Bahrain no fact of the day

As we speculated from the very beginning, and as was reaffirmed in "Is Nigeria, And Its Light Sweet Crude, About To Be Drawn Into The Mali "Liberation" Campaign?", the "French" (with complete and fully-comped US support) Mali campaign is slowly but surely migrating to its intended target: Nigeria, and rather its holdings of light sweet crude.

The United States is aiding local troops in a fight against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen, the Times of London reports. The British newspaper calls it "the secret war", with the conflict involving the use of US drones and the Saudi Air Force.

King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa of Bahrain is expected Tuesday to receive a report on the implementation of recommended changes to the Middle Eastern state's laws and security forces in the aftermath of unrest last spring.

Bahraini security forces opened fire on anti-regime protesters in the capital, with reports of up to 55 wounded, after the army vowed "strict measures" to restore order after a deadly police raid.Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa promised to open a national dialogue once calm returns, and soon after King Hamad formally announced that he had assigned him to start those discussions.US President Barack Obama Friday spoke to King Hamad and condemned violence by government forces.

Kumar Belle submits: For decades the Middle East has been ruled by totalitarian regimes. The United States’ foreign policy toward these regimes has been determined largely by two factors: The oil reserves in these countries and/or their policy toward Israel. Indeed, until Saddam Hussein invaded oil-rich Kuwait he was not considered a threat. After all he was a sworn enemy of Iran.

Authorities in Saudi Arabia say they have found two more people who were infected with the new coronavirus in a large cluster of cases in the eastern portion of the country. The two new cases bring the total to date of that cluster to 15 infections, seven of which were fatal. One of the newly detected cases became ill on April 6, meaning the new virus has been spreading in al Hofuf for more than one month.

Saudi Arabian girls will be allowed to play sports in private schools for the first time, according to a decision announced on Saturday, the latest in a series of incremental changes aimed at slowly increasing women’s rights in the ultraconservative kingdom.

One of the key questions in assessing the effect of the Libyan conflict on world oil prices was the extent to which an increase in Saudi production would offset some of the lost output from Libya. Now we know the answer, and it's not reassuring. Back on Feb 25, Reuters reported what sounded like some favorable indications: