for Women (SCW) for his persistent championing of women’s rights. Majeed Al Allawi made the light claim at the end of a week during which he had to face a barrage of criticism, mainly from women MPs for supporting calls to amend the private sector labour law in order to give women more rights, including more time to look after their children.

Labor Front
The UAE remains a popular destination among expatriate workers from all over the world as employment prospects in the country have increased by up to 8.3 per cent annually. It is also expected to maintain its upbeat growth in 2010, according to Careertunity.com, a private online recruitment portal in the Middle East. The trend is reflected in the surge in the number of job applications from expatriates at the web portal which maintains a huge database of various job candidates that is increasing every day. It further revealed that the unique situation of the UAE job market, which has been dominated by expatriate workers, has prevented it from being adversely affected by the global economic downturn, ensuring a steady supply of experienced professionals and international executives from the US, Europe, South Africa, Africa, Asia and the rest of the Middle East.

Environment
Special prayers to mark an annular eclipse in Saudi Arabia were held in mosques throughout the Kingdom on Friday morning. Yet turnout for the special salatul kusuf was very low since it was a weekend. The annular eclipse exceeded 11 minutes when viewed from the countries near the Indian Ocean – a record for the millennium. Such a long eclipse will not be seen until 3043. The annular eclipse, where the entire sun is obscured by the moon except for a blazing ring of light around the perimeter, was visible over a 300km wide track that encompassed half the earth. Meanwhile Civil Defense teams in Tabuk rescued over 75 people stranded in a number of valleys across the region following heavy rains and floods on Monday. Around 27 people were injured as a result of the rains, which caused schools to close and delayed commuters from reaching work. There were also power outages in several areas across the province. Gen. Suleiman Al-Huwaiti, head of the Civil Defense in Tabuk, said heavy rains flooded all of the province’s valleys. On the other side aid to most of the people displaced by the Nov. 25 flash flooding will come to an end on Thursday with Civil Defense officials asking people to return to their homes.
Now in Saudi Arabia the Passport Department has launched a service to enable exit and re-entry visas to be issued online. On another side, in an effort to curb dengue fever from spreading in Jeddah, the local Department of Health Affairs has added pharmacists to its war on dengue. A large pharmaceutical chain has agreed to distribute dengue awareness information in its stores and billboards. In addition to this effort, local health officials continue to push for awareness on how to reduce the risk of contracting the mosquito-borne disease. In the Same week, Shoura Council approved on Sunday a 5 percent increase in pensions paid to retired public servants. The house unanimously approved of the decision with an unprecedented ovation among its members. It was also decided to appoint a special committee to work out the modalities of making the payments to the pensioners. The move to increase pensions from the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) follows a recent announcement to increase government retirement funds by 15 percent. Meantime a Riyadh court is considering a lawsuit against the Ministry of Social Affairs, which is accused of unreasonably delaying the provision of legal support for people who have problems with the ministry. The legal action comes from a group of 25 lawyers, who claim they were subject to a five-year delay in receiving their license to start practicing, even though they had already set up a charity for the purpose. The Administration Court is considering their case.
Saudi government is set to relax regulations governing the marriages between Saudis and non-Saudis. A revised draft law prepared by the Interior Ministry and the Cabinet’s Committee of Experts allows government ministers, judges, Shoura members and students on foreign scholarships to marry non-Saudi women. The new law, which replaces the old one issued 38 years ago, should be passed by the Council of Ministers. According to Article One, Saudis who are allowed to marry non-Saudis include ministers, members of the judiciary and diplomats at the Foreign Ministry. Other beneficiaries of the law are: Employees of the Royal Court, the crown prince’s court, the Council of Ministers, the National Security Council, and members of the councils and organizations chaired by the king and the crown prince, Al-Riyadh Arabic daily said. Staff at the Ministry of Defense and Aviation, the Interior Ministry, the National Guard, the Royal Guard and the General Organization for Military Industries including military and civilian officers as well as members of the Commission for Investigation and Public Prosecution, Customs staff and all students studying abroad under the government’s scholarship program are also allowed to marry non-Saudi women. “The above-mentioned Saudis are allowed to marry non-Saudis including GCC women after receiving permission from higher authorities,” says Article One of the revised draft law. Article Two allows Saudi men and women to marry GCC citizens. Saudi men can marry the daughters of Saudi women and non-Saudi men. But those who propose marriage should not be from categories mentioned in Article One. Paragraph Two of Article Three says a Saudi can marry a non-Saudi woman born in the Kingdom to non-Saudi parents. However, the law insists that the woman should have a valid resident permit and birth certificate issued by Saudi authorities. Here also the man proposing should not be from the categories mentioned in Article One.

Oil and Gas
Saudi Aramco has been entrusted with the task of building and financing the $10 billion Jazan refinery, which will have a capacity of 250,000 to 400,000 barrels per day.
In Bahrain, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa will inaugurate the firm at the site of Bahrain's historic first oil well at Jebel Dukhan. The new firm, Tatweer Development Company (Tatweer Petroleum), is a joint venture between Bahrain, UAE and US firms.

Chaos in Yemen may cascade into region

The looming impact of Yemen’s deepening instability, including transnational terrorism, refugee flows and ripening ground for proxy battles with Iran, is shaping up to be the GCC’s biggest security challenge in decades, according to regional analysts.

Perhaps not since Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invaded neighbouring Kuwait in 1990, they say, has the six-member regional grouping been faced with the spectre of such myriad threats.

