“To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair inevitable.” – Raymond Williams

Henry A. Giroux: The Occupy Movement and the Politics of Educated Hope
18 May, 2012 – By Henry A. Giroux – Truthout

American society has lost its claim on democracy. One indication of such a loss is that the crises produced on a daily basis by crony capitalism operate within a discourse of denial. Rather than address the ever proliferating crises produced by market fundamentalism as an opportunity to understand how the United States has arrived at such a point in order to change direction, the dominating classes now use such crises as an excuse for normalizing a growing punishing and warfare state, while consolidating the power of finance capital and the mega-rich. Uncritically situated in an appeal to common sense, the merging of corporate and political power is now constructed on a discourse of refusal – a denial of historical conditions, existing inequalities and massive human suffering – used to bury alive the conditions of its own making. The notion that neoliberal capitalism has less interest in free markets than an enormous stake in the dominance of public life by corporations no longer warrants recognition and debate in mainstream apparatuses of power. Hence, the issue of what happens to democracy and politics when corporations dominate almost all aspects of American society is no longer viewed as a central question to be addressed in public life.(1)

As society is increasingly organized around shared fears, escalating insecurities and a post 9/11 politics of terror; the mutually reinforcing dynamics of a market-based fundamentalism and a government that appears immune to any checks on its power render democratic politics both bankrupt and inoperable. The hatred of government on the part of Republican extremists has resulted not only in attacks on public services, the cutting of worker benefits, the outsourcing of government services, a hyper-nationalism and the evisceration of public goods such as schools and health care, but also in an abdication of the responsibility to govern. The language of the market with its incessant appeal to self-regulation and the virtues of a radical individualization of responsibility now offer the primary dysfunctional and poisonous index of what possibilities the future may hold, while jingoistic nationalism and racism hail its apocalyptic underbelly.

The notion that democracy requires modes of economic and social equality as the basis for supportive social bonds, democratic communities and compassionate communal relations disappears along with the claims traditionally made in the name of the social justice, human rights and democratic values. Entrepreneurial values such as competitiveness, self-interest, deregulation, privatization and decentralization now produce self-interested actors who have no interest in promoting the public good or governing in the public interest.(2) Under these circumstances, the 1 percent and the financial, cultural and educational institutions they control declare war on government, immigrants, poor youth, women, and other institutions and groups considered disposable. Crony capitalism produces great wealth for the few and massive human suffering for the many around the globe. At the same time, it produces what João Biehl calls “zones of social abandonment,” which “accelerate the death of the unwanted” through a form of economic Darwinism “that authorizes the lives of some while disallowing the lives of others.”(3)

As market relations become synonymous with a market society, democracy becomes both the repressed scandal of neoliberalism and its ultimate fear.(4) In such a society, cynicism becomes the ideology of choice as public life collapses into the ever-encroaching domain of the private, and social ills and human suffering become more difficult to identify, understand and engage with critically. The result, as Jean Comaroff points out, is, “In our contemporary world, post 9/11, crisis and exception has become routine and war, deprivation and death intensify despite ever denser networks of humanitarian aid and ever more rights legislation.”(5) In addition, as corporate power and finance capital gain ascendancy over society, the depoliticization of politics and the increasing transformation of the social state into the punishing state has resulted in the emergence of a new form of authoritarianism in which the fusion of corporate power and state violence increasingly permeates all aspects of everyday life.(6) Such violence with its ever expanding machinery of death and surveillance creates an ever-intensifying cycle, rendering citizens’ political activism dangerous and even criminal as is obvious in the current assaults being waged by the government against youthful protesters on college campuses, in the streets, and in other spaces now colonized by capital and its machinery of enforcement.(7)…more

Palestinian Unity Government Formed
POMED – 23 May, 2012

On Sunday, Fatah and Hamas reached an agreement to form a “national unity government.” Faisal Abu Shahla, a member of Fatah, said, “We hope this time the two sides are serious in implementing the agreement. The Egyptians have promised to follow up with both sides to make sure that the agreement is implemented.” The move towards reconciliation followed a Cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

