Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

[xpensive]

I believe this thread can be locked now;

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92061

[myurr]

What's with the obsession on this discussion board with shutting down discussion?

[Anth]

Looks like a lot of back peddling going on

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Well on the whole sanity appears to be prevailing.

[FW17]

Well the whole issue has made FIA and JT look incompetent.

[andrew]

Wrong decision.

If it is safe they should race and not get involved in the politics.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Yet by racing they become part of the politics! So not going is the right decision.

What were to happen if someone died as a result of the presence of F1 there?

[andrew]

What were to happen if someone died as a result of the presence of F1 there?

F1 goes to some extremely risky countries anyway (Brazil?), but the drivers are so well protected I doubt anyone could get near enough to do any harm.

Security would be as tight, you wont be able to have a pack of Rolos in your pocket that wont be found.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

People will demonstrate if F1 goes to Bahrain.

People in Brazil dont demonstrate when F1 comes to town. F1 going to Bahrain in the knowledge that people will demo to make a point, AND in the knowledge of what happened when live rounds where used to disperse crowds with shoot to kill instances....and you think its wrong FOTA are standing up to it?

Why?

[andrew]

The media in the UK is very one sided. I am still waiting to see anything that gives a balanced view. Was there widespread use of live amunition on protestors or were these just isolated incidents?

The FIA have sent someone (I con't remember the name of the guy right now) into Bahrain and they concluded it was safe. If people want to protest, let them. FOTA is NOT going into Bahrain in the knowledege that live rounds will be used on protestors, unless they have the ability to see into the future. If the race was going ahead, the world's media would be looking at Bahrain extremely closely. Given Bahrains business links with the rest of world it would be political suicide to do anything stupid.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

I honestly think you dont grasp the reality of the situation there Im afraid.

[Giblet]

The media in the UK is very one sided. I am still waiting to see anything that gives a balanced view. Was there widespread use of live amunition on protestors or were these just isolated incidents?

The FIA have sent someone (I con't remember the name of the guy right now) into Bahrain and they concluded it was safe. If people want to protest, let them. FOTA is NOT going into Bahrain in the knowledege that live rounds will be used on protestors, unless they have the ability to see into the future. If the race was going ahead, the world's media would be looking at Bahrain extremely closely. Given Bahrains business links with the rest of world it would be political suicide to do anything stupid.

The person, Garcia, they sent in, does not speak Arabic. He never talked to anyone who was shot, treated the shot, or anyone who is currently jailed and being tortured. The news changes in Bahrain daily, if you look for it, and stay off the CNN's of the world. you are not looking for a balanced view. Innocents wer killed, there is no balance. What you are actually looking for does not exist. The bias of a report shows a different slant, but the core of the story, with video proof, is that innocents were shot.

I challenge you to tell all of us what a possible different view could be that woud justify shooting your own unarmed civilians in the street. There is no justification I can think of, and not trusting the BBC is not good enough.

But if some guy name Garcia who you know nothing about says its OK, you believe him full stop.

[Richard]

Andrew - the FIA sent a chap who talked to ... errr... the people who sent in the troops with the live ammunition and they said everything is rosy. They then talked to a government funded aid organisation who also said everything was rosy. Meanwhile independent sources are reporting continued use of tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades on the streets.

As for the race weekend, opposition groups said they'd have a day of rage. Last time they had mass protests there were tanks and live gunfire on the streets that would be frequented by F1 teams and fans. So perhaps not so rosy after all.

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Anyway ..... all the political and human right stuff is just fanboi ying yang because the actual reason for cancelling announced by the teams is just plain common sense.

- The logistics will be screwed up by changing dates
- They don't have enough space to extend the season into December

Basically, "We tried (Bahrain & Bernie don't lose face) but sorry it wouldn't work out (avoids awkward human rights and politics), so we're not going (sponsors say 'phew')".

No politics, no human rights, no loss of face, logistics to the rescue!

[Giblet]

What's with the obsession on this discussion board with shutting down discussion?

There is no obsession. If the 'discussion' recedes into an 'argument' or Godwin's law get som serious face time we shut them down.

This discussion for the most part has been level and on topic, and it is a rare occurrence that F1 and politics of the world are so intertwined and worthy of discussion.

Like any other threads, if cooler heads stop prevailing it will get locked of course.

[Giblet]

Here is the actual report

http://avaazpress.s3.amazonaws.com/FIA% ... 20FULL.pdf