Forget the power cut. This even happens in the United States and Germany, the most advanced countries in the world, yet (they say) no one complains, according to the very believable Anwar Abdulrahman, the Editor in Chief of the GDN which is really our local answer to the Guardian and The News of the World put together.
We also notice a flurry of activity by various officials who visited various “infrastructural” projects around the island. Good for us. Officials from the Ministry of (sudden nation-wide power-cutters) Power and Water were also shown with very wide smiles in various pictures in the local papers.
MoPW also put out a large ad in the other paper that Anwar Abdulrahman presides over – Akhbar Al-Khaleej, thanking the Prime Minister for visiting and supporting “all efforts” of the said ministry. That’s instead of apologising to the nation for its screwups.
Over the news a few minutes ago we heard that the effervescent Khalifa Al-Dhahrani, the chairman of the Council of Deputies visiting the Prime Minister to “thank him for his personal attention and for restoring the power grid so quickly.” That is instead of demanding an extra-ordinary session to discuss and ensure that this sort of thing never happens again, and to un-earth those responsible and toss them out of government. Typical of our esteemed chairman.
Those dissenting MPs on the other hand are asking for the Minister of Power’s resignation. Another attempt by them for publicity stunts. Pick me pick me! He, on the other hand, is putting all blame on ALBA whose 400 megawatt surge into the national grid caused the nation-wide power out (that’s the official line anyway.)
So I guess it’s the Minister of Oil’s head on the line now, as no one came out (yet) in his support!
… and we await even more platitudes from empty vessels such as Abdulrahman in the next few days, or until the next national power cut (not crisis mind you, that never happens in the Middle East) comes along, whichever is first.
I’m not holding my breath.
Comments
The Spin Doctors are out in force today
Where does Anwar Abdulrahman get off writing these holier than thou commentaries? Love the way he starts today’s one criticising the press for over reacting to the blackout – when he’s the editor of two of the newspapers in question.
The Spin Doctors are out in force today
I read Anwar AbduRahman’s commentary (cough, cough, brownnose-job) on the power outage in Bahrain. While, technically, he is correct that power outages have happened in technologically advanced nations like the United States, he conveniently “forgets” to mention other mitigating factors . For example, for nealry half a decade, politicos and their favorite Texas bedfellows, Enron had practically robbed Californians blind. When they sucked all the blood they could out of the Golden State, they started using the retirement funds of their employees to finance extravagant vacation homes and other lucrative deals for their executives. Executives who then financed the election campaign of the best friend to the Man on the Arab Street. That Best Friend who supports and protects the fledgling democratic process that gives current Bahraini politicos their jobs that AbduRahman has “courageously” spoken for. Did our illustrious and wise leaders attend seminars on Energy policy in Washington, or Houston? Did someone retread a lemon of an energy distribution model, and sell it to Bahrain? Conspiracy or cover-up, or whatever else, the moral of the story has yet to be told. The CEO of Enron, Kenneth “Kenny-Boy” Lay is under arrest, has been relieved of his duties and is under federal investigation for a host of improprieties. Americans were very upset, but still confident that their judiciary would bring Lay and his cronies to justice. Americans are seething underneath that such corruption incompetence exists, much less is flaunted. Given the small town nature of life in Bahrain, as well as the existing tensions locally, much less regionally and globally, Bahrainis are more than appropriate in voicing their displeasure, even if does not “conform” to the way the brass like for it to be. The Arab tradition is rife with examples of popular dissent and expression.
Re: The Spin Doctors are out in force today
I was gagging after reading Anwar’s coloumn today. He continues to make a fool of himself – after many many years of pomposity, brown nosing and pretention to intellectual superiority (he called his son Gibran for God’s sake). Both his colomunists in yesterdays paper railed against the government – quite rightly – for the fiasco and headlined the paper with BLACKOUT.
The death of that poor soul who filled his car by candleight is very sad for his family and friends. The long term damage to Bahrain’s reputation is a consequence that will never be fully calculated in financial terms. Just try google news search to find out how far and wide the story of this quite shambolic, shameful event has reached. Its one step forward three steps back again.
The Spin Doctors are out in force today
You want to know how far the story went? I read it on the web site for the Washington Post. It had THREE articles on blackout. No mention however of our friend. Although, I wonder if the conversation went…
“I can’t find where to put it in!, quick bring that light over!”
Always look on the bright side of life
Lol
Hey, but look at the positives:
1. Less people sat in doors watching TV, and more read books
2. Many people had a fun day out at the beach
3. Less accidents on the roads than predicted
4. No looting
5. Er….
The Spin Doctors are out in force today
I can no more prove that Dubya and Kenny-Boy are “responsible” for Monday’s episode, than that Saddam Hussein lent material support to Al Qaeda, or that he had WMD, or that Sudanese milk factories covered up the production of toxic agents. These are matters that wiseguys like us (who earn our salt by reading weblogs at the office) have insufficient information or experience to address sufficiently. The point I intended to convey was that when patterns repeat themselves, the public must take notice, and public servants as well as public enterprises must be held accountable.
