Bahrain GP situation: postponed, reinstated, cancelled

[WhiteBlue]

Foreign office advise:

We also expect other protests and disruption in various areas of Bahrain to continue through the coming days. As a result, we continue to advise British nationals in Bahrain to maintain a high level of security awareness and to exercise caution, particularly in public places and on the roads, and to avoid large crowds.

One objective of a motor race is having a large crowd of spectators. And now you are supposed to avoid having crowds for security reasons. I don't see how the two things will fit together.

Btw. over at Autosport forums they have a poll when the GP will be cancelled. 33% believe it will be run. 67% believe it will be cancelled before or during the Chinese GP weekend.

[Lycoming]

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/04/s ... ahrain-gp/

does this count as "Journalism"?

[bhall]

Is The Huffington Post a newspaper?

Without direct, first-hand knowledge of events or accounts of those who witnessed or are experts of matters related to those events, I consider any reporting on those events to be commentary and nothing more. That's not always bad (James Allen), but sometimes it's awful (Joe Saward). However, neither would find themselves published in the relevant pages of The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Times, etc.

[strad]

OK..the NY Times..It aint no place we should be..and we certainly should not endorse the regime http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/inte ... index.html

Bahrain is a small desert island kingdom in the Persian Gulf, an oil-producing nation of about 1 million that serves as a banking hub and as the base for the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

Beginning on Feb. 14, 2011, Bahrain was gripped by a series of pro-democracy demonstrations in Manama, the capital, set off by the example of revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. The protests — which took place at the Pearl monument, later destroyed by the government — were crushed in March with the help of troops from Saudia Arabia.

Of all the revolts that roiled the Arab world in 2011, Bahrain’s government was the only one to manage a tactical, perhaps ephemeral, victory through force. But in doing so, it may have destroyed a society that once took pride in its cosmopolitanism.

With Saudi Arabia, the conservative bulwark of Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy, on one side, and Iran, the aggressive champion of Bahrain’s poor Shiite majority, on the other, and a largely Shia opposition cowed temporarily but promising a resurgence, the question for Bahrain is whether a reconciliation process can stop the unraveling.

At least 35 people have been killed in violence related to the uprising, including several members of the security forces. In November 2011, a special investigative report authorized by Bahrain’s Sunni rulers in a bid to ease tensions concluded that security forces used torture and excessive force against detainees arrested in the crackdowns.

The opposition in Bahrain is not calling for revolution, or the execution of the ruler, or the overthrow of his family, as in Syria or Yemen. But it is calling for deep political reforms — a constitutional monarchy with an empowered parliament, an elected government and an end to gerrymandering that has left Shiites disenfranchised.

Yet, a year later, the first anniversary of the uprising ended as it began: in clouds of tear gas. As thousands of protesters tried to march to the former site of the Pearl monument, police blocked their way by firing tear gas and stun grenades.

Tens of thousands marched to mark the anniversary of the crackdown in March, in a reply to Bahrain’s Sunni leadership, which has portrayed the uprising as losing steam.

[Scuderia Nuvolari]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/m ... index.html

What if Micheal, Sebastian and Bernie are wrong? What if 200 protestors are killed? What if 1 protester is killed? What if they kill 6 drivers and 20 team members?
There are 100,000 protestors. If one is willing to starve too death in prison, what are the rest willing to do?

[Guisson]

What If ?
Simple, the GP will be (again) canceled,there is still a political crisis there and apparently it won't fade away in just 2 years.

Damon Hill:That is not what this sport should be about. Looking at it today you'd have to say that the race could be creating more problems than it's solving."

But we have to wait until the FIA decides to cancel or not the event.

[Pup]

Bahrain is a small desert island kingdom in the Persian Gulf, an oil-producing nation of about 1 million that serves as a banking hub and as the base for the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

Probably the single most important factor in the whole Bahrain story.

[bhall]

Ordinarily, I'd jump at the chance to agree with such an assertion, Pup, but the issues boiling to a head in Bahrain, and indeed the Middle East as a whole, have been brewing for far longer than the U.S. has had a permanent presence in the region. This thing is literally as old as time.

EDIT: Well, now I'm having second thoughts.

[WhiteBlue]

Bahrain is a small desert island kingdom in the Persian Gulf, an oil-producing nation of about 1 million that serves as a banking hub and as the base for the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

Probably the single most important factor in the whole Bahrain story.

I disagree. The most important point is the demography and the existence of Bahrain as an appendix to the kingdom of Al Saud. The Saudis are suppressing the Shia majority of Bahrain in order to keep the Sunni monarchy and minority in power. The US fleet could use any other base in the Golf, but the Saudis will not tolerate rebellion on the island because the demography on their mainland is very similar. And when the peasants see the Bahrain monarchy go down they would get the wrong ideas for Saudi Arabia. This btw. was the reason why they send the tanks in last year. I don't think that Obama would send troops or tanks into the Pearl Roundabout to keep the US fleet in Bahrain.

[Pup]

That's the point. As things stand, you won't see a US intervention, nor a NATO intervention, on any level. Our interests are closely, and unfortunately, tied with those regimes.

And that means that unless the game changes, the rebellion ultimately will have to face down those Saudi tanks, if they hope to succeed.

So the game needs to change.

It would take something dramatic to get the US involved. It would take a lot of press. The F1 race might provide that.

[bhall]

In the Arab world, legitimacy demands that there be no undue American influence. That's a cruel twist of fate when considered against the backdrop of recent history, but it's reality. That's why the U.S. backed out of Libyan involvement as soon as possible.

[Pup]

Politics makes strange bedfellows.

[raymondu999]

What if 1 protester is killed?

Happened already.

[Hail22]

Agreed Pup.

Reading through JA's article I noticed in his responses to comments he indirectly agrees the race shouldn't go ahead however he is contracted to attend every race that is on.

His hands are truely tied.

[WhiteBlue]

.. It would take something dramatic to get the US involved. It would take a lot of press. The F1 race might provide that.

Not many people would want US armed forces involved in a Bahrain rebellion or civil conflict. The official position of the US policy is self determination of government for all people. The last thing the voters want to see is Marines killing Bahrain demonstrators. And F1 has no place in the middle of the ongoing conflict. At the current level of escalation nobody will want to take the responsibility for all the casualties that could result.