Posts from — May 2012

Bahrain must commit to accountability at Universal Periodic Review
17 May, 2102 – Amnesty Australia

The Bahraini government must commit to releasing prisoners of conscience and ensuring true accountability for the human rights violations committed since February 2011, Amnesty International said, ahead of Bahrain’s review before the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 21 May.

Bahrain was the very first country to undergo a UPR process four years ago and on that occasion the government engaged very constructively, including by making numerous voluntary commitments and by responding positively to recommendations to take measures to address discrimination against women and to limit restrictions on freedom of expression. However, progress towards implementing those commitments and recommendations has been very slow.

More significantly still, the human rights situation in the country has recently deteriorated into a crisis, following the Bahraini authorities’ heavy-handed response to widespread pro-reform protests that started in February 2011.

At least 60 people have been killed since February 2011 in connection with the protests, and the security forces continue to use excessive force against the protesters. Detainees have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in unofficial detention places. Scores of persons tried unfairly in military courts and sentenced to long-term prison sentences remain behind bars despite being convicted only for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association.

In late June 2011, the King of Bahrain established the five-member Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) to investigate alleged human rights violations during the protests. The BICI was led by Professor Cherif Bassiouni and comprised experts of internationally recognised independence, integrity and expertise. On 23 November 2011 the BICI submitted its report to the King and made detailed practical and legislative recommendations. The report confirmed that gross human rights violations had been carried out.

The Bahraini government promised full implementation of the BICI recommendations, including accountability for human rights violations. Despite some institutional and other reforms, the government’s implementation of the BICI recommendations that relate to accountability for human rights violations has been inadequate. While 11 low-ranking policemen are currently on trial for involvement in human rights abuses, no senior member of the security forces responsible for the violations, including the National Security Agency and Bahrain Defence Force, is being brought to account. …more

Plans to strike Iran “ready”, says U.S. Israel envoy
17 May, 2012 – By Maayan Lubell – Reuters

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: U.S. plans for a possible military strike on Iran are ready and the option is “fully available”, the U.S. ambassador to Israel said, days before Tehran resumes talks with world powers which suspect it of seeking to develop nuclear arms.

Like Israel, the United States has said it considers military force a last resort to prevent Iran using its uranium enrichment to make a bomb. Iran insists its nuclear program is for purely civilian purposes.

“It would be preferable to resolve this diplomatically and through the use of pressure than to use military force,” Ambassador Dan Shapiro said in remarks about Iran aired by Israel’s Army Radio on Thursday.

“But that doesn’t mean that option is not fully available – not just available, but it’s ready. The necessary planning has been done to ensure that it’s ready,” said Shapiro, who the radio station said had spoken on Tuesday.

The United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany have been using sanctions and negotiations to try to persuade Iran to curb its uranium enrichment, which can produce fuel for reactors, medical isotopes, and, at higher levels of purification, fissile material for warheads.

New talks opened in Istanbul last month and resume on May 23 in Baghdad.

Israel, which is widely assumed to have the Middle East’s only atomic arsenal, feels threatened by the prospect of its arch-foe Iran going nuclear and has hinted it could launch preemptive war.

But many analysts believe the United States alone has the military clout to do lasting damage to Iran’s nuclear program.

…more

No to NATO • Don’t Attack Iran
Troops Out of Afghanistan
No Intervention in the Middle East
Protest and Rally Saturday 19 May, 1pm
US Embassy Grosvenor Square London W1

Called by Stop the War Coalition and CND

SPEAKERS: • Mitra Quayoom • Manuel Hassassian (Palestinian Territories’ diplomatic representative) • Murad Querishi (London assembly member) • John McDonnell MP • Sami Ramadami • Lindsey German • Kate Hudson • Tony Benn • Mohammed Sadiq from Justice for Bahrain • a speaker from Hands off Somalia • Abbas Edalat from CASMI • Jeremy Corbyn MP • Sabah Jawad

Why we’re saying NO TO NATO on Saturday 19 May

Why we’re protesting in London and Chicago

On May 20/21, Barack Obama will host the 25th summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in Chicago.

