Bahrain's Shiite Leader Demands Withdrawl of Saudi Forces

From the AP article:

"Bahrain's Shiite Muslim opposition on Wednesday demanded that the Saudi-led military force helping to put down protests leave the country immediately.

"The demand underscored the sectarian element of the anti-government movement in the tiny, strategic island kingdom, where majority Shiites are demonstrating for more rights and freedom against a Sunni dynasty that has ruled Bahrain for two centuries.

"About 1,500 troops from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Sunni-led Gulf states entered Bahrain two weeks ago at the invitation of Bahrain's monarch. The king also declared emergency rule and cracked down on protesters, killing at least 20.

"A senior Shiite opposition leader, Ali Salman, said the foreign troops must leave because the opposition rejects 'any military intervening for any party' in Bahrain. Salman also said Iran shouldn't interfere.

"'We don't want Bahrain to turn into a conflict zone between Saudi Arabia and Iran,' which has condemned the deployment, Salman said at a news conference in the capital, Manama. 'That's why we object to the Saudi intervention. We call for immediate withdrawal of the troops, and we reject Iranian interference.'

"The Gulf Cooperation Council force entered Bahrain earlier this month over the causeway that connects it to Saudi Arabia, with the stated mission of helping keep order.

"Shiites around the Middle East protested GCC intervention. Iranian authorities charged the troops were in Bahrain to enforce Sunni monarchy's oppression of Bahrain's Shiite majority."

Hmm. I wouldn't count on a withdrawal from the GCC anytime soon.

Sen. Schumer Rehearses the Blame the Extreme Tea Party Rhetoric

From the The Washington Examiner article by Susan Ferrechio (via Drudge):

"Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of the Democratic Senate leadership, got on a conference call with reporters Tuesday morning without realizing the reporters were already listening in. Schumer thought he was on a private line with four Democratic senators who were to talk with reporters about the current budget stalemate.

"Schumer instructed the group, made up of Sens. Barbara Boxer of California, Tom Carper of Delaware, Ben Cardin of Maryland and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, to tell reporters that the GOP is refusing to negotiate.

"He told the group to make sure they label the GOP spending cuts as 'extreme.'
"'I always use extreme,' Schumer said. 'That is what the caucus instructed me to use.'

"Someone must have finally told Schumer that the media were listening and he stopped talking midsentence.

"Here's a bit more of what he said about House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, according to my notes.

"'The main thrust is basically that we want to negotiate and we want to come up with a compromise but the Tea Party is pulling Boehner too far over to the right and so far over that there is no more fruitful negotiations,' Schumer said on the call. 'The only way we can avoid a shutdown is for Boehner to come up with a reasonable compromise and not just listen to what the Tea Party wants.'"

"Schumer described Boehner as 'in a box,' over the budget negotiations.

"The four senators came on the call after Schumer abruptly went silent and followed Schumer's script closely."

The Democrats have pretty much become the party of identity politics and the party of smearing the opposition. How proud they must be...

Bahrain's King Declares "External Plot" has been Ended

From Reuters:

"Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa said a foreign plot against his kingdom had been foiled and thanked troops brought in from neighbouring countries to help end increasing unrest after weeks of protests.

"'An external plot has been fomented for 20 to 30 years until the ground was ripe for subversive designs ...I here announce the failure of the fomented plot,' the state news agency BNA quoted him overnight as telling troops.

"King Hamad told the forces that such if such a plot succeeded in one Gulf Arab country, it could spill into neighbouring states, BNA said.

"The ferocity of a crackdown last week by Bahrain forces, aided by the entrance of troops from Sunni-ruled Gulf countries, stunned Bahrain's majority Shi'ites, the main force of the protests, and angered the region's non-Arab Shi'ite power Iran.

"Iran, which supports Shi'ite groups in Iraq and Lebanon, has complained to the United Nations and asked neighbours to join it in urging Saudi Arabia to withdraw forces from Bahrain.

