When European ministers meet their counterparts from the Gulf Cooperation Council at their annual get-together in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, the surface bonhomie is unlikely to mask underlying tensions.
The recent brutal crackdown on dissent in Bahrain – which has seen security forces from both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deployed as well as the Bahrain Defence Force – has been an uncomfortable reminder that the West's Gulf allies do not share Europe's commitment to democratic pluralism and a respect for human rights. Indeed, the region houses some of the last bastions of absolute monarchy.
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