Posts from — April 2012

The U.S. and the Muslim Brotherhood – The Calculus of Egypt’s Presidential Race
by ESAM AL-AMIN – 23 April, 2012 – Counter Punch

“President Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down from his position as president of the republic.” Uttered by former Vice President Omar Suleiman on the evening of February 11, 2011, these words set in motion jubilations by millions of Egyptians celebrating the ultimate triumph of their will over the obstinate dictator.

Although the previous eighteen tumultuous days had united the overwhelming majority of Egyptians regardless of political orientation, religious persuasion, economic class or social strata, the ultimate victory of the revolution was not inevitable. The massive demonstrations that started on January 25, were originally called for by groups dominated by youth activists such as the April 6 Movement and “We are All Khaled Said,” in reference to the young blogger who was murdered by state security agents. Most established political parties and social movements including the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) did not initially support the calls to protest in anticipation of the security crackdown, though they did not discourage their members from participation.

Within days the demonstrations escalated and it became clear that the security forces were not able to stop the growing protests. By January 28, the protesters called for a Day of Rage, and all genuine opposition parties, led by the MB, took to the streets calling for the ouster of Mubarak. Within two weeks, the regime was ousted and the military, under the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which refused to back Mubarak and violently disperse the demonstrators, assumed political control, promising a peaceful transfer of power to a democratically elected civilian government within six months.

It was the most momentous event in the modern history of Egypt. But unfortunately the revolutionaries went home satisfied with their astonishing achievement as the remnants of the regime – the fulool- were on the run.

But this incredible historical unity of all Egyptians soon dissipated, giving way to deep ideological divisions. Urgent issues such as whether the constitution should be written before democratic elections or vice versa, or long-term questions concerning the identity of the country, the nature of the state, the role of Islam in society, and the status of the military were hotly debated outside an agreed upon framework. Religious and social groups that were highly organized insisted on holding the elections first, utilizing their clear advantage over others especially the new revolutionary groups that lacked structure, manpower, and resources.

But these revolutionary groups realized early in the standoff with SCAF that none of their objectives were going to be accomplished without applying tremendous pressure on the military council. For several months, massive demonstrations returned to Tahrir Square in order to compel SCAF to dissolve parliament and local assemblies, change the government, force trials of the deposed president and his corrupt cronies, repeal emergency laws, and halt military trials, among other revolutionary demands. …more

Occupy Wall Street: what is to be done next?
Slavoj Žižek – guardian.co.uk – 24 April, 2012

How a protest movement without a programme can confront a capitalist system that defies reform

What to do in the aftermath of the Occupy Wall Street movement, when the protests that started far away – in the Middle East, Greece, Spain, UK – reached the centre, and are now reinforced and rolling out all around the world?

In a San Francisco echo of the OWS movement on 16 October 2011, a guy addressed the crowd with an invitation to participate in it as if it were a happening in the hippy style of the 1960s:

“They are asking us what is our program. We have no program. We are here to have a good time.”

Such statements display one of the great dangers the protesters are facing: the danger that they will fall in love with themselves, with the nice time they are having in the “occupied” places. Carnivals come cheap – the true test of their worth is what remains the day after, how our normal daily life will be changed. The protesters should fall in love with hard and patient work – they are the beginning, not the end. Their basic message is: the taboo is broken, we do not live in the best possible world; we are allowed, obliged even, to think about alternatives.

In a kind of Hegelian triad, the western left has come full circle: after abandoning the so-called “class struggle essentialism” for the plurality of anti-racist, feminist etc struggles, “capitalism” is now clearly re-emerging as the name of the problem.

The first two things one should prohibit are therefore the critique of corruption and the critique of financial capitalism. First, let us not blame people and their attitudes: the problem is not corruption or greed, the problem is the system that pushes you to be corrupt. The solution is neither Main Street nor Wall Street, but to change the system where Main Street cannot function without Wall Street. Public figures from the pope downward bombard us with injunctions to fight the culture of excessive greed and consummation – this disgusting spectacle of cheap moralization is an ideological operation, if there ever was one: the compulsion (to expand) inscribed into the system itself is translated into personal sin, into a private psychological propensity, or, as one of the theologians close to the pope put it:

“The present crisis is not crisis of capitalism but the crisis of morality.”

