The King urged dialogue. But that word is not being heard much these days.
It seems obvious that His Highness is attempting to sandbag the world,
stalling for time.
Meantime, little is being heard from the US, where President Obama finds
himself between a rock and a hard place. Bahrain is of strategic importance
to American interests, as it is not only a supplier of oil, but host to the US
Fifth Fleet.
Bahrain has hired a small army of PR people in the US and the UK to
promote the notion that the "unrest" is over. No need to worry about it
anymore. These communications gurus also want to see the Bahrain Grand
Prix, the Kingdom's Formula One racing event, rescheduled. It was
cancelled earlier because of the violence in the country.
But now, there is an opportunity for the folks who supervise Formula One to
show the world that the unrest was never over and is far from being over
now. Just last week, two children died from inhaling tear gas fired at them
by the security forces.
Formula One can honor these children and demonstrate that there are things
more important than money. Helping to ensure the basic rights of a people is
surely one of those things. And if Bahrain really values Formula One for its
tourism and economic development, that gives the organizers enormous
leverage.
We need to urge them to use it.
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