The United States and Britain are the lynchpins of the NATO coalition and responsible for more wars of agression around the world than any other powers.

United National Antiwar Coalition (US) and Stop the War Coalition (UK) will therefore be holding major protests in Chicago and London to say no to a new war on Iran; to oppose the threat of intervention in Syria; and to call for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

“When Abdullah took over, at the beginning, there were positive feelings,” he said in a phone interview. “People thought things were changing, that we could express ourselves. Unless institutions are put in place, the changes don’t mean anything.”

A royal decree last year banned media deemed to violate Islamic law and threaten internal security, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. Publications that break the rules can be fined or closed.

Saudi Arabia Marks King’s Accession as Region Applies Pressure
By Glen Carey – 16 May, 2012 – Bloomberg

As he begins his eighth year on the throne, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia confronts a region facing unprecedented political changes as well as mounting social pressures at home.

The country marks the seventh anniversary of Abdullah’s accession today, according to the Islamic calendar. Seven years ago, “people pledged allegiance and loyalty to the king and united in support of him,” the official Saudi Press Agency said. Based on the lunar cycle, August 1, 2005 corresponds to May 17.

Abdullah, 88 this year, has kept at bay the popular movements that toppled leaders in Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. With unrest threatening to spread to the Persian Gulf states, he drew up a $130 billion spending package to help alleviate issues such as unemployment and deployed troops to Bahrain to crush a Shiite-led uprising. At home, the son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of the kingdom, has pursued policies to create jobs and build state institutions.

“The regional environment has been difficult,” said Crispin Hawes, director for the Middle East and North Africa at Eurasia Group in London. “Not only has Abdullah lost a significant ally in Hosni Mubarak, but the emergence of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran, continuing upheaval in Iraq and more recently the situation in Syria and Bahrain have posed significant direct challenges.”

Saudi Arabia’s economy will expand 3.9 percent this year, Jeddah-based National Commercial Bank said, after growing 6.8 percent last year.
‘Reasonable’ Growth

With Abdullah’s backing, the government has “accomplished reasonable economic growth,” Jarmo Kotilaine, chief economist at Jeddah-based National Commercial Bank, said in a phone interview. “They need to lay the foundation for a diverse economy to absorb new job-seekers.”

Since taking power, Abdullah has implemented a $400 billion fiscal stimulus package in late 2008 and a $384 billion, five- year spending plan for education, housing and transportation in August 2010. He imposed quotas in June forcing employers to cut foreign staff to get Saudis working, and allowed women to work in lingerie outlets. …more

Mr. President, What Profits a Man to gain a Whole Kingdom but in doing so, he loses his Own Soul?

…more

Bahrain, Iran in row over Tehran’s criticism of GCC union
17 May, 2012 – Reuters

DUBAI: Bahrain has summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires to protest against what it called a “gross violation of its sovereignty” in a row after Tehran criticized efforts by Gulf Arab states to forge closer political and military union.

Arab heads of state met in Riyadh Monday to discuss a call by Saudi King Abdullah to unite the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council to counter Iran’s growing influence in the Middle East and neutralize any threat of revolts by Shiite communities in their countries.

They failed to agree on further integration, but talks on the matter are to resume later this year.

In the run-up to the Riyadh meeting, speculation was rife that an initial union would be announced between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, where anti-government protests led by majority Shiites have gripped the island state since last year.

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Bahrain would be better off heeding the calls of its people instead of seeking union with other Gulf Arab monarchies, all of which are allied with Iran’s arch-adversary the U.S.

Responding to an Iranian MP’s comments reiterating Iranian territorial claims to Bahrain, the official IRNA news agency Monday quoted Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani as saying: “If Bahrain is supposed to be integrated into another country, it must be Iran and not Saudi Arabia.”

Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry condemned both comments, saying diplomats presented a protest memorandum to Iran’s charge d’affaires in Manama. …more

Imperialism finds new pretext for threats
15 May, 2012 – HOPI Ireland

As Iranian workers went out in remarkable numbers for May Day, a new dispute over some small islands in the Gulf shows that despite apparent progress on the nuclear question a new source of tension has been found. Yassamine Mather reports.

A week can be a long time in politics, but in Iran it can seem more like a year.

Last week, as news agencies were reporting rumours of the regime’s possible retreat over its nuclear programme, the price of gold dropped on the Tehran exchange market – a clear sign of reduced tensions between western powers and Iran. The factional fighting of recent years also seemed to belong to the distant past, as figureheads of various factions of the regime, including those arch enemies, former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and the current incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, attended the meetings of the National Expediency Council. They even managed to smile for the cameras in a pre-arranged photo-shoot.

However, then came news of another conflict in the Persian Gulf – this time between Iran on the one side and Saudi Arabia and Gulf Cooperation Council countries on the other. Arab and US media reported that the Peninsula Shield Force, the military coordinating army of the GCC, had been carrying out military manoeuvres to “test harmony and coordination among ground, air and naval forces and their readiness”.

The military exercise was seen as a response to Iran’s continued occupation of three islands in the Gulf – the tiny Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb islets, near the mouth of the Straits of Hormuz, that was seized in 1971 by the shah after British forces left the region. Abu Musa, the only inhabited island of the three, was placed under joint administration in a deal with Sharjah, now part of the United Arab Emirates. They have since been a bone of contention with the UAE, which claims sovereignty over them.

While the dispute seemed to have been forgotten for most of the decades since, in the last two months the UAE has been mounting increasingly vocal demands for the return of their territory – with the backing of the GCC and the Arab League. This, of course, has brought an angry response from the Iranians, who vowed to “crush any act of aggression” and prompted a visit to Abu Musa by Ahmadinejad a few weeks ago. In Tehran the rumour is that even the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was not aware of the trip before it took place – on the eve of the international nuclear talks.

After Ahmadinejad’s trip to Abu Musa, the foreign minister of the UAE recalled its ambassador to Iran, claiming that it amounted to “flagrant violation” and an “occupation”. But things did not end there. The UAE succeeded in convincing the other Persian Gulf states to support it and the GCC issued a statement condemning the visit. …more

Bahrain activist tells court his arrest is meant to weaken uprising, muzzle free expression
Associated Press, 16 May, 2012

MANAMA, Bahrain — A prominent rights activist jailed in Bahrain says his detention is a political act aimed at weakening the uprising against the Gulf kingdom’s rulers.

Nabel Rajab also told a judge on Wednesday that authorities seek to muzzle free expression as part of crackdowns against opposition groups.

Rajab, the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, was arrested May 5 and charged with using social media to insult Bahraini authorities and encourage demonstrations. Fifty-five lawyers attended his hearing in a show of solidarity with Rajab.

The trial continues on Sunday.
…source

…source Latuff Blog

Saudi Ambassador Returns to Egypt
By KAREEM FAHIM – 5 May, 2012

CAIRO — Saudi Arabia’s ambassador returned to Egypt on Saturday, a week after the Saudi government closed its embassy in response to protests there in the worst diplomatic rift in years between the two countries.

The return of the ambassador, Ahmed Qattan, followed a week of feverish efforts by Egypt’s military rulers and politicians to heal the relationship, fearing the loss of billions of dollars in aid from Saudi Arabia in the midst of an economic crisis.

In a statement carried by the official Saudi news agency on Friday, Saudi officials said they had decided to return the ambassador after a visiting Egyptian delegation, including the speaker of Parliament, expressed “noble and sincere feelings” toward the Saudis.

