There is a very gruesome picture doing the rounds, of Ahmad Farhan who has literally had his brains blown out by a high powered weapon, supposedly fired from a helicopter. As a symbol of senseless brutality it is very effective.
If only other news about the situation in Bahrain were quite so simple.
Last night the Global Post quoted an un-named Saudi official as saying “Basically, it’s a signal to the Iranians and [a response to] all these statements coming out of [U.S. Defense] Secretary [Robert M.] Gates.”
The article later quotes Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, as saying “that Gulf states did not appreciate the way that Washington appeared to easily abandon its long-time ally, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.” He added, “There is an impression that the U.S. feels it can wash its hands of a situation in ten minutes,” and “that U.S. intelligence assessments of what’s happening in Arab countries are “always wrong.””
This assessment appears to be confirmed the furious Iranian diplomatic response, and the Pentagon claim that they did not receive so much as a courtesy call prior to the operation.
Rumours of a Saudi Arabian invasion have floated around the internet for some weeks, with armoured columns being ‘seen’ at the border numerous times.
Yet according to controversial ex-diplomat and blogger Craig Murray, he has been told by an un-named UN diplomat that the invasion was as a result of a deal between Hilary Clinton and the GCC relating to the Libya No Fly Zone.
According to Murray the aim of the exercise is to undermine democratic aspirations throughout the region.
The problem is that this assessment is contradicted by reports of Robert Gates visit, wikileaks cables and the Saudi response to any putative uprising within the kingdom.
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