[...]

"Bahrain has also said previously that it arrested opposition leaders for dealing with foreign countries."

It's pretty hard to say exactly how foreign influenced the Bahraini protests actually were. Certainly there was support from Iran as well as from other Shi'ite dominated countries and organizations. The actual extent of that support is difficult to ascertain.

Brazillian Protesters Attack US Consulate with Firebomb

Obviously a Brazilian man who hates George W. Bush

Huh. But I thought that merely electing Obama was going to improve America's image around the world-- as well as lower the sea levels.

From the AFP (via Gateway Pundit):

"Police fired rubber bullets and used tear gas to break up a demonstration outside the US consulate in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, as US President Barack Obama prepares to visit the country, AFP reports.

Some 300 people had gathered at the site when Brazilian Military Police showed up and tried to break up the demonstration.

"Police cracked down on the crowd after protesters hurled a molotov cocktail at the consulate door, the O Globo newspaper reported on its website. [emphasis mine]

"'I was in the center of the protest when people began to run and I heard shots,' said AFP photographer Vanderlei Almeida. 'I had to get out of there because it was hard to breathe.'

"Almeida was struck by two rubber bullets -- one hit him in the leg, and the other in his stomach.

"Several protesters were detained, Almeida said.

"Obama arrives in Brazil on an official Saturday and will meet President Dilma Rousseff in the capital Brasilia.

"On Sunday, he is scheduled to deliver a speech in Rio's Municipal Theater after cancelling a public speech in the city's town square.

"Brazilian authorities have laid out a heavy security presence for Obama's two-day visit to South America's largest nation, and police in Rio had closed numerous streets from midnight Thursday in preparation."

It's Bush's fault... or something.

Threats Against Wisconsin Republicans Continue-- 20 Days and Counting

More civility. The New Tone, I suppose.

John Nolte at BigGovernment.com is keeping track of the threats and vandalism that continues in Wisconsin. Still no word from DC Dems calling for restraint, civility, or anything like that. I guess Obama can't figure a way to turn it into a pep rally yet.

From Nolte:

"Below, you’ll find a compilation of 20 days worth of the death threats, vandalism, and intimidation practiced by pro-union thugs opposed to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s budget repair bill. Wisconsin is my home state. I lived there until I was 27 years-old in 1993 and most of my family, including my parents still live there. For that reason and because the issue of education and teachers unions has been a passion of mine for going on two decades, I’ve been following this story very, very closely. My original intent was to compile all of this earlier in the week, but after reading Lee Stranahan’s superb editorial I decided to wait and see if that might have some effect on the national and local Wisconsin media in moving them towards giving the ongoing violence, intimidation, vandalism, and overall thuggery occurring at the hands of union activists and their supporters, the coverage it needs and deserves.

"Not only should the local and national media be amplifying their coverage of this ongoing scandal because of the bar they themselves set with the Tea Party for what rises to the level of of racism, “predominantly white” protesters and troubling behavior — but in the wake of the tragic shootings in Tuscon you would think direct threats on elected officials would rate a little outrage. Well, obviously not when those threats come from the Left.

"Politics aside, what’s happening in Wisconsin is downright frightening because, as you’ll see below, these incidents are growing in number and intensity. Furthermore, other than the Right, no one is calling for calm or civility. The local media is, at best, wrist-flicking these incidents, Democratic legislators have not called for calm, President Obama is AWOL, and worst of all, Public Union employees not involved in the thuggish behavior taking place in their name, have been complicit with their silence.

"This is more than a disgrace, it’s dangerous. Conservative radio talk show hosts and Governor Walker can talk all they want, but I fear that until the media starts a campaign of shame by focusing on these incidents, and responsible pro-union types begin to police their own side, someone is eventually going to get hurt.

"What you’re going to read below is a startling compilation of what can only be described as thuggery. These examples are occurrences that have taken place only since the beginning of the month and do not include the equally disturbing incidents we’re hearing about outside of Wisconsin. Keep in mind, it’s more likely than not that I missed a few things."

