Anonymous says:

When I look back at the past year, it really pains me to see what all this country went through. So much of violence, so much of hate towards each other. I’m really proud and we should all be to have a crown prince likeShaikh Salman who offered a chance for reconciliation. Only if people were not influenced by outsiders and agreed to the dialogue, things would have been much better. Nevertheless, its never too late.

This blog post is a summary of several conversation I’ve had over the last few weeks, where the topic was the Bahrain regime.  Some people have been predicting the supposedly “inevitable fall of the Al-Khalifa rule”.

This, in my opinion, will never happen (I know one should never say never, and by never here I’m mean a very very long time).  I’ll try to explain the reasons in an as level-headed and calm way as I can.

So, there I was this morning, sitting in the car with my children, driving them to school.  BBC Arabic radio was just finishing a section on a scathing report issued by a human rights organisation on Bahrain (I think it was Amnesty International).

Anyway, the words Sunni and Shia came up several times, and I thought this was a perfect opportunity to bring up the Sunni/Shia topic with my kids.  With me in the car were Selma, 10 years, and Laith, 8 years.

I cannot tell you how busy I’ve been – REALLY BUSY!  If you don’t see me blogging for a while, know that it’s because I’m overwhelmed, never because I don’t care, or that I don’t have enough to write about – I have far more things to write about than I can ever have time for.

Anyway, since it’s been a while, where do I begin…?

Ah yes, my recent trip…

I had a whirlwind trip recently to the UK, Vienna and Singapore.

Posted on 12 March 2012 by Suhail

First, an apology is in order.  Sorry for not blogging for a while, but I’ve been extremely busy in the last couple of weeks.  I’m juggling so many balls at the moment that I have to give blogging a low priority – at least for now.

Further, I’m traveling for a couple of weeks to London, Vienna and Singapore, and I doubt I’ll have much time to blog during my travels.

I received my first “social media” award last night!  A big thank you to the Information Affairs Authority (IAA) and it’s president Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa for organising such an event.

The event started with a speech from Sh. Fawaz, I then had the honour of giving a speech as well, in which I spoke about my experience in social media.  I spoke about the great benefits social media has brought to me, as well as it’s dark side.

Things are heating up.  Tensions are rising, and the violent protests are increasing, which are resulting – if some of the web videos out there are to be believed – in ever more severe crackdowns.  I don’t want to sound too judgemental, but the impression one gets is that the impunity mentioned in the BICI report is still going on.

The opposition is growing ever more restless, and Sheik Isa Qassim seems to be losing it.

My head is spinning!  This whole reconciliation business is not easy!

I’m told that prof. Bassiouni said that working in Libya was a walk in the park compared to Bahrain, and I believe him.  Emotions are still high, and the wounds very raw.  And the government’s snail-paced reform process is not helping.

To give you a quick update, I’ve been doing some rounds visiting some key players in Bahrain, and just conversing – mostly just listening.

I’ve been getting quite a few ominous statements like this recently. Others include “you’re playing a dangerous game”, “you’re being watched very closely”, “be careful” and “people are waiting for you to make a mistake”.

It’s a bit flattering and a bit worrying to be so interesting!  Who knew wanting to reconcile could be so controversial! But to be honest, I don’t take myself too seriously.

Posted on 30 December 2011 by Suhail

I don’t think anyone can doubt that 2011 was a historic year.  An Arab spring, a US financial meltdown and partisan rifts, a UK debt crisis, tumultuous European riots, and a couple of natural disasters in Asia.

One is almost tempted to say that it can’t get any worse, but I wouldn’t dare tempt fate.