De staatsnieuwsomroep legt uit wat diplomatie is:
"Diplomatie behelst het formele verkeer en gedurige overleg tussen staten via hun officiële, ambtelijke vertegenwoordigers (diplomaten) en een staatsbezoek is een diplomatiek, ceremonieel bezoek van het staatshoofd van het ene land aan het staatshoofd van een ander land."
We bevinden ons weer even in de Wikileaks-loze eeuw. De NOS legt echter daarna ook uit dat "sommige leden van de Tweede Kamer" zich bedienen van "een soort megafoondiplomatie" teneinde het thuisblijven van de koningin te bepleiten. Dat is dus geen journalistiek, maar regelrechte kritiek op de oppositie, die gewoon doet wat het moet doen in ons democratische systeem. De omissie viert ook weer hoogtij:
"De als een inktvlek om zich heen grijpende onrust in het Midden Oosten bereikte ook Oman, waar met name in de havenstad Sohar gedemonstreerd werd tegen de hoge werkeloosheid in de golfstaat en, in mindere mate, tegen het autoritair genoemde bewind van de sultan."
U leest het, het bewind van sultan Quabus bin Said al-Said wordt autoritair "genoemd", dus twijfel is volgens de NOS nog mogelijk over het waarheidsgehalte van die uitspraak. Over de eerste omissie, dat de sultan in wezen een ordinaire dictator is, schrijft The Guardian, die in tegenstelling tot onze staatsomroep het hele verhaal brengt, inclusief een Amerikaans mensenrechtenrapport en een rapport van Reporters Without Borders. De schrijver plaatst de sultan "in the 15th century with the Medicis and the Borgias, not 2011." Lees het artikel onderaan.
De tweede grote omissie is dat de NOS verzwijgt is dat het zogenoemde staatsbezoek, dat volgens de omroep valt onder "topdiplomatie", in wezen een ordinaire handelsdelegatie was om een miljoenenorder voor Defensie binnen te halen, zo ontdekte de Volkskrant. Nu gaat, vanwege de politieke druk, het "staatsbezoek" niet door, maar toch weer wel, alleen onder het mom van een "privédiner", met de "verlichte dictator", aldus de Volkskrant. Natuurlijk maakt het in de praktijk niets uit - die miljoenendeal komt er dus wel.
Volgens de NOS bestaat er "geen enkele aanwijzing" dat Beatrix gewoon haar zin doorgedreven had. Nee, "Veeleer ligt het voor de hand" dat het kabinet dat zo geregeld heeft.
"De hele gang van zaken illustreert nog eens het belang van staatsbezoeken en de gevoeligheid van dit type topdiplomatie dat zich per definitie goeddeels in het schrille licht van de publiciteit voltrekt."
Staatsbezoeken en "dit type topdiplomatie" spelen zich binnen "het schrille licht van de publiciteit" af, terwijl "diplomatie gedijt het beste achter de schermen", aldus de NOS, die het diner van de sultan nu - overduidelijk navigerende tussen bescherming van het koningshuis en het informeren van het publiek - een 'half staatsbezoek' noemt.
Oman's Sultan Qaboos: a classy despot
He may be a Britain-friendly, music-loving 'renaissance man', but Oman's Sultan Qaboos still tolerates no dissent
Sultan Qaboos, Oman's absolute ruler, is a man of culture. He plays the organ and the lute, composes music and has his own highly regarded symphony orchestra. The vulgarity of Dubai and the brutality of Iran are simply not his style.
He is also a long-standing friend of the west, and of Britain in particular. In his younger days he served in the British army and later donated sports pavilions bearing his name to his old college, Sandhurst, and the RAF officers' college, Cranwell.
With a tiny population (no more than 3 million) and reasonable amounts of oil, Oman is – or has been until recently – a fairly prosperous place.
All this results in Oman and its sultan generally getting a sympathetic press. "I have never encountered a place in the Arab world so well-governed as Oman, and in such a quiet and understated way," Robert Kaplan wrote the other day in an article for Foreign Policy headed "Oman's renaissance man".
Last weekend, though, overshadowed by events in Libya, there were disturbances in Sohar (Oman's second city) along with more peaceful demonstrations elsewhere in the country. Protesters' complaints were the familiar ones heard these days in most of the Arab countries: government corruption, cronyism and youth unemployment.
Oman has an exceptionally young population – 43% are under the age of 15 – and even those who buy the line that Oman is well governed recognise that the authorities face an uphill struggle in providing jobs. "The problem is evolving faster than they can provide solutions," one person who is familiar with the country (and asked not to be identified) told me this week.
But there's another problem too. Even if Qaboos is a Britain-friendly, music-loving ruler with benevolent intentions he is none the less a despot. He doesn't tolerate criticism and his citizens have very few rights. They can't, for instance, hold a public meeting without the government's approval. Anyone who wants to set up a non-governmental organisation of any kind needs a licence. To get it, they have to demonstrate that the organisation is "for legitimate objectives" and not "inimical to the social order". On average, that takes two years – assuming permission is granted at all.
Here are a few other things, not from the sultan's harshest critics but from his friends in Washington, courtesy of the state department's latest human rights report:
• The law prohibits criticism of the sultan in any form or medium.
• The law does not provide citizens with the right to change their government.
• The sultan retains ultimate authority on all foreign and domestic issues.
• Public officials are not subject to financial disclosure laws.
• Police do not need search warrants in order to enter people's homes.
• Libel laws and concerns for national security have been used to suppress criticism of government figures and politically objectionable views.
• Publication of books is limited and the government restricts their importation and distribution, as with other media products.
And here are some more, from Reporters Without Borders:
• The state decides who can or cannot be a journalist and this permission can be withdrawn at any time
• Censorship and self-censorship are a constant factor.
• Access to news and information can be problematic: journalists have to be content with news compiled by the official news agency on some issues
• Through a decree by the sultan, the government has now extended its control over the media to blogs and other websites.
Merely mentioning the existence of such restrictions can land you in trouble. Two years ago, a web publisher was fined and given a suspended jail sentence for revealing that a supposedly live TV programme was actually pre-recorded in order to eliminate any criticisms of the government.
Because of this, it is very difficult to judge what Omanis really think of their sultan. His supporters tend to express their devotion in exaggeratedly fulsome terms: "His Majesty – gift of God to residents of Oman", "We salute His Majesty's wise leadership" and "I would be willing to lay out my life on the line for him". Of course, there were people saying similar things about President Ben Ali in Tunisia until just a few days before he fled and in Libya we have Muammar Gaddafi's own word that all his people love him.
Meanwhile, those who are more critical of Qaboos have been nervous about sticking their necks out – though possibly, encouraged by events in other parts of the region, they are now losing that fear.
Faced with so many restrictions, Omanis have sometimes resorted to unconventional methods for expressing their views. Writing about Gulf rulers in 2001, Dale Eickelman observed: "Only in Oman has the occasional donkey … been used as a mobile billboard to express anti-regime sentiments. There is no way in which police can maintain dignity in seizing and destroying a donkey on whose flank a political message has been inscribed."
In a way, Robert Kaplan is right about Sultan Qaboos being a "renaissance man". He is a despot with class, and his true place is in the 15th century with the Medicis and the Borgias, not 2011.
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