The Sensational Quieting of the Western Press

The crackdown has, in turn, hardened the opposition, which increasingly turns to Molotov cocktails, rocks and other weapons to confront the authorities. Moderates on both sides are being marginalized.

Nick, I think you have it wrong about the Molotovs increasing and a dualist extremism evolving. This is the scenario the regime has sought but it has failed to produce the desired result; dialogue unto reform advantageous and preserving of the brutal monarchy.

What preceded the “extremism” from the streets was the systematic elimination of ‘non-reformist’ leaders through imprisonment. Since 14 Feb. it has been clear the regime has worked to create and environment of “reform” that will preserve their rule and thwart a move toward real democracy. In the early days of the recent uprising the regime tried to “buy-off” the “majority opposition” by “power sharing arrangement” but the underlying popular support of the majority opposition wasn’t having any of it.

The Molotov throwing youth are being exploited as “extremists” in a pretentious bid to build a “middle ground of reform” advantageous to preservation of the brutal kingdom. Your missing the urgent need to free the opposition leaders from al Khalifa’s prisons in order to have a meaningful dialogue for the sake of the future of Bahrain. Without them the al Khalifa’s rule will simply die from a slow bleed of the unquenchable flames of street rebellion… …either way the al Khalifa’s are finished. Phlipn Out.

When Bahrain Said: Get Lost
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF – 22 December, 2012 – NYT

BAHRAIN, one of America’s more repressive allies, tries to keep many journalists and human rights monitors out. I recently tried to slip in anyway.

The jig was up at the Bahrain airport when an immigration officer typed my name into his computer and then snapped to attention. “Go back over there and sit down,” he said, looking at me in horror and keeping my passport. “We’ll call you.”

The Sunni monarchy in Bahrain doesn’t want witnesses as it tightens its choke hold over a largely Shiite population. Almost every evening, there are clashes between the police and protesters, with both sides growing more enraged and violent.

Around 100 people have been killed since Arab Spring protests began in Bahrain in February 2011. I was in Bahrain then as troops opened fire without warning on unarmed protesters who were chanting “peaceful, peaceful.”

The oppression has sometimes been nothing short of savage. Police clubbed a distinguished surgeon, Sadiq al-Ekri, into a coma — because he tried to provide medical aid to injured protesters. By all accounts, torture has been common.

In the larger scheme of things, Bahrain is a tiny country and maybe doesn’t matter much to the United States. What nags at me is that this is a close American ally — assaulting people in some cases with American equipment — yet the Obama administration mostly averts its eyes. This is a case not just of brutal repression, but also of American hypocrisy.

After that initial crackdown in 2011, the king commissioned a blunt outside report, and the Obama administration hoped that the country would ease up under the more open-minded crown prince. That hope is collapsing, and Bahrain is now clamping down more tightly.

“The human rights situation in Bahrain has markedly deteriorated over recent months, with repressive practices increasingly entrenched,” Amnesty International noted in a recent report on Bahrain. It concluded: “the reform process has been shelved and repression unleashed.”

The crackdown has, in turn, hardened the opposition, which increasingly turns to Molotov cocktails, rocks and other weapons to confront the authorities. Moderates on both sides are being marginalized. …more