Diary – 19 January 2013

Back from the Kingdom and the Gulf, where I’m delighted to find Senator John McCain (Republican, Arizona) who never fails to disappoint. Opening his remarks at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Manama Dialogue in Bahrain, he quipped that he had come from the US where support for Congress had now reached a point where only paid staffers and blood relatives of Congressmen and Senators gave a favourable rating to their legislators. McCain said that he wanted to find someone who had given Congress a favourable rating, asking him or her just what they favoured.

Bahrain is the final destination in a journey through Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States which is a mixture of business and strategic interest. The Manama Dialogue was cancelled for 2011 due to internal unrest. It’s a positive step to revive the Conference for it permits not only an informed discussion of security challenges in the region, it also enables scrutiny of the ruling elites from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States who are not routinely subject to question and answer.