Read the rest. It's tough to take, but it's important.

Bahrain Arrests Opposition Leaders

From Reuters:

"The Gulf Arab state of Bahrain has arrested opposition figures for communicating with foreign countries and inciting murder and destruction of property, state television said on Thursday.

"A statement said the unnamed men were 'leaders of the civil strife' who had 'communicated with foreign countries, and they incited killing of citizens and destruction of public and private property'. It did not say how many had been arrested.

"Members of the opposition bloc Wefaq said earlier that six opposition leaders had been arrested on Thursday morning."

Not a surprising turn of events.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's hoping everyone has a great St. Patrick's Day.

Japanese Earthquake News Links

For those interested in news about the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, below are some links to some major online Japanese newspapers published in English:

The Japan Times

Japan Today

Kyodo News

The Asahi Shimbun

The Daily Yomiuri Online

Local police are saying that the death toll will likely exceed 10,000.

Gas Prices have Risen 67% Under Obama

Well, I know I've been more than a little annoyed at the gasoline prices at the pump since Obama took over. Heck I remember when I was annoyed that gas was consistently at $2.00 a gallon.

Since Obama's been president gasoline prices are 67%. Under Bush (the friend to big oil according to the Left) they rose 7% in the same time frame.

From The Weekly Standard article by Mark Hemingway:

"Ah, January of 2009. Hope was in the air, but more importantly, gas was under two dollars a gallon. Since then gas prices, have gone up 67 percent and it's an ominously upward trend. Interestingly enough, the Heritage Foundation also took a look at the first 26 months of Bush's presidency -- gas only rose 7 percent during that time frame.

"Now obviously turmoil in the Middle East has something to do with our current astronomical gas prices, but keep in mind that by this point in the Bush presidency 9/11 had happened and we were on the verge of invading Iraq. So while the president can't be entirely responsible for global commodity prices, it's still worth asking what Obama's doing to make things worse.

"After all, this is the President who told us 'We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK.'

"This is the President that appointed a Secretary of the Interior that famously said he didn't mind if gas hit $10 a gallon.

"This is the President whose administration secretly urged him to bypass needed Congressional approval to create as many at 17 national monuments throughout the west, effectively closing off all that land to energy exploration forever.

"This is the President who has illegally tried to illegally enforce an offshore drilling ban.

"How much higher is gas going to go before the Administration takes a long hard look at what its doing to send gas prices through the roof?"

I think the Obama Administration has very little about low gas prices. I mean most of it's used by bigoted, gun-clinging, religious zealots anyway... Obama's contempt is pretty clear.

Bahrain Protests Continue; Protesters Encircle Capitol

From the AP:

"Thousands of Shiite protesters in Bahrain have formed a huge human chain around the capital, Manama, as their campaign to loosen the Sunni monarchy's grip on power in the strategic Gulf nation enters its third week.

"No police were in sight Saturday as protesters — men and women — held hands to encircle Manama, where Bahrain's Shiite majority has been leading daily demonstrations to end what they say are discriminatory policies and political persecution.

"Tensions have been high in the Gulf kingdom, the host of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, since a street battle between Sunnis and Shiites on Thursday left at least a dozen people injured."

Announcement: Break from Blogging

I've started the first draft of a book recently, so I'll probably be out of it for 3 months or so-- maybe longer. When I write first drafts, I tend to get caught up in the process and pretty much dead to the world around me.

I'm still going to try to post 10 to 15 posts per month while I'm writing, but that's likely wishful thinking and I'll probably post less. It's sort of an inopportune time right now with the budget battles, fleeing Democrats, Middle Eastern revolutions etc. going on right now, but I can't just wait for things to slow down.

Anyway, check out the blogs on my Blog List. And I will continue to be post here, just more infrequently for a while.

Thanks,
Yukio Ngaby