Obama needs to deliver more than rhetoric of empathy and inactionable listings at the UN

[CB Editor Note: While there seems to be a slight break in the silence by the USG, there has been no action in concrete terms, demanding real and immediate change from the al Khlifa regime toward an embrace of Human Rights, Freedom and Democracy. Reform a recurring term has become al Khalifa “new speak” for “business as usual” with al Khalifa as “power broker” to players of his choosing who posture and clamor in hopes gaining new access to power in a reformed government. This has become a political charade and cycle of misery that seems to repeat it’s self every few years in Bahrain politics. It is time for the US to become an Actor. It can no longer remain on the side lines as a commentator and spectator. When the USG can see fit to freeze the assets of the Syria and Libya and launch a proxy war against the Libyans, it seems totally disingenuous that the US as a matter of principal will not interfere in the internal affairs” of another government.

President Obama seems to have embraced the idiocy of his myopic administration with little on their agenda except his reelection. Obama never takes real risks, especially with historic allies. Obama’s inaction regarding al Khalifa is moving the situation in Bahrain toward irreparable damage. The people of Bahrain look to the US in their struggle for liberty which Obama preached in his bid to become president. He became the change they hoped for. He has become their peril though denial and silence.

The US must move from it’s perch on the sidelines with it’s rhetorical and empty posturing, denial and the fantasy of a repentant al Khalifa. As Obama continues his abandonment of the Bahraini people, he pushes them into a familiar and desperate place that the US last saw in 1979 with the Revolution in Iran, when the US puppet government headed by Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi tumbled down after decades of arguably the most brutal oppression at anytime in recent history. All funded, trained and equipped by the CIA. Sadly the US policy in the Middle East does not respect history but rather demonstrates a singularity of focus toward the next oil wealth driven election, as it looks the other way while “it’s friends” continue their systematic, brutal, hatred of democracy, freedom and human rights. All motivated by the US empire and it’s desperate grasp on it’s vanishing hegemony over Middle East Crude.]

WASHINGTON | Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:14pm EDT

(Reuters) – The United States on Wednesday expressed concern about the severity of the sentences given to opposition leaders in Bahrain related to protests in the Gulf state.

Bahrain sentenced eight prominent Shi’ite Muslim activists and opposition leaders to life in prison on charges of plotting a coup during protests earlier this year.

“We are concerned about the severity of the sentences handed down,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. “We’re also concerned about the use of military courts to try these civilians.”

Demonstrators have mounted scattered daily protests in the Gulf island kingdom since emergency law was lifted on June 1.

As the cases go through an appeals process, “we continue to urge the Bahraini government to abide by its commitment to transparent judicial proceedings conducted in full accordance with Bahrain’s international legal obligations,” Toner said. …more