talkpolitics | Let's Talk About Bahrain

I admit I have limited time with which to pay attention to the news, as I work a lot of hours, but I do try to listen to NPR and catch the news online as much as I can.

When the Middle East went aflame, it seemed to me that all the countries were getting more or less equal coverage. Then things in Libya got really nasty and then disasters struck Japan and suddenly it seems like what's been happening in Bahrain isn't really in the news anymore.

Meanwhile the Saudis are stomping over Bahrain like it's native territory.

I heard an interview on NPR this week with a doctor at, I believe, Salmaniya hospital, which Saudi troops and Bahrain police were (and probably still are - I can't find any updates past March 17!) holding hostage. No one was allowed in or out. And no food was permitted to through.

A wounded person was denied entry and died as a result.

The doctor was living on biscuits and tea because food was running out even then.

So we're doing air strikes in Libya, sending aid to Japan. What are we doing to help Bahrain except waving a pointed finger at the Saudis?

And I know, I know, Saudis got the oil and we can't piss off the oil and the incident with Japan's reactors has probably taken nuclear development in the US back by like another fifty years (frakking nuclear hysteria!) but even if we support the legitimacy of Bahrain's government, that doesn't mean that we can support starving sick people in hospitals.

I'm not entirely sure actually what the proper course of action is. I don't know that we can afford to threaten the Saudis with cutting off trade relations or anything like that. Not without hastily constructing about a hundred nuclear reactors on US soil and cutting our oil dependence sharply (which I'm honestly all for, cause say what you will, but all that oil will eventually run out since we can't go back in time and make more dinosaur carcasses).

But let's not forget that the Bahrain government is not an innocent party here either. There was a point where this could have been brought to the table before people died. And instead, they sent in the police.

So I guess what I'm stumbling towards is I think that something should be done but I'm not sure what. Thoughts? (And if I got any facts wrong, please enlighten me.)