AND NOW: “This Is A Dangerous Iranian Escalation”: Bahrain Blames Pipeline Explosion On Iran, Terrorists – #WW3

“This Is A Dangerous Iranian Escalation”: Bahrain Blames Pipeline Explosion On Iran, Terrorists:

There was something odd about Friday’s night’s explosion of an oil pipeline belonging to Bahrain’s state-run oil company BAPCO, which local authorities initially said was the result of an accident: as we said, the giant fireball had all the hallmarks of either sabotage or a terrorist event, the only question is whether it was real or staged, and who would ultimately be blamed for it.

We didn’t have long to wait for the answer: on Saturday Bahrain government claimed the blast was a “terorrist act” directed by Iran. 

In a statement on Twitter, the Bahrain Ministry of Interior said that “evidence gathered by the inspection team confirms that this was an intentional act undertaken by terrorists intending to undermine the security of the Kingdom” with Bahrain’s interior minister, Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, adding that the blast was “the latest example of a terrorist act performed by terrorists in direct contact with & under instruction from, Iran.

Read moreAND NOW: “This Is A Dangerous Iranian Escalation”: Bahrain Blames Pipeline Explosion On Iran, Terrorists – #WW3

It’s A “Geopolitical Earthquake”: A Stunned World Responds After Saudi Alliance Cuts All Ties With Qatar

It’s A “Geopolitical Earthquake”: A Stunned World Responds After Saudi Alliance Cuts All Ties With Qatar:

Virtually nobody saw it coming: a Saudi Alliance cut off most diplomatic and economic ties to Qatar, in an “unprecedented move” designed to punish one of the region’s financial superpowers for its ties with Iran and Islamist groups in the region.

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AND NOW: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, & Bahrain Cut Diplomatic Ties, Shut All Borders With Qatar

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, & Bahrain Cut Diplomatic Ties, Shut All Borders With Qatar:

Just days after president Trump left the region, a geopolitical earthquake is taking place in the Middle East tonight as the rift between Qatar and other members of the (likely extinct) Gulf Cooperation Council explodes with Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt cutting all diplomatic ties with Qatar accusing it of “speading chaos,” by funding terrorism and supporting Iran.

The dispute between Qatar and the Gulf’s Arab countries started over a purported hack of Qatar’s state-run news agency. It has spiraled since, and appears to be climaxing now… just days after President Trump left the region.

As Al Arabiya reports, Bahrain has announced it is cutting diplomatic ties with Qatar, according to a statement carried on Bahrain News Agency.

Read moreAND NOW: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, & Bahrain Cut Diplomatic Ties, Shut All Borders With Qatar

British Thinktank Received £25 Million (In Bribes) From Bahraini Royals (Despots), Documents Reveal

British thinktank received £25m from Bahraini royals, documents reveal:

International Institute for Strategic Studies received cash over five years, partly to pay for Gulf conference at which Boris Johnson is due to speak

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S&P Downgrades Saudi Arabia’s Credit Rating For Second Time In 4 Months, Also Cuts Oman, Bahrain

S&P Downgrades Saudi Arabia For Second Time In 4 Months, Also Cuts Oman, Bahrain:

“We do not expect the agreement on Feb. 16 between oil ministers from Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela to freeze oil output.”

U.S. Government Reinstates Arm Sales to Bahrain Despite Rampant Human Rights Abuses

US-Death

U.S. Government Reinstates Arm Sales to Bahrain Despite Rampant Human Rights Abuses (Liberty Blitzkrieg, July 21, 2015):

One of the many destructive myths Americans like to tell themselves is that the U.S. government is a staunch defender of human rights and democracy around the world. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

Yes its true, there are plenty of well intentioned individuals and organizations across America that do care very deeply about such things; the U.S. government just isn’t one of them. The facts on the ground clearly prove this to be the case. The only thing those in charge care about is raw imperial power and money. Of course, they know this. They also know that keeping the myth alive is extremely important in order to maintain the moral high ground and some degree of legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

Read moreU.S. Government Reinstates Arm Sales to Bahrain Despite Rampant Human Rights Abuses

Obama Becoming Global Joke? King Of Bahrain Snubs US President, Meets Horse Instead

Obama Becoming Global Joke? King Of Bahrain Snubs US President, Meets Horse Instead (ZeroHedge, May 14, 2015):

Having been ‘snubbed’ by the new Saudi King Salman, it appears the uneasy relationshipo with our ‘allies’ in The Gulf is ebbing. In what the State Department will, we are sure, just brush off, Politico reports that the king of Bahrain has apparently also snubbed President Barack Obama, preferring instead to attend a horse show with Queen Elizabeth

‘US In Panic Because Of Its Waning Power’

‘US in panic because of its waning power’ (RT, May 2, 2014):

Political and economic power is draining away from the US, while other states make bilateral agreements like the investment deal between Bahrain and Russia, which makes the US extremely worried, Professor of Binary Economics Rodney Shakespeare told RT.

The US has sent a message of discontent to its ally Bahrain, which signed an investment deal with Russia. Washington has said that it is concerned with the Gulf state cozying up to Russia, which is currently under sanctions due to the Ukrainian crisis.

RT: Washington and Bahrain have long been close on political and economic terms. Why would the Gulf state cross its Western ally in the first place?

Read more‘US In Panic Because Of Its Waning Power’

Isolated Russia Makes Friends: To Hold Military Drill With China; Strikes Multi-Billion Deals Qatar And Iran

china russia flags

Isolated Russia Makes Friends: To Hold Military Drill With China; Strikes Multi-Billion Deals Qatar And Iran (ZeroHedge, April 29, 2014):

The G-8 may be no more as the G-7 throws every possible case of harsh language known to man at the Kremlin, which obstinately refuses to back down, while re-escalating sanctions against a Russia which merely has done what the US does every single time its national interest abroad is threatened, but one thing is becoming ever clearer: while the west isolates Russia with ever stricter measures, Russia has decided to make some new friends.

Such as China:

China and Russia will hold a “maritime cooperation-2014” drill in East China Sea at end-May, Voice of Russia reports on its Chinese-language website yesterday.

China and Russia will conduct reconnaissance in the area within 3 days to prepare for the drill, the report says, citing an unidentified representative from Russian navy.

Read moreIsolated Russia Makes Friends: To Hold Military Drill With China; Strikes Multi-Billion Deals Qatar And Iran

The Bahrain Ghetto: Barbed Wire Fencing Around Neighborhoods

The Bahrain Ghetto: Barbed Wire Fencing Goes Up Around Certain Neighborhoods (Liberty Blitzkrieg, Aug 14, 2013):

The regime in Bahrain has been one of the world’s greatest human rights abusers over the past several years, yet there’s barely a peep by our “most transparent ever” President Barrack Obama. Why?

Well, as anyone with even the slightest degree of geopolitical awareness knows, Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which represents the regional forces responsible for protecting regional “democracy,” ie the petrodollar. In exchange for our key military base, the U.S. turns a blind eye to the autocratic activities of the feudal monarchy that runs the place. The latest civil rights abuse is the emergence of razor-wire and concrete structures around certain neighborhoods of the capital city of Manama so that the citizenry cannot engage in protest.

From the Washington Post:

MANAMA, Bahrain — Inspired by the movement behind Egypt’s military coup, anti-government activists seeking more influence in Bahrain are hoping to gain new momentum by calling for nationwide protests Wednesday. Authorities warned they will “forcefully confront” any large demonstrations, raising fears of more violence in the strategic Gulf kingdom.

Concrete barriers lined major streets in the capital, Manama, and security checkpoints surrounded by barbed wire guarded roads leading to the city from majority Shiite neighborhoods that house many of the protesters. And hundreds of security forces in riot gear stood guard near armored personnel carriers around what used to be Pearl Square, the epicenter of weeks of anti-government rallies that were met with a crackdown in 2011.

Read moreThe Bahrain Ghetto: Barbed Wire Fencing Around Neighborhoods

3 Time Emmy Award Winning CNN Journalist: Mainstream Media Takes Money from FOREIGN Dictators to Run Flattering Propaganda (Video)

MUST-SEE!


3 Time Emmy Award Winning CNN Journalist: Mainstream Media Takes Money from FOREIGN Dictators to Run Flattering Propaganda (ZeroHedge, Sep 30, 2012):

If you’ve been paying attention, you know that the American media act as presstitutes for rich and powerful Americans.