The crisis followed days of protests outside the Saudi Embassy and its consulates by Egyptians angered over the arrest of an Egyptian human rights lawyer in Saudi Arabia. The lawyer, Ahmed el-Gizawy, had been working to call attention to the detentions of hundreds of Egyptian citizens in Saudi Arabia.

His arrest touched a nerve in Egypt, where many families rely on remittances from relatives who work in Persian Gulf states, usually under a restrictive employee sponsorship system. For years, human rights workers in Egypt have complained about the government’s reluctance, for fear of offending its allies, to speak up about cases of abuse.

Mr. Gizawy’s family said his activism was the reason for his arrest on April 17, when they said he was charged with insulting the Saudi monarch. The Saudi government denied it, and accused him of smuggling prescription drugs. Mr. Gizawy is still in custody. …more

” —- It is no longer a secret that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has joined forces with the United States, “Israel” and Britain to destabilize Iran. Saudi officials have openly stated their opposition to Iran’s access to peaceful nuclear energy and even have boastfully promised to make the crude supply lost through EU sanctions on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.

Saudi Arabia Dancing to “Israel’s” Tunes
By Kourosh Ziabari – Information Clearing House – 14 April, 2012 – moqawama.com

The Saudis are officially among the Muslim states that don’t recognize the “Israeli” regime, however their silence on many issues demonstrates the sheikh’s tacit approval of much of the foreign policy of the Washington-Tel Aviv axis.
In the Stratfor (a Texas-based global intelligence firm) emails leaked by WikiLeaks and obtained by the Beirut-based al-Akhbar newspaper, it was revealed that Saudi Arabia reached out to Mossad, which assisted the Kingdom with, as al-Akhbar reports, “intelligence collection and advice on Iran”. According to a source quoted in the emails, “Several enterprising Mossad officers, both past and present, are making a bundle selling the Saudis everything from security equipment, intelligence and consultation.”

There are also credible reports indicating that Mossad chief has recently visited Saudi Arabia and talked to Saudi officials about possible plans for attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities and the role the Arab nation can play in this dangerous anti-Iranian scenario.

As written by Haaretz, “the talks conducted in Saudi Arabia with the head of “Israel’s” espionage agency dealt with Iran and its nuclear program. The account follows a series of recent reports on increasing secret cooperation between “Israel” and the Saudis, including defense coordination on matters related to possible military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities.”

Another report by the Times of London revealed that in 2010 and during the course of a Saudi military exercise, air defense system operations were halted for a few hours to rehearse a scenario whereby “Israeli” fighter planes would cross Saudi Arabian air space en route to Iran.

In retrospect, the Saudi officials have expressively and explicitly denounced Iran’s nuclear program and called on the US and its European officials to tighten the noose of economic sanctions around their Muslim neighbor as if they’re unaware of the fact that several IAEA and NIE reports have confirmed that does not have an active nuclear weapons program.

Two years ago, in a joint press conference with his American counterpart, the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saudi al-Faisal said that economic sanctions cannot guarantee that Iran will retreat from its nuclear program and a more effective solution is needed for the “threats posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions.”

Al-Faisal described sanctions as a long-term solution and said the perceived threat coming from Iran is more pressing. “We see the issue in the shorter term because we are closer to the threat. We need immediate resolution rather than gradual resolution,” he said. The Saudi prince did not specify any short-term resolution, but it seems that his implied option, which he did not rule out, is a military intervention in Iran.

The Saudis are also trying to convince the US and Europe that Iran’s nuclear program poses a threat to their security and should be hindered as soon as possible. That’s why many US and European officials state in their bilateral meetings with the Saudi officials that a “nuclear-armed Iran” is harmful to the security of the Persian Gulf.

“I understand the Arab world cannot allow that Iran continues to develop nuclear weapons,” said Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the leader of opposition party in the German parliament and former foreign minister in a February meeting with the Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.

