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| Bahraini protester at US Embassy |
Eight Bahraini protesters, all Shia's fighting for rights Americans like to take for granted and consider "inalienable" were sentenced to life imprisonment by the US supported absolute monarchy. The Shia are a majority in Bahrain ruled by a Sunni minority. About 70% of Bahrain's population is Shia. As I have said before, the uprisings in the Middle East have revealed the absolute hypocrisy of US foreign policy. We have a huge section of the population struggling for democratic rights and many calling for a Republic, and US imperialism which has 30,000 troops on
the Island supporting a repressive absolute monarchy.
The US had to have some of its other flunkies go in to smash the protests, the Saudi's, another real nasty bunch. This regime beheads women for adultery, sometimes an accusation by a male is enough, or publicly whips them for leaving home without a male relative. It forbids women to drive, forbids Unions and has a special police force, the religious police. It employees thousands of poor women from Indonesia and many have been physically abused, raped and some murdered by rich Saudi employers.(search the "women" or "Sexism" label on this site, or the google Indonesian women workers)
Others were sentenced to jail terms including one Sunni activist. The monarchy through the military courts (becoming more popular in the US as well it seems) will be sentencing more of the medical personal who dared to treat the wounded attacked by state forces earlier this year. The excuse for the crackdown is that more equality for Shia will empower the theocratic dictatorship in Iran, but US support for the dictatorship in Bahrain and its brutal suppression of human rights is certainly not hurting. US capitalism doesn't object to dictators, as long as they are Washington's dictators. The protests are not Iran driven but US foreign policy may well drive them there. Perhaps equality for Catholics in the US empowers the Vatican a bit too much and we might consider reducing their rights here in the US.
The era of world dominance is over for US capitalism; the American century has been a short one. It's influence on the global stage is declining and it is seen not as a progressive but destructive force. It still has the most powerful military and as the world's largest arms dealer it is a thriving industry in the US. A weakened but heavily armed opponent is a dangerous animal. The war being waged on American workers will not remain so one sided for ever. The US working class will enter the scene of history here with a vengeance at some point. This might not be a pretty entrance ----but it will be a good thing.
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