world

Gulf monarchies rising from ashes of Arab Spring

17 Comments
By Aziz EL MASSASSI

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© 2020 AFP

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.


17 Comments
Login to comment

Just a matter of time before the next Arab Spring comes. And I fear that one will be less peaceful organised than the previous one. Will be no pleasant experience for the western countries that failed to support the 1st and are still friends&allies with the Gulf dictatorships.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

What the democratic world needs to do is deal with the Middle East as little as possible. 

I couldnt agree more.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Then again, what did the people do with their chance at democracy? In Egypt they voted in the Muslim Brotherhood in a landslide.

it’s like that time the US intervened to prevent a democratic referendum in Vietnam because they didn’t like the idea of people choosing the side the US didn’t approve of. And look how that turned out for America. Democracy is democracy, even if you don’t like the people who get voted in. If the Egyptians wanted to Muslim Brotherhood in power, that was their prerogative. If the side that wins has to get America’s seal of approve Val, how is that any different than all the Hong Kong candidates having to be approved by the PRC? How is that democracy, exactly?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The leaders rule at the mercy of the US

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Biden’s support for Iran, the PLO and sympathy for other terrorist states and organizations because they oppose the existence of the state of Israel means there may be more ashes in the future for the Middle East.

Well wolfie as a land owner I can't profess too much support for how the Israelis treat the Palestinians. If some nation's army confiscated my land because I wasn't a member of their religion and handed it over to someone else who was I would probably pick up a gun and fight too. While the Jews suffered horribly in Europe and did so long before the Nazis came on the scene through Polish and Russian pogroms, I don't think that gives them a pass to take property from others, which is what they do routinely. Every time I see a Palestinian's land confiscated from them my blood boils. Same thing btw when the US government tries to confiscate land for a border wall. There is no justification for these affronts to property ownership. Ever.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Easy - open up the Arctic and the continental shelf to oil exploration.

No. I've worked the oil patch. I have seen with my own eyes how destructive it is and how cavalier oil companies are towards people and the land. It is all about money and nothing else. They routinely ruin places without a care in the world. Oil drilling does permanent irreversible damage. I have seen it with my own eyes in my home state and abroad building and supporting oil rigs by air with big helicopters. Chevron would just blow all of the rig waste out a pipe and into the jungle where we worked. The river ran yellow with rig waste, meaning drill mud, oil and chemicals. No containment or anything. Local villages used that water for drinking and bathing. Chevron could have cared less. Same thing with BP. Trash burned in open pits filled with diesel oil. That same practice in Iraq has been shown to have caused cancers in US soldiers. Go take a drive along California 33 north of Maricopa through McKittrick and beyond, or drive out north of Bakersfield to Oildale. They are forever ruined. Those places in the Arctic are too beautiful and valuable as wild lands. Once they are drilled they are ruined for all time. The world will wean itself from oil shortly. DO NOT destroy these lands permanently for a resource the world won't even need in fifty to 100 years.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Biden’s support for Iran, the PLO and sympathy for other terrorist states and organizations

Saudi Arabia is a terrorist state too - but there are some who's its biggest supporter

Biden will reverse the gains of achieved by the Trump administration to bring about more peace between the Gulf States and Israel.

There was no danger between the Gulf States and Israel - the Gulf states have been largely staying in the sidelines

(The largest US military base in the Middle East has been in the Gulf states for decades.............. in Qatar of all places, y'know the one thought of leaning with Iran)

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Rid ourselves of our reliance on oil, & the balance will change again, forever.

Easy - open up the Arctic and the continental shelf to oil exploration. That could have been done decades ago but the Left preferred to keep the West dependent on authoritarian governments in the Middle East and could care less about the environmental damages over there. In other words in order to force the West to use their preferred alternatives to oil they prevented oil exploration in the West forcing governments to get most their energy from unstable governments leading to military interventions. Meanwhile the preferred alternatives to oil remain a minuscule part of the energy grid. Congratulations Leftist’s - you made the world worse by your short-sighted ideologically focused world view.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

Biden’s support for Iran, the PLO and sympathy for other terrorist states and organizations because they oppose the existence of the state of Israel means there may be more ashes in the future for the Middle East.

Biden will reverse the gains of achieved by the Trump administration to bring about more peace between the Gulf States and Israel. The anti-Semites know they have a partner in Biden.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

The rich become richer

But it was Qatar that "turned the Arab Spring to its advantage", Abdallah said, playing an outsized part with rolling coverage of events by its Al Jazeera broadcaster, followed by the empowerment of Islamist movements, notably in Tunisia and Egypt.

Qatar ahead of the curve?

Then again, what did the people do with their chance at democracy? In Egypt they voted in the Muslim Brotherhood in a landslide.

The trouble when Muslim Brotherhood shut the door behind them, preventing others to go thru the same democracy door that allowed them in

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Then again, what did the people do with their chance at democracy? In Egypt they voted in the Muslim Brotherhood in a landslide.

As they should be entitled to do. If they want theocrats, leave them to it.

What the democratic world needs to do is deal with the Middle East as little as possible. The best way to start is get off oil. It would also be useful to do more to stop primitive hate preachers funded by despots trying to influence people in civilized countries.

Oh, and don’t award them any top-drawer sporting competitions like the World Cup.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Rid ourselves of our reliance on oil, & the balance will change again, forever.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

So much for the Arab Spring.

Then again, what did the people do with their chance at democracy? In Egypt they voted in the Muslim Brotherhood in a landslide.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

All these Gulf monarchies such as S. Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, etc... are utterly corrupt countries with no democracy and with awful human rights record . Sadly they have a great financial influence on the whole region and the Middle East.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites