Saudi Arabia's army is now part of the brutal crackdown with Obama's Blessing .
Saudi Arabia was given immunity from the United States since the last ten years and others would say fifty years or so.
Obama and Clinton say the uprising and protests and the army killing unarmed civilians , using torture , beatings, sexual assault , killing and disappearing hundreds- is an internal manner and then decides to bomb the hell out of Libya to defend not peaceful protesters but rather well armed militias with a dubious history and agenda.
For years the USA defended Saddam and ignored his war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Reagan administration encouraged and supported Saddam in a proxy war with Iran
Henry Kissinger engineered the coup in Chile replacing a popular president who actually was a reformer for whom "reform" -he made the mistake of insisting that Chile be in control of its natural resources and that foreign corporations would no longer get a free ride.
He had the audacity to insist even multinational corporations had to abide by the laws of Chile including tax laws, labor rights law -like the opposite of Wisconsin 's governor.
Blair and his buddy Qaddafi- so it appears that Britain and the USA were trying to court Qaddafi not that long ago-so what changed did they suddenly see an opportunity to remove him from power and to then take over his oil fields and build a new US/European military base in Libya.
President Bush sorry Obama doesn't want average American citizens to know what's going on in Bahrain or Yemen or Saudi Arabia and so on.
America's first duty it appears is to defend the brutal crackdown of Saudi Arabia against its own citizens and those of Bahrain.
Hospitals used as prisons where patients are abused, beaten, disappeared or just killed.
Doctors nurses medical staff intimidated, threaten , abused beaten killed
Peaceful Protesters beaten, killed , sexually assaulted, disappeared
Government of Bahrain erroneously characterizes the uprsing in Bahrain as a sectarian conflict.
blaming Iran and other outside forces for the uprsings in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria,
If the Saudis are permitted to intervene on behalf of the Sunni dominated Bahrain then shouldn't Iran be permitted to act in defense of the Shi'a being slaughtered in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
But as we know the US government is still upset with Iran over the the 1979 hostage crisis and the fact that America's puppet the Shah of Iran who was a brutal dictator was removed from office by means of a popular uprising.
And since then the US has continued to demonize Iran while condoning the oppressive anti-democratic sharia based government in Saudi Arabia.
It is the height of hypocrisy when the US accuses Iran of backing terrorists while ignoring Saudi Arabia's support for Islamic terrorists.
see reporting on Bahrain by the Australian news site Dateline:Bahrain's Dark Secret by by Yaara Bou Melhem, April 4, 2011
Bahrain's Dark Secret
A Genuine Tragedy Unfolds
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia's Rulers Goose-Step to the Brink of the Abyss By PETER LEE, Counterpunch, April 5, 2011 via Information Clearing House
April 05, 2011 "Counterpunch" ---- While we are diverted by the opera-bouffe spectacle of the civil war in Libya’s desert, a genuine tragedy—and potential geopolitical trainwreck—is unfolding in Bahrain.
Those plucky demonstrators we saw occupying the Pearl Square roundabout in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, have been swept away by government security forces—together with the 300 foot monument at the roundabout, which came to symbolize the aspirations of the protesters and was therefore demolished by the government in a representative display of heavy-handedness.
The Bahraini government received an important assist from Saudi Arabia, which dispatched troops and tanks under a mutual security pact of the Gulf Co-Operation Council called Peninsula Shield.
The government has gone to great and dangerous lengths to paint the democratic aspirations of the peaceful, largely Shi’a demonstrators for democracy as a sectarian assault on the emirate backed by that Gulf boogeyman, Iran.
The Bahraini government received an important assist from Saudi Arabia, which dispatched troops and tanks under a mutual security pact of the Gulf Co-Operation Council called Peninsula Shield.
The government has gone to great and dangerous lengths to paint the democratic aspirations of the peaceful, largely Shi’a demonstrators for democracy as a sectarian assault on the emirate backed by that Gulf boogeyman, Iran.
The repression has turned into an operation of conspicuous bigotry, brutality, and mendacity that does not bode well for the future of the emirate, political liberalization inside Saudi Arabia, or peaceful coexistence between Iran and the Gulf states.
In recent days, Bahrain has used live ammunition—shotguns—against demonstrators and blanketed Manama with checkpoints, some manned by personnel masked with sinister black balaclavas. After a group of Shia legislators resigned in protest, the government officially accepted their resignations—so they could strip the legislators of their immunity and render them liable to criminal charges. Main opposition newspaper—shut down. Only hospital in Manama—occupied by security forces so that wounded demonstrators can be apprehended, abused, and/or disappeared.
In classic doublespeak, the government declared that the hospital had been “liberated”. “Liberating” the hospital apparently involved beating at least one male nurse senseless in the parking lot.
Beneath it all, a dangerous undercurrent of government fear and rage.
It looks like the Bahrain and Saudi security forces are utterly out of their depth. Their state of reference is pursuing and suppressing terrorists. By treating these peaceful, non-sectarian demonstrators as sectarian terrorists, they seem to be sowing the seeds of the emirate’s eventual destruction.