Let us recall the famous joke from Ernst Lubitch’s Ninotchka: the hero visits a cafeteria and orders coffee without cream; the waiter replies:

“Sorry, but we have run out of cream, we only have milk. Can I bring you coffee without milk?”

Was not a similar trick at work in the dissolution of the eastern european Communist regimes in 1990? The people who protested wanted freedom and democracy without corruption and exploitation, and what they got was freedom and democracy without solidarity and justice. Likewise, the Catholic theologian close to pope is carefully emphasizing that the protesters should target moral injustice, greed, consumerism etc, without capitalism. The self-propelling circulation of Capital remains more than ever the ultimate Real of our lives, a beast that by definition cannot be controlled.

One should avoid the temptation of the narcissism of the lost cause, of admiring the sublime beauty of uprisings doomed to fail. What new positive order should replace the old one the day after, when the sublime enthusiasm of the uprising is over? It is at this crucial point that we encounter the fatal weakness of the protests: they express an authentic rage which is not able to transform itself into a minimal positive program of socio-political change. They express a spirit of revolt without revolution. …more

Bahrain News – Peter Clifford Online
TIMELINE – 24th APRIL, 2012 – Peter Clifford

At the weekend, the Al-Khalifa Government returned to his family for burial the body of Salah Habib Abbas.

This video is believed to be one of police abusing and torturing Salah Habib Abbas with a rifle barrel the night before he was found dead HERE: It gets worse.

The pre-burial pictures show irrefutably that he has been shot with birdshot at close range and tortured by burning on his chest and stomach.

An examination by a doctor in the presence of lawyers and members of the Al Wefaq Party also revealed that his neck had been broken and there were bruises on his hand and leg.

The official death certificate listed “internal bleeding and gunshot wounds” as the cause of death.

There is a full examination report, HERE:

According to the official Bahrain News Agency, various members of the Al-Khalifa family and their sycophants have spent the last 2 days sending “cables” self-congratulating each other on the “success” of the Bahrain F1.

In one the antique Prime Minister, Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa, sent to King Hamad, he “hailed HM the King’s firm determination and citizens’ efforts to project Bahrain’s civilized image and ensure economic, social and media dividends”.

Salah Abbas Showing Burns and Broken Neck

Well if what the King’s “police force” did to Salah Abbas is “civilised”, then there is no hope for legitimacy, judicial responsibility and accountability in Bahrain.

What they did to Salah Abbas has more in common with President Assad’s behaviour in Syria than anything else, a country whose government the Al-Khalifa’s are keen to remove.

The police officers involved in the death of Salah Abbas should be arrested immediately, charged with kidnapping, abuse and murder and prosected with the full force of the law, receiving the long sentences that the crime demands.

If not then the people of Bahrain have every right to demand the overthrow of King Hamad and his miserable self-serving family. They will never receive justice or democracy otherwise.

So far there has not been one single conviction of a police officer or security official in Bahrain following the reported deaths of as many as 80 people, a number of them while in police custody. …more

Dangerous Improvised Roadside Gag

Statement by the spokesperson of EU High Representative Catherine Ashton on the case of Mr Abdulhadi Al Khawaja

The spokesperson of Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the commission, issued the following statement today:

“The High Representative is very worried by the postponement of the hearing of Mr Abdulhadi Al Khawaja until 30 April. As stated in her Declaration on behalf of the EU on 17 April, she is deeply concerned about the deteriorating health of Mr Al Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike since the beginning of February. She notes that the postponement of Mr Al Khawaja’s judicial case by one week makes these concerns even more serious.

The High Representative once again urges the Bahraini authorities to find a rapid, pragmatic humanitarian solution to Mr. Al Khawaja’s case, as a matter of absolute urgency.” …source

Bahrain deports British journalists after Grand Prix
By Connie Agius, – 23 April, 2012- ABC News

Bahrain was hit by violent protests attempting to stop the F1 Grand Prix. Photo: Bahrain was hit by violent protests attempting to stop the F1 Grand Prix. (AFP)

Bahrain has deported a group of journalists and producers for Britain’s Channel 4 News after the controversial Formula One Grand Prix.