The stance which Riyadh has adopted against Tehran is absolutely in line with the anti-Iranian policies of the “Israeli” regime. They’re dancing to “Israel’s” tune and helping achieve what Tel Aviv desires most: an isolated Iran with a chasm between its government and its people. However, what is clear is that such pressures cannot bring Iranians to their knees and will only unveil the true face of the enemies of this nation. Over the course of three decades since the victory of Islamic revolution, Iran has been constantly the target of enmity and belligerence by the global superpowers and their allies, so the recent antagonistic policies and hostilities of Saudi Arabia are nothing new or surprising. …source

Qabalan discusses developments with Saudi envoy
16 May, 2012 – Lebanon Now

Higher Islamic Shia Council deputy chief Sheikh Abdel Amir Qabalan discussed the latest regional and domestic developments with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awad Assiri, the National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

“[They] also discussed the latest Bahraini developments and voiced the importance of improving Saudi-Lebanese relations [in a manner] that serves both countries’ interests,” the report said.

During the meeting, Qabalan said he “trusted the wisdom of Saudi King Abdullah Abdel Aziz,” and called on him to make efforts to resolve the “crisis in Bahrain” in a manner that achieves justice and equality.

Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) discussed on Monday plans to turn the bloc into a union, starting with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, which sparked an angry Iranian response and threatened to worsen tension in Bahrain.

Amnesty International says 60 people have been killed in Bahrain since pro-democracy led protests began against the Sunni-led government in Shia-majority Bahrain in mid-February 2011.
…source

Saudi fears block closer Gulf union
16 May, 2012 – Hurriyet Daily News

RIYADH – Gulf Arab leaders fail to agree on a closer political union to counter Iranian influence in the region. There are concerns about how much influence would be given to Saudi Arabia, and some members fear a loss of sovereignty
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah (L) walks into the meeting hall with his Bahraini counterpart Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa in Riyadh. AFP photo

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah (L) walks into the meeting hall with his Bahraini counterpart Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa in Riyadh. AFP photo
Gulf Arab countries failed to agree on further integration May 14 after a high-profile summit seen as part of Saudi efforts to counter Iran’s growing influence and Shiite Muslim discontent in Bahrain.

Gulf politicians had played up the idea that the Riyadh meeting would establish a closer union between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, which sent troops in March last year to help Manama with an initial effort to squash the uprising. But Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, speaking after the two hour summit, told a news conference that talks on a possible union of six nations had been postponed until the next meeting in Bahrain in December.

“Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have approved the call for a commission to continue studying in order to present final results (to a coming summit),” he said. “The issue will take time. The aim is for all countries to join, not just two or three. I’m hoping that the six countries will unite in the next meeting.” The council consists of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The union calls for economic, political and military coordination and a new decision-making body based in Riyadh, replacing the current GCC Secretariat. Bahraini Information Minister, Samira Rajab, said it could follow the “European Union model,” suggesting it would be primarily an economic confederation. …more

Iran says Saudi-Bahrain union plan deepens crisis
By Agence France-Presse – 16 May, 2012

Iran warned on Tuesday that Riyadh’s plans to form a union with Manama would deepen the crisis in Bahrain, a day after Saudi Arabia told Tehran to keep out of its relations with the tiny Gulf kingdom.

“Any kind of foreign intervention or non-normative plans without respecting people’s vote will only deepen the already existing wounds,” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in a statement carried by Iranian media.

“The solution to the crisis in Bahrain is in response to the legitimate demands of the people and is fulfilling them,” he added, repeating Tehran’s stance on the situation in the Gulf Arab state.

Iran “believes that the real power of the regional nations emanates from (governments) enjoying their peoples’ backing,” the spokesman added.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Monday that “Iran has nothing to do with what happens between the two countries, even if it develops into a unity.”

The prince was speaking at the end of a Gulf Cooperation Council summit at which leaders discussed plans to turn the bloc into a union, starting with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Iranian MPs have condemned the planned union between the two Gulf countries.

