[cb editor: after finding nothing of value at the table with al Khalifa, Al Wefaq seems a bit lost as it tries to reestablish it’s self amongst the opposition. Real questions remain what opportunism drew them to al Khalifa’s table to begin with. Al Khalifa with Western endorsement went back to the vomit of the pretense of reform that has plagued Bahrain for more than the last decade with Al Wefaq joining them as a seemingly willing partner. Since the national dialogue seemed not to include them, was “stacked against them”, they have now moved on but one can only be suspicious of what they have moved on to? Maybe an even more theatric rejoining of talks after they “walk out” on the “rest of the opposition”. A curious thought, perhaps they were “sent out” to bring something of value back to the table they left behind – an abandonment of a revolutionary movement they been all to reluctant to embrace from the beginning? This dangerous middle road seems all so attractive and easily played by Hamad and those who would see him King. It is with great hope they get on with the business of revolution and help insist on the disposal of the al Khalifa’s regime of terror and pain. ]

Bahrain’s opposition quits talks
irishtimes.com – Last Updated: Sunday, July 17, 2011, 16:23

Bahrain’s largest Shia opposition group Wefaq said today it planned to pull out of a national dialogue, which was aimed at reforms after mass pro-democracy protests rocked the Gulf island kingdom earlier this year.

Opposition groups like Wefaq had complained since talks began on July 2nd that they would never be able to get their proposed political reforms put into effect, as the opposition received only 35 of 300 seats at the talks.

The government has defended its apportioning of seats, saying it wanted the talks to include all Bahrainis, whether they were involved in politics or not.

“The Wefaq board decided to pull out of the so-called National Consensus Dialogue and submitted its decision to the Wefaq Shura council (upper council) for ratification,” Khalil al-Marzouq, spokesman for Wefaq, said.

“Wefaq tried with all seriousness to offer political solutions and it was always responded to with rejections, or it was ignored,” he said.

Mainstream opposition groups such as Wefaq have called for a more representative parliamentary system and greater powers to the elected lower council, whose powers are neutered by the upper Shura council, appointed by the king.

But hardliners calling for the abolition of the monarchy have gained popularity since the crackdown by Bahrain’s Sunni rulers. Security forces crushed weeks of protests in March led by the country’s majority Shia population, who were demanding a greater say in government.

The government accused the opposition of a sectarian agenda with backing from nearby Shia power Iran, charges the groups deny. Bahrain is seen as a fault line for tensions between Iran and Sunni Gulf Arab countries that are wary of protests spreading to their own Shia minorities. …more

[cb editor: Joe Stork and his team at Human Rights Watch continue to do an exceedingly excellent job regarding Bahrain. HRW has been a voice of objective reason in the midst of the insane brutality that has poured out from the al Khalifa regime on the people of Bahrain who seek dignity, protection of their human rights and to live in a fair and justly governed society. Congratulations to you Mr. Stork and to your team. Your contributions toward helping the people of Bahrain in this desperate hour are huge and immeasurable Mr. Stork. Thank you. ]

Special Reports
HRW says Bahrain targeting medical workers
Published: July 18, 2011 at 1:33 PM

BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 18 (UPI) — Targeting members of the medical community is part of an effort by the monarchy in Bahrain to silence critics, Human Rights Watch said from Beirut.

Physicians for Human Rights in April said it had forensic evidence to suggest Bahraini security forces attacked medical staff and patients with bullets and chemical agents.

At least 47 healthcare workers were charged with various crimes since protests broke out early this year.

In March U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay described the March 16 seizure by security forces of a hospital in Bahrain as “shocking and illegal conduct.”

Human Rights Watch in a 54-page report said it had documented “serious government abuses” against medics and patients wounded during opposition protests.

The United Nations in early July praised Bahrain for launching a national dialogue secession following early criticism that the minority Sunni-led monarchy was using a heavy hand against a Shiite uprising early this year.

But Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said targeting the medical community was part of an official policy against pro-democracy forces in Bahrain.

