Smiling Swedish politicians are posing next to representatives from one of the world’s worst dictatorships. On the other side of the vast desert, Swedish tourists are strolling through the huge shopping centres. Some hundred kilometres away, children are being tortured by security police, all while Formula 1 fans are crowded along the circuits.

Welcome to the Gulf!

A number of small states on the Arabian Peninsula are now big players on the global arena: Dubai with its luxury and shopping attracts tens of thousands of tourists; in Qatar, construction labourers are working under miserable conditions to finalize the football stadiums; in Bahrain the majority of the citizens are oppressed by a small clan, connected to the ruling family. On top of that, we have the Saudis – the US’s ally – financiers of terror and interpreters of the most extreme form of Islamism: Wahhabism.

The first Global Bar this autumn will discuss the development in the Gulf states, journalism in Saudi Arabia, struggle for democracy in Bahrain, support for terror networks in the region and what happens when women start to drive a car in Saudi Arabia.
Moderator: David Isaksson, Global Reporting

Language: English

Date: Wednesday 3 September. Time: Mingle and bar from 5 pm. Discussion between 6 and 7 pm.

Location: Global Reporting, Stora Nygatan 26, 2nd floor.

Door code: (new) 1278

We provide snacks. Beer and wine are sold at cost price.

Global Bar is run by us at Global Reporting – a media consulting company, with the world as a passion! Learn more about us at www.globalreporting.net

For those of you who have not attended Global Bar before, it is a highly informal venue for us interested in or working with international issues.