Bahrain’s government spent millions of dollars to host the global sporting event, hoping to show that normal life had returned to the Gulf kingdom after it cracked down on demonstrations last year.

But vivid TV images of masked youths hurling petrol bombs and police firing teargas cast a shadow over the event.

The protesters, mostly from the majority Shiite Muslim community, blame the Sunni ruling elite for shutting them out of opportunities, jobs and housing.

One protester died over the weekend in the Shiite village of Shakhura. Bahrain’s interior ministry called the death suspicious and said was under investigation.

The notion is that Formula One being brought here to Bahrain unites this nation. It’s a nonsense though because they’ve done nothing but the opposite.

The Channel 4 News crew were arrested while covering a series of protests after the completion of the race.

Britain’s foreign secretary William Hague expressed concern over the detention of the Channel 4 crew.

Bahrain’s foreign affairs minister Khalid Al Khalifa took to Twitter to say the crew had admitted to working without accreditation, that it was not acceptable, and the laws of the land should be respected.

Channel 4’s foreign affairs correspondent, Jonathan Miller, was one of those arrested.

He says the crew had been applying for accreditation for months, and had gone in as it did only because permission was repeatedly denied.

Mr Miller spent the day at the Grand Prix and then went out to the suburbs where the protests were.

“We started out thinking ‘where on Earth are the demonstrators?'” he said.

“I was saying to my driver – he’d been at the big demonstrations for the past two days and there have been people calling for democracy, tens of thousands of people on the streets – ‘where are they today of all days? This is meant to be the third of the three days of rage, where are they?'”

“[The driver] said, ‘look, they can’t get out. The police have stopped them.’ And we went to some of these neighbourhoods and we realised that the police were everywhere.

“There were armoured cars, there were police vehicles on every street corner. They were just, you know, the youths couldn’t move, they couldn’t get out of these neighbourhoods.” …more

Bahrain Grand Prix Has a Winner, and It’s Not Arab Monarchies
By Nicholas Noe & Walid Raad – 23 April, 2012 – Bloomberg

Having been relegated to the minor headlines in both the Arab and Western media, the anti-government protests in the tiny Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain finally had their moment this weekend.

With foreign journalists and other outsiders descending on the island country for Sunday’s Grand Prix race, critics of the monarchy stepped up their activities to take advantage of the audience, while government forces responded as they have all along — with a strong arm. One activist was found shot dead on a roof, raising suspicions he may have been targeted by security forces. More than 50 protestors and several policemen have been killed since anti-government protests started in February 2011 in Bahrain, which has a population of 1.2 million.

In an editorial, the London-based, Palestinian-owned Al-Quds al-Arabi wrote: “The Formula 1 race generated results that went completely against the government’s wishes.” The concurrent protests “allowed the whole world to see that Bahrain is not as stable as the government is promoting and that it features a strong opposition demanding legitimate democratic change.”

On the other hand, commentators writing for newspapers supportive of Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, as well as some other papers financed by Gulf governments, didn’t see what the big deal was. They expressed exasperation that other media, including the Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera website and TV network, had devoted so much attention to the unrest.

Writing in the Bahraini daily Akhbar al-Khaleej, columnist Muhammad Mubarak Jomaa wrote that it had become “clear that certain satellite channels had greatly escalated their campaign against Bahrain.” Their goal, he theorized, was to stop the Grand Prix race and thereby damage Bahrain. The scheme, he said, had two parts. “The first featured heated attempts to convince the participating teams and crews that taking part in the Bahrain race would be shameful.” When this failed, he wrote, there was an effort to scare off people with reports of unrest and possible violence directed against the race.

