Bahrain topples its own people by Pepe Escobar

May 11, 2011

March 14, 2011, will go down in history as the infamous day when the House of Saud launched - with full United States backing - a vicious counter-revolution designed to smash the Gulf chapter of the great 2011 Arab revolt. (See Exposed: The US/Saudi Libya deal Asia Times Online, April 2, 2011).

This is the day Saudi troops - with a token few from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - invaded Bahrain, theoretically at the request of the ruling Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty, to "help" in the crackdown on nationwide pro-democracy protests.

The word in Riyadh is that Saudi King Abdullah anyway is not running the (nasty) House of Saud show these days. That's essentially a Prince Nayef operation now. The sinister Nayef, 77, Abdullah's half-brother, is Saudi Arabia's second deputy prime minister - apart from having being minister of interior for no less than 36 years. The first deputy prime minister - and anointed successor to the throne - is Crown Prince Sultan, an octogenarian who has been defense minister for 48 years.

If Sultan were to die and Abdullah immediately follow him - a clear possibility - Nayef the inquisitor-in-chief, with a stellar curriculum vitae of throwing any dissenters to rot in jail, censoring the press and regarding the rights of women and the Shi'ite minority as non-existent, would be the next Saudi king. That only goes to show that the House of Saud counter-revolution has not even started.

Break their skulls, no one is watching
Meanwhile, in Bahrain, state news agency BNA has announced, "The state of national safety is lifted across the kingdom of Bahrain from June 1, 2011." That's a decree by King Hamad al-Khalifa, who proves to be, in spite of himself, an admirer of English author George Orwell, as he characterizes a state of emergency as "a state of national safety".

remainder in full: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ME11Ak01.html

Thanks for the thread, Jefferson.