...The spooked regimes are justifying their disproportionate reaction by claiming the demonstrations are part of a seditious scheme sponsored by Iran and Hezbollah. A war of words has already broken out between Iran and Bahrain and Saudi Arabia over the issue. Turning the Gulf states’ rhetoric against them, Iran declared that Bahrain has forfeited its legitimacy, implying that Iran can do an R2P (“right to protect”) intervention on behalf of the embattled Shi’a of Bahrain like the humanitarian intervention the Gulf Co-operation Council incited in Libya.
Like the GOP and the Tea Party and much of the political & wealthy elite in the USA the Bahrain government is also decidely anti-union.
We might conclude that such anti-labor anti-union activities are not just part of The Family's ideology but also of Corporations such as Wal-Mart -
So we can see why the Obama administration would be able to find common cause with the Bahraini government and its ally Saudi Arabia.
For some reason the Obama administration has voiced its support for Saudi Arabia's intervention and mass murder of peaceful protesters in Bahrain.
Meanwhile Obama and other Western leaders insist on intervention in Libya to protect the much more violent anti-government rebels there.
Bahrain firms fire hundreds of strikers in crackdown reuters April 5, 2011
* Unions called strike during recent unrest
* Mass firings could cement sectarian divide
* Rumours swirl that hundreds more will be fired
By Frederik Richter
MANAMA, April 5 (Reuters) - Bahraini firms have fired hundreds of mostly Shi'ite workers who went on strike to support pro-democracy protesters, part of a government crackdown, an opposition group said on Tuesday.
Bahrain's unions called a general strike on March 13 to support Shi'ite protesters against the Sunni-led government who for weeks occupied a square in the capital until security forces moved in on March 16. The strike was called off on March 22.
Officials at Batelco BTEL.BH, Gulf Air [GULF.UL], Bahrain Airport Services and APM Terminals Bahrain said they had laid off more than 200 workers due to absence during the strike.
"It's illegal in Bahrain and anywhere else in the world to just strike. You have to give two weeks' notice to your employer," said one executive who did not wish to be named.
Bahrain's main Shi'ite opposition group, Wefaq, said it estimated that more than 1,000 workers had been laid off and that most were Shi'ites.
"Unemployment has its effects on social relationships, the well-being of the society," said group member Jasim Husain.
...Bahrain has increased its arrests of bloggers, activists and Shi'ites, with more than 300 detained and dozens missing since last month's crackdown on the pro-democracy protests.
The clashes have killed at least 13 protesters and four police and prompted Bahrain to declare martial law and invite troops by Sunni Gulf neighbours who are wary of the regional influence of Shi'ite neighbour Iran
In the clip below Maddow does an overview of the crisis situation in the MiddleEast and Northern Africa.
She for instance links the leader of Yeemen to "C" Street aka The Family an extremist form of Christianity run by Doug Coe.
The Family 's ideology and theology argues that those in positions of power have been put there because they have been chosen by God to do His work.
Doug Coe is fond of telling members that they should be as decisive and as cold in their actions as Mao or Stalin or Hitler
The Family includes in its membership various tyrants and dictators who rule ruthlessly .
Unfortunately President Obama Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton , George W. Bush and most of the upper level political and finacial elite attend the Family backed annual Prayer Breakfast in Washington
So we can't expect the members of the Family and their elitist friends to take a stand against one of their own even if that person is a murderous brutal butcher of their own citizens.
Of course they might act if it seems politically expedient especially if the individuals actions become too well known by the Media in the West.
It is these sorts of action s such as defending an unpopular tyrant which merely illustrate that most of the world's elites only pay lip service to notions such as human rights, civil rights and participatory democracy or to them such quaint notions as equality, fraternity and liberty.
We must remember that when the people of Russia rose up against the Romanovs most Western Nations including the United States, Canada and Great Britain were on the side of the ruthless Tzar and the Russian elite.
When the people of Honduras freely voted into power President Zelay who was popular reformer the Americans made certain he did not stay in power.
The Elite in the USA as elsewhere is mainly concerned with its own survival and the amassing of more wealth and power they have no interests in using their power to persuade the government to improve the conditions of the lower classes and the poor . The Elites are often seen as being the champions of the lower classes, the poor etc. just before an election but then abandon such policies and attitudes once elected.
Even George W. Bush claimed to be a "Compassionate Conservative" which was merely a rebranding of an extreme form of Uberconservativism.
Rachel Maddow The Day in Dictators-
Suggested reading:
* Ali, Tariq Bush in Babylon: The Recolonisation of Iraq, pub. 2003.
* Ali, Tariq The Duel: Pakistan On The Flight Path Of American Power, Pub. 2008.
* Baer, Robert The Devil We Know : Dealing with the new Iranian Superpower, pub. 2008.
* Bergen, Peter L. The longest War: The Enduring Conflict Between America and Al-Qaeda Pub. 2011.
* Fatah, Tarek : Chasing A mirage; The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State , Pub. 2008.
* Fatah, Tarek The Jew is Not My Enemy :Unveiling The Myths That Fuel Muslim Anti-Semitism, Pub.2010.
* Margolis, Eric S. American Raj: Liberation or Domination? Resolving The Conflict Between The West And The Muslim World, Pub. 2008.
* Margolis, Eric S. War at the top of the world : the struggle for Afghanistan and Asia , Pub. 2001
* Rashid, Ahmed Descent Into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building
in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia, pub. 2008.
* Rashid, Ahmed Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, Pub. 2001.
and so it goes,
GORD.
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