But it turns out that the American media will turn “tricks” for foreign johns as well …

Specifically, three time Emmy award winning reporter Amber Lyon was until very recently a respected CNN reporter:

Lyon was fired from CNN after she refused to stop reporting on her first-hand experience of the systematic torture and murder of peaceful protesters by the government of Bahrain.

Lyon’s special report on Bahrain was scheduled to run on both CNN’s U.S. and international networks, but was pulled after only a limited showing due to pressure from the Bahrainis and their lobbyists.

At the same time that Lyon was risking her life to do on-the-ground reporting in Bahrain, another CNN journalist was filming a paid propaganda piece on how the Bahraini leaders are a bunch of friendly pro-democracy reformers.

That’s right … the Bahraini government paid CNN to do what was literally an infomercial for that brutal regime and pretend it was real journalism.

Lyon says that China and many other foreign, authoritarian regimes also pay CNN and other mainstream networks to run flattering propaganda pieces.


YouTube

We are grateful for Ms. Lyon’s exposé of this revolting practice … especially because real reporting is treated as terrorism by the American government.

Webster Tarpley: Depression, Dictatorship & WW3 (Video)

FYI.



YouTube Added: 17.09.2012

See also:

Former Assistant Deputy Secretary Of State Dr. Steve Pieczenik Drops Bombshell: Israel To Start WW III On Sept. 25 (‘Yom Kippur’) – (Video)

Max Keiser: Total Global Collapse By April 2013! (Video)

Gerald Celente: Criminal Banksters Launching World War III (Video)

Flashback:

The Truth About The Woman Who Stopped The 2007 Invasion Of Iran (Veterans Today)

Gerald Celente On Who Really Creates All These Wars And Why (Video)

See also:

– Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: ‘War Criminals Run The State Department And The Entire US Government’



YouTube Added: 07.08.2012

If Nostradamus were alive today, he’d have a hard time keeping up with Gerald Celente.
– New York Post

When CNN wants to know about the Top Trends, we ask Gerald Celente.
– CNN Headline News

There’s not a better trend forecaster than Gerald Celente. The man knows what he’s talking about.
– CNBC

Those who take their predictions seriously … consider the Trends Research Institute.
– The Wall Street Journal

A network of 25 experts whose range of specialties would rival many university faculties.
– The Economist

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: Washington’s Hypocrisies – ‘The US Government Is The Second Worst Human Rights Abuser On The Planet And The Sole Enabler Of The Worst–Israel’

See also:

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: Recovery Or Collapse? Bet On Collapse! – ‘In The End, The Financial Crisis Could Destroy Western Civilization’

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: Disinformation On Every Front

An article about Dr. Paul Craig Roberts:

Mindless Masses (Veterans Today)


Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

paul-craig-roberts
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

The US government is the second worst human rights abuser on the planet and the sole enabler of the worst–Israel. But this doesn’t hamper Washington from pointing the finger elsewhere.

The US State Department’s “human rights report” focuses its ire on Iran and Syria, two countries whose real sin is their independence from Washington, and on the bogyman- in-the-making–China, the country selected for the role of Washington’s new Cold War enemy.

Hillary Clinton, another in a long line of unqualified Secretaries of State, informed “governments around the world: we are watching, and we are holding you accountable,” only we are not holding ourselves accountable or Washington’s allies like Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the NATO puppets.

Hillary also made it “clear to citizens and activists everywhere: You are not alone. We are standing with you,” only not with protesters at the Chicago NATO summit or with the Occupy Wall Street protesters, or anywhere else in the US where there are protests. (ref)

The State Department stands with the protesters funded by the US in the countries whose governments the US wishes to overthrow. Protesters in the US stand alone as do the occupied Palestinians who apparently have no human rights to their homes, lands, olive groves, or lives.

Read moreDr. Paul Craig Roberts: Washington’s Hypocrisies – ‘The US Government Is The Second Worst Human Rights Abuser On The Planet And The Sole Enabler Of The Worst–Israel’

Bahrain’s Forgotten Revolution (Video)


YouTube Added: 02.04.2012

‘Protecting’ civilians:

Torture In Bahrain Aided By Nokia Siemens (Bloomberg)

Pentagon’s Secret War: U.S. Special Operations Forces To Be Deployed in 120 Countries By The End Of This Year (Counterpunch)

Bahrain Seeks Mercenaries From Indonesia, Malaysia And Pakistan (ABC Radio Australia)

Bahrain Doctors Tortured Into Confessing, Say Families (BBC News)

UK Training Saudi Forces Used To Crush Arab Spring (Guardian)

Blackwater Hired To Set Up A 800-Member Mercenary Battalion For The United Arab Emirates (Reuters)

Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya Deal: You Invade Bahrain. We Take Out Muammar Gaddafi In Libya (Asia Times)

Torture In Bahrain Aided By Nokia Siemens (Bloomberg)

All to protect civilians, right?

