(Cartoon by Dave Brown)
A VERY GOOD PIECE
By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
"The current Arab counter-revolution is brought to you by the House of Saud - and enabled by the Pentagon. The Gulf has been plunged into pre-emptive war. After the initial euphoria of the great 2011 Arab revolt, the message of the Gulf kingdoms and sheikhdoms to Washington has been unambiguous - and effective; if we "fall", your strategic game is in pieces. Once more, "stability" trumps democracy....
Saudi media may slam Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his lethal strategy against his own people. But Libya and Saudi Arabia are equals. Gaddafi has laid out the counter-revolution playbook; bomb the fight out of the protesters. His winning strategy is the same as Bahrain's, with crucial Saudi help....
So "outreach" means talking to pro-democracy "rebels", while "regime alteration" means endorsing brutal crackdowns against pro-democracy protesters. The proof that the policy is official is that Jeffrey Feltman, the assistant US secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, has been at the US Embassy in Manama since Monday - where he oversaw, live, the Saudi invasion and the subsequent bloody repression of the Pearl/Lulu roundabout (50 tanks, heavy armored vehicles, several helicopters). This is the fourth time Feltman visited Bahrain in one month.....
It's never enough to repeat that Bahrain's youth movement - at the forefront of the protests - is basically composed of students, liberal professionals and masses of unemployed. Young Bahrainis - taking their cue from the Egyptians - are saying, once again, Kefaya! (That's enough.)
History is coming to get you
Asia Times
"The current Arab counter-revolution is brought to you by the House of Saud - and enabled by the Pentagon. The Gulf has been plunged into pre-emptive war. After the initial euphoria of the great 2011 Arab revolt, the message of the Gulf kingdoms and sheikhdoms to Washington has been unambiguous - and effective; if we "fall", your strategic game is in pieces. Once more, "stability" trumps democracy....
Saudi media may slam Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his lethal strategy against his own people. But Libya and Saudi Arabia are equals. Gaddafi has laid out the counter-revolution playbook; bomb the fight out of the protesters. His winning strategy is the same as Bahrain's, with crucial Saudi help....
So "outreach" means talking to pro-democracy "rebels", while "regime alteration" means endorsing brutal crackdowns against pro-democracy protesters. The proof that the policy is official is that Jeffrey Feltman, the assistant US secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, has been at the US Embassy in Manama since Monday - where he oversaw, live, the Saudi invasion and the subsequent bloody repression of the Pearl/Lulu roundabout (50 tanks, heavy armored vehicles, several helicopters). This is the fourth time Feltman visited Bahrain in one month.....
It's never enough to repeat that Bahrain's youth movement - at the forefront of the protests - is basically composed of students, liberal professionals and masses of unemployed. Young Bahrainis - taking their cue from the Egyptians - are saying, once again, Kefaya! (That's enough.)
History is coming to get you
Judging by the way it is covering Bahrain - especially when compared to its wall-to-wall Libya coverage - al-Jazeera regrettably is now aligning itself with the Arab counter-revolution. That is, Qatar is also an accomplice. al-Jazeera insists what's going on in Bahrain is just a "confrontation".....
Bahrainis now have not only a dictator to overthrow but a foreign army to throw out....
The pre-emptive war in Manama is the battle that the House of Saud, the emir of Qatar, the sultan of Oman and the wealthy Emirates fear having to fight at home. They have already proved they are on the wrong side of history. Their crackdown - blessed by Washington's "regime alteration" policy - may work, for now. But sooner or later history will vacuum-clean them to oblivion."
Bahrainis now have not only a dictator to overthrow but a foreign army to throw out....
The pre-emptive war in Manama is the battle that the House of Saud, the emir of Qatar, the sultan of Oman and the wealthy Emirates fear having to fight at home. They have already proved they are on the wrong side of history. Their crackdown - blessed by Washington's "regime alteration" policy - may work, for now. But sooner or later history will vacuum-clean them to oblivion."
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