Am einfachsten wäre, der Super-stratege McCain nähme das in die Hand und verteilte Reisepässe am Hindukusch oder in den Käfigen von Guantánamo.

„There were several delegations that wanted instruction from (their) capitals,“ said the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, after the meeting.
Rice said that „several themes emerged, including a call for restraint and an end to the violence“. She added that there were concerns among UNSC members that the ongoing violence in Yemen could have adverse effects on regional and international peace and security…

Yemen‘s ruling party has informed the Gulf Arab sponsors of a political transition plan that it accepts the proposal in full, party spokesman Tariq Shami told Reuters.

What are we showing to the West here? What is basically the outcome of these things, and what are they doing? Are they really thinking about their actions, or is the chair or the ruling that much important to them. I see they are just going out of their minds. They don‘t know what to do anymore because they wanted Iran to get involved from the beginning.

Ali Abdullah Saleh stimmte dem Vorschlag des Golfkooperationsrates zu, wie das jemenitische Staatsfernsehen am Samstag berichtete. Danach gibt der Präsident binnen 30 Tagen die Macht an seinen Stellvertreter ab. Im Gegenzug wird ihm Immunität zugesichert. Der jemenitische Außenminister überreichte den Vermittlern des Golfkooperationsrates den entsprechenden Bescheid. Laut Gesetz muss das Parlament dem Rücktritt des Präsidenten zustimmen, was aber eine reine Formsache ist. Es wird von Salehs Anhängern dominiert.

The U.S. launched its first Predator missile attack in Libya, as rebels said forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi had withdrawn from the besieged city of Misrata.

Thousands in Oman marched through the southern town of Salalah, Reuters reported, after gathering for prayers in the parking lot of a mosque near a government office. It was the largest demonstration since late February, when protests in the northeastern port city of Sohar and the capital, Muscat, rattled the normally sleepy sultanate on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.

With King Hamad‘s declaration of a three-month state of emergency in Bahrain and the arrival of 2,000 Saudi and Emirati troops as part of the Gulf shield forces under the aegis of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), U.S. action is critical to prevent an escalation of bloodshed in Bahrain.

Im Kampf gegen die Aufständischen in der libyschen Hafenstadt Misrata ändert Machthaber Muammar el Gaddafi anscheinend seine Taktik. Vize-Außenminister Chaled Kaim sagte in Tripolis, die Armee werde sich zurückziehen und den Kampf um die Kontrolle der Stadt den regionalen Stämmen überlassen.

NATO carried out another series of air strikes on Tripoli early Saturday, Libyan government officials said.

Reporters were taken to an unpaved plot next to Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi‘s sprawling Bab Aziziyeh residential compound.

In recent decades, the six Gulf Cooperation Council states have been a pillar of stability in a dangerous neighborhood. But the political change sweeping the Middle East has left its mark, as the situations in Bahrain and Oman underscore. The other GCC nations — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar — have been affected. The Gulf monarchies must come to understand the repercussions of the “Arab Spring.”

Huge protests happened again in Yemen after Friday prayers. Large protests took place both in the capital Sanaa and the southern city of Taiz. However, there are both pro-Saleh demonstratioons as well as protests fighting for his removal.

Anti-government protesters rejected the Gulf Cooperation Council plan for Saleh to step down and transfer power to his deputy. The plan would also offer immunity to Saleh and his family from prosecution. A large opposiiton block is attending talks in Ryadh but so far no agreement has been reached.

(17.März) Following the killings and reports of other serious abuses, Amnesty International delegates, including a medical doctor specialized in emergency care and public health, visited Bahrain between 20-26 February. They interviewed witnesses to the violent events of mid-February, victims and their relatives, and hospital and mortuary staff. They also met government officials and human rights activists.

They found disturbing, even damning evidence of excessive use of force by riot police and soldiers against peaceful protesters and medics.