In his column, Jomaa’s editor, Anwar Abdul Rahman, went further, arguing that the “slanderous claims” in the Western and Arab media were nothing less than an “Iranian plan.” Bahrain’s opposition has pushed for greater rights for Shiites, who make up the majority of the country’s population but are ruled over by the minority Sunnis. Iran has historic ties to Bahrain and is dominated, politically and in terms of its population, by Shiites. Abdul Rahman’s piece did not explain how the Iranians would execute a plan through U.S., U.K. and Qatari media. …more

It was until Monday when Bahraini martyr Salah Al-Balladi’s family was allowed to receive the body of its son who was killed by the Bahraini security forces on the eve of Formula One race.

Bahraini Martyr’s Family Prevented from Examining Body, Faced with Bullets
24 April, 2012 – ABNA

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Speaking to the martyr’s cousin, Ali Qattan, Al-Manar website learned that this was the second martyr in the family who was killed during protests, as 16-year-old Ahmad Qattan was also killed a couple of months ago in a protest in Abu Saiba region.

“Martyr Salah was the one who carried martyr Ahmad’s body, and he was the one who washed him, dug his grave, and buried him,” Ali said, pointing out that “Salah was the first witness on the killing of Ahmad, but in Bahrain, no witness dares to present his testimony because he would be the next target… only a few days after the testimony, he will be thrown into jail.”

On Salah’s case, Ali told Al-Manar website that the family was prevented from examining the body of Salah at first. …more

Zainab al-Khawaja is in jail, arrested after peacefully sitting on the road leading to the Formula One circuit last night. Zainab’s father, Abdulhadi AlKhawaja is in the 74th day of his hunger strike in a Bahrain prison. He was sentenced to life for standing up for human rights and democracy in his country. His health has seriously deteriorated and he is not expected to last much longer…. from Huwaida Arraf

Bahrain: a Prominent Cyber Activist Faces Charges of Assault on Police
24 April, 2012 – Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights

The Public Prosecution accused Ms. Zainab Al-Khawaja “Assault on Police”. The decision made by the prosecutor to imprison Ms. Al-Khawaja for 7 days pending investigation.

Ms. Zaynab Alkhawaja – a 27 years old Cyber Activist, better known as Angryarabiya on twitter.She was arrested yesterday (April 21, 2012) after Sit in the middle of the road which leads to the Circuit Bahrain Formula One.

Ms. Alkhawaja, Was protesting against Formula One, human rights violations and demanding the release of her father, who on hunger strike since February 9, 2012.

Ms. AlKhawaja, inspired the recent mass hunger strike in Bahrain after going on hunger strike in support of her detained father and prominent human rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja (former MENA Coordinator with Frontline Defenders, former President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights and The founder of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights). Ms. Alkhawaja continued her strike for a period of 8 days until she was pressured to end the strike by international human rights organization.Ms.Al-Khawaja was previously arrested and She reported being beaten during her arrest. …source

Formula 1 teams criticise media for ‘politicising’ Bahrain Grand Prix
By Jonathan Noble – 24 April, 2012 – autosport.com

Sakhir paddock Formula 1 team bosses have hit out at the way the sport was turned into a political battleground over the Bahrain Grand Prix, on the back of the media storm that erupted around the event.

With the Sakhir race becoming into headline news, and various politicians stepping in to call for it to be cancelled, several team bosses say they are unhappy about the way the situation was portrayed outside the paddock.

Lotus team principal Eric Boullier told AUTOSPORT: “I should not say it, but the media did not do for me what they should have done.

“There are various issues, which are up to the country to fix. But there are issues in every country, even in England, France and other European countries, and the over-dramatisation was definitely wrong.

“F1 is a sport and should be seen as a sport. We also know that it is very important for Bahrain to have this event, it is their biggest event of the year, and F1 should not be used as a political tool.”

When asked if the negative coverage could be a turn-off for potential sponsors, Boullier said: “It is their choice, but politics is never good to mix with sport.

“We have enough inside our paddock. We don’t need to bring what is going on outside in, and that is what the media did. The media brought the external politics inside the paddock and that is not good.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said his outfit did not spend much time worrying about how the event was being reported. But he feels that F1 should not have been forced into the political arena. …more

Ruling despots shot themselves in the foot.

