Happy New Year, and GCC Conference tells off Israel

OK – it’s a new year. People are generally back at work today, and life in the Sultanate proceeds to return to normal now the AGCC conference is over and we have our roads, coast, and hotels (and their associated bars and restaurants!!) back. The weather is, if anything, a little on the cool side, and that bloody red tide is still stopping decent swimming in the sea. If this period of red tide (must be 2 months now?) is going to be the norm, Oman can forget about coastal resort tourism as a growth business!

And I’m back to the blog after a short break, much enjoyed.

The big issue of late – dominating the GCC publicity machine, and in the country at large – is the continued and rapidly escalating war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza strip.

Hamas keeps sending rockets into Israel, Israel responds with aerial bombardment and border closures, Hamas sends more rockets, … (repeat endlessly). All the signs now are that Israel is bombing the crap out of north Gaza in preparation for a ground attack with troops and tanks. Meanwhile, Hamas are hunkered down in their bunkers, relatively safe from most of the bombing, and busy trying to beef up their stockpiles of ammunition and heavy armaments ahead of the anticipated ground invasion, with materiel smuggled through their tunnels connecting Gaza and Egypt, tunnels which Israel keeps trying to bomb too.

So, the GCC naturally discussed the Israel/Gaza issue and issued their totally weak communiqué, packed full of 'deep concern', lofty ‘calls’ and ‘urges’, while lacking any actual unilateral action. Expect more of the same from the Arab League.


Photo: GCC Leaders agreeing to give Israel a very big telling off, and to ask it to please stand in the naughty corner (but only if that wouldn't be too much trouble).


Wow, the Israelis must be quaking in their boots after this missive…

Gulf leaders ask Israel to end Gaza massacre
By Sunil K. Vaidya, Bureau Chief
Published: December 30, 2008, 23:46

Muscat: Leader of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) strongly condemned the barbaric Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people in Gaza and held Israel responsible for taking the situation to a dangerous level.

In the final communique of the 29th GCC Summit concluded in Muscat yesterday, the council voiced deep concern over the flagrant Israeli offensive, which led to a large number of deaths and injuries, destruction of properties and terrorising civilians with no consideration for ethics, humanity or international legitimacy resolutions.

The council called on Israel to stop its brutal aggression against the unarmed Palestinian people and end the unfair siege imposed on all Palestinian territories, including Gaza.

It urged the international community to take immediate action to stop massacres and tyrannical practices by the Israeli military machinery. The council also called on the international community to provide the necessary protection for the Palestinian people who endure all forms of atrocities and oppression due to Israel's stubborn policies and inhuman practices.

The council called on all Palestinian factions to unite their ranks, as national unity is the shield and the sole means to protect the Palestinian people and regain their legitimate rights, including the establishment of an independent state with (occupied) Jerusalem as its capital.

The GCC leaders held Israel responsible for the deterioration of the peace process due to its tight siege on the Palestinians, especially in Gaza, confiscation of lands and construction of colonies, the building of apartheid wall and its ongoing excavations under the Al Aqsa mosque.

The GCC also called on the international community to provide necessary protection for the Palestinian people.

What a joke.

The problem is that the GCC States only ever give lip-service to their declared total support for the Palestinians. Are they providing significant funding to Fatah or Hamas or the Palestinian authority? No, and certainly not Hamas. Perhaps they could provide easy access to the safe GCC countries so that lots of ordinary Palestinians could live here and work? Er, No.

Are they providing military support to the Palestinians? Or sending their Airforces and Navies to provide humanitarian aid? No, of course not!

Do they back these statements up with boycotts, sanctions, or other actual actions with teeth, rather than just talk and posturing? No. Are they perhaps taking action to pressure Egypt to provide support for Gaza? No. Are they pressuring the USA to act more strongly? No.

