So far, oil-rich Saudi Arabia has successfully stifled public protests with a combination of billions of dollars in new jobs programs and an overwhelming police presence, backed by warnings last week from the foreign minister to “cut any finger that crosses into the kingdom.”
Monday’s action, in which more than 2,000 Saudi-led troops from gulf states crossed the narrow causeway into Bahrain, demonstrated that the Saudis were willing to back their threats with firepower.
Saudi officials have made no secret of their deep displeasure with how President Obama handled the ouster of the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, charging Washington with abandoning a longtime ally. They show little patience with American messages about embracing what Mr. Obama calls “universal values,” including peaceful protests.
When Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton were forced to cancel visits to the kingdom in recent days, American officials were left wondering whether the cause was King Abdullah’s frail health — or his pique at the United States.
Note EU-Digest: the freedom fighters in Bahrain and everywhere around the Middle East hope they will see a strong signal coming from the EU and the US to Saudi Arabia, like a ban on all weapon sales to the Saudi's and their Gulf States allies which are part of the Bahrain "invasion"force. Unfortunately given the economic entanglement these "two Western economic blocs" have with Saudi Arabia and other oil producing nations this probably is very unlikely?
For more: Saudi Arabia’s Action in Bahrain Strains Ties With United States - NYTimes.com
No comments:
Post a Comment