Bad gets worse

Think things couldn’t get worse?  Think again:

• One or more of Japan’s nuclear plants now looks sure to melt down, with at least one breaching the reactor containment vessel and spewing radioactive material.  How much attention do we think Arab revolutions will get after that happens?
• Gaddafi’s forces are at the outskirts of Benghazi.  We can hope that the rebels will succeed in cutting his now long supply lines, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
• The crackdown has gotten brutal in Bahrain, with the Saudi and UAE forces seeming to remain in the background guarding the royals while the King’s forces enforce martial law with tanks and machine guns.
• Yemen is at least as bad, with firing on demonstrators and no sign of serious negotiations yet.

Yes, they are still discussing a no fly zone at the Security Council, thus preventing anything else meaningful from getting through that august body.

Also notable:  the European Union, freshly equipped with reforms that were supposed to unify its foreign policy, has rarely sounded less coherent or less effective:  UK and France want a no fly zone, Germany doesn’t and Italy does and doesn’t.

Nor are the Americans sounding much more coherent and effective.  Still in listening mode, which means not ready to do anything.

Don’t forget:  Egypt votes on constitutional amendments Saturday.  If they approve, a good deal of the old regime can hope to survive; if they don’t, things will again be up in the air.  I might vote for up in the air, but I don’t live in Cairo.

I know you all prefer it when I post those funny videos, but this morning is hard to take lightly.  I’ll look for some this afternoon.

PS:  I should have mentioned it earlier but forgot:  one of the consequences of Saudi/UAE intervention in Bahrain is a sharp rise in sectarian tensions, reflected in statements by Iraq’s Prime Minister Maliki and Grand Ayatollah Sistani but also felt in Iran.  That does not bode well.