Just a telling-off (aka ‘strong condemnation’) to Israel and more whining to the UN Security Council. Sure, they allow their tightly controlled press to bitch about Israel/USA, and also allow (limited) street protests in support of Gaza. Oh, and the King of Bahrain cancelled his country’s New Year celebrations in support of the Palestinians. Wow, that’ll really make them feel better in Gaza with the bombs falling.

Why such hypocrisy?

Because it is in the best interests of the Gulf States that chaos reigns in Israel/Palestine. It keeps the GCC populace focused on the issue of Israel/Palestine, instead of having the time and energy to address more difficult and uncomfortable domestic issues (such as unemployment, how to meld increased democratic representation and secularism with Islam, improving the distribution of wealth and opportunity, women’s rights, unionisation, expatriate labour, etc etc etc).

While everyone hates to see bombings with civilians being killed and injured, to be frank the last thing the GCC leaders would like to see is a strong Hamas and/or Hezbollah. Hamas and Hezbollah are Islamofascists, dominated by theological ideologues rather than pragmatists. Hamas actively opposes the legitimacy of the GCC’s set of monarchs to rule their countries, and both Hamas and Hezbollah are effectively supported by Iran with money, arms and training. And remember that the brotherly state of Iran is the real enemy of the GCC - with their continued support for Shia extremists, counter claims on islands claimed by the UAE, counter-productive sabre rattling with the Americans and Israelis, periodic threats to blockade the strait of Hormuz, a regime representative of a successful Islamic revolution over a ruling Monarch, etc etc.

This general revulsion of most Arab countries to Hamas and what it stands for is why Egypt are so willing to provide the anvil against which Israel pounds Hamas in Gaza. Hamas are effectively an offshoot of the hated and illegal Muslim Brotherhood, and the last thing the rulers of Egypt (or the GCC) would do is support such an outfit. Thus, if you read the communique from the GCC you'll find lots of condemnation of Israel, but no support for Hamas. In fact, Hamas are not refered to at all except as a 'faction' who are urged to get back in line with Fatah and Abbas. LOL.

One should note that all GCC members continue to host numerous and significant American military bases:
Oman: US Airforce use RAFO bases in Thumrait, Masna’ah and Masirah, have radar and intelligence gathering stations in Musandam, plus a large strategic War Reserve Materiel (WRM) storage facility in Seeb,
Qatar:Home of the regional US Central Command base, plus a big US Airforce base at Al Udeid,
Bahrain: US 5th Fleet HQ, plus Shaikh Isa Airbase,
Kuwait: Ali Al Salem and Ahmed Al Jaber Airbases, plus 2 big US Army bases,
and of course,
Saudi: Eskan Village Airbase and several other bases.

Oh, and Jan 1st 2009 finally marks the start of the Oman/USA Free Trade agreement. And Oman certainly is not going to do anything to either impact that agreement, nor to get off on the wrong foot with the new US Administration.

Hence, a very strongly worded telling off for the Zionist Fascists, and otherwise carry on with business as usual chaps!

I expect an especially incisive Times of Oman 'Viewpoint' opinion piece from Essa tomorrow that will say how totally and unbelievably fantastic the GCC Conference was, how much great stuff was achieved (more from me on that issue tomorrow), and how evil the Israeli/US actions in Gaza are. I'll be amazed if he mentions Hamas or their rockets though...

Happy New Year everyone. Nothing's changed.

So, that’s alright then.

What I'd do: The AGCC Conference - and cancelling tourist reservations

Lots of interesting comments on the previous hotel cancelation story. Amjad had a good question: what did I think should be done? Rather than comment back, it started getting a bit long, so here it is as a post.

All in all Amjad - I'd guess I'd have done a hell of a lot more work and planning than seems evident...

1/ Generally the Government should look pretty seriously at who it puts in charge of such things and get someone who can plan and execute a programme of this magnitude more effectively. [That said, I suspect its only a small part of the organisational effort thats going a bit awry.]

