1,000 Saudi troops enter Bahrain, UK no-travel advisory
Posted on 14 March 2011 with 4 comments from readers
Bahrain has called on its neighboring GCC states for assistance in quelling a mounting revolt by Shia citizens that threatens to turn into a civil war, and an armored column of 1,000 Saudi troops crossed the causeway today.
The UAE also said it was sending troops to Bahrain. The Japanese earthquake has taken the internal security problems of the Middle East off the front pages but they have not gone away.
Bahrain CBD occupied
Yesterday riot police attempted to break up a protest camp outside the Bahrain financial district but the police were driven off and protestors took control of most of the central business zone. Armed Sunni police and government supporters with swords are confronting Shia demonstrators, threatening a civil war.
Gulf stock markets have been celebrating the failed Saudi Arabian day of rage last Friday but this victory celebration may be premature. It looks as though the frontline is now in Bahrain and that is the focal point for a showdown with the authorities, not the Eastern Province of the Kingdom.
The UK is advising its nationals against all travel to Bahrain.
4 Comments posted by readers:
For protesting near the financial harbour only??? Mr. I’d you want to have credibility, please report the whole pictures.. Those protesters have been there for a month or so but now they started feeling helpless despite the daily invitation from the crown prince to the dialouge table and now tho demonstrations are getting more violante and ugly.. Yesterday, protesters decided to block all the major roads preventing people from reaching thier jobs and when police tried to open the roads they started attacking them and even driving thier cars over the police men… Now you tell me mr. If anyone attacked a police man in the UK, what would e the response??? BITH maybe
I am Bahraini, I love my country and I say ot loadly now, gcc forces have to come and sort this mess out befor it gets really ugly …
Religious wars can spread. I think the worst war in Europe, hundreds of years back, was based on religious fighting between the Catholics and Protestants, both Christian religions. Go figure. They must have missed the peace, love and forgiveness part of Jesus’ teaching. And economic motives were probably a major contributing factor to that conflict. The Catholic Church owned a lot of stuff back then.
CNBC just reported from Japan (Bernard Lo) that fuel rods at one of the nuclear reactors are now ‘fully exposed’. The second explosion blew a huge part of the reactor building a thousand feet into the air. If it landed on the reactor, or on a spent fuel storage pool, we could be looking at a major nuclear disaster. Those spent fuel storage facilities contain an immense amount of EXTREMELY radioactive material, including plutonium, which has a half-life of 24,000 years. Some expert on the Imus show said the pools could actually burn, if fully exposed to the atmosphere. I doubt that could happen, but who knows. If it did, significant radiation could spread around the globe, depending on the intensity of the fire or eventual explosion. It is interesting that the US Government has put out a statement about no ‘hazardous’ amount of radiation reaching the West Coast. Just a little? The US Navy is now moving their ships further away from the reactors. Not a good sign. Someone said they could spew radiation for years?
Natural gas drilling is looking up right now. More dams and wind mills too.
As today’s editorial in the FT “Saudi intervention raises Gulf stakes” puts it, this is a turning point for the whole of the Arabian peninsula.
The French embassy in Tokyo says radiation could reach Tokyo in another 10 hours. The Japanese Government is telling everyone within 30 kilometers of the plant to stay indoors with windows closed. All 4 reactors are now toast!
Warren Buffet will be buying Cameco in a few days, knowing that nothing will stop the Chicoms from building a few hundred nuclear reactors. As usual, he will make a fortune after the stock recovers in a year or two.