Arab Spring yields different outcomes in Bahrain, Egypt and Libya

By  | The Washington Post

At the dawn of the first winter after the Arab Spring, Bahrain is an island of sadness. Every few minutes, U.S.-made Apache helicopters buzz Rula al-Saffar’s suburban walled community, a collection of pleasant, sand-colored stucco houses that is home to teachers, engineers, nurses and other middle-class families. Black armored vehicles filled with commandos stand guard at checkpoints along quiet lanes.

On a bucolic December morning, sun-drenched and warm, Saffar steers her Mazda SUV past the evidence of last night’s confrontations — fresh graffiti denouncing the king; spent tear-gas canisters fired at the teenagers who take to the streets in protest each night.

Saffar, 49, is a petite nurse who spent 18 years working at a Dallas hospital and came home to Bahrain with more than a little Texas twang to her English. She wears a brave smile with her jeans and favorite Christmas shirt from Dallas, but any day now, the security police could show up to take her away. Her crimes, best she can tell, were to join multitudes of Bahrainis who demonstrated for democracy early this year and then to treat protesters injured by police and military forces.
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Representatives Sign Bahrain Arms Sale Resolution

By Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED).

Representatives Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Christopher S. Murphy (D-CT) joined sixteen other cosponsors by signing on to H.J. Res. 80, which calls for “limiting the issuance of a letter of offer with respect to a certain proposed sale of defense articles and defense services to the Kingdom of Bahrain,” originally introduced by Rep. James McGovern (D-MA).

The resolution limits the proposed arms sale, requiring the Secretary of State to “certify to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives” that the Government of Bahrain “is conducting good faith investigations and prosecutions of alleged perpetrators responsible for the killing, torture, arbitrary detention, and other human rights violations committed since February 2011,” among other measures ensuring the Government of Bahrain’s compliance with international human rights standards.

via Representatives Sign Bahrain Arms Sale Resolution

Toward understanding Bahrain’s events

December 27, 2011

By Mahmood | Mahmood’s Den Dr Mansoor Al-Jamri is interviewed by Al-Hurra TV in which he reflects on the events in Bahrain over the past year, discusses the Bassiouni report and the political and social situation which contributed to these events. He also suggests ways in which this situation could be resolved. Well worth watching [...]

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Why US Support for Sadistic Tyranny in Bahrain Continues

December 27, 2011

By John Glaser | Antiwar.com Blog Back during the initial swing of protests in Bahrain, and when the Khalifa regime’s crackdown was at its harshest, dozens of medical professionals were arrested for the crime of treating as patients those protesters who had been injured by violent Bahraini security forces. At the time, the authorities slapped [...]

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Protesting workers demand reinstatement in Bahrain

December 27, 2011

By chinadaily.com.cn MANAMA, December 27 (Xinhua) — Bahraini workers sacked over the unrest on Tuesday took to the streets near the labor ministry building in Isa town to demand their reinstatement. The General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU), who organized the protest, said on Tuesday that “we demand the immediate reinstatement of all the [...]

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Saddam’s Fighters Participate in Suppressing the Bahraini Revolution

December 27, 2011

By the Ahlul Bayt News Agency In the past few days, the Bahraini security authorities stepped up the level of violence used against the peaceful demonstrators who are demanding democracy. Several Bahraini villages and regions were subjected to violent suppression at the hands of the security forces that are backed up by the Saudi occupation [...]

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Rapid change of Arab Spring slows in winter

December 27, 2011

By Siobhan Dowling | The Washington Times (AP Photograph) Anti-government protesters wave Bahraini flags Nov. 25, 2011, during a rally and march that drew tens of thousands to Maqsha, Bahrain, just outside the capital of Manama. Participants in the rally, organized by several opposition societies, waved Bahraini flags along with those of Arab spring countries [...]

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Stun rounds used on Bahraini protesters

December 27, 2011

By PressTV Bahraini regime forces have fired stun rounds and tear gas to disperse anti-government protesters in several villages across the country, Press TV reports. On Tuesday, demonstrators chanted slogans against the Al Khalifa regime. In addition to the demonstrations, laid-off Bahraini workers once again gathered outside the Interior Ministry in the capital, Manama on [...]

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Bahraini doctors call for neutral trial

December 27, 2011

By Agence France-Presse MANAMA // Shiite doctors on bail in Bahrain pending retrial for their role in pro-democracy protests demanded a neutral hearing as they spoke of being subjected to months of torture. “I can’t talk,” sobbed a consultant paediatrician, Nader Dawani, who said he was made to stand for prolonged periods of time, while [...]

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Important Videos

December 27, 2011

Watch these important videos on the Bahrain Situation: Two innocent lives can be saved by your action, Insulting and Torturing, Saudi-backed forces have Sexually assaulted Women in Bahrain, Insulting and Questioning, Taking Hostages.

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