Bahrain Propaganda 101: How a US PR Firm Puts "News" in American Newspapers (Whitaker)

So what progress has Qorvis made so far towards rehabilitating Bahrain's repressive regime? 

The past week has brought a stream of press releases, all proclaiming good news about Bahrain and presumably drafted by Qorvis on the government's behalf:

• Bahrain's Ambassador to the United States Acknowledges the Tenth Anniversary of September 11, Reaffirms Strong Bi-Lateral Ties (Sept 11)

• Bahrain Prepares for the New Academic Year (Sept 9)

• Bahrain's Government Continues to Move Forward With Reforms (Sept 8)

• Bahrain Establishes National Audit Court to Combat Corruption (Sept 8)

• Bahrain's National Dialogue Draws Support from Turkish President (Sept 7)

The basic message, then, is that Bahrain remains a steadfast ally of the United States, that it is pressing ahead with reforms as calm returns and (if we are to believe the Turkish president) is working for peace and stability in the Middle East.

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Syria, Bahrain, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Watching the Protests

2048 GMT: It may be nearly midnight in Bahrain, but the struggle between the protesters and the police continues. A source in Sitra reports:

"23:45 At the moment there is a helicopter flying on Sitra with spot light searching for protesters"

2036 GMT: A potentially very important video has been posted in our separate entry. Protesters gathered tonight in AL Hoole, Homs, unfurl a large banner with a clear request, written in both English and Arabic:

"No Fly Zone"

2023 GMT: We've posted a separate video feature tonight.

Today was busy, and with so many dramatic pictures, videos, and nuggets of news, the scale of the protests can easily be overlooked. In the liveblog, we have focused on the violence, but what occurred this Friday, like many others, was another mass demonstration of peaceful protesters, in nearly every corner of the country, demanding the resignation of those responsible for the violence.

Among the violence, the peaceful protests are being eclipsed by the media, but they have not gone away.

See the entry, Syria Video Special: "We'll Continue until the Regime is Toppled"

1952 GMT: WARNING, this video is VERY hard to watch. Bullets snap (which means they were very close) around a cameraman, as unarmed protesters flee back up the street, carrying a man who was apparently shot in the head. The video was reportedly taken today in Homs. It's very graphic:

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Bahrain Special: New Martyrs, New Protests, New Crackdown

Protesters chanting after police force withdrew from the village of Dair, 15 September

See also Bahrain Feature: Repression Tears Apart a Country

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I remember when I read my first article about protests in Bahrain. It was short: in the second paragraph, the author said that the King of Bahrain was going to give the people of his country more than $2650 per family. The conclusion was that it was highly unlikely that protests would catch on.

It's hard to be more wrong.

More than seven months later, and protests are becoming a nightly occurrence. The protest movement has been reinvigorated in recent weeks, partially inspired by Libya, partially inspired by fresh martyrs, entirely dedicated to regain the momentum they had at the start.

On Wednesday, 31 August, 14 year old Ali Jawad was shot through the eye with a tear gas canister that fired directly at civilians by police who were standing less than 30 feet away.

Within a week, protests were growing, specifically in Sitra, the home of young Jawad. On 4 September, we received this video, a man standing in from of a police convoy, refusing to stand down:

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Death in Bahrain

2112 GMT: James is taking a break, but he wanted to note that we've receieved dozens of protest videos from Syria, some of which we will put into a separate feature.

2106 GMT: This video claims to show protesters in the Alqarya area of Sitra, Bahrain, tonight, before the protesters are attacked by police:

Dissidents prepare to protest in Babar, Bahrain:

2051 GMT: Syrian expatriates have founded a 140 member transitional council in Turkey. The goal of the national council is to establish a vision for a post-Assad Syria, and to continue to organize peaceful pro-democracy protests:

At the meeting, 70 names were read out from a list of 140, as at least some of the rest cannot be named, possibly because they are inside Syria, says the BBC's Jonathan Head in Istanbul.

Others are in exile.

The opposition groups seem to have finally agreed to what is effectively an embryonic Syrian national assembly, says our correspondent.

For the first time, it has the full backing of all opposition groups inside and outside the country, and will now represent the opposition, he (opposition spokesman) adds.

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: So What Does Protest Mean?

See also Libya Snapshot: The TV Producer Keeping Qaddafi on the Air
Turkey-Israel Feature: Why There is a Downward Spiral in Relations
Friday's Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Expecting Defiance, Watching for Defections

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2035 GMT: Footage of a protest in Idlib in northwest Syria tonight:

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Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Preparing to Fight for Bani Walid

Al Jazeera English's assessment of the fight for Bani Walid in Libya

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0125 GMT: Activists say Syrian security forces have killed at least nine people and arrested dozens in the central cities of Hama and Homs and in the northwestern province of Idlib.

A spokesman of the Local Coordination Committees said dozens of troops backed by at least 30 military vehicles and security forces raided Hama, with a similar operation in Homs that caused the nine deaths, while about 100 people were rounded up in Idlib Province.

Activists based in northern Lebanon also reported sounds of heavy shelling in the Wadi Khaled, an area facing the Syrian town of Tal Kalakh.

The operations occurred as the Syrian regime granted access to the International Committee of the Red Cross to the Damascus Central Prison, in the suburb of Adra.

1856 GMT: Two videos show a Syrian sniper on the roof of a building, preparing to shoot. According to someone on Twitter, the translation is as follows:

Someone off camera asks the sniper, "could you shoot her? If you shoot her you are a real hero, but if not you are a coward." The sniper then said yes, and he takes the shot.

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Bahrain (and Iran) Feature: Nokia Siemens Accused --- Again --- of Assisting Regime Detention and Abuse

Amidst the regime crackdown after the disputed 2009 Presidential election in Iran, the telecommunications giant Nokia Siemens was accused of providing the regime with surveillance technology which allowed it to track and dissidents. Last year, a lawsuit was filed by Mehdi Saharkhiz on behalf of his father, imprisoned journalist Isa Saharkhiz.

Now to Bahrain in 2011....

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Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Endgame in Tripoli?

Now see Monday's Libya LiveBlog: The Last Push Against Former Leader Qaddafi

View Free Tripoli - Red Rebel - Green Gaddafi in a larger map

Map of the reported fighting in the Libyan capital Tripoli

See also Saturday's Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Emergency Meetings

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0451 GMT: James Miller is going to bed. Scott Lucas will be picking things up, with a brand new Live blog and a brand new URL. Check back between 0530 and 0600 GMT.

Al Jazeera has this update:

Senior Libyan rebel figure Mahmoud Jibril said early Monday there are still pockets of resistance in Tripoli from forces loyal to strongman Muammer Gaddafi, after rebels surged into the capital.

"I warn you, there are still pockets of resistance in and around Tripoli," Jibril said in a speech on the opposition television station al-Ahrar.

"You have to be aware that some pockets are coming from the east and you have to be cautious. The fight is not over yet. God willing, in a few hours our victory will be complete."

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Pressure Outside, More Pressure Within

In a separate entry, we had posted 2 exclusive videos. One video showed what may be the remains of the now infamous bodies that were dumped in a Hama river.

But the video at the top of the entry shows something very interesting, soldiers beating protesters while they are detained in a bus, forcing them to shout pro-Assad chants. Al Jazeera now has an interesting piece of analysis, that the soldiers in the video have beards, and beards are not allowed in the regular army.

1814 GMT: The LCCS has released a statement entitled "Indications of Victory:"

This Friday was one of the most important during the course of the protest movement in Syria. For weeks, the security forces and the military, through their operations, have prevented mass demonstrations. However, in a remarkable step and due to increasing international support for the protest movement and the subsequent morale boost, many protesters have managed to overcome the security and military barriers and begin taking the steps necessary to de-legitimize the government. Despite the Syrian president’s promises to withdraw his troops and end military operations across the country, armored vehicles and tanks have continued to be stationed in city centers. In fact, security backups have been called to quell protests such as the one that occurred in Hirak and Ankhal in the Daraa Governorate, where they have resumed gunfire using both light and heavy machine guns. Today alone, security forces killed at least 22 protesters, including children who were not part of the demonstrations.

In the besieged city of Homs, all neighborhoods, including Khaldieh, Bab Sbaa, and Baba Amr demonstrated in thousands, despite gunfire yesterday and today, and despite the violent military operations in the city for the past week, which take lives on a daily basis. Deir Ezzor is in the same condition, but demonstrations approached large numbers before the military invasion.

The statement also said that there were renewed protests in the embattled regions of Idlib, its suburbs, and Hama, where security once again fired on demonstrators. In Lattakia and in Jableh, the most recent scenes of the military crackdown, protesters also began retaking the streets.

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Syria, Libya, (and Beyond) Liveblog: 1 if by Land, 2 if by Sea

2104 GMT: James Miller is wrapping up the liveblog (but only because he has to start it again in 5-8 hours).

Our closing thought, the AP has compiled some video of Lattakia, taken today:

2038 GMT: The Local Coordinating Committees of Syria are reporting protests, heavy security, and the use of live ammunition against crowds in Homs, Deir Ez Zor, Aleppo, and the Qadam district of Damascus. Large protests are reported, once again, in almost every corner of Syria.

2025 GMT: Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu expressed his frustration at the situatio today in Syria:

“We are asking Assad to actualize the steps we agreed on in our talks with him,” he went on to say, referring to his meeting with Assad last Tuesday. “He had taken some positive steps in the first few days. Such as the withdrawal of tanks from Hama and providing the transportation of our press members to Hama, but operations have continued in various cities since Friday. It is not possible to condone these operations, which have claimed the lives of many civilians,” he said.

“We have requested an immediate halt of these operations, and we will continue to do so. We are calling on the Syrian administration to be more sensitive to its own people and not to further increase the tension. The necessary steps must be taken immediately. The operations causing civilian losses should be stopped, particularly in this holy month of Ramadan. We will keep on with our contacts in the coming days. The Syrian issue is a matter we have been following very closely; it is a matter we are directly concerned with in every aspect.”

Davutoglu went on to deliver his strongest words yet to Syria's Bahsar al Assad:

“This is our final word to the Syrian authorities: Our first expectation is that these operations stop immediately and unconditionally,” Mr. Davutoglu told a news conference in Ankara, Turkey. “If the operations do not end, there would be nothing more to discuss about steps that would be taken,” he said, without saying what that action might include.

Jordan also condemned the actions in Syria:

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