“Officials justify the government’s crackdown and the arrests of the medics by alleging that they violated the principle of medical neutrality and committed heinous crimes,” he said in a statement. “Yet they have failed to provide any convincing evidence that their actions are anything but a campaign of retribution aimed at silencing government critics.” …source

The Interview with Bahrain Revolution’s Poet, “Ayat Al-Gormezi”
shiapost | July 18, 2011

“When I stood in the roundabout I wasn’t intending to offend the regime, but to expose the people’s sufferings,” Ayat told Al-Manar Website, reassuring her belief that “the core of the conflict in Bahrain is not in the regime figures, but in the policy that this regime adopts.”

“We are living a crisis of trust and dignity… especially as detainees, we were exposed to the worst kinds of abuses,” Ayat said.

Nine Days under Torture, Inquiry Absurd

The revolution’s poet told Al-Manar Website about the level of torture and brutal beating that she faced in detention, indicating that “they started torturing me the moment i laid foot in the security vehicle…the security men started beating me blindly on the face. As soon as I arrived to the interrogation department, a group of men there started kicking and beating me.

“They kept me in a small room that smelled very bad… it was filthy and full of insects… and they were continuously beating me and cursing me without any interrogation,” Ayat said.

She continued: “I spent nine days of torture in the interrogation center, even though interrogations usually take only two to three days. The inquiry was absurd… the interrogator focused on reminding me that the state was paying my education fees, and that it had paid for my father’s education too. He was also pointing out that my father works in a ministry and that our house is property of the State, while barely mentioning the poem I read on the roundabout.”

“After the interrogation center, I was moved to the remand center. It was a prison for detainees that were not sentenced yet. They kept me in an isolated room for several days, due to the apparent torture marks on my face. They locked me up until the marks were gone, and then they allowed me to call my parents… I didn’t speak to my parents except after 16 days of detention,” Ayat further explained. …more

Five Months of Waiting
What happens when a revolution stalls out?
BY SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS | JULY 15, 2011

CAIRO — Five months after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, Tahrir Square has, once again, been transformed into a mass protest encampment and the epicenter of the struggle for change in Egypt. Thousands of protesters are entering the second week of a sit-in reminiscent of the one that captured the world’s attention during the 18-day uprising that began on Jan. 25.

At the heart of the matter is the feeling of many that the basic demands of the revolution have gone unfulfilled, with little indication that a path for real change lies ahead; that the calls for justice and accountability for members of the former regime and security forces accused of killing protesters have gone unanswered; and that the revolutionary demands of “bread, freedom, social justice” have all but been abandoned.

“I’m here because most of our demands have not been met,” says Lobna Darwish, a 24-year-old protester who is taking part in the sit-in. Many activists are fed up with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and their handling of Egypt’s transitional period following after the ouster of Mubarak.

In Tahrir, protesters have dug in for the long haul. The middle of the square has been converted into a tent city, complete with winding pathways, food stocking centers, and a hairdresser. Electricity has been routed from street lamps to power fans and recharge cell phones. Wi-Fi Internet connections and satellite TV have been set up. Protesters have organized popular committees to protect the entrances, sweep the streets, and make collective decisions about living in the square. To counter the oppressive summer heat, a massive white canopy has been stitched together and strung across the middle garden using scaffolding and rope to provide much-needed shade. Numerous stages have been constructed where speakers lead protest chants and musicians perform. A nightly “Tahrir Cinema” has been organized to screen raw footage, experimental documentaries, and finished films about the revolution. In the evenings, when the weather cools, the crowds swell dramatically, and thousands more gather to join those camping in the square, hold political discussions, and demonstrate. …more

You Can’t Kill a Planet and Live on It, Too
By Frank Joseph Smecker and Derrick Jensen
Truthout -Sunday, Jul 17, 2011

Let’s expose the structure of violence that keeps the world economy running.

With an entire planet being slaughtered before our eyes, it’s terrifying to watch the very culture responsible for this – the culture of industrial civilization, fueled by a finite source of fossil fuels, primarily a dwindling supply of oil – thrust forward wantonly to fuel its insatiable appetite for “growth.”

