News from Oman

A source in Oman sent me this:  "a lot of talk on the riots that happened on Sohar, TV hosts showing interviews with locals denouncing them, saying that they weren't from the area and just came there to cause trouble.  Hosts talking about Qaboos's wise leadership (and interviews of locals praising Qaboos) and how he brought stability and prosperity to the country, seguae in videos of tribal dances and what have you.  word of mouth however tells a different story, there's a lot of discontent of how the country is run, especially towards the ministers (protesters denouncing Maqbool Ali Sultan (now ex-minister of commerce) and Ahmed Macki (minister of national economy)).  you're probably aware of the cabinet reshuffling and the sultan granting some legislative power to the majlis al-shura which was an elected body but acts only in an advisory capacity, but will now be given some legislative power, although we still don't know what kind of powers these are.   Muscat has remained mostly quiet but there were demonstrations today in front of majlis al-shura and protests in Mutrah (old muscat). i don't know how big the crowds were there - i'd like to give you an estimate but I don't want to be misleading.   some companies had their employees sent home today.  I work for a ....company (x) and we were all sent a company wide email telling us not to discuss politics or use company phones/internet to spread political content, but to not much effect.  i will keep you up to date on any other developments that happen."