Pentagon’s Secret War: U.S. Special Operations Forces To Be Deployed in 120 Countries By The End Of This Year (Counterpunch)

Bahrain Seeks Mercenaries From Indonesia, Malaysia And Pakistan (ABC Radio Australia)

Bahrain Doctors Tortured Into Confessing, Say Families (BBC News)

UK Training Saudi Forces Used To Crush Arab Spring (Guardian)

Blackwater Hired To Set Up A 800-Member Mercenary Battalion For The United Arab Emirates (Reuters)

Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya Deal: You Invade Bahrain. We Take Out Muammar Gaddafi In Libya (Asia Times)


Torture in Bahrain Aided by Nokia Siemens (Bloomberg, Aug 23, 2011):

The interrogation of Abdul Ghani Al Khanjar followed a pattern.

First, Bahraini jailers armed with stiff rubber hoses beat the 39-year-old school administrator and human rights activist in a windowless room two stories below ground in the Persian Gulf kingdom’s National Security Apparatus building. Then, they dragged him upstairs for questioning by a uniformed officer armed with another kind of weapon: transcripts of his text messages and details from personal mobile phone conversations, he says.

If he refused to sufficiently explain his communications, he was sent back for more beatings, says Al Khanjar, who was detained from August 2010 to February.

“It was amazing,” he says of the messages they obtained. “How did they know about these?”

The answer: Computers loaded with Western-made surveillance software generated the transcripts wielded in the interrogations described by Al Khanjar and scores of other detainees whose similar treatment was tracked by rights activists, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its October issue.

The spy gear in Bahrain was sold by Siemens AG (SIE), and maintained by Nokia Siemens Networks and NSN’s divested unit, Trovicor GmbH, according to two people whose positions at the companies gave them direct knowledge of the installations. Both requested anonymity because they have signed nondisclosure agreements. The sale and maintenance contracts were also confirmed by Ben Roome, a Nokia Siemens spokesman based in Farnborough, England.

Read moreTorture In Bahrain Aided By Nokia Siemens (Bloomberg)

Outrage As Germany ‘Sells’ 200 Battle Tanks To Saudi Arabia

And the attack on Libya is not about protecting civilians.



YouTube Added: 06.07.2011

Germany is reportedly selling two hundred battle tanks to Saudi Arabia. Talk of a deal has caused outrage among Germany’s opposition politicians, who claim the government would be breaking its own export rules. Peace activist Jens Wagner says he fears the heavy weapons could be used to crush anti-regime protests in the region.

Bahrain Doctors Tortured Into Confessing, Say Families

Bahrain Doctors Tortured Into Confessing, Say Families (BBC News, June 20, 2011):

Twenty Bahraini doctors on trial for taking part in anti-government protests were tortured into making false confessions, their families have told the BBC.

The wife of one of the suspects said they had been forced to stand for three weeks and unable to sleep.

Read moreBahrain Doctors Tortured Into Confessing, Say Families

UK Training Saudi Forces Used To Crush Arab Spring (Guardian)

• British military personnel run courses for snipers
• Human rights groups furious over Riyadh link

Saudi special forces
Saudi special forces, seen here training in Mecca, were used to crush protests in neighbouring Bahrain. Photograph: Mustafa Ozer/AFP/Getty Images

Britain is training Saudi Arabia’s national guard – the elite security force deployed during the recent protests in Bahrain – in public order enforcement measures and the use of sniper rifles. The revelation has outraged human rights groups, which point out that the Foreign Office recognises that the kingdom’s human rights record is “a major concern”.

In response to questions made under the Freedom of Information Act, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed that British personnel regularly run courses for the national guard in “weapons, fieldcraft and general military skills training, as well as incident handling, bomb disposal, search, public order and sniper training”. The courses are organised through the British Military Mission to the Saudi Arabian National Guard, an obscure unit that consists of 11 British army personnel under the command of a brigadier.