“If left unattended, if we leave Yemen alone without help on the security, economic and development fronts, sooner or later its problems will undermine the stability of the UAE and GCC,” said Mustafa Alani, head of Security and Terrorism Studies at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center. “I think if no major help is offered to Yemen, collectively or by individual countries, we are going to be a victim of that conflict.”

Evidence is mounting that al Qa’eda has already capitalised on Yemen’s largely lawless, impoverished territory by regrouping and committing terrorist acts.

A Nigerian man accused of attempting to blow up a jetliner over the United States on Christmas Day is suspected of receiving training in Yemen by al Qa’eda operatives. The 23-year-old suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, studied at a university in London and — earlier this year — Dubai.

In August, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia’s security chief, was wounded in an attack carried out by an al Qa’eda agent who had flown from Yemen to greet him. The assailant blew himself up using an incendiary device, reportedly concealed in his rectum, that was triggered by a telephone call from Yemen.

“This is not a joke,” said Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, a professor of political science at UAE University.

“Let’s hope Yemen doesn’t go from fragile state to failed. It will be a source for all sorts of these unpleasant things.”

The United States, alarmed by al Qa’eda’s strengthening presence in Yemen, has over the past year been quietly helping to boost the country’s security and intelligence agencies, the New York Times reported on Monday.

The assistance, according to the report, includes counterterrorism training and US$70 million (Dh257m) to train and equip its armed forces.

But as well as the terrorism threat, analysts say, Yemen’s manifold issues could spell a number of more direct problems for its neighbours.

In addition to al Qa’eda, Yemen is struggling to contend with an emboldened secessionist movement in the south, all-out war with Houthi rebels in the north and an ailing economy.

According to a September report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an American research organisation, the confluence of these crises presents to Yemen’s government uniquely troubling obstacles.

“Yemen has always survived crises in the past, but these complex and interwoven challenges are unprecedented in both degree and kind,” said the report’s author, Christopher Boucek. “If left unaddressed, Yemen’s problems could potentially destabilise Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states.”

For example, earnings from oil exports, accounting for three quarters of government revenue, are projected by the World Bank to dry up by 2017. And water supplies in the country, half of whose 23 million inhabitants subsist on less than $2 a day, are rapidly diminishing.

“If the situation worsens in Yemen,” said April Longley Alley, a Yemen expert who lives in Washington, DC, “a humanitarian crisis could produce destabilising refugee flows into neighbouring countries, particularly Saudi Arabia and Oman”.

Dr Alley said the GCC, because of its proximity to Yemen and the amount of funds it could potentially mobilise, “should be at the centre of economic development efforts. Ultimately, Yemen is part of their neighbourhood and Yemen’s problems could easily become their problems.”

Some GCC members have pledged significant amounts of aid. Last month, the UAE announced a Dh2.4 billion (US$650m) package for such development projects as dams and a power stations.

At the 2006 London Donors Conference, an estimated $4.7bn was pledged by international donors to reduce poverty and enhance structural reforms in the country.

But so far, according to analysts, too little has been done to co-ordinate on the issue.

“You have the Europeans, the Americans, GCC nations, all of which are increasingly concerned about instability in Yemen, but there seems to be a lack of co-ordination among these actors,” said Dr Alley.

Last month, at a meeting in Kuwait, GCC leaders announced ambitious plans to create a rapid response force following Saudi Arabia’s ongoing clashes with the Houthi rebels along its border with Yemen.

The force, said Abdulrahman al Attiyah, the GCC’s secretary general, “is not meant to work on the Saudi borders, but to protect and defend any country of the GCC”.

Yemen is not a member of the GCC.

But outlines of the proposed force remain too vague to inspire much hope, said Abdullah al Shayji, professor of political science at Kuwait University.

“This military force still is very vague, just an idea,” he said. “It’s going to take a long time before we see it in action. It’s still unclear about the number of forces, who will command, where the headquarters will be, the scope, funding, the limits of their action.”

If anything, he said, there was a general feeling that it would meet a similar fate as Peninsula Shield Force, created in the 1980s to forge closer military ties between member states.

The military unit was basically powerless in defending against the Iraq invasion of 1990, and Dr Shayji said that failure to create anything more credible in its place “is what has bedevilled the GCC as an organisation and as an alliance in general”.

“At the end of the day,” he said, “you’re living in a tough neighbourhood and you don’t have the muscles to put up a fight.”

That has raised paranoia, particularly regarding Saudi Arabia’s battle with Houthi militants, who some believe are being aided by Iran.

The Houthis, followers of an offshoot of Shiite Islam, have for years sporadically fought Yemen’s military and, since November, engaged Saudi forces in battles that have reportedly killed 73 of its troops.

Dr Alani, of the Gulf Research Center, said there was concern that if not decisively put down, Houthi success could embolden Iranian aspirations in Yemen.

“We have to look at it from the perspective that Iran has no right to interfere here,” he said. “We have to tell the Iranians that their experience of creating Hizbollah in Lebanon should not be replicated on our doorstep, that we are not going to allow a mini-state to establish itself in the GCC.”

But to do this, GCC military strategy would have to expand beyond its current, conventional emphasis on air and naval defences, he said. “We are not equipped to deal with this low-intensity, low-tech conflict. We are equipping ourselves for this hi-tech conflict, by buying planes and air defences, but ignoring things on the ground.”

Riad Kahwaji, chief executive of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, a research organisation in Dubai, said any successful stabilisation effort would need to be broad-based and involve tackling security as well as promoting government reform and negotiations with local tribal elders.

by

Hugh Naylor

Link Below

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100102/FOREIGN/701019619/1409