No this seems wrong honestly. If they are criminals, then they should be in jail. If they are not legally banned from voting, then they should be allowed to vote. The problem here is that you are assuming they will stay loyal. Once the leadership is gone, they won't be loyal anymore because their benefits are gone and their future has to come from somewhere else. Would shiites be comfortable voting for a sunni? Would sunnis be comfortable voting for a shiite? The answer is no for both in Bahrain. As an outsider, I worry that an election will always be sectoral. No matter how much better the shiite candidate, the sunnis won't vote for him. No matter how much better a sunni candidate, the shiites won't vote for him. So the democracy is not functioning as it should. I'm definitely supportive of the anti-government protestors. But they must see that if they want the world to agree with them, then the anti government protestors must absolutely demonstrate that shiites won't be taking revenge, and won't be putting the sunnis in the same position as shiites have been for so long. Although I doubt that there are serious ties to Iran, it's the duty of the anti government protestors IMO to make a clear declaration as a political party that they are overly sensitive about Iranian meddling in Bahrain's sovereign affairs. This has to be demonstrated to the sunni population of Bahrain beyond a shadow of a doubt. Essentially, this new political party must publicly tell Iran to F off. Believe me, I know that this is more than anyone should be asked just to have a chance for freedom. But at the same time, I want this discrimination against anti government protestors to STOP, and I feel the only way to do it is to convince the sunni Bahrainis and the sunni Arabs, and the rest of the world.
Gates almost for sure gave the go ahead for the violent crackdown on the non-violent protestors. This type of thing has happened often. One of the more famous examples was a US visit to Indonesia, prior to Suharto killing roughly a million leftists in the 1960's. Similarly another high level visit to Indonesia happened right before the Indonesians invaded East Timor and butchered tens of thousands. Try google for those whose naive beliefs in Amerian exceptional goodness will blind them to these events.
Man I love America but I can see now why so many outsiders can't stand us. We're as corrupt as any other nation..if not more.
The process of getting a bahraini passport is very easy anyone can have it as long as they become pro-government .. There is a movie on Utube about how easy its to get a passport but its in Arabic .. I understand your point .. We look at these people as legal invaders we call them political immigrants .. If we must we'll accept them being treated as any citizen but at least political immigration must stop now before it reaches the point of no return .. I think all of that can be solved with fair indirect elections and I stress the word FAIR
I can guarantee that the number one opposition in Bahrain Al Wefaq who lets say atleast represent 80% of the shiites will more than happy to elect a qualified sunni who can be held accountable and questioned freely .. All this can be solved with indirect elections through the parliment .. But lets not get ahead of ourselves lets free the prisoners (13 of the prisoners are woman two of them are pregnant and they're going through physical and verbal torture no one can imagine) and find the 30 missing people or bodies (hopefully they're still alive) and give the 800 who were fired there jobs back
This footage is very brutal and ugly watch at your own responsibility cant emblem cause I forgot my utube password http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Skfvu8iWqE This is less painful to watch shoot at point blank range <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/D9W_-0uGN1E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Looks truly awful Landry. Hope it's resolved with little bloodshed and results in a more open society. I really have nothing more to add. Too much going on in the region for me to keep track. Hard for us to comprehend the gravity of it all. Stay safe.
Damn that video is just More than anything I wanna believe that there is a heaven and a hell just so these people can burn in it forever.
I too don't really no much about Bahrain but from what I have been reading this post seems spot on. One of the worse things I think that could happen to both Bahrain and the democratization movement throughout the Middle East is for Bahrain to trade a Sunni dominated monarchy for a Shiite dominated state that oppresses the Sunni minority.
If we help your country depose the current regime, can you guarantee us after a few months your people will not take to the streets and shout "Allahu Akbar and death to America and Israel?
#1 we believe that if you die bombing yourself in another country a non muslim country .. your not martyr #2 People blame America for this & Its been weeks and I didnt hear one "Death to america" The most powerful tool we have is in the peacefulness of our protests .. they called us the revolution of roses & this is how the reply
#Quick update : more than 20 students who received scholarships from the government to study in the UK, Jordan or Oman had their scholarships withdrawn because they participated in protest against the regime And Quick video showing corruption (A large piece of land sold for about 4 dollars) <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/W8-_WMArRag" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
