I assume they figure that enough violence will cow the crowd and make them disperse.
Enough violence will always do that. But it makes no friends of the survivors, just adds to their grudges against the state, and (media circumstances permitting) wins them even more sympathizers at home and abroad. A wise strongman will apply a careful cost-benefit analysis before ordering the troops to open fire.
Mmm charming little American song, but since BBC cited the Bahrain crowd as chanting death to the Khalifas, I don’t think these lot are pacifists or anti war as such.
What I do not understand is Bahrain has been selling itself as a moderate place and looking to steal business away from Dubai - I hear it all the time from Expat friends of mine working in Dubai. This just seems like a death blow to that. Is Bahrain well enough situated to just say “bloody hell, fuck the sodding Western firms.”?
It’ll be interesting to see how Al Jazeera plays the story as it goes along. On the one hand, the government of Qatar typically gives the station a lot of independence. On the other, they can’t be happy to see serious anti-government protests right on their doorstep. On the third hand (that would be the one holding the severed head), Qatar and Bahrain have quite a rivalry, which has led to actual military clashes over the past couple decades or so.
Looking at this map – the UAE (Dubai) is one of the few Arab states where there have been no protests at all since Tunisia. (The others are Qatar and Kuwait.)
I wouldn’t expect protests in Dubai. The Emritatis are rich as hell. What would they protest about? Lack of subsidised double lattés?
It could happen in Sharjah, Fujairah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, or Ras al Khaimah. All are comparatively poor and Sharjah has quite strict policies required by Saudi Arabia since it loaned them a bunch of money.
Fortunately we have aSecretary of State who knows how to handle rabble rousers.
Tell that to Sicily. Or Malta. Or Cyprus. Or… yeah.
Unless it’s a purely semantic nitpick. In which case, grudging agreement.
Bahrain declares martial law. More than 1,000 troops from other Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, have been brought in to restore order.
Like pre-Invasion Iraq, Bahrain is a country with a Sunni elite and a Shi’a majority. That is a formula for much ugliness when the lid comes off.
That’s some high-level threadshitting right there.
GCC troops are guarding oil, aluminium refinery, hospitals, military zones. Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) is acting to restore order; foreign troops are not involved in the removal of protesters or manning checkpoints on major arterial roads and causeways.
Let the people who are in Bahrain speak to what’s happening - both sides of media (including all your usual sources) are unreliable, thanks to heavy-handed propaganda FROM BOTH SIDES.
So far, so low-key. Not much rage - just a few isolated instances of clashes between riot police and people defying the ban on public gatherings. No reports of live fire at this stage, but lots of tear gas and water cannons apparently. Iran and Hezbollah continue to stir the pot …