Bahrain topples its own people

May 11, 2011
THE ROVING EYE
Bahrain topples its own people
By Pepe Escobar

[excerpt] [is a must read – Pepe nails it like it is]

Break their skulls, no one is watching
Meanwhile, in Bahrain, state news agency BNA has announced, “The state of national safety is lifted across the kingdom of Bahrain from June 1, 2011.” That’s a decree by King Hamad al-Khalifa, who proves to be, in spite of himself, an admirer of English author George Orwell, as he characterizes a state of emergency as “a state of national safety”.

“National safety” in this case includes the state razing to the ground – with full Saudi input – over 20 Shi’ite mosques; the demolition of houses; the demolition of the Pearl roundabout – the symbol of the mass protests; and beating and jailing hundreds of protesters. The House of Saud’s Nayef best pal in Manama has got to be Bahrain’s Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa ibn Salman al-Khalifa, 75, who has held the cozy job for no less than 40 years – a world record.

In practice, what’s going on in Bahrain is a monarchy trying to get rid of its people. The tactics are straight out of the collective punishment playbook – as applied by the Americans in Fallujah in 2004 and the Israelis in Gaza for the past decades. The opposition to the al-Khalifas happens to be the absolute majority of Bahrain’s population, and is not exclusively Shi’ite, as the government insists on spinning. …more