Gulf countries are making noises about new security arrangements that would reduce their traditional alliance with the United States, a move whose feasibility was quickly questioned by observers.
| I think it's a stupid idea, do I count as an observer? |
| Did you keep your visitors' pass and souvenir parking ticket from the UN tour? Good. That makes you a certified international observer. |
The ideas were floated during a weekend conference at the press hotel bar organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, under the theme "security and dialogue in the Gulf", and held in Bahrain, the base of the US Fifth Fleet.| Where they could sit in the balmy breezes, secure in the knowlege that the US Navy was surely on patrol. |
Speaking at the meeting, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal stressed the "urgency of global reforms in countries of the region." He also stressed "the need for a security (system) in the Gulf, based on four pillars: the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), plus Yemen, Iraq, and a country to be named later India."| As if the Master Race is going to depend on a bunch of heathen Hindoo for their security. |
"The international dimension of security proposed for the Gulf requires the positive participation of Asiatic powers, which have shown themselves recently on the international scene, particularly China and India," the minister said, witnessing to a desire for change by the political heavyweight of the GCC. Besides Saudi Arabia, the GCC comprises Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.| Sterling security credentials, each and every one. |
Prince Faisal, who had criticised US policy in Iraq, said "security in the Gulf needs international guarantees which cannot be ensured by a single party, even by the sole world superpower."| Fine. Go handle your allenist wackjobs by yourself. |
His Iranian countpart, Kamal Kharazi, underlined Tehran's position. He favoured "the creation of a security system in the Gulf with all the countries in the region taking part, on the basis of independence ... and without proceeding to any agreement with foreign powers which may threaten, directly or indirectly, the security of all the countries" of the area. "Collective security is not something which can be exported to the region," Kharazi told the conference, which was attended by Stephen Hadley, the new national security advisor to US President George W. Bush, and by the head of US Central Command, General John Abizaid.
| "Who needs to depend on a superpower for their security when you have us Iranians next door?" |
Opening the conference, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Mubarak al-Khalifa called for the setting up in the Middle East of "new institutions ... susceptible to lay down the basis of a durable peace which would allow continued development in econnomic and political fields."
| That sounds positively ... Y'urp-peon. |
More specifically, his Omani counterpart, Yussef bin Alawi Abdullah, called for a regional group to be created taking in the GCC countries, Iraq, Yemen, non-Arab Iran and Pakistan. "The GCC countries could think of a new organisation with the involvement of Iran, Iraq, Yemen and Pakistan, which will be based on cooperation, especially economic cooperation," the minister said.| And all at the table stroked their long flowing beards and nodded piously in agreement. |
But a Western diplomat in the Bahraini capital told AFP he believed a modification of the Gulf countries' traditional alliance with Washington would be impossible. The diplomat, who asked not to be named, stressed his belief that "the GCC countries with the exception of Oman still have no confidence in Iran." "In the short term, any regional security arrangement is not possible under the current regime in Tehran, while it needs time for Iraq to achieve internal stability," he said. "I doubt that the major powers can accept such a security approach," he said.
| He later added a statement about allowing the fox to guard the henhouse, and then wandered off to the hotel bar to get a stiff drink. |
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