“Bahraini and Saudi rulers must understand that this unwise decision will only strengthen the Bahraini people’s resolve against the forces of occupation,” they said in a letter, referring to Saudi military support for Manama.

In response, Prince Saud said that the “Iranian threat is not accepted.

“Iran has nothing to do with what happens between the two countries, even if it develops into a unity,” he told reporters at the end of the summit in Riyadh.

In Bahrain, meanwhile, an aide to King Hamad said the GCC leaders would hold an extraordinary summit before the end of the year to sign an accord.

Nabil al-Himr, quoted by the BNA state news agency said the meeting would be held in Riyadh before the annual summit in December.

Himr said union was well on its way and that the mechanisms to carry it out were now being studies.

He said the project had the “total support of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar,” while “Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates had expressed reservations on certain points that are now being sorted out.”

However, he said Oman “has total reservations” about a union.

…more

Senior Administration Officials on Bahrain

Special Briefing
Senior Administration Officials
Via Teleconference
May 11, 2012
[excerpted]

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL THREE: Yes, we – the Secretary and we, in a number of settings, have raised a series of cases. The al-Khawaja case is one. We’ve also raised repeatedly the cases of the 20 medical professionals who are still on trial and whose case has just been continued. There are a number of cases of prisoners who are charged with offenses relating to speech and public protest, and our view has been that the government – it’s imperative for the government to address those cases and to resolve them appropriately.

QUESTION: And a quick follow-up, [Senior Administration Official Three]. Is there a sense that the government is actually trying to do better in terms of its training of police forces, since that was something that was noted in the BICI report?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL THREE: I think it’s a – there are two pieces to that. As you know, or as many of you know, the government has enlisted the services of two experts, John Timoney, who served for many years in Philadelphia, New York, and Miami, and John Yates from Scotland Yard and they’ve been giving, I think, good advice to the police in terms of training needs, command and control and the like, and there’s a receptivity.

I think there’s a second broader question which is still to be resolved, which is the lack of real integration with the police, and those subjects – both of those subjects are very much part of our discussion with the government, and we’ve both offered to be helpful but also urged that these are questions that need to be resolved. The issue of the police and the increased tension and violence on the street are related. …full conference

Bahrain publishes list of 20 wanted for “terrorist” attacks
16 May, 2012 – Lebanon Now

Bahrain released on Wednesday a list of names of 20 people wanted by the authorities over “terrorist bombings” in which policemen and civilians were wounded, state news agency BNA reported.

Investigation has shown that the 20 “committed terrorist crimes by making and using homemade bombs and carrying out criminal acts which have caused injuries among civilians and policemen and have terrorized citizens and residents,” BNA said.

The list, which BNA said was published with the consent of the attorney general to facilitate their arrest, urged all citizens to provide authorities with information on the 20 accused.

The statement did not specify which “bombings” it was referring to. But Bahraini authorities repeatedly denounce what they say are “terrorist acts” against security forces trying to disperse Shia-led protests in the kingdom.

On May 5, the Interior Ministry said four policemen were wounded in a “terror blast” in a Shia village.

A similar explosion in another Shia-populated village also left four policemen wounded in April.

The tiny Gulf kingdom’s Shia majority claim marginalization and disenfranchisement by the Sunni regime, and have for months been calling for political and social reforms.

Amnesty International says around 60 people have been killed since the anti-regime protests first erupted in February 2011.

…more

A year after President Obama promised that Washington would stop buttressing autocratic regimes, Bahrain’s popular revolt is still being crushed.

Operation Lip Service
By Chris Toensing – Other Words – 14 May, 2012

The popular uprising in Bahrain shows no signs of going away.

The royal family tried crushing the revolt, importing shock troops from Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. It tried jailing important figures in the opposition, such as human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who as of early May had been on hunger strike for 90 days. The island’s rulers tried quieting the opposition by promising to investigate the abuses and making minor cessions of power from the king to the parliament.

