Winning the Battle, Losing the (Media) War: Formula 1 Edition
\nIt seems that Bahrain’s authorities have spent a bit too much time recently attacking the U.S. and Embassy Manama (in the press) and Shi’a religious processions (in real life) and not enough time convincing the international community that “Business-friendly Bahrain” is indeed back in business. Just days after apparently reinstating the Bahrain Grand Prix, Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone now says the race is “not on.” And, as the BBC aptly summarizes,<\/p>\n
If, as Bernie Ecclestone accepts, the Bahrain Grand Prix will not go ahead in October, it will be a huge and humiliating blow to the tiny Arabian island.<\/p>\n
Indeed. It will also mark the utter failure of what Simon Henderson in a great piece in Foreign Policy today describes as “Bahrain’s diplomatic charm offensive,” an effort doomed by the apparent assumption that somehow the world would pay attention only to government press releases and not to actual events in Bahrain.<\/p>\n
For, as Henderson outlines in systematic fashion, the days following the end of martial law on June 1 and King Hamad’s coinciding “National Dialogue Initiative, Part Deux” have witnessed a Bahrain that has hoped to win over international observers at the same time that it “declares war on protesters back home.” …more<\/a><\/p>\n