Grand Prix State Terror
by Stephen Lendman – OpEdNews – 24 April, 2012

Perhaps Bahrain April 22 was a first. Imagine a sporting event featuring state-sponsored terror and blood in the streets.

Imagine one with race drivers and event organizers mindless of raging crimes against humanity nearby.

Hollywood script writers wouldn’t touch it. Producers wouldn’t let them. The atmosphere was surreal. Attendance was sparse. A normally full grandstand was half empty. It’s a wonder anyone came.

Observers said more security forces than spectators showed up. Most teams, drivers, mechanics, engineers, and other personnel preferred to stay home. Nonetheless, they came.

Formula 1’s reputation was tarnished. Instead of pulling out, it went ahead anyway. Although favorite Sebastian Vettel took the checkered flag, no one won the contest. It was more travesty than sporting event.

The Al Khalifa monarchy’s media strategy backfired. Instead of burnishing Bahrain’s image, journalists focused more on rage against injustice, blood in the streets, police state violence, security forces and armored vehicles surrounding the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), and clouds of black smoke rising nearby.

Even though the heavily guarded venue let the race come off without incident, Bahraini protesters won on Sunday. Millions watched worldwide. Social media spread the word.

So did journalists courageous enough to explain. Even The New York Times got some of it right. It quoted activists saying they were protesting for democratic change.

It mentioned human rights leader Abdulhadi Alkhawaja’s “hunger strike for over two months.” It’s now two and a half months and counting, but how much longer can he hold on?

It also reported protest leader Salah Abbas Habib’s death by “gunshot wounds” without mentioning his name. It cited opposition groups blaming police. It explained that “antigovernment protesters have been demonstratin. …more

Bahrain: Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja denied justice again as ruling on re-hearing postponed for second time in a month Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja on hunger strike for 75 days

PRESS RELEASE – Front Line Defenders – 23 April, 2012

On the 75th Day of Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja’s hunger strike in Bahrain, the Court of Cassation has postponed ruling on the appeal of Abdulhadi and his 13 co-defendants, for the second time in a month.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On the 75th Day of Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja’s hunger strike in Bahrain, the Court of Cassation has postponed ruling the appeal of Abdulhadi and his 13 co-defendants, for the second time in a month. Despite assurances from the Bahraini Government following the issuing of the Report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) in November that all trials conducted by the National Safety Court would be reviewed, Abdulhadi’s case reveals the Government’s strategy to keep delaying this high-profile case.

Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja was tried by the National Safety Court of Bahrain, established after the suspension of the Constitution in March 2011. Abdulhadi’s trial was observed by Front Line Defenders and other international legal observers, and was found to be patently unfair and failed to live up to international fair trial standards. This determination was later confirmed by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, which was appointed by the King and which found “[I]t is clear that the National Safety Decree, as implemented by the Military Attorney General, overtook the national system of justice. A pattern of due process violations occurred at the pre-trial and trial levels that denied most defendants elementary fair trial procedures.”

Following the BICI Report, which was accepted in full by the Bahraini Government, the Bahraini Government gave assurances that all recommendations of the BICI report would be implemented, including the review of unfair trials. At the last hearing, the Court of Cassation refused to allow the BICI report to be entered into evidence as part of the appeal by Abdulhadi’s defence lawyer.

Front Line Defenders Director Mary Lawlor, who attended the brief hearing last month, said “Today’s delay exposes the Government’s determination to drag this issue out. Abdulhadi is in dire condition, imprisoned for his legitimate human rights work. We don’t know how much longer he can survive on this hunger strike, and yet the government continues to evade its own commitments.”

“With the Formula One race complete, the Bahraini Government has no more excuses for delaying justice for Abdulhadi. At the very least, his release to Denmark on humanitarian grounds should be expedited, before it is too late” said Ms Lawlor.ENDS …more

Truth Revealed
With continuing reports of atrocities and murders in El Salvador, the U.S. Congress no longer accepted the State Department’s assurance that things were getting better. Speaker of the House Tom Foley created a special task force to monitor El Salvador’s investigation of the murders. Congressman Joe Moakley of Massachusetts was selected to head up the investigation. During his research and visits to El Salvador, Congressman Moakley encountered a massive cover-up, deep problems with the Salvadoran armed forces, conspiracy and lies, which led him to challenge U.S. policy. He discovered that from a very high level, the armed forces of El Salvador had been responsible for the murders of the Jesuits. His investigation also led to the conclusion that certain levels of the U.S. government had known about the situation long before the task force was created.