Elliot Abrams weighed in on the unity deal, saying, “This announcement is interesting and potentially significant, but not in obvious ways.” Having the agreement facilitated by the Egyptian General Intelligence Service indicates the organization still exerts influence on Palestinian politics. Abrams also pointed out the agreement “shows a continuing determination on the part of the Fatah old liners and Hamas leaders to sideline PA prime minister Salam Fayyad,” and posited that in the long run the unity government will not last due to Fatah and Hamas chasm of disagreement. Abdel Bari Atwan believes that the Palestinian cause has largely gone unheeded due to an “Israeli propaganda machine [that] has become adept at obscuring the Palestinian cause with other stories while its own atrocities against the Palestinians continue unnoticed.” As the Palestinians have done everything in their power to gain equal status, Atwan writes, “I believe the third intifada is on its way.” …source

Jailed Bahraini activist AngryArabiya pens prison plea
23 May, 2012 – Al Akhbar

A leading Bahraini rights activist has written an impassioned letter from prison condemning the continued abuses in the country and refusing to accept the country’s legal system. Zainab al-Khawaja, known for her tweets using the pseudonym AngryArabiya, was arrested last month and has been charged with a number of offenses, including assaulting a police officer.

Al-Khawaja denied the charges, which she said were politically motivated, and refused to accept the legitimacy of the country’s courts.

In the letter al-Khawaja admitted to longing for freedom so she could see her two-year-old daughter, but said if she cut a deal with the authorities it would undermine the pro-democracy cause in the country.

She also said she would continue to refuse to attend trials in the country, even if it meant her sentence was extended.

“Yes, I do dream of my daughter, while I sleep and also when I’m awake, but when I am home with her, I know my mind won’t be at peace. Jaffar, an innocent man who was shot in the face with birdshot gun, Jaffar who lost both his eyes. Jaffar who was sentenced in a trial that lasted less than 15 minutes, without a lawyer, without any family members,” the letter said.

Last year a government commissioned review found widespread use of torture in Bahraini jails, as well as abuses by the security forces.

The country’s Western-backed government claims to have conducted a series of reforms, but activists say little has changed on the ground.

The full text of the letter is below:

The judge might think that I will be attending my next trial session. He told my lawyer the last time I was not present that he might have considered releasing me had I gone to court. Not only does that statement carry no weight when spoken by a judge who is ruling in an unfair political trial but what he should release is that it is not my release from prison that I seek.

Yes, I do dream of my daughter, while I sleep and also when I’m awake, but when I am home with her, I know my mind won’t be at peace. Jaffar, an innocent man who was shot in the face with birdshot gun, Jaffar who lost both his eyes. Jaffar who was sentenced in a trial that lasted less than 15 minutes, without a lawyer, without any family members, the judge looked at the blind injured man, and he shouted “Don’t bother sitting, you are sentenced to 2 years in prison.”

I could hold my daughter in my arms, but ill close my eyes and imagine Jafffar hearing his daughters voices after months and months living in prison, in darkness. But as he reaches out to his babies, a guard shouts at him “You’re not allowed to touch them!”

Among them ill see, a handmade wrist band, made by a political prisoner. Hassan Oun, a boy who has been arrested more than 5 times in his young life. Hassan Oun who is a torture victim who spoke out, he dared to come forward and speak up. But his courage did not save him from the hands of his torturers. Hassan was re-arrested, and we could not save him from being subjected to the same nightmare again. Though I never met Hassan, I did meet his younger brother. I still remember his smile as he drank warm milk and told me to take a picture of him “who knows, I might be the next detainee” he said. In a call from prison I was told Ahmed has been injured, when he went to hospital he was detained, for the second time.

In the same prison the Oun brothers are detained in there are hundreds of other political prisoners. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are cells kept for specific families, for example the family of 14yr old martyr Ali Al-Shaikh. Not only was Ali killed, but his family are being punished. Many of his family members have been in and out of jail. Some, the ones who witnessed the killing, have not come out.

