GMTom wrote:It's a tough call but I think we are doing the only thing we really CAN do, we SAY the right things and HOPE for the best but we actually DO nothing. To get our military involved in foreign affairs makes them/us pick sides and we simply can not win if forced to pick a side.

Bahrain ordered its military off the streets Saturday

Green Arrow wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Directive

I think this applies.

Doctor Fate wrote:

Green Arrow wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Directive

I think this applies.

Is the Enterprise on scene?

Ray Jay wrote:I think the rubber meets the road in Bahrain. It is majority Shiite, but ruled by Sunnis. It has no oil of its own, but sits right there near Saudi Arabia and Iran. And then there's the US military presence.

In a region experiencing an oil boom, Bahrain has the fastest growing economy in the Arab world, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia found in January 2006. Bahrain also has the freest economy in the Middle East according to the 2011 Index of Economic Freedom published by the Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal, and is tenth freest overall in the world.

In 2008, Bahrain was named the world's fastest growing financial center by the City of London's Global Financial Centres Index. Bahrain's banking and financial services sector, particularly Islamic banking, have benefited from the regional boom. In Bahrain, petroleum production and processing account for about 60% of export receipts, 60% of government revenues, and 30% of GDP.

Economic conditions have fluctuated with the changing fortunes of oil since 1985, for example, during and following the Persian Gulf crisis of 1990–91. With its highly developed communication and transport facilities, Bahrain is home to multinational firms. A large share of exports consists of petroleum products made from imported crude oil. Construction proceeds on several major industrial projects. In 2004, Bahrain signed the US-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement, which will reduce certain barriers to trade between the two nations.

Unemployment, especially among the young, and the depletion of both oil and underground water resources are major long-term economic problems. In 2008, the jobless figure was a 4%, but women are over represented at 85% of the total. Bahrain in 2007 became the first Arab country to institute unemployment benefits as part of a series of labour reforms instigated under Minister of Labour, Dr. Majeed Al Alawi.