None of these strategies has worked. The opposition rejects them as cosmetic changes. The Bahraini majority is angry. It wants authoritarian rule to end, and many Bahrainis would like to see the monarchy disappear. The regime’s answers to this public outrage are birdshot and tear gas. They haven’t produced the terrible death tolls of Libya or Syria, but at least 32 people have died since February 2011.

The United States, which anchors its Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, is right in the middle of this simmering crisis. For the most part, Washington is content to look the other way.

(Mahmood al-Yousif / Flickr)
(Mahmood al-Yousif / Flickr)

In a major speech a year ago, President Barack Obama admitted that the United States has long backed unaccountable Arab potentates and presidents-for-life. He seemed to promise that those days were over. “After decades of accepting the world as it is in the region,” he said, “we have a chance to pursue the world as it should be.” Obama devoted several lines of his speech to Bahrain, decrying violations of the “universal rights” of protesters there and calling upon the regime to negotiate in good faith with the opposition.

These days, however, the Obama administration scarcely says a word about Bahrain. Khawaja’s hunger strike brings the mildest of humanitarian pleas. Washington claims to be exerting pressure for dialogue behind the scenes. If that’s the case, it undercut that effort by selling the regime military equipment in February. Obama has also indulged the royal family’s narrative of the uprising, which blames Iran for stoking discontent among Bahraini Shiites.

Saudi Arabia is vigorously promoting this sectarian analysis. Unlike Iran, it has intervened forcefully in Bahrain’s affairs since March of last year. The Saudis are experts at playing on American fears of an emboldened Iran in the Persian Gulf. Their own anxieties are primarily domestic in origin: Only a narrow causeway separates Bahrain from the Shiite minority in Saudi Arabia, which is concentrated in the oil-rich Eastern Province and is more oppressed than the assertive Shiite majority across the water. In late April, the Saudis floated the idea of confederation with Bahrain. It provided a clear signal of how determined they are to stop the progress of pro-democratic trends in their immediate vicinity.

A grim irony of the Arab revolts is that the most anti-democratic power in the region — Saudi Arabia — has found itself with such a free hand. Washington is weakened in today’s Middle East by its bellicose overreaction to the September 11 attacks, the utter failure of its Iraq adventure, and its seeming abandonment of the West Bank and East Jerusalem to Israeli settlement. Add election-year worries about oil prices and the specter of double-dip recession, and it is clear that even if the Obama administration wants to, it can impose few constraints on Saudi machinations.

For decades, Washington has paid lip service to liberal values in the Arab world while collaborating with some of the world’s most implacable tyrants in pursuit of material interests. In Bahrain, the Obama administration has continued to “accept the world as it is,” and thus will bear no small responsibility if the uprising is eventually quashed. The case of Bahrain proves, finally, that U.S. officials don’t break their pacts with autocrats unless those rulers’ subjects do the job for them. …source

URGENT: Mass Arbitrary Arrests of Pro-Democracy Demonstrators in Bahrain
16 May, 2012 – Bahrain Youth Society for Human Right

Bahraini authorities launched a Mass arbitrary arrests of pro-democracy demonstrators since early morning (16 May) , Where the security forces stormed the houses of protesters in villages:

1-Sanad.
2-A’ali .
3-Salmabad.
4-Al-Dair.
5-Samaheej .
6-Maqaba.
7-Al-Bilad Alqadeem.
8-Al-Diraz.
9-Bani Jamra.
10-Al-Sanabis.
11-Jidd Haffis.
12-Karbabad.
13- Al-Sehla ( North and South)
14-Barbar.
15-Al-Aker.
16-Sitra.

The Security forces stormed the houses since 2 am until approximately 5 am.

According to information of Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR), more than 14 demonstrators were arrested and authorities did not find the rest of the wanted in their houses.

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) demanding the authorities for the immediate release the demonstrators, who were arrested for expressing their opinions, and their participation in the pro-democracy protests. …more