USA: "Is he our bastard?"

Sydney Morning Herald - UN votes for action to stop Gaddafi

(Extracts):

The UN Security Council has unanimously passed a vote calling for "all necessary measures" against forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The vote - 10-0, with five abstentions, including Russia and China - will allow foreign enforcement of a no-fly zone over Libya and ground Colonel Gaddafi's air force, reportedly as early as today.

The BBC reports that attacks on forces loyal to Gaddafi by the British and French air forces could begin within hours of the UN passing resolution 1973, with anti-aircraft defences the likely first targets.

One could argue the UN is interfering with a domestic issue (of rebellion) of the sovereign state of Libya, but nonetheless I support stopping the dictator from his nefarious killing of his own people.

Now, contrast the hypocrisy of the USA and Western Europe in their condonation and ‘act dunno’ of the following:

Sydney Morning Herald - Bahrain armed forces fire on protesters after martial law declared

(Extracts):

Military and security forces have moved against thousands of anti-government protesters occupying a landmark square in Bahrain's capital after the king declared a three-month state of emergency and instructed the military to tackle unrest.

Ali Al Aswad, a member of Bahrain's opposition Wefaq party, said the government was using helicopters to shoot at protesters and called for international intervention. ''The security forces are killing the people, we call upon UN to help us,'' he told al-Jazeera.

Financial Times - Troops fire on Bahraini protesters

(Extracts):

Bahrain’s armed forces opened fire on protesters in the capital Manama on Friday as demonstrators across the Arab world defied security forces to support the extraordinary wave of popular uprisings across the region.

The Bahraini military shot at a crowd, some of whom were holding flowers or chanting “peaceful, peaceful, peaceful”, as they tried to reoccupy a roundabout that has become a symbol of this week’s uprising in the small Arab kingdom.

In tense and chaotic scenes, ambulances arrived to pick up the wounded, several of whom were bleeding heavily.

“See what they are doing, is this democracy?” cried one demonstrator. “I have nothing, what do you expect, I only want to eat,” said another man.

Domestic issue no doubt but will the UN or USA or Western Europe intervene as they plan to now do in Libya? Will they be a no-fly zone imposed?

But read on …

Yahoo News - Saudi sends troops, Bahrain Shi'ites call it "war"

Whoa, now wouldn’t this be an invasion by foreign troops?

What will the USA do now, yes that USA, self-proclaimed leader of the free world, free speech and democracy, changer of evil regimes?

The same Yahoo news article reported that the White House said the United States did not consider the arrival of Saudi security forces as an invasion.

Of course not, as there’s no greater hypocrite in this world than the USA, with Western Europe a close second. That the USA has a huge base in Bahrain (Juffair) to protect its oil interests may also explain its refusal to intervene in a blatant case of human rights violation as Bahraini government troops poured fire on protestors (mainly Shiites).

Incidentally it has just asked non-essential US family members at its bases to leave Bahrain, an indication it is expecting worse, but hey, nothing to merit US intervention.

The hypocritical US is, as usual, protecting its local dictators, like it did for ex Nicaraguan dictator, Anastazio Somoza, and (initially) for Mubarak, the Saudi royalty, once the Shah of Iran and Saddam Hussein, Pakistani military dictators, Vietnam's Ngo brothers and a list of military strongmen, former Uzbekistan dictator Islam Karmov, Afghanistan current president Kazai and a host of other pocket dictators.

As US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said of Anastazio Somoza: “He might be a bastard, but he’s our bastard”.

And the USA is the BIGGEST bastard of them all!