Yesterday, Bahrain’s US-backed king was extremely contrite about riot police having killed two people. He promised investigations and to hold the killers accountable. The protests continued, but this may have tamped down the anger somewhat.
Just hours after the “apology,” protesters sleeping in the Pearl Square roundabout were roused by another violent crackdown in the middle of the night. The attack left at least six protesters dead and several hundred more wounded.
Now, the government has put the military in charge of several key parts of the capital city of Manama, and tanks are rolling through the streets. The protests briefly broke off, but anger over the killings have sparked new rounds of protests, with doctors at the hospital in Manama taking to the streets to condemn the moves.
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Khalid al-Khalifa defended the killings, saying that the protesters had been polarizing the country. Apparently he hasn’t yet noticed that the brutal crackown has been plenty polarizing itself.
The US is struggling to cope with the loss of its loyal tyrant Hosni Mubarak, and is now facing another key regime in the face of pro-democracy protests. This one is putting the Obama Administration in a particularly tough state, as the US angrily condemned Iran for a much less violent crackdown against a much larger protest, and is now shurgging off the killings in Bahrain with calls for “economic reforms.”
From rawstory:
"The protests have also cast concerns that the country may not be able to host the opening race of the 2011 Formula One season, which kicks off in Bahrain on March 13. "
I SAY!
No doubt we will see the Bush, Clinton, and Obama families taking vacations to Manama where they will go out into the streets and stand up with the enslaved citizenry to those tanks (obviously surplus Soviet T-34s), showing their selfless and unwavering commitment to DEeee..MOCRACY.
I did not get the joke on the surplus Soviet tanks… Every bit of military and police equipment in Bahrain is western made, perhaps mostly in US. This is a home of US navy in the region, and may well be another US state. The problem is, 70% of population is Shiia, but the ruling elite are Sunnis. There is no "d" of democracy in this country, as the ruling dynasty controls it all. The token "parliament", as tootless as it is, is still dominated by Sunni! This little kingdom has now shown its true colours, and nothing will be the same again. Who would have thought that the regime would react with such cruelty. It is amazing how inacurate the numbers of dead are, and even more inacurate of the nature of wounds. Seems like only AlJazeera has the balls to go to the hospital and show the true picture. Not a word yet about the great number of disappeared. Time to support all the oppresed and their calls for democracy, not only when it is against someone we love to hate.
Bahrain is a very small, flat, isolated set of islands in the Gulf. The prospect of tank battles against a neighbour would seem, well, somewhat unlikely. So the tanks would probably be kept for just such a situation as we see today – one involving uppity peasants threatening the king's agents. Now we all know that Mordor on Potomac is dedicated to the spread of democracy and personal liberty and would never subvert these aims by supplying a tyrant with such weapons for this obvious purpose. So I was forced to blame America's old enemy, the Russkis. Just a little sarcasm Bianca.
Hopefully Global warming will drown Bahrain and the fifth fleet! That would certainly help world peace!
America must be pushed back to its own borders. Its demented push to control the world has gone too far. It has become the enemy of the Free World!
http://dangerouscreation.com