MIDEAST UPDATE – AT 11:11 A.M. ET:  One effect of the Japan catastrophe has been to take attention away from the rebellions in the Mideast.  Those rebellions, at this hour, are not going all that well.

Rebels in Libya are taking a beating from Qadaffi's air force and army, and are losing ground.  Many of the rebels are pleading for outside help, but their appeals are falling on the very chilly ears of the president of the United States and the chilly, soft spines of the European Union.  If the present trend goes on, and Mr. Obama continues contemplating the meaning of life, the rebellion will fail.  And governments will quickly find a way to make peace with Qadaffi, express regrets over the inconvenience, and get back to oil deals. 

Friday was supposed to be a "day of rage" in Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil supplier.  It was not, as WaPo points out, but there was some disruption elsewhere:

QATIF, SAUDI ARABIA - A "Day of Rage" planned by critics of the Saudi Arabian government proved relatively calm Friday, with peaceful demonstrations in and around the eastern city of Qatif, a day after police fired on protesters there, and elsewhere in oil-rich Eastern province.

Witnesses reported a heavy police presence in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, but no protests.

In other countries in the region, protests led to violence. Demonstrators in Bahrain who have been on the streets for almost a month calling for democratic reforms were attacked by government supporters brandishing sticks and knives, witnesses said. Police fired tear gas on the protesters as they attempted to march to a royal complex on the outskirts of Manama, the capital.

In Yemen, security forces opened fire on protesters near Aden, injuring at least six, the Associated Press reported. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital, Sanaa, to demand the immediate ouster of longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh and to mourn the death of a protester killed by security forces at a rally Tuesday.

COMMENT:  Libya is still, by far, the greatest scene of violence.  But surely the message being sent from the West to the Mideast is one of indifference, sluggishness and lack of any real interest in the people of the region.  This may work in the short term, but I suspect that those in the Mideast demanding basic rights will remember America's role in these hours, and forever resent it.

March 11, 2011