15th October 2013

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

Bahrain pardons prisoners for Eid
The government in Bahrain announced it pardoned more than 200 prisoners convicted on various charges in honor of a religious holiday. The two-day Muslim holy celebration, Eid al-Adha, ends Tuesday evening. Bahrain King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa issued a royal decree that pardons 208 prisoners on the occasion. "The royal gesture, which marks the advent of Eid alAdha, reects the king's keenness on providing the pardoned prisoners the opportunity to integrate society anew and participate in their country's construction and development march," the ofcial Bahrain News Agency reported Monday. BNA did not provide further details about the pardons. Read More

The Arab Sunset

Since their modern formation in the midtwentieth century, Saudi Arabia and the ve smaller Gulf monarchies -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) --have been governed by highly autocratic and seemingly anachronistic regimes. Nevertheless, their rulers have demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of bloody conicts on their doorsteps, fastgrowing populations at home, and modernizing forces from abroad.

One of the monarchies most visible survival strategies has been to strengthen security ties with Western powers, in part by allowing the United States, France, and Britain to build massive bases on their soil and by spending lavishly on Western arms. In turn, this expensive militarization has aided a new generation of rulers that appears more prone than ever to antagonizing Iran and even other Gulf states. In some cases, grievances among them have grown strong enough to cause diplomatic crises, incite violence, or prompt one monarchy to interfere in the domestic politics of another. Read More