2/ On the topic at hand - AGCC date change, hotel and flights cancelled, derogatory stories on Oman and HM in the international media, annoyed hoteliers and travel agents:

The issue is the late timing change - people book holidays many many months in advance. If you - as a travel agent - had made the block hotel bookings and made arrangements with airlines, I doubt you'd want to leave selling the packages you created until just 2 months to go! 60 days is almost nothing.

I would have already had a compensation plan ready to roll out [my estimate, ~1000 people, at 1000 pounds + some PR costs = 1 million rials. Thats peanuts compared to the overall budget for the conference].

I would first have had people pro-actively engage with the travel agents and the hotels, to find out exactly the best options (ie: not a top-down blanket order to take all 6 hotels for a fixed period), and to tell them that we understood the problems this would cause, that compensation and assistance would be provided, and to give some explanation(s) for why the late notice was totally unavoidable.

I would be a bit more careful how many rooms I take. I still find it hard to believe they need all 6 hotels. Sounds like someone just being extra-safe to have enough rooms (and regardless of the consequences), probably because the basic work on exactly how many rooms, where and when hasn't been done yet.

The whole thing would tie into a pre-existing and much broader communications & PR strategy and plan, already aimed at maximising the good press for Oman and HM that hosting such a major conference offers. Hosting AGCC should be a huge free PR BOOST to the Omani tourism industry, especially in the GCC markets, but also internationally. That takes an effort tho'. (Of course I would have a professional PR/Communications company with demonstrable experience in doing this stuff involved a long time ago.)

I certainly would be doing some urgent action [cash & PR] to correct the current situation of articles like this appearing about HM and the way Oman doesn't seem to care about ruining the holiday plans of hundreds of customers.

I'd be trying to turn the current cock-up into a great story about how some Omanis did fantastically, dealing with a crisis that was caused by forces outside their control, getting people sorted out, organising the event, etc.

In fact, I'd already have planned for a whole host of mini so-called 'human interest' stories on many of the key people involved in executing such a massive event, : the security guys, IT, logistics, chefs, entertainment, Oman Air, the airport, the protocol people, emergency medical staff, local tourist operators who will host some delegates, .... All with nice little stories and pictures so that not just the Times of Oman would print them, but they could go on the wire. The messages in the stories would be tied into a 'red thread' strategic message of Omani friendliness, competence, efficiency, hospitality, trust, & an example of the successful development since the 'blessed renaissance'.

And this is just the PR slant. Actually running an event like this is a HUGE undertaking.

Plan B
But I suspect the real actions going forward will be performed by who-ever thinks they have a good chance to take the hit for the mess-up:
- Try and ignore it. If no-one reads about it or talks about it, there is no problem. Certainly ensure there is nothing reoported in the local press. If ignoring it doesn't work, try and hush it all up.
- Ensure that lots of stories go out about how politically important the conference is for Oman, how everyone is looking forward to it, how fantastic everything is going.
- Stress how plenty of notice was given to the hotels, and that very few people are affected. Point out how many other hotels there are, and that keeping a few people from the west happy, people who selfishly wanted to celebrate Christmas by threatening the most imprtant conference on the ME agenda, people who don't understand how important this is to Omanis and the region, is immaterial. State that these whining expats with their fancy spoilt tourist tastes are the unfortunate few who are totally non-representative of the many who are very happy to go somewhere else, or to reschedule for a later time, and that anyhow its all the responsibility of the Hotel management, because as previously pointed out the Government gave them loads of warning.
- See how much I can lay at the feet of external forces beyond my control.
- Attack the Telegraph story and any other negative reports as being insulting, totally incorrect and simply infamatory. (for a good example of how to use attack as a form of defense when faced with a bad story, see the well organised Government response to the recently critical US State Dept report). Imply that we are seeking to take legal action to protect our reputation from such unfair attacks. Hopefully I can even figure out a way to tie ownership of the Telegraph to the Israelis. Worst case I could just get someone else to imply the Israelis are behind it.
- Stress contantly how the very best efforts have been made by everyone in the Government to host such a complicated and important conference. Efforts that simply could not have been better, because they were perfect.
- Have some stories on how great the Al Bustan Palace Hotel is looking, and how valiantly the impact of the devastating unsual weather was overcome.
- Ensure my immediate superiors are reported as having done an outstanding job.
- ...

