an interesting Bahrain point

Apparently the Bahraini security forces, who fired on the people, are to some extent a “mercenary” force made up heavily of foreigners such as Syraians and Yemenis. That explains a lot about their willingness to fire in such a small country, where otherwise you’d assume that the soldiers and the protestors might know each other personally.

Bahrain’s monarchy is starting to buckle slightly and offer dialogue, but it sounds like the people are united in much the same way as Egyptians were.

BBC: 1519: Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times tweets from the hospital in Bahrain: “Lots of casualties. ER filling up. 1 a girl of abt 13, writhing on stretcher. 1 a man w terrible head wound. #bahrain”

1535: Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times tweets from Manama: “Seems to be mostly rubber bullets. But terrible, gaping wounds, maybe meaning close range.”

And now it’s Libya that’s turning very ugly. Protestors have just captured and hanged two police officers (not in Tripoli, but in the East where the Colonel is especially unpopular).

1233: Khaleel, in the Libyan capital Tripoli, tells the BBC: “Things… are going really badly – especially in eastern parts of Libya. If this starts in Tripoli, Gaddafi will be lost.”

Djibouti is now having large protests, and there was even a smaller one in Kuwait.

I’ve lost track of Iran, however. What’s going on there now? Need to look into it.