Poor Bahrain

Tensions mount in Bahrain. It is unfortunate that the National Dialogue was suspended for Ramadan. It seemed like a reasonable thing to do. Indeed the NCF rushed out its own Bahrain report because of the Ramadan deadline. But now, in retrospect, we are reminded that time is not on our side. So far Bahrain has escaped the worst excesses of the Arab Spring. Hopefully it will continue to do so. But there have been disturbing levels of violence of late. There are sub plots here. Iran is undoubtedly angry at the Bahrain lead in getting the GCC to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organisation. But it's no good blaming outsiders - this is a Bahrain issue and only Bahrain can deliver the reforms that will save the country.

It is sad now to see the polarization of various sides. The anti-government Bahrain Centre for Human Rights is angry that, "An extraordinary session National Assembly put forward 22 recommendations that include banning all protests in Manama, and a series of harsh punishments to deal with suspects in cases of terrorism." Whereas the pro-government Citizens for Bahrain point out that, "The extraordinary meeting of Bahrain’s National Assembly came after a series of serious terrorist incidents, including a bombing outside a Mosque".

This situation needs cool heads lest this truly titanic struggle becomes violent in a hitherto truly unforeseen way.