I might get released, but young Mansoor won’t be waiting to ask me “what abuses are we documenting today?” Although a high school student he was determined to become an activist, to help in any way he could. Last time I spoke to him he did not ask me what he could do to help, but he asked me to plz pray for him, to pray that they don’t take him back to the interrogation room.

If I get released, every village I pass through will shout the names of countless prisoners of conscience. All the walls will show me their faces. Around me, I will see their grief-stricken mothers and fathers, their wives, their children crying for her children as I write. I am not Zainab only, I am Jaffar and Hassan, I am Ahmed and Abbas, I am Masooma and Mansoor. My case is the case of hundreds of innocent political prisoners in Bahrain, my release, without them, means nothing to me.

I will not be attending my trials, no matter how many they are. Freedom, and not my release, is what I want and dream of. I will sit in my prison cell, I will listen to its walls reciting the poetry of another political prison Sadeq Al-Ghasra, reminding me that our struggle for liberty shall continue not only from inside this prison but even from under the soil.

All my admiration, for my imprisoned brothers and sisters. Whose determination and patience give me hope.

Zainab Alkhawaja Isa Town Prison 19th May 2012

..source

UN:Bahrain to mull ways to improve rights record
By John Heilprin – Associated Press – 23 May, 2012

GENEVA—Bahrain has agreed to consider recommendations to release political prisoners, outlaw torture and join the International Criminal Court, a move that could open it to international prosecutions of alleged abuses, the U.N.’s top human rights body said Wednesday.

In its highly anticipated review of the Gulf kingdom’s record, the U.N. Human Rights Council said Bahrain will consider 176 recommendations submitted by other nations. The council’s report, part of a process that all 193 U.N. members are required to undergo every four years, reflects international concern about the 15-month Bahraini uprising by majority Shiites against the ruling Sunni monarchy.

Nations are not required to adopt the recommendations of other countries that are included the report, but often nations will reject recommendations without first agreeing to consider them. Among the other recommendations included in the report are for Bahrain to consider abolishing the death penalty, commuting death sentences to prison terms and improving laws that protect freedoms of expression and assembly.

Bahrain also has agreed to consider a recommendation to release political prisoners, a major concern of some Western nations over jailed Bahraini activists such as Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on a hunger strike since February. He and others have claimed that they suffered abuses and torture, and demanded their release.

Al-Khawaja and seven other activists were sentenced to life in prison last year by a military-run court as part of crackdowns by Bahrain’s Sunni rulers on a Shiite-led uprising calling for a greater political voice in the Gulf kingdom. A civilian court retrial was ordered in April for 21 people convicted of anti-state crimes, with the court adjourning the case until May 29. …more

Kuwait’s cabinet boycotts parliament as crisis grows
23 May, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Kuwait’s cabinet on Wednesday boycotted parliament for a second day as MPs accused the government of plotting to dissolve the opposition-controlled house.

The government and opposition are at loggerheads over two requests to question Finance Minister Mustafa al-Shamali over alleged financial and administrative irregularities.

The government insisted on Tuesday that the two grillings must be debated separately while the opposition, which has a majority in parliament, wants to merge the two and have a single debate.

When the opposition insisted on a vote to resolve the dispute, all government ministers led by Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah, in power for the past six months, walked out of the session.

The government ministers failed to attend parliament on Wednesday, forcing the cancellation of the session because under Kuwait law parliament sessions are illegal if no ministers attend.

MP Jamaan al-Harbash told reporters the opposition agreed that the two grillings be discussed separately on the same day but the government turned down the concession.

“This is proof that the government wants to escape from the debate…in a bid to prevent exposing serious embezzlements, violations and corruption,” charged Harbash, an Islamist opposition lawmaker.

Adel al-Damkhi, another Islamist opposition MP, warned that the government boycott was the prelude to dissolving parliament which was elected just over three months ago.

