Write to the Editor

YOUR headline story Masterminds! by Anasuya Kesavan in the June 15-21 issue of GulfWeekly was a very inspiring and interesting report.

I commend the members of the group who have nurtured and sustained their passion and commitment to quizzing. 
In this age of electronic and internet media consuming most people’s spare time, it is refreshing to know that there is a group out there who have dedicated themselves to meeting regularly every month for the past 16 years.
 
This is a perfect way to exchange ideas and share knowledge and enrichment. It is indeed an incredible accomplishment.

My hearty congratulations go to each member. Quizzing is an activity that helps keep your mind, memory and intellectual traits active and alert.
 
Being a quiz enthusiast myself, I am aware it takes immense dedication and commitment to be able to devote the required time and effort to arrange such a mind-enriching activity. To sustain it over a period of 16 years is simply superb. Hats off to you all!

Articles such as these make GulfWeekly a worthy publication and I look forward to reading more such stories in future issues.

My best wishes to the entire GulfWeekly team.
P. Sudhakaran,
Bahrain.

NATIONAL School Sports Week is the UK’s largest celebration of school sport, enjoyed last year by over five million students from more than 14,000 schools. This year, the British School of Bahrain (BSB) will be joining in with the celebrations as part of the countdown to the London 2012 Olympic Games.
 
The opening ceremony will take place on Sunday, in the Sports Hall, starting at 3pm. Grand Master Fareed Al Shayeb will be bringing his Shams Taekwondo Academy to the school for a very special demonstration for students, parents and staff. It promises to be a blockbuster show!

The remainder of the week will see a variety of coaches from Olympic and Paralympic sports coming to the BSB to offer coaching sessions to students. Activities include Taekwondo, gymnastics, fencing, handball, goalball, water polo and tennis.

This exciting week will come to a close with a BSB staff volleyball team taking on the senior students in a friendly match. This will also take place in the Sports Hall, starting at 3.15pm.

Sarah A. Al Bastaki, British School
of Bahrain.

IN the pantheon of Arabic custom, one of the most coveted is that of courtesy and accommodation, particularly to a far-travelled guest who has come a-calling. But sometimes we have to step back and say ‘Wait a minute’ when a lack of sensitivity and outrageous demands, simply go beyond the bounds of courteous response.

Take the visit of the US Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, formerly the head of Human Rights First, Michael Posner. He has breezed into Bahrain and not only demanded to sit in on the sensitive National Safety Court trial of people accused of heinous crimes against the state, but with no notice at all, has demanded to call on His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander, senior ministers and officials and also demanded to make an ‘inspection visit’ to the Salmaniya Medical Complex.

Is this some vestige of colonial or neo-colonial times when Americans and Europeans felt it was simply a ‘God-given right’ to do as they pleased?

Bahrain is a sovereign state, with excellent relationships with most countries, including our ‘great and powerful friends’.

We are pleased to host the accredited diplomats of many nations whose work here, allows them to meet with people of all political persuasions and to sit in on court cases, if necessary.

We fully recognise that is part of their role as diplomats. However, being a gracious people, we accommodated Mr Posner’s demand to sit in on a sensitive court case although we believe that if our Assistant Under-secretary blew into Washington, and demanded to sit in on say the trials in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, we are sure they would be told ‘Git outa here!’

We are sure too, that if our representative arrived in Washington one day, and the next demanded to see President Obama, Secretary Clinton, Secretary Gates and Director Panatta, we’d also be told ‘Git outa here!’ And, rightly so too!

Common courtesy demands reciprocity, and the normal practice of one Assistant Secretary meeting another, with the relevant embassy making the arrangements. A call at more senior levels, an accommodation we sometimes give to allies and friends, always remains a privilege, never a demand.

Yes, we may be a small sovereign nation, but like the US, we are a sovereign nation, and as such, deserve mutual respect, especially in the company of friends!

And yes, we expect those friends to extend us the courtesies that we extend to them. No-one, and no country, likes to be walked over, or taken for granted. 
 
W.P.,
address supplied.