Siun

The disappearances of human rights activists, lawyers, doctors and sports figures continues in Bahrain. Three members of Congress in the US have spoken out, but still Obama and Clinton are silent.

As the news from Bahrain continues to get worse, the opposition once more takes nonviolent action to move the world to intervene. Inspired by Zeinab Alkhawaja (@angryarabiya) hundreds of Bahrainis and their supporters worldwide will begin a four day hunger strike beginning Monday.

When you were sworn in as president of the United States, I had high hopes. I thought: here is a person who would have never become a president if it were not for the African-American fight for civil liberties; he will understand our fight for freedom. Unfortunately, so far my hopes have been shattered. I might have misunderstood. What was it you meant Mr. president? YES WE CAN… support dictators? YES WE CAN… help oppress pro-democracy protesters? YES WE CAN… turn a blind eye to a people’s suffering?

As of tonight, there is still no word on AngryArabiya’s father, brother-in-law and husband –or her uncle who was arrested three weeks ago. She wrote last night: This will b one of the most difficult nights of my life, wat condition is my wonderful & kind husband in. I close my eyes & I see [...]

Protests continue in Yemen as earlier hopes of Saleh’s departure have so far come to nothing. Today the Gulf States met and announced their support for replacing Saleh with a transitional government led by his Vice President with opposition involvement but one has to ask if this plan is really representative of opposition demands. Listen carefully to the young woman speaking yesterday in Sanaa at the Silent March to remember those killed by Saleh (sin the video, she addresses us in America directly.)

Obama promised that US troops would be out of Iraq by the end of 2009 – well actually he played semantics and said “combat troops” but American voters believed that his election signaled the end of our occupation of Iraq.

Now we’re in 2011 and not only have we not left but Obama is angling to keep US forces in Iraq past the December 2011 deadline for the removal of all US forces.

One of the clearest voices in the call for the most basic civil rights for all Bahrainis has been a young woman who writes on Twitter as @angryarabiya. She has been keeping the world informed of the shootings and beatings by the US supported government and about the overnight raids during which crowds of hooded “security” forces storm the homes of human rights workers and bloggers, breaking down doors, threatening their families and dragging away these peaceful activists to detention or worse.

We’ve learned that her father, husband and brother-in-law have been taken.

Reviewing the news from Bahrain today, I came across a link to one that local activists are circulating as a prime example of what they are facing every day. That video is the one to the left – and while quite disturbing, it does not contain any footage that would merit the warning label slapped [...]

Today’s book salon is unexpectedly timely. With this weekend’s startling Washington Post opinion piece by Judge Goldstone which seems to contradict the factual findings of the report of The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, controversy over “The Goldstone Report” on Operation Cast Lead is in the news once again.

Mahmood Al-Yousif, a Bahraini blogger, was arrested overnight by the regime’s security forces. They came for him at 3am local time. As I write this, it is seven hours later, and his brother Hani reports that “We don’t know where he’s held.”