In 2011, King Hamad Bin Issa Al Khalifa restored constitutional rule in Bahrain.
Can Bahrain Lead the Arab World in Religious Tolerance and Democratic Reform?
read more
Bahrain
SOTU: Obama Grades His Foreign Policy
Former law professor Barack Obama went into surprising depth on issues of war and peace during his fifth State of the Union address. Here’s how he should grade himself.
U.S. Continues to Stand by Bahrain
Chuck Hagel’s paeans to “political reform” in the Gulf must have sounded strange to political prisoners in repressive Bahrain, where he delivered his remarks.
In Bahrain, An Uprising Unabated
More than two years after peaceful demonstrators took to the streets to demand reforms, Bahrain’s uprising has not abated. Activists and opposition groups continue to demand the basic human rights and political reforms promised to them by their government. Rather than meet the opposition’s calls for reform, the government of Bahrain has responded by subjecting citizens to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, interrogation, torture, and abuse.
U.S. Urged to Lean Harder on Bahrain’s Ruling Family
While the Obama administration has continuously urged democratic reforms and dialogue between the Sunni-dominated government and representatives of the Shi’a community in Bahrain, which makes up between 60 and 70 percent of the kingdom’s indigenous population, it has been reluctant to exert serious pressure to achieve those ends.
Bahrain Sought to Divide and Conquer Protestors by Blaming Shias
Having “lost” Egypt and Tunisia already, the United States wasn’t inclined to take anything but the most tepid of steps in support of Bahrain’s protestors.
Washington’s Problem in the Middle East: Policy, Not Personality
For decades U.S. presidents have shown a willingness to hold hands with just about anyone for the price of oil.
Bahrain: the Tear Gas Regime
Though the U.S. is not currently supplying Bahrain with tear gas, two of the main manufacturers are U.S.-based.
Review: Bahrain, Shouting in the Dark
During the democratic uprisings that began in the Arab world in 2011, the entire world has focused on Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and now Syria. On February 16, Bahrainis participated in what the Qatar-based television station Al Jazeera has called a “secret revolution,” one that was “abandoned by Arabs, forsaken by West and forgotten by the world.” With no international reporters in Bahrain to capture the uprising, Al Jazeera documented, in trembling closeness, the courage demonstrated by the Bahraini protesters, and then the horrors and bloodshed that ensued once the ruler’s forces commenced their attack.
U.S. Thinks Road to Bahrain’s Heart Is Through Its Appetite for Weaponry
Still, the situation on the ground has not changed much in the past week, with continuing mass arrests of demonstrators.