Bahrain becoming a troublespot..

[Bimcnorth]

Well, despite its small size it doesn´t look unlikely.

I´ll convey a part of a message from an expat living there..

Riots every night, my wife drove down Budayah road at 7-30 a.m. yesterday and the garbage skips and tyres were still burning and riot police at every junction.

Last national day, December 16th I think, my wife and son were caught up in a traffic jam near the Intenational hospital when men dressed all in black, including ski masks and carrying automatic rifles and handgrenades, attacked the police there. They pulled one policeman from his burning car then beat him to death!

Most evenings we hear gas cylinders exploding, they put tyres over them, set them alight and wait.

Last night we counted ten and gave up!
A couple of months ago they blocked the Saudi causeway using the same method. You can still see the burn marks on the road.
There is a gag order on the local press and very little of it leaks out.

I might add that the situation in Bahrain is as follows, urged on by the american administrations democratisation plans the King of Bahrain have introduced a parliament, the voters (as usual) followed sectarian lines meaning that the poor villages along the coast populated mostly by shiites that look to Iran for guidance voted for a number of unsavory radicals.
The Sheikhs in Manama who are sunnis to a man will not accept that and thus we have a stand-off with a parliament dominated by sunni and shia radicals and a ruling elite that not only are moderate sunnis, they share kinship with the other ruling royal families in the Gulf who are very anti-Iran..

So while Bahrain hosts the U.S Fifth fleet we also have a parliament that put forward proposals like these..

Bahrain's parliament has demanded that the government in Manama announce that it would not help the United States in any war with Iran.

Bahrain hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, responsible for patrolling the Gulf and which has overseen a naval buildup in the region. The effort was led by Shi'ite opposition members, who comprise nearly half of Bahrain's 40-seat parliament. The leadership of Bahrain's Shi'ite majority was believed to be under the influence of neighboring Iran.

I might add that the gulf states in general are not very happy about this and blame the "democratisation zealots" for the troubles, given that voters in the middle east tend to favour extremists of some kind I can´t blame them..the Gulf states have a rapid deployment force on standby in saudi if things get worse.
We might add that Washington is breathing a long sigh of relief that the GCC forces are willing to handle matters in necessary.

I´ll add a little wiki link if anyone wants to make a background check..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Bahrain

 

[Bimcnorth]

I´ll add that some cynics have commented that as Bahrain is a partyspot for Saudis that drive over for drinks and meeting "party girls" from Ukraine during weekends any "invasion" will be over within ten minutes as 10 million Saudi teenagers will simply storm the place if the radicals close the bars..

 

[tomtom22]

As long as it stays local.

 

[rock45]

Is the 5th Fleet safe there? I didn't know parting was allowed like that do the higher up Saudi's know about this? I assume they do but as long as it stays in Bahrain they look the other way.

they share kinship with the other ruling royal families in the Gulf who are very anti-Iran..

Is Kuwait and UAE anti-Iran?

Thanks

 

[Bimcnorth]

As long as it stays local.

It will..and it will hardly ever reach a newspaper in the west.

Is the 5th Fleet safe there? I didn't know parting was allowed like that do the higher up Saudi's know about this? I assume they do but as long as it stays in Bahrain they look the other way.


Is Kuwait and UAE anti-Iran?

Thanks

The 5th fleet is safe, it´s not a war..
Partying is somewhat allowed unless you do it in Saudi so places like Bahrain, Beirut or Dubai see a steady flow of Saudis eager to party..:mrgreen:

As for being anti-Iran most GCC countries are, it´s arabs against aryans, shia against sunni etc.
Some less, some more..You can assume that UAE and Saudi are the most suspicious ones against the current Iranian regime.
Which is also why both countries are building up their military strength heavily..

 

[senojekips]

I think it is great, so long as we keep our sticky fingers out of it, it will remain a Bahraini problem, and no doubt they will sort it out to their own satisfaction. We won't make any more enemies by giving one side or the other a reason to blame the West for interference.

We seem to forget that this is a country where they have bickered and squabbled between families, and tribes since they first arrived in the area thousands of years ago.

Many Bahranis are still only one or two generations removed from tribal life. Just because the country adopts some of the more convenient trappings of westernisation doesn't change the way people do things in their own country.

It's their country, either accept their ways or move.