Mideast news brief: Bahrain launches major crackdown against protesters in Manama

Bahraini anti-government protesters stand close to makeshift roadblocks in Manama on March 14, 2011, a day after Bahraini police clashed with demonstrators trying to occupy Manama’s banking centre, as protests spread from a peaceful sit-in to the heart of the strategic Gulf state’s business district (JAMES LAWLER DUGGAN/AFP/Getty Images).

Arguments & Analysis

‘Holy smokes! The Saudis are in Bahrain’ (Rami Khouri, The Daily Star) 

“In most of these spheres and in proxy battles, pro-American conservative Arabs have generally lost ground to Iranian-Syrian-led groups in both the political and the military realms, with only occasional exceptions. If Bahrain is now the latest active battlefield of ideological and ethnic conflict, the military gesture by the Saudis and the Emiratis on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is likely to have exactly the opposite effect than its intended goal of calming the situation down. It will stoke resentment and active opposition by many in Bahrain and around the region, who will see the move as an “occupation,” as some Bahrainis described it on Monday. The lesson that many will draw is that two different standards apply to Arab citizen rights. In countries like Libya, Egypt and Tunisia, the world will accept or actively support constitutional changes that citizens of those countries demand; while in other Arab countries like Bahrain, the rights of citizens are secondary to wider energy and security needs, which is one reason that both mild and major protests by citizens of some GCC states are increasing.”

‘Libya in the balance‘ (Nicolas Pelham, Middle East Report Online)

“The rule of Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi has been more gruesome than that of neighboring dictators; the Libyan people’s release from captivity with their February 17 uprising was correspondingly filled with an unparalleled hope. But Qaddafi’s reprisal has been swift and terrible — and the colonel’s forces now threaten Ajdabiya, the hub whose spokes lead to the rebels’ main assets to the south and east,” reports Pelham from Benghazi.

‘Naturalising the flow of history‘ (Ahmet Davutoglu, al-Jazeera English)
Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu argues that revolutions across the Middle East are part of a “delayed process that should have happened in the late 80s and 90s as in eastern Europe… Now we are saying all together: no. An ordinary Turk, an ordinary Arab, an ordinary Tunisian can change history. We believe that democracy is good, and that our people deserve it. This is a natural flow of history. Everybody must respect this will of the people. If we fail to understand that there is a need to reconnect societies, communities, tribes and ethnicities in our region, we will lose the momentum of history.”

‘Barak must join opposition to save Israel from disaster‘ (Aluf Benn, Haaretz)

“[Israeli Defense Minister] Barak is right when he says the current government is not suitable for the challenges Israel is facing. And yet, he insists on holding on to his chair and being used as scaffolding by Netanyahu, although that there is no value to his being part of the government…  Barak’s effectiveness ended in November, when his proposal to extend the moratorium on construction in the settlements for nine months in exchange for political and security guarantees from Washington was rebuffed… [T]here is one thing Barak can do to save the country from the disaster he predicts: Leave the government with his four colleagues, join Livni in opposition, and from there, lead the fight against Netanyahu’s diplomatic impasse.”