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Senior appointments

It is no surprise that decision-making in Abu Dhabi can often seem opaque when there are various similarly named councils and a huge number of ruling family members involved in various levels of government. Here, GSN tracks the membership of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and analyses its current make-up

Largely unaffected by the ‘Arab Spring’ surging through the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), Qatar – with its tiny national population and burgeoning hydrocarbons and investment revenues – has consolidated its reputation as a small state that punches hugely above its demographic weight in a number of arenas of current global significance, including Libya and Sudan (where Doha has played a significant role, largely unrecognised, in smoothing the financial complexities of the impending independence of South Sudan and its impact on the regime in Khartoum).

As the rift between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Rahbar (Supreme Leader) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his supporters grows, one of the head of government’s apparently waning number of allies, foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi, faces impeachment over his controversial 19 June appointment of Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh as his deputy. Conservative politicians, and particularly the Intelligence Ministry headed by Heidar Moslehi – a close Khamenei ally who Ahmadinejad unsuccessfully attempted to remove in April – were infuriated by the Malekzadeh appointment, at a time when corruption charges were hanging over him.

Reuters correspondent Frederik Richter is among the journalists to be expelled from Bahrain as the authorities have cracked down. He reported that Ministry of Information official Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nezar Al-Khalifa on 16 June gave him one week to leave, complaining that Reuters had lacked balance in its reporting during the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

A small number of women turned out in June to take part in the ‘women2drive’ campaign. While certainly not a mass movement – there are estimates of 30 to 40 participants across the country – observers were pleased that women who chose to drive were not bothered by police, in comparison to last month’s arrest of Manal Al-Sharif, which made global headlines (GSN 901/4). Some media reports said police had been under orders not to intervene.

Having spent much of the past year receiving medical treatment abroad and convalescing in his Agadir palace, Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdelaziz has travelled abroad once more – for what state media described as a “private holiday”. It is understood the 86-year-old heir to the Saudi throne has gone for medical tests at New York Presbyterian Hospital, where several senior Al-Saud have been treated in the past; King Abdullah underwent back surgery there last November (GSN 890/1).

Saudi Arabia has announced a number of job creation packages in H1 11. For example the cabinet meeting of 14 June announced that the Ministry of Interior’s General Directorate of Civil Defence will take on 6,187 new positions. The authorities hope to create some 1.22m new jobs between 2010-14, of which 1.12 should be for Saudi nationals.

This should be a moment of vindication for Kuwait. But the political classes seem incapable of responding to voters’ pride in their constitution and exasperation with domestic squabbles

After infuriating MPs and the clerical elite by installing himself as oil minister following the 12 May dismissal of Massoud Mirkazemi, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad bowed to pressure by appointing ally Mohammed Aliabadi as caretaker minister in early June.

Amendments criticised for undoing all the gains in freedom of expression made under King Abdullah. The Kingdom has amended its Press and Publications Law of November 2000.

Gulf-based observers say Qatar’s land border with Saudi Arabia along the Khor Al-Udeid inlet at the south-eastern foot of Qatar has changed. According to one Doha-based source, “the border changed a couple of months ago; it has been officially noted by the government mapping agency”.

oreign minister and premier Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani (HBJ) has said Qatar remains committed to an elected shura council. Speaking at Oxford University in late May, he said Qatar had taken a phased approach towards democracy and that “preparing the necessary laws has taken a long time”.

Iraqiya leader Ayad Allawi’s decision to suspend talks with prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki until demands on reform are met is the biggest threat to Iraq’s political stability since the current government was formed

The state-owned Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) has fired almost 300 oil workers for taking part in a week-long strike in March in support of pro-democracy demonstrators.