“The government is preparing the Kuwaiti people to dissolve parliament,” he said.

MP Mubarak al-Waalan claimed the government move was an attempt to “cover up and rescue corrupt officials.”

But Information Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Sabah said the government was still extending its hands of cooperation to MPs provided that laws were not violated.

The finance minister is accused of wide-ranging violations in his ministry and several departments under him, including the oil-rich emirate’s sovereign wealth fund. …more

Venezuela delivers oil to Syria
23 May, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Syrian oil minister Sufian Alao said on Wednesday a Venezuelan oil tanker with 35,000 tonnes of diesel had docked in Syria a day earlier and another was being prepared.

“A Venezuelan tanker carrying 35,000 tonnes of diesel docked in Syria yesterday and Venezuela is preparing another tanker which will come to Syria soon,” state news agency SANA quoted Alao as saying.

Ship tracking data on Reuters shows that the Negra Hipolita, which is managed by state oil firm PDVSA, left Venezuela at the start of May and docked at the Syrian port of Banias this week.

Venezuela angered Washington last year by supplying fuel to Iran, which is also subject to Western sanctions on fuel supplies.

Alao said the Syrian oil industry has lost around $4 billon since European Union governments agreed on Sept 2 to ban imports of Syrian oil. European states used to buy some 90 percent of the country’s oil exports.

Sanctions on President Bashar Assad’s government are in response to the crackdown on an uprising against his rule.

The minister said domestic production of diesel covered around 50 percent of the country’s needs and “there are discussions to secure materials from Iran and Algeria.”

A joint Russia-Syrian committee is also looking at the possibility of “concluding a long-term contract with Russia to supply diesel and cooking gas”, SANA quoted Alao as saying. …more

Long live ‘our’ Gulf bastards
By Pepe Escobar – THE ROVING EYE – Asia Times- 12 May, 2012

Life is a golden gift from Allah if you’re a certified member of the Gulf Counter-Revolution Club (GCC), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council; Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates can torture, kill, repress and demonize their own subjects – in full confidence the “master” will let you get away with it.

Just as the Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty in power in Bahrain is vowing, publicly, to keep arresting, tear-gassing, raiding their homes, confiscating their jobs and forcing pro-democracy protesters to live in non-stop fear, Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa is being hosted in Washington by the Barack Obama administration.

Secretary of State Hillary “We came, we saw, he died” Clinton. Those who “die” are evil dictators of the Muammar Gaddafi variety; “our” bastards get to party in DC after being extended a red carpet welcome.

Is there any Arab Spring-related repression and killing going in Bahrain? According to Clinton, of course not; these are only “internal issues” – in her own words.

What this means in practice is that Clinton subscribes to the official narrative that the sectarianization of everything happening in Bahrain is to be blamed on the protesters – and not the al-Khalifas, who for a year now have been destroying Shi’ite mosques and investing on all-out demonization of all things Shi’ite (blame it on “evil” Iran).

The al-Khalifas have been way wilier than President Bashar al-Assad in Syria; they have killed only an acceptable number of people. But why is Bahrain substantially “different” from Syria? Because “it hosts the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, helping the US military project its might in the Gulf and contain Iran”; and that’s not a neo-conservative talking, but Washington director of Human Rights Watch, Tom Malinowski.

A bunch of cowards
Here is Libya conqueror Clinton:

Bahrain is a valued ally of the United States. We partner on many important issues of mutual concern to each of our nations and to the regional and global concerns as well. I’m looking forward to a chance to talk over with His Royal Highness a number of the issues both internally and externally that Bahrain is dealing with and have some better understanding of the ongoing efforts that the government of Bahrain is undertaking. So again, His Royal Highness, welcome to the United States.

Here’s a Bahraini government spokesman telling it like it is to Reuters only one day before the Clinton-Crown Prince schmooze:

We are looking into the perpetrators and people who use print, broadcast and social media to encourage illegal protest and violence around the country. If applying the law means tougher action, then so be it.