The MoD response, obtained yesterday by the Observer, reveals that Britain sends up to 20 training teams to the kingdom a year. Saudi Arabia pays for “all BMM personnel, as well as support costs such as accommodation and transport”.

Bahrain’s royal family used 1,200 Saudi troops to help put down demonstrations in March. At the time the British government said it was “deeply concerned” about reports of human rights abuses being perpetrated by the troops.

Read moreUK Training Saudi Forces Used To Crush Arab Spring (Guardian)

Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya Deal: You Invade Bahrain. We Take Out Muammar Gaddafi In Libya

(Asia Times) — You invade Bahrain. We take out Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. This, in short, is the essence of a deal struck between the Barack Obama administration and the House of Saud. Two diplomatic sources at the United Nations independently confirmed that Washington, via Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, gave the go-ahead for Saudi Arabia to invade Bahrain and crush the pro-democracy movement in their neighbor in exchange for a “yes” vote by the Arab League for a no-fly zone over Libya – the main rationale that led to United Nations Security Council resolution 1973.

The revelation came from two different diplomats, a European and a member of the BRIC group, and was made separately to a US scholar and Asia Times Online. According to diplomatic protocol, their names cannot be disclosed. One of the diplomats said, “This is the reason why we could not support resolution 1973. We were arguing that Libya, Bahrain and Yemen were similar cases, and calling for a fact-finding mission. We maintain our official position that the resolution is not clear, and may be interpreted in a belligerent manner.”

As Asia Times Online has reported, a full Arab League endorsement of a no-fly zone is a myth. Of the 22 full members, only 11 were present at the voting. Six of them were Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members, the US-supported club of Gulf kingdoms/sheikhdoms, of which Saudi Arabia is the top dog. Syria and Algeria were against it. Saudi Arabia only had to “seduce” three other members to get the vote.

Translation: only nine out of 22 members of the Arab League voted for the no-fly zone. The vote was essentially a House of Saud-led operation, with Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa keen to polish his CV with Washington with an eye to become the next Egyptian President.

Thus, in the beginning, there was the great 2011 Arab revolt. Then, inexorably, came the US-Saudi counter-revolution.

Read moreExposed: The US-Saudi Libya Deal: You Invade Bahrain. We Take Out Muammar Gaddafi In Libya

Saudi Arabia Troops Arrive In Bahrain To Support The Sunni Monarchy As Protests Escalate

Bahrain riot police fire tear gas at protesters (Independent):

Bahrain riot police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at an anti-government protest camp in the capital, eyewitnesses claimed today.

Demonstrators who blocked roads into the main financial district were also said to have faced similar measures.

Today’s morning police operation was the largest effort to clear the protesters from Pearl Square in the capital, Manama, since the Shia demonstrations, inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, started in mid-February.



Amid concerns of a Shiite uprising in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia sent troops to support the Sunni monarchy. Bahrain’s opposition denounced the move as an ‘occupation.’


Anti-government protesters form the words “Game Over” with bricks as they block the roads from riot police at the junction of Bahrain Financial Harbor in Manama March 14. Bahrain has been gripped by its worst unrest since the 1990s after protesters took to the streets last month, inspired by uprisings that toppled the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia. (Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters)

Cairo — Saudi forces have reportedly arrived in Bahrain to reinforce its police, who clashed with protesters yesterday in an escalation of the month-long Shiite-led protests calling for democratic reform.

The Saudi forces are there on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the regional organization of which Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are both members. Their intervention underlines Saudi Arabia’s deep worry over the unrest on its border, but it’s likely only to harden the stance of the protesters, who have been unsatisfied by the government’s response to their demands.

The protest is led by Shiites, who make up about 70 percent of Bahrain’s population, which has been ruled by the Sunni Al Khalifa family since the late 1700s. The country’s Shiites complain of discrimination and have called for government reforms.

Opposition groups said Monday that the Saudi intervention was a declaration of war. Protests that began with calls for democratic reform and an end to Shiite discrimination are now calling for regime change.

“The entry of the Saudis does not mean these people are going to go back to their villages quietly,” says Toby Jones, a Gulf expert at Rutgers University. “It raises the stakes.”

Meanwhile, a pro-government parliamentary bloc on Monday called on the king to impose martial law after 100 people were reportedly wounded Sunday. Police attacked the mostly Shiite protesters who were blocking a highway leading to the financial district in the capital Manama. They used tear gas and rubber bullets against the demonstrators, but were unable to disperse them.

