Proposed Gulf States Federation

The consequences of the people’s revolutions in Arab states and their impact on the political leadership have clearly reflected that political dictatorship is no longer acceptable. In Egypt, the leadership of the young generation became more aware of Arab nationalism, which was reflected in their support of uprisings in all Arab states that were calling for freedom and political change. Furthermore, some professional organizations even called for a federation between Egypt, Sudan and Libya after the removal of the Gadhafi regime.

In the Gulf area, there was an uprising in Bahrain and a few attempts to start protests in Saudi Arabia that were crushed by the security forces. The people’s protests in the Gulf region led to a new revival of political federation. It has been reported that the political leadership in the Gulf region is discussing the formation of the political federation among the six states in the region. The proposed federation will unite its foreign policy, defense and security of the region. However, the proposed federation will not lead to the creation of one state. Each member state of the Gulf Council will continue to have its own individual independence and political leadership. The main objective behind the proposed strategy, as it was stated by the political leadership, is to face the Iranian threat to the Gulf states.

It is interesting to see how the Gulf heads of states, in particular the Bahraini and the Saudi, have reacted to the protestors who were asking for fair and equal treatment between the Sunni and Shiaa segments of the population. The Bahraini Shiaa, who constitute more than two thirds of the population and are viewed as a minority, were allocated only 18 seats out of 40 in parliament.

The Shiaa of Saudi Arabia are also discriminated against by the Sunni population, whose number is estimated to be more than 10% of the population. Both states blame Iran for the uprising of the Shiaa in their populations. This is nothing but an excuse used by the governments to justify the suppression of their Arab Shiaa minorities. Therefore, the proposed idea of a federation among the six Gulf Council states is an excuse to justify the interference of one state in the internal affairs of another as the Saudis did in Bahrain. A few weeks ago the Saudi government sent 2,000 soldiers and crushed the Bahraini uprising. The Secret agenda reflects the fact that if the uprising succeeds in one of the Gulf states, it will have an impact on the rest since none of these states have a democratic institution. It is very logical that when a minority in a society is suppressed and treated unfairly like the others in the same society, some of those that are suppressed might cooperate with outsiders as a result if it can bring them justice. The majority of Arab political leaders who are still in power have not learned a lesson yet despite the upheaval that has been taking place in the region. The idea to create a phony federation will not work. The Gulf Council Commission has been working for years to develop one common currency for its members and so far they have failed to achieve it. This is a common phenomenon among Arab political head of states that agreed to create an Arab Common Market in 1947 and they are still discussing the idea. For example, Europe, which started its European Common Market in 1957, has not only implemented it, but now has 27 members in the organization.

The differences between both groups is that the Arab states are run by corrupt political leadership, while the European states are run by democratic institutions.