Der Bericht („Bloodied but unbowed: Unwarranted state violence against Bahraini protesters“) zeigt auf, wie die Sicherheitskräfte ohne Vorwarnung mit scharfer Munition und extremer Gewalt gegen Demonstrierende vorgingen. Sicherheitskräfte hinderten Ärzte und Krankenhelfer daran, den Verletzten zu helfen, und griffen medizinische Helfer sogar direkt an. Der Bericht basiert auf Zeugenaussagen, die von einem Amnesty-Ermittlungsteam in Bahrain zwischen dem 20. und 26. Februar 2011 aufgenommen wurden.

Doctors, businessmen, engineers, academics, teachers and now journalists have all been targeted for questioning and detention, observers say, with hundreds arrested and hundreds more fired.

Das bahrainische Königshaus ist bemüht, jegliche Proteste im Keim zu ersticken. Seit Mitte März mit Hilfe des saudischen Militärs die Demonstrationen in der Hauptstadt Manama niedergeschlagen wurden, läuft eine Verhaftungswelle.

The group, Physicians for Human Rights, cited reports from Bahrain that “doctors are disappearing as part of a systematic attack on medical staff’’ and that “many physicians are missing following interrogations by unknown security forces at Salmaniya Medical Complex’’ in the capital, Manama.

Auch in den USA und Großbritannien wächst die Sorge, im Sumpf des Krieges noch tiefer zu versinken.

Zwei Drittel der Bundesbürger (67 Prozent) stehen in der Libyen-Frage hinter der Bundesregierung. Deutschland hatte sich im UN-Sicherheitsrat der Stimme enthalten und beteiligt sich nicht am Nato-Militäreinsatz. Das begrüßen im Osten mit 71 Prozent noch mehr als im Westen mit 66 Prozent. Die Bundesrepublik habe als souveräner Staat gehandelt, sagen sie, das bedeute auch, nicht immer einer Meinung mit den Verbündeten zu sein. Das ergab das aktuelle Meinungsbarometer der Leipziger Volkszeitung.

Erzbischof Marx gab zu bedenken: «Wer soll denn in der Welt für diese Ziele eintreten, wenn nicht Europa und Amerika gemeinsam – China wird die Menschenrechte nicht verteidigen!

„China believes that the United Nations Security Council has primary responsibility for protecting international peace and security, and the various sides should strictly abide by the Security Council mandate in handling matters,“ Hong said on the Foreign Ministry‘s website (www.mfa.gov.cn) late on Friday, in answer to a question about the British decision.

Leaders of Russia and Greece on Friday confirmed the two countries were ready to concert mediation efforts to Libya, said the Kremlin press service.

During a telephone conversation, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou reaffirmed willingness of Moscow and Athens to „provide any necessary mediation help in order to resolve the conflict in Libya peacefully.“

U.S. Sen. John McCain called for increased military support for Libya‘s rebels Friday, including weapons, training and stepped-up airstrikes, in a full-throated endorsement of the opposition…

Telling the world that British officers being dispatched to the rebel camp in Libya will serve as ‘advisers’ was never a smart idea. A chorus of voices immediately recalled that this was how the U.S. involvement in Vietnam began, which ended with repatriation of 60,000 American bodybags.

Kadafi‘s still there, and so are the rebels and their Western allies. So what‘s the endgame? …
The United States is fighting two other wars at the moment, both of which have proved long and frustrating, and there‘s little appetite for a third. American resources are limited, and a compelling case has not been made. Let‘s not get sucked in any further.

(21.04.) Guma el-Gamaty, the UK co-ordinator for the TNC, told Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore during a meeting yesterday that the council opposed plans for a ground force, even if it had a humanitarian mandate.

“We are still of the position that sending ground troops to Libya could be counterproductive and could hand Gadafy a very strong card to play with,” Mr el-Gamaty said after the meeting…

„We left behind our friends from Chad. We left behind their bodies. We had 70 or 80 people from Chad working for our company. They cut them dead with pruning shears and axes, attacking them, saying you‘re providing troops for Gadhafi. The Sudanese, the Chadians were massacred. We saw it ourselves.“ (A Turkish oilfield worker who fled Libya, speaking to the BBC and quoted in NPR‘s „In Libya, African Migrants Say They Face Hostility,“ 25 February 2011)