re: #17 Obdicut

Excesses? Jesus, dude. That’s sad.

Are you just playing a numbers game? What’s your criteria for saying that he’s not as much of a tyrant?

?? Surely you know something of the history of Ghaddafi. Obviously you know nothing of the history of Bahrain. It has had the present monarchy, whatever ones thinks of monarchies, for some 200 years.

It has a history of connection to Iran, which has its eye on it in part due to a large Shiite population that would like it to be more of a theocracy like Iran.

Given the bad blood between Shiites and Sunnis and other branches of Islam (everywhere) the ruling family, and the government ministries have kept the Shiites from having comparable power and events in other countries have prompted the demonstrations we have seen.

Unlike the other Arab countries, the demonstrations in Bahrain are largely religious based and quite openly supported by Iran. It would be foolish to imagine that they don’t help in some ways, which is the primary reason Saudi and the UAE were willing to help the king in Bahrain.

None of this is said as an excuse for the violence that occurred, from both sides, and I find that the arrest of these doctors is troubling, but I am also willing to consider that we don’t know the whole story from the news we see here.

As to my criteria, they are based on having spent much time, many times, in Bahrain in calmer times.