Translation: we will keep going on a rampage because the masters in Washington have our backs covered. …more

Opposition to the grand prix was fuelled by anger towards the excesses of prestige projects and the squandering of resources

Bahrain’s flashy crony capitalism cannot last
Ala’a Shehabi – Guardian UK, 20 May, 2012

In the Gulf Arab states, opulent hotels with gold-plated toilet handles, shopping malls larger than several football pitches, cloud-reaching skyscrapers, artificial islands visible from space and almost racially segregated gated communities have all been hailed as “miracles” in the scorching deserts.

These are the visible signs of unregulated capitalism: political systems that are in many ways still very traditional are chasing each other along the road to urban ultra-modernity.

Sporting events have been a quintessential part of this development too – from the Formula One grand prix in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, the World Cup in Qatar, to the tennis championships in Dubai. But growth without equity, as highlighted in Bahrain, is a recipe for disaster.

The continued uprising in Bahrain and the recent battle over the grand prix may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in changing such an agenda. Domestically, the opposition to the Formula One event was not only about an international sporting body providing succour to a repressive regime. It was also a manifestation of anger towards the excesses of prestige projects and the squandering of resources, as well as despair over human rights violations.

Looking ahead, it could be a sign that other status symbols will become battlegrounds for agitation against other Gulf regimes. Qatar – chosen to host the 2022 football World Cup – seems already aware of this and has announced that it will allow trade unions before then.

Another way of viewing the motorsport battle, and the earlier occupation of Pearl Roundabout in Bahrain, is as a contest over public space – with aggrieved citizens seeking to appropriate it.

The government’s control of public space – which symbolises hegemony by a patriarchal ruling family – has been part of “a fundamental strategy of neoliberalism, for it is in [public] space that the positive image of a place worthy of investment is created,” says Marc Owen Jones, a former resident of Bahrain and a doctoral researcher.

This includes the Pearl Monument, which was annihilated to prevent the space being used to challenge the ruling family’s authority, as well as the grand prix, which the ruling family is using to market the country’s “global urbanism”.

The uprising in Bahrain, which began on 14 February last year, has its historical roots in the frenzied development following the oil boom of the 1970s that has led to nearly 20% of the kingdom’s land being reclaimed from the sea. This land, valued at around $40bn in a 2010 parliamentary investigation, is registered directly to members of the ruling family, who have left only 3% of beaches for the public to use. …more

While pointing finger at Bahrain, Iran uses culture ministry to interrogate journalists
23 May, 2012 – Reporters without Borders

During the Universal Periodic Review of the human rights situation in Bahrain by the UN Human Rights Council two days ago in Geneva, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s delegation called on the Bahraini authorities to “free all political prisoners, put a stop to arbitrary arrests of government opponents and end the impunity reigning in the country.”

For once, Reporters Without Borders agrees with Iranian government officials although it is amazed that they dare to lecture others when hundreds of political prisoners, including 31 journalists and 18 netizens, are languishing in Iran’s own jails.

“Iran is one of the world’s most repressive countries and it would do well to apply its own recommendations,” the press freedom organization said.

According to the information obtained by Reporters Without Borders, journalists are being summoned for interrogation at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, a censorship agency that has been turned into an all-out mechanism of control and repression since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became president.

The summonses are issued by Mohammad Hosseini, the minister, and two of his aides, Mohammad Jafar Mohammad Zadeh, deputy minister for press affairs and information, and Mohammad Javad Aghajari, the head of the foreign press department.

When journalists are summoned to the ministry, they are questioned there by Ministry of Intelligence officials and members of the Revolutionary Guards. Those summoned include journalists who work for foreign media. The interrogations are often violent and journalists are mistreated.