El Salvador: Civil War

Not long after the 1980 assassination of Archbishop Romero, peaceful rallies turned violent as police opened fire on the crowds. News footage of unarmed demonstrators being gunned down on the steps of the National Cathedral turned the eyes of the world to El Salvador, a tiny country in conflict.

The desire to prevent the kind of leftist takeover seen in Cuba and Nicaragua motivated the United States to get involved. Human rights – a cornerstone of President Carter’s foreign policy – also propelled the U.S. to action. Not only the general level of violence, but also the murders of American citizens affected U.S. relations with El Salvador. In December 1980, four American churchwomen were raped and murdered. The U.S. responded by cutting off aid to El Salvador, but only very briefly, pending an investigation. Then, in 1981, two American land reform advisers were gunned down in the Sheraton Hotel in San Salvador. The U.S. Congress subsequently decided to disburse aid only as improvements in the Salvadoran human rights situation became evident.

Guerillas Unite
Simultaneously, the opposition strategy of the Salvadoran left was coalescing. In 1981, leftist parties organized with guerrilla groups to coordinate their efforts against the government, uniting to form the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (Frente Farabundo Marti de Liberacion or FMLN). Their counter offensive began in January 1981. Though the FMLN offensive failed on several fronts, they retained certain military strongholds and helped to focus international attention on El Salvador. In August 1981, France and Mexico formally recognized the FMLN as a “representative political force” and called for a negotiated settlement between the warring factions.

The 1980 election of Ronald Reagan as President of the United States changed American policy in El Salvador dramatically. The new U.S. administration worried about Communist expansion in Central America and viewed the El Salvador military government as a potential barrier against Communism. The Reagan administration substantially increased both military and economic aid to El Salvador. …more

REFILE-Bahrain race shows flip side of sponsorship
By Keith Weir – 23 April, 2012

LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) – Sponsors ploughing money into Formula One have been left squirming after the motor sport’s rulers ignored human rights concerns and staged a race in Bahrain watched by hundreds of millions around the globe.

Blue chip companies whose names adorn the high-speed cars distanced themselves from the event, saying they did not entertain clients at the Bahrain International Circuit and that the decision to race on Sunday was not theirs.

Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone put a positive spin on a race that drew widespread condemnation from abroad and became a focal point for anti-government protests on the Gulf island.

“You know what they say – there is no such thing as bad publicity,” said Ecclestone, the sport’s 81-year-old ringmaster who has expanded it from its European base to more lucrative but politically-charged venues in faster growing economies.

Not everyone takes such a sanguine view.

A group of British politicians warned sponsors they risked harming their brands by association with the race, held against a backdrop of protests aimed at the ruling Al Khalifa family.

“Based on what we have seen in the past, it is going to do damage to their reputations,” said Chris Avery, board chair of Business & Human Rights Resource Centre.

“It’s hard to put a monetary value on that. Each of them has to decide whether this association with Formula One is worth the damage it is doing,” added Avery, whose organisation encourages companies to respect human rights. …more

editor: This Al Jazeera story demonstrates not only the incredible ignorance of the “journalist” sent to cover Bahrain, but it is a indictment of Al Jazeera betrayal of ethics in journalism. So goes the moral stain of throwing in with New York liberals owned by the DNC(Democratic National Committee). Al Jazeera as of late, since they jumped into the pool of these Western Media liberals, has engaged in what seems to be a convolution of the story of Bahrain. Here the journalist on assignment implies there is some question if the volatile political situation in Bahrain was made for show or if it even existed at all prior to the F1.

