The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.
The wind blows through Bahrain
: Robert Mayer at the world-changing PubliusPundit reports freedom marches in Bahrain demanding government reform.
: Also, Babbling Bahraini has more on the release of the jailed Bahraini bloggers. The struggle is not over.
Say what you want about W– he’s done more to improve Joe Sixpack’s knowledge of geography than anybody.
WHAT-istan??? :)
Zep,
Sorry to be OT here [but it Is Easter as well as any other day of the week],
Thanks for Always making me laugh, Z. You are a very good man.
Say what you want about W– he’s done more to improve Joe Sixpack’s knowledge of geography than anybody.
I think it was 9/11 that did more to awaken US citizens to what the Aussies call O.S. (overseas). Bush himself is just discovering the differences between Iraq and Iran…!
Juan Cole also has some interesting coverage of what’s going down in Bahrain:
The US has a naval base in Bahrain and its king has been a helpful ally. Will George W. Bush support Shaikh Salman or King Hamad? Bush spoke out forcefully against the Syrian presence in Lebanon and in favor of Lebanese democracy. Will he speak out in favor of majority rule and popular sovereignty in Bahrain?
And if he doesn’t, won’t the rest of the Middle East assume he is just hypocritically hiding behind catch phrases like “democracy” to make trouble for the countries in the region like Syria and Iran, which Bush does not like, and which are seen as threats by his expansionist friends in Israel’s Likud party?
Dunno why Jeff didn’t link to him instead of the very neo-con-related Publius Puckhead.
Harvey — You shouldn’t have needed Juan Cole to highlight our military base there; I thought that was pretty well-known. But I guess you did need him to make a bizarre connection of this base to U.S. foreign policy with regards to the Bahraini leadership.
But perhaps he linked to me because 80,000 opposition demonstrators on a main island of some 400,000 Bahraini nationals will do more to liberalize the political landscape than perceived fears for our military base. I say perceived because it is third-worldists like Juan Cole who believe a change of leadership will be against U.S. interests.
The fact is, these demonstrators are simply demanding more power for oversight and legislation for the elected chamber of parliament. The U.S. has no concerns about losing its military base there from either side, and obviously welcomes the liberalization. Military functions in places like Bahrain serve as a major boon to the economy, especially given its size, so people justifiably actually prefer it stay.
So does Bush need to speak out in favor of one side or the other? No. Unless the government severely cracks down on protestors, which is unlikely, the events there will play themselves out just fine without consequence. The Bahraini government doesn’t need Bush restate his policy — they know it pretty well. They’re more worried about what that crowd of 80,000 people is going to do.
But I’m just sticking to what I know. You should probably do the same.
i’ve lived in bahrain for many years, and i’m thrilled that the pro-democracy movement there is getting more momentum and international attention. kudos to the bahraini bloggers for getting the word out.
however, i’m concerned by the fact that these demonstrations seem to be led by the clergy and religious conservatives. their motive will not be true democratic freedom, but a more oppressive religious agenda. i hope that bahrainis will succeed in gaining reforms without allowing the clergy to exploit these reforms to push their islamist agenda.
i’ll try to be optimistic, however. i know many bahrainis who are pushing hard for democracy, and they deserve the world’s support.
“Military functions in places like Bahrain serve as a major boon to the economy, especially given its size, so people justifiably actually prefer it stay.”
Sorry, but thats not clear at all. Many countries, both democracies and dictatorships, do not like foreogn bases on their soil. The economic benefits is a weak argument as well, Bahrain is a rich country. Again — I don’t know how a democratic bahrain would react to bsaes, but I don’t think you do either.
“he Bahraini government doesn’t need Bush restate his policy — they know it pretty well. ”
Except that if Bush can state policy loudly wrt Syria (well deserved, I might add), he should be willing to speak about Bahrain as well. If Bush doesn’t restate his policy loudly, its possible Bahrainis don’t know it that well given that he lauded their progress towards democracy a short while back.