The Gulf Cooperation Council’s double standard

The Financial Times‘ Middle East editor comments on the hypocrisy of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC): In a remarkable outburst against a fellow Arab leader, GCC foreign ministers last week declared that Muammer Gaddafi’s regime had become illegitimate after using live bullets and heavy weapons against Libya’s population. They called on the Arab League to ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

The Financial Times' Middle East editor comments on the hypocrisy of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC):

The Financial Times‘ Middle East editor comments on the hypocrisy of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC):

In a remarkable outburst against a fellow Arab leader, GCC foreign ministers last week declared that Muammer Gaddafi’s regime had become illegitimate after using live bullets and heavy weapons against Libya’s population. They called on the Arab League to “shoulder its responsibilities in taking necessary measures to stop the bloodshed”.

It is an irony, of course, that some of the leaders who are facing the wrath of their own people should be clamouring for the demise of a fellow ruler – except that he happens to be Col Gaddafi, loathed by virtually all his peers and brutally crushing a rebellion. In fact, getting rid of the colonel is probably one of the very few things most Arab states agree on.

Indeed, when it comes to one of their own – Bahrain’s ruling al-Khalifa family – the GCC has taken a radically different attitude. On Monday, troops from GCC countries were moving to prop up the embattled Bahraini regime after Shia protesters drove police out of Manama’s business district and paralysed the city.

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

More from Foreign Policy

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.

Can Russia Get Used to Being China’s Little Brother?

The power dynamic between Beijing and Moscow has switched dramatically.

Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.
Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.

Xi and Putin Have the Most Consequential Undeclared Alliance in the World

It’s become more important than Washington’s official alliances today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

It’s a New Great Game. Again.

Across Central Asia, Russia’s brand is tainted by Ukraine, China’s got challenges, and Washington senses another opening.

Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.
Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s House of Cards Is Collapsing

The region once seemed a bright spot in the disorder unleashed by U.S. regime change. Today, things look bleak.