“These interrogations are intolerable,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We urge international cultural bodies to terminate all cooperation with this ministry on the grounds that it authorizes these interrogations and permits the mistreatment of intellectuals on its own premises.” …more

West seeks confidence-building in Iran talks
23 May, 2012 – Al Akhbar

Updated 2:01pm: Global powers will present Iran with a detailed proposal including confidence-building measures when the two sides meet in Baghdad on Wednesday for talks on Tehran’s nuclear program, a senior Western official said on Tuesday.

Officials voiced caution heading into Wednesday’s meeting, but said the Western-led coalition was ready to make an offer on a way forward if Iran showed willingness to curb its nuclear program in a transparent way.

The group, led at the Baghdad talks by European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, “will put forward a detailed proposal that will include confidence-building measures,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters in Amman.

Representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, China, and Russia – plus Germany are due to fly to Baghdad from Amman on Wednesday for the talks, which could last two days.

Officials declined to give specifics of the new proposal, and stressed the group remained committed to ensuring Iran abides by UN Security Council resolutions and meets its international obligations on its atomic work.

Their main goal is expected to be an Iranian agreement to shut down higher-grade uranium enrichment, which has sown fears that Tehran could move swiftly toward a bomb.

Russia said on Wednesday that Iran appears ready to agree specific steps to end the standoff, but warned that additional US.sanctions would undermine efforts to ensure Tehran does not develop atomic weapons. …more

Lamees Dhaif’s Bahrain Perceptions
23 May, 2012 – Lamees Bahrain Perceptions

A speech by the journalist Lamees Dhaif at the United Nations, Bahrain UPR in Geneva 21st May 2012 on testimonies regarding Freedom of Speech.

I stand before you today as a living example of the price paid by anyone practicing freedom of speech in Bahrain.

Before 1 year, 2 months and 4 days I left Bahrain. I know it exactly because I count by the day. When I was packing to leave, everyone (including myself) thought it was temporary: weeks or a few months. Only my mother, because of the sense of motherhood, knew that I will be gone for a long time. That’s why she hugged me tightly and said: You are my eyes; from this day onwards, I would be blind.

My mother preferred to live “without her sight” rather than me losing my life or getting arrested and tortured, as what happened with my own sister who was kidnapped at dawn, detained, tortured and forced to confess to fabricated charges. Her only crime was performing her job and treating injured demonstrators.
I am a journalist. I got terminated from four jobs in 2 days. I was black-listed so that I would not be hired anywhere. My house was attacked 3 times with Molotov cocktails. During the first few months after February 14, I used to wake up to letters of threats and sleep on insults because my phone numbers, home address, and ID numbers were published in pro-government websites and a member of the ruling family threatened me on his Twitter account, and I quote, “Cut me in half”. I was also threatened, and I quote again “to be taken to the grave” by an X-colonel . They even started rumors targeting my manners and chastity to avenge and harm me.

My only crime was that I did my job and did not accept to become a false witness, and I did not accept being manipulated to say only what the authorities intended me to say, as what happened with my colleagues who gave up their morals for rewards and high-ranking posts while those who adhered to the rights of people deserved abuse and intimidation. Certainly, I am not the only victim. Every Bahraini citizen who stood against the regime paid a price in the form of detention, torture, job termination, denial of services and scholarships, and some people even lost their lives as a price for opposing the regime.

Recently, the government enacted a law to imprison anyone condemning the King up to 5 years with a fine of around 40 thousand dollars. Lately, the government began a campaign to monitor the activists on social media, who sought cyberspace to express themselves freely, and threatened to sue them for that. The regime already dismissed thousands from their study and work, investigated and arrested lots of youth because of something they wrote or recapped on social media and we do not know what step might be taken further to suppress any opinion that expose the regime.

I do not know what to say. My words stumble before the amount of suffering I see in my country. I know one thing for sure: that the world does not care about what is happening to us and that everyone intentionally turns their back on our daily suffering. In conclusion, please let me ask you: don’t we have the right to live like others, like yourselves, or are we a different type of human beings? We do not demand more than our right for justice and democracy, our right for dignity to live as citizens not as slaves, and our right to say what we witness and think without putting our lives or future at stake. Since you call for democracy, why don’t you help us achieve it?