Al Jazeera’s lapse of integrity is either editorial cowardice or at best, gross incompetence of it’s editorial staff. It is absolutely dumbfounding that Al Jazeera’s report would even to begin to spin doubt on the intensity of the ceaseless conflict, regime murders, torture and gassing of innocents as they lay sleeping in their villages. Al Jazerra once reported such things and was instrumental in bringing the crisis in Bahrain to the world last February and March. No suddenly it has amnesia? Clearly they have turned away from effective journalism or have lapsed into an editorial disarray that has robbed them of integrity or the are complicit with the Western Media objective of the DNC and Obama administration. Phlipn.

Please stop in again. I’m setting up the technical structure for the column and I am working on my first article. I will give you a better introduction to who I am and by request, share some of my experience and understanding of how US Congress can be effectively moved to action and help change US policy. This post is up on 4/24 and I’m hoping to get something written in the next few days.

‘US behind heinous crimes of Bahraini regime’
21 April, 2012 – PressTV

Finian Cunningham, Middle East & East Africa Correspondent of Global Research says the U.S. government is the root cause of problems in the protest-hit tiny Persian Gulf country of Bahrain.

“The United States government is the root of the problem. The Khalifa regime is despicable and needs to be removed if there is any democratic progress in Bahrain but the root problem is Washington,” Finian Cunningham told press TV’s U.S. Desk in an exclusive interview on Saturday.

He continued, “Washington is the primary sponsor of that regime and they fund the regime with something like fifty million dollars of military aid that came through within the last few months. They gave the regime diplomatic cover, political cover.”

“I mean all the crimes that this regime is committing, the United States is well aware of it, and have been for years. They are well aware of the heinous crimes by the Khalifah regime, the repression, incarceration, torture, lethal use of force against the protesters. The American government is well aware of it and say nothing,” Cunningham added

Bahrain has had peaceful anti-regime protests following the 2011 revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt that overthrew their U.S.-backed dictators.

editor: The al Khalifa regime is apparently clueless or is so over confident in their brutal reign, they expect the good people of Bahrain to tolerate this atrocity and the continued detention of “freedom or death” hunger striker Alkhawaja’, suffering as he lay near death. It is incomprehensible why the regime would lure the F1 teams and it’s sponsors with lies of security, as the regime facilitates riotous conditions that that could well be far more dire than those during the Saudi invasion of March 2011. It truly seems the regime is agitating riotous conditions to occur on race day. Crash and burn King Hamad you arrogant mother fucker! Phlipn.

Bahrain: Activist found dead ahead of Grand Prix
BBC – 21 April, 2012

A man has been killed in Bahrain during overnight clashes with the security forces, activists say, a day before Sunday’s F1 Grand Prix.

Officials said an investigation had been launched after his body was discovered in a Shia village near the capital, Manama.

On Friday, tens of thousands took part in at times violent protests demanding an end to the crackdown on dissent.

The discovery came as practice and qualifying sessions for the Grand Prix were taking place. Mainly Shia protesters have announced “days of rage” against the race.

Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, only went ahead with the Grand Prix after the government said it had security under control.

Last year’s Grand Prix was cancelled after 35 people died in February and March during a crackdown on mass demonstrations calling for greater democracy.

The protesters demand an end to discrimination against the majority Shia Muslim community by the Sunni royal family.

Human rights groups and activists estimate that at least 25 people have died since the start of the protests, many as a result of what has been described as the excessive use of tear gas.

Investigation
Activists from opposition group al-Wefaq named the man found dead on Saturday as Salah Abbas Habib, 37, and accused government forces of killing him.

An earlier unconfirmed report said the man had been found with gunshot wounds.

Chief of Public Security Major-General Tariq Al Hasan confirmed his body had been found in “suspicious circumstances” and said more details of the investigation would be released as they became available.

On Friday, Bahrain’s Crown Prince, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, said cancelling the Grand Prix “just empowers extremists”, and insisted that holding the race would “build bridges across communities”.

Jean Todt, the president of the motor racing governing body, the FIA, said he had no regrets about the race, as extensive investigations into the situation in Bahrain had unearthed “nothing (that) could allow us to stop the race”. …more