the Bahrainis are still serious too

1251: BBC Arabic’s Sami Sahmoud from Manama, the capital of Bahrain, says a large crowd is heading from Pearl Square to the interior ministry, demanding the release of political prisoners. Riot police is heavily deployed outside the ministry.

One thing I had to recalibrate when I moved to this part of the world is the connotations of the phrase “Interior Ministry.” In the U.S., of course, the ever- harmless Secretary of the Interior is in charge of national parks. It’s quite a bit more ruthless a position in the Middle East than that.