You get the idea.
You can also see how useful Essa would be in implementing either plan...

Does that answer your question?

When in doubt, hold a Conference!

Sometimes it seems as if 50% of Oman’s Government employees are at some conference or workshop, somewhere, all the time. Yes, this time it’s a conference on Human Trafficking (see the awesome Times of Oman, December 17th). Of course, reading the incisive reportage from the Omani 4th Estate it seems a great idea and original initiative, held under the auspices of the Oman Prosecutor General Hussein bin Ali Al Hilali with the theme ‘Public Awareness in combating human trafficking and the collective responsibility’. Wow. And apparently we are assured a draft decree is in the works.

Aside: Dragon notes that Prosecutor General Al Hilali is a very fantastic person who is doing a wonderful job.

What the newspapers are not pointing out, naturally, is the real reason for such sudden interest in the problem. Recently the US State Dept listed Oman as a Tier 3 country with regard its lack of efforts to combat the problem of human trafficking – the lowest rating, placing Oman along side such tourist wonder-zones as North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. More ominously, the US Senate mused about sanctions for such countries, and certainly weren’t too impressed to have just entered into a Free Trade agreement with such a state. OK, US politics play a part of course. But a huge embarrassment for the Government.

Hint: This is why such a legal and public awareness themed gathering is actually sponsored by the Oman Foreign Ministry.

I’d recommend reading the complete Oman country report highly, its really good (and free) US State Dept. report on Oman Human Rights
And, actually, there is a lot of good stuff in the report too, because while I like to criticize because I think things can always be made better, in many ways Oman is pretty civilized and has done a huge amount of good things. Especially obvious when compared to their many and totally fucked up neighbours [Saudi, Yemen, UAE, Iran, Qatar, Pakistan].

Omani official sensibilities were somewhat disturbed by the report when it was issued, to the extent that several Government Officials were even reported in the Omani press defending their [rather poor] record on the issue (which shows how big a deal it had become, making one suspect the report had reached the attention of the highest levels of government). They failed to realize that the State Dept. bureaucrats actually focused on demonstrable action, like laws against human trafficking, actual arrests and prosecutions, victims not being arrested and deported, institutions in place and funded to protect the victims, police resources to enforce, evidence that foreign workers basic human rights are actually protected, and a clear commitment to improve things. None of which applied to Oman.

Hence, this conference, and maybe a law soon. Expect the pliant press to play their role with some preachy stories too. Unfortunately, just talking about it and being seen trying to be seen trying to be doing something about it (the typical government response to any issue, see recent action on inflation, Gonu, …) may well be enough to lift the country into Tier 2 [where the UAE is]. As opposed to actually doing anything.

Like prosecuting the pimps and importers of the prostitutes, or their clients. Or actively protecting the rights of Indian and Philippino workers. Or prosecuting the employers who illegally confiscate passports of expats. Or making it easier for those abused Philippino and Indonesian housemaids to complain about the violence and rapes, the 7-day week 18 hr days work, the not being paid, etc. Or protecting the Indian building workers here on less than 100 rials a month and made to work in flip-flops, up on rickety scaffolding with no safety kit what-so-ever. The list goes on.

But, the Ministry boys have probably called it right. A conference, some press reports, and a specific law will probably be enough for the diplomats to convince the US State Dept. that they have enough to elevate Oman to Tier 2 in the next report. Problem solved.

So, wonderful news for exploited expats and trafficked sex workers in Oman. A conference! Well done lads!