I call upon your support for our cause. I call upon on an international community to visit Bahrain to investigate the humanitarian status. We look up to you, do not let us down. …source

The cop who said no to ‘kettling’
23 May, 2012 – Toronto – thestar.com

Amid the deluge of stories over the past two years recounting G20 police abuses, the efforts of good officers — those who kept a moral compass firmly pointed under trying circumstances — have largely gone unheralded.

The OIPRD has identified at least one: Staff Sgt. Bradley Thompson of the Ontario Provincial Police.

The 26-year veteran said he was led to believe there would be no kettling at the G20.

But when Thompson — a unit commander during the summit — and his 40-officer team were called to Spadina Ave. and Queen St. W. that notorious Sunday in June 2010, they found hundreds of people boxed inside police lines.

In a witness statement he gave to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), Thompson said that as the rain poured down, he observed people of all states of dress who were pale and shaking, appearing “sad” and “dumfounded.”

An OIPRD investigative report into the kettling incident paraphrases Thompson as saying the people inside “couldn’t believe that the police could be so ‘inhumane’ to hold them in the intersection and not allow them to use a washroom or get shelter or a coat.”

Thompson soon saw people he said were in “bad shape” — among them, two shivering 12-year-old girls. He decided it wasn’t healthy for the girls to stay there, and opted to release them “quietly.”

The report, along with others released by the police complaint’s watchdog last week, offers, for the first time, on-the-ground accounts from frontline officers. The arm’s-length agency, unlike others probing the G20, has the power to compel officers to speak.

Because there are ongoing hearings under the Police Services Act, OPP spokeswoman Cathy Bell said Tuesday that Thompson was not able to comment. …more

Bahrain: Jailed Blogger and Human Rights Activist Taken to Hospital
23 May,2012 – Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) has learnt from family members that both human rights Activist Ms.Zaynab Alkhawaja as well as pro-democracy activist Ms.Masooma Alsayyed were transferred Monday (21 May) to the Bahrain Defense Force Hospital after a drop in their blood sugar. The BYSHR was informed that the activist refused to be treated in the military hospital and were consequently transferred to the Ministry of Interior Clinic for IV.

Ms. Zaynab Alkhawaja was once again transferred to the clinic yesterday (22 May) after another drop in her blood sugar. Alkhawaja is on her third day of hungerstrike protesting the detention of pro-democracy activist Ms. Masooma Alsayyed who is also on hungerstrike demanding freedom. Ms. Alsayyed has at least three cases filed against her for protesting.

In another development Ms. Alkhawaja was fined yesterday in court for allegedly insulting a police officer but remains in detention as she has other cases filed against her, one at least which also includes a detention order. The BYSHR has also been informed that Ms.Alkhawaja has also been given summons for two additional cases other than the one she was acquitted for, one she was fined 200BD for and the two pending sentence. …more

British government considers Iran war options: BBC
23 May, 2012 – The Daily Star

Reuters – LONDON: British government ministers are discussing what role the country could play in a possible military confrontation in the Middle East over Iran’s nuclear programme, the BBC reported Wednesday.

Ministers are considering whether any involvement from Britain would be legal if talks with Iran break down and Israel bombs Iran’s nuclear facilities. Such a move risks starting a wider war in the region and a closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil-shipping sea lane, the report said.

Britain is examining a number of options, from diplomatic support for Israel to the involvement of Britain’s Royal Navy in the region, according to the BBC.

Britain’s Foreign Office was not immediately available for comment.

Global powers are meeting in Baghdad on Wednesday for talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme and officials said the Western-led coalition was ready to make an offer on a way forward if Iran showed willingness to curb its nuclear programme in a transparent way.

The U.N. nuclear agency director said on Tuesday he expected to sign a deal soon to unblock an investigation into suspected Iranian nuclear work following a trip to Tehran. . (Reporting by Clare Kane; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
…source