Bahraini Liberation Is Different

by Dr. Robert D. Crane

    The Bahraini government will do whatever Washington and the Fifth Fleet tell tells it to do, which makes the current determined demonstrations in Bahrain against the government different from Cairo.  President Obama is now on the hot seat.

  The fear is that Iran eventually will liberate Bahrain, but not before Iran gets nuclear weapons capable of wiping out Israel, which would undermine or destroy the Israeli deterrent and well as the American.  My estimate is that Iran is not stupid enough to seek a nuclear deterrent, but even bluffing is dangerous.

    Both the people of Bahrain and the Bahraini/American government better play it cool for now and settle for the demonstrators’ limited demands in the hopes that eventually a peaceful transition will become possible from the monarchy to representative government, perhaps even following the British model.  The first representative government in Bahrain in the early 1970s was abolished because it resulted in the election of Bahrain’s most famous poet, a Shi’a, to the new Parliament, thereby proving that Shi’a are not capable of responsible self-government. 

    It will be interesting to see if President Obama ever again dares to mention freedom and democracy as foreign policy goals, much less justice.  From now on the watchword may be “stability”, with all of its injustices.  Unfortunately, justice is the only way to promote stability, and justice requires fundamental change not only in people but in all the institutions of society.