When Will the West Intervene to Protect Bahrainis from... the West?

The freedom-fighting people of Libya are being slaughtered by a madman who has tyrannised over them for the past 42 years. This is intolerable and must stop NOW:

"That the G8, comprising the world's 8 most powerful industrialised nations, has adopted a limp-wristed response to the Libyan crisis is a sad comment on the failure of the international community to respond effectively to Muammar Gaddafi's atrocities... This is a tragedy for those fighting for democracy as much as it is for international morality. Standing on diplomatic niceties while people are being slaughtered is a gross betrayal." (Editorial: Libyans will pay the price, The Australian, 17/3/11)

"[Australian] Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd hit out at G8 nations for failing to back the establishment of a flight-exclusion zone over Libya... Mr Rudd said the international community should look at the UN's record: 'Rwanda - fail, Darfur - fail, the Balkans - partial fail'." (Rudd raps G8 as 'weak' on Libya, Daniel Flitton, The Age, 17/3/11)

The apparently freedom-seeking, but obviously IRANIAN-manipulated SHI'ITE people of Bahrain are being lovingly laid to rest and otherwise well taken care of by an eminently sane and reasonable SUNNI dynasty, which has selflessly and thanklessly lavished STABILITY on them for the past 200 years. This is intolerable (the sheer ingratitude of these IRANIAN dupes, that is) and they (the dupes, of course) must be stopped NOW:

"In Bahrain, where a Sunni King Hamad is under threat from an uprising by the Shi'ite majority with highly significant Iranian involvement, Saudi Arabian troops and police from the UAE have arrived to restore order without approval from the Arab League or Security Council. While legitimate questions may be raised about this incursion, it shows a decisiveness that eludes the world on Libya." (Libyans will pay...)

"Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said... 'These protests and protesters should be conducted peacefully... The response to them should be by peaceful means as well'." (Rudd urges restraint in Bahrain, AAP, afr.com, 18/3/11)

So runs the current rhetoric of the corporate media and the servants of empire. But, if Libyans need the West to protect them from Gaddafi, then surely Bahrainis need the West... someone... anyone?... to protect them from... the West:

"According to data from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the branch of the government that coordinates sales and transfers of military equipment to allies, the US has sent Bahrain dozens of 'excess' American tanks, armored personnel carriers, and helicopter gunships. The US has also given the Bahrain Defense Force thousands of .38 caliber pistols and millions of rounds of ammunition, from large-caliber cannon shells to bullets for handguns. To take one example, the US supplied Bahrain with enough .50 caliber rounds - used in sniper rifles and machine guns - to kill every Bahraini in the kingdom four times over... In addition... the Pentagon in coordination with the State Department oversaw Bahrain's purchase of more than $386 million in defense items and services from 2007 to 2009, the last 3 years on record. These deals included the purchase of a wide range of items from vehicles to weapons systems. Just this past summer, to cite one example, the Pentagon announced a multimillion-dollar contract with Sikorsky Aircraft to customize 9 Black Hawk helicopters for Bahrain's Defense Force... Bahrain is, of course, a small island in the Persian Gulf, but it is also the home of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, which the Pentagon counts as a crucial asset in the region. It is widely considered a stand-in for neighboring Saudi Arabia, America's gas station in the Gulf, and for Washington, a nation much too important ever to fail. The Pentagon's relationship with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries has been cemented in several key ways... Bahrain alone took home $20 million in US military assistance last year. In an allied area, there is the rarely discussed triangular marriage between defense contractors, the Gulf states and the Pentagon. The 6 Gulf nations (along with regional partner Jordan) are set to spend $70 billion on weaponry and equipment this year, and as much as $80 billion per year by 2015. As the Pentagon looks for ways to shore up the financial viability of weapons manufacturers in tough economic times, the deep pockets of the Gulf states have taken on special importance... An even more significant aspect of the relationship between the Gulf states and the Department of Defense is the Pentagon's shadowy archipelago of military bases across the Middle East. While the Pentagon hides or downplays the existence of many of them, and while Gulf countries often conceal their existence from their own populations as much as possible, the US military maintains sites in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, and of course Bahrain - home port for the Fifth Fleet, whose 30 ships, including 2 aircraft carriers, patrol the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, and the Red Sea." (Murder in Bahrain, Nick Turse, original.antiwar.com, 15/3/11)

God help the freedom-seeking people of Bahrain - because no one else will.