Read moreSaudi Arabia Troops Arrive In Bahrain To Support The Sunni Monarchy As Protests Escalate

Bahraini protesters move to parliament building – Oman protests spread, road to port blocked – Congo coup attempt leaves six dead, say authorities – China’s jasmine revolution: police but no protesters line streets of Beijing – China’s working poor not yet ready to revolt – Chile President faces protests a year after quake

Bahraini protesters move to parliament building (Reuters):

MANAMA (Reuters) – Bahrainis campaigning for democratic reforms in the Gulf Arab state staged a protest outside the U.S. ally’s parliament building on Monday, demanding that all its members resign over protester deaths.

Seven people were killed and hundreds wounded in protests earlier this month by Bahrainis mainly from the majority Shi’ite Muslim community who complain of repression by the Sunni monarchy and Sunni ruling elite.

“We came to this parliament to say that you represent the people and you represent us — take an honourable position over the killings by the army,” said Mirza al-Shihabi, one of around 500 protesters outside the building in central Manama.

Oman protests spread, road to port blocked (Reuters):

(Reuters) – Demonstrators blocked roads to a main port in northern Oman and looted a nearby supermarket on Monday, part of protests to demand more jobs and political reform that have spread to the sultanate’s capital.

A doctor said six people had been killed in clashes between stone-throwing protesters and police on Sunday in the northern industrial town of Sohar. Oman’s health minister said one person had been killed and 20 wounded.

Hundreds of protesters blocked access to an industrial area that includes the port, a refinery and aluminium factory. A port spokeswoman said exports of refined oil products of about 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the port were unaffected.

“We want to see the benefit of our oil wealth distributed evenly,” one protester yelled over a loudhailer near the port. “We want to see a scale-down of expatriates in Oman so more jobs can be created for Omanis.”

Congo coup attempt leaves six dead, say authorities (Guardian):

Six people were killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo in what authorities said was a coup attempt on the presidential palace in the capital Kinshasa.

“We have witnessed a coup attempt,” the information minister, Lambert Mende, said.

“A group of heavily armed people attacked the presidential palace. They were stopped at the first roadblock. Our soldiers fought with them, arrested some of them and six people were killed.”

China’s jasmine revolution: police but no protesters line streets of Beijing (Guardian):

Police in Beijing and other cities mounted a major show of force following an anonymous call for protests inspired by the Middle East uprisings.

A US journalist was punched and kicked in the face and more than a dozen other journalists manhandled, detained or delayed as they covered the events which revealed official anxiety over similar protests against authoritarian rule in China.

Bloomberg Journalist Assaulted as China Heightens Security (Blommberg):

A Bloomberg News journalist was assaulted yesterday in Beijing while covering the deployment of police in response to online calls for protests in the Chinese capital.

At least five men in plain clothes, who appeared to be security personnel, punched and kicked the reporter at Beijing’s Wangfujing shopping street at 2:45 p.m. local time yesterday. They also took the video camera he was carrying and detained him in a roadside store.

Uniformed police arrived after the attack and escorted the journalist to a nearby station where he filed a report of the attack before seeking treatment for his injuries at a local hospital. Police returned the video camera while the reporter was at the station, saying a passerby had found it.

China’s working poor not yet ready to revolt (Guardian):

Like the Tunisian whose self-immolation sparked a revolt, Xu Mingao is a young street vendor. Fourteen-hour days selling flatbread in Zhongguancun – the capital’s Silicon Valley – earn him about 7,500 yuan (£709) a year.

Home is a tiny cubicle in a dusty, hastily constructed neighbourhood where adverts pasted to lampposts seek workers who can “eat bitterness” – endure the grind.

But the 30-year-old is “pretty happy” with his life: “The difference [from the old days] is huge. When I was small my family had to borrow money for my schooling and we wore hand-me-downs,” he said.

He and his wife have built a house back in their home town in Anhui with their earnings and hope for an office career for their boy.

Chile President faces protests a year after quake (Guardian):

Associated Press= SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — President Sebastian Pinera marked Sunday’s anniversary of one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history by praising his government’s progress on reconstruction and calling for national unity.

Instead, his political opponents staged protests and questioned his numbers.