"Even the United Arab Emirates (UAE), long regarded as a beacon of
stability, seems beset with anxiety. Six Emiratis have recently been
arrested, taking to 56 the number of activists detained since the
fasting month of Ramadan began on July 20th. The UAE news agency said
the first 50 had plotted to destabilise the country and to “distort its
shining image before the world”. An American professor of journalism,
Matt Duffy, who encouraged his students to debate such issues as press
freedom, was recently expelled from the UAE.
All the Gulf monarchs spend fortunes on public-relations firms and lobbyists. According to Bahrain Watch, a pro-democracy lobby, the kingdom has paid at least 15 such firms in the United States $33m since its uprising started more than a year ago. Not surprisingly the monarchs are infuriated when opposition people, thanks to Twitter and YouTube, nowadays publicise human-rights abuses gratis."
All the Gulf monarchs spend fortunes on public-relations firms and lobbyists. According to Bahrain Watch, a pro-democracy lobby, the kingdom has paid at least 15 such firms in the United States $33m since its uprising started more than a year ago. Not surprisingly the monarchs are infuriated when opposition people, thanks to Twitter and YouTube, nowadays publicise human-rights abuses gratis."