This matter hits rather close to home. My father’s (May God fill his days with peace and serenity) residence in Adliya is a mere kilometre from the Manama power station. This same facility that an “underground political website” wrote an article about a month ago, meaning that people outside of Bahrain knew a crisis was coming, much like how PBS Frontline ran a program on the California energy crisis in the months leading to the failure of the massive scheme run by Enron.
Meanwhile, I have lived here in Washington for a number of years and watched on television as New Yorkers sat around singing to themselves in the dark when the huge blackout of 2002 happened. Much like the rest of the nation, they were relieved that the event was not a result of a nut-job attack, or of a disaster like Chernobyl or Three Mile Island. Not only did I live through Hurricane Isabel, but I had just closed on a house the week prior and had to prepare for the move having lost three days of power. I saw the work that PEPCO did to restore our power, I saw people behave civilly (and less than civil, but for the most part, I was not unhappy) at intersections where the traffic lights were inoperable, at gas stations where pumps were rendered useless and at grocery stores where perishables became scarce.
Does Bahrain not have sufficient power? Or was there a lack of proper oversight to ensure proper distribution and availability of that resource? How did the situation get to where it did, even if it was “equipment failure”? Who is responsible for the equipment? Was there political maneuvering over a monopolized AND albeit subsidized utility?
These are questions that the American people can put to those that wield responsibility because they have the means (however imperfect) available to them. During the petro-era in the Arabian Gulf, the ruling families have provided an abundance of resources, development, and the opportunities that go with them. At the same time, they have been seemingly reluctant to take all the responsibilities that come with those same privileges. There is much to be grateful for in these regards, AND much to give account for. To give and to take criticism from the governed, to enter into real civilized dialgoue, is the bedouin way, nay, is the Arab way and it is the gift of wisdom that we have to offer the world.
It matters little that power was lost for one day. Before the week is out, every Bahraini will hear at least 7 times from every elderly relative and neighbour about life BC (before current). What matters is that the games played with matters of public concern are played with the public on the sidelines, who are expected to cheer lustily at everything, especially own goals.
As far as Enron, Tyco, Dow Jones, Martha Stewart et al., They have just as many issues as a runaway government. Any entity that gets “too large for its britches”, is more than likely to get away with more than anyone will ever know. The rest of us hold on to hope that there is truly a day of judgment and that there is a just God in heaven. I only submit that prevention is better than cure, and big entities like corporations and governments must be watched by the people (and certainly not the other way around).
John
The Spin Doctors are out in force today
That exactly the sort of attitude that will prevent out country in advancing any further. It seems that the people that CAN do something about things aren’t really that keen on doing it! I think that it is in our collective nature, as Arabs, to be hypocrites and double-faced. We can’t just say what we mean, we have to be “nice”. This beniefts no one, well actually it does benift the croonies…. it is the poor public, the bloke on the steet, that gets the worst of it.
I had high hopes for this country, but unless the general mentality changes I don’t see us going anywhere.
Ali
Re: The Spin Doctors are out in force today
That’s very true Ali. When we can call a spade a spade will be the day that we might start progressing.
I think the ruling family (here and elsewhere in the Arab world) need to fire their spin doctors, because no one believes them any more! We need some new spinmeisters!!
The Spin Doctors are out in force today
I think the Ministry of Health should be brought into the fray too. How many people have had food poisoning cases post Blackout? And how on earth can they rule that the frozen food does not need to be thrown out?
Salmonella calling…
Can’t believe that… did the Ministry of Health really allow the (un)frozen food to be resold? After being in probably more than 50C?
Unbelievable!
The Spin Doctors are out in force today
apparantly, this was in the paper yesterday. i didnt read it myelf .. so cannot verify personally.
The Spin Doctors are out in force today
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/arc_Articles.asp?Article=90027&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=27158
Re: The Spin Doctors are out in force today
lovely! I guess I won’t be eating out or buying frozen food for a few days to ensure that some other mug gets poisoned first. Thanks food inspectors.
Re: The Spin Doctors are out in force today
There were no power shortages because of Enron nor George Bush. California always had plenty of power available. The problem was that because of blundering by state government which tried to “improve” the electricity market with government controls, electricity became wildly expensive. You could get all you wanted with enough money.
Here is the lesson: Never, never, never let government get its grubby mitts on the economy because it always screw things up.
The last two major blackouts in the US that I recall were caused by mechanical failure and weather. A huge patch of the East Coast blacked out because of a complicated cascading of failures. The Washington, DC area went black a year ago when Hurricane Isabel knocked trees down all over the city and suburbs, taking power lines down with them.
My electricity was out for two and a half days, which by the way is the limit on how long food will last in a refrigerator without power. I don’t recall anybody bitching about it because there was no power to see TV or listen to radio. Everyone could see the reason for it, could see the workers repairing the lines, and figured their turn would come soon enough.
There was plenty of bitching afterwards when people compared how fast the various utility companies restored power. Some were fast, some seemed to be dragging their feet.
Steve