Deluded by myths of progress and suffering from the psychosis of technomania complicated by addiction to depleting oil reserves, industrial society leaves a crescendo of atrocities in its wake.

A very partial list would include the Bhopal chemical disaster, numerous oil spills, the illegal depleted uranium-spewing occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan, mountaintop removal, the nuclear meltdown of Fukushima, the permanent removal of 95 percent of the large fish from the oceans (not to mention full-on systemic collapse of those oceans), indigenous communities replacement by oil wells, the mining of coltan for cell phones and Playstations along the Democratic Republic of the Congo/Rwanda border – resulting in tribal warfare and the near-extinction of the Eastern Lowland gorilla.

As though 200 species going extinct each day were not enough, climate change, a direct result of burning fossil fuels, has proved not only to be as unpredictable as it is real, but as destructive as it is unpredictable. The erratic and lethal characteristics of a changing planet and its shifting atmosphere are becoming the norm of the 21st century, their impact accelerating at an alarming pace, bringing this planet closer, sooner than later, to a point of uninhabitable ghastliness. And yet, collective apathy, ignorance and self-imposed denial in the face of all this sadistic exploitation and violence marches this culture closer to self-annihilation. …more

Tunisian riots claim first victim
Posted on July 18, 2011 by mat

TUNIS (Reuters) – One man was killed in a demonstration in Tunisia on Sunday when soldiers fired into the air to bring the crowd under control.

It was the first reported death in a wave of violent protests that have hit Tunis and other cities.

“One civilian was killed yesterday evening in Sidi Bouzid when soldiers fired into the air to disperse rioters who had attacked the soldiers,” a Defence Ministry official, Colonel Marouan Bouguerra, told journalists in Tunis on Monday.

Sidi Bouzid is the town in central Tunisia where a young man killed himself by setting himself on fire last December, providing the spark that set off the Arab Spring revolutions now convulsing much of the region.

The rioting is the starkest sign to date of the friction between Tunisia’s secular establishment and Islamists who have been growing more assertive since the country’s autocratic leader was ousted in a revolution six months ago.

The government has said the rioting was orchestrated by extremist groups trying to undermine stability. …source

Arms Trade Treaty May Bypass Anti-Riot Weapons
By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 18, 2011 (IPS) – When weeklong negotiations on the control and regulation of the global arms trade were concluded last week, there was one missing link in the proposed treaty: riot control equipment used recently against peaceful demonstrators in the streets of Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen and Jordan.

The Arms Trade Treaty, which is expected to be finalised and signed next year, is either ambiguous or excludes “weapons of repression”, including rubber bullets, water cannons, tear gas canisters, and high voltage electric-shock stun guns.

Described as combat protective equipment, these weapons are used not only by national armed forces but also by law enforcement agencies, including the police and prison services.

The London-based Amnesty International (AI) warned that if certain types of security and police equipment such as non-military firearms, including riot guns, crowd control vehicles, shotgun ammunition and tear gas, are not clearly covered by the ATT, “many governments will not prevent such arms being supplied and used for serious violations of human rights”.

Jeff Abramson, coordinator of the Control Arms Secretariat, a global civil society coalition, told IPS the last draft of the chairman’s text will need to be transformed into treaty language, but the precise process as to how that will happen is still unclear.

“There could be both improvements and backsliding as that happens,” he said.

Members of the Control Arms coalition will be working hard to see that improvements occur on what is generally a positive paper now, he added.

“Those areas for improvement include inclusion of police and crowd control equipment, the same items that are often used to commit the abuses for which a robust Arms Trade Treaty would work to stop,” noted Abramson.

Currently, there are no comprehensive or binding international rules or treaties governing the international trade in conventional weapons. Gaps and loopholes in national controls allow weapons and armaments to end up in the hands of serious human rights abusers.

In a statement released Friday, AI pointed out the recent repression in the Middle East and North Africa demonstrates that a wide range of arms used by military, security and police forces must be covered under the scope of the ATT. …more