The herried royal faimlie o Bahrain, unner pressure frae demonstratours tae reform the kintra’s government an inbring democracie, haes caaed on assistance frae neibourin Saudi Arabia fur tae uphaud thair control. In recent weiks, the kintra haes seen monie protests frae the majoritie Shia communitie, at claims hit is subjeck ti sectarian discriminacioun frae the minoritie Sunni communitie at hauds aa poleitical pouer. The rulin faimlie, the Khalifas, is Sunni an aa.
Bahrain is ane eyland about 15 myle affshore frae Saudi Arabia. The twa kintras is connectit by a braid causiewey. Reports frae Reuter’s News Agencie yistreen sayed at airmoured personnel cairriers haudin mair nor a thousan Saudi sodgers wis seen crossin the causiewey heidit ti the Bahrain toun o Riffah, whaur monie o the Bahrain royal faimlie bydes.
The Saudi intervencioun wull be regairdit bi monie as a skelp in the mou ti the Unitit Staits. Juist three day syne, on Setterday 12 Mairch, the US Defence Secretarie Robert Gates veisitit Bahrain, where he caaed fur muckle chynges tae be made ti the kintras poleitical seistem an poukit at the “baby steps,” at he claimed wud no be suffeicient tae redd up the problems in the Gulf stait.
Houeer ben a whein hours o Gates gaein haem the Bahrain rulin hous shaaed hits miscomfit wi the US diplomat’s poseicioun, an speirt help frae Saudi Arabia. Sen thae actit sae suin efter Gates veisit, Saudi Arabia haes gart the US luik irrelevant ti the gaeins-on in Bahrain an frae the pynt o vizzie o the Shia minoritie in Bahrain, cud gar the US luik lik hit’s taen sydes wi the Saudis an the Khalifa faimlie.
Observers says at the nummer o Saudi sodgers isnae enou tae chynge the fecks on the grunn, but hit is ettilt tae frichten the demonstratours inti conteinaein wi negotiaciouns wi the Bahrain royal hous. The Bahrain airmie haes 30,000 sodgers, aa Sunni. The Shia-led opposicioun haes sayed the Saudis wud be traitit as ane invadin airmie.
The Unitit Staits haes taen tent o the growin demonstrations in Bahrain in the feir at Iran, a Shia kintra an nae frein o the US, cud mak yuis o the instabilitie fur tae spreid hits hank in the kintra. The Bahrain opposeisioun haes na-sayed the claim the Iranians is rowed inti the protests.
Concerns wis raised bi the UN, Bang Ki-Moon, Secretarie General o the Unitit Naciouns, gied out a staitment sayin: “The Secretary-General is troubled by the growing violence in the Kingdom of Bahrain that has left many people injured over the past few days … He appeals to all concerned to exercise maximum restraint and to do everything possible to prevent the use of force and further violence.”
Iran reactit belyve an caaed on Bahrain no tae lat whit hit cryed fremmit interference in traitin wi appeals fur chynge. Speikin ti the Fars News Agencie, Iranian Fremmit Meinistrie offeicial Hossein Amir Abdollahian sayed: “Yuisin ither kintras militarie forces fur tae oppress thir demands is no the solucioun.”
At a Whyte Hous press briefin yistreen, Jay Carney, a press offeicial fur the Whyte Hous, reactit ti the events bi tellin reporters at the United States wantit “all of our GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) partners to show restraint and to respect the rights of the people of Bahrain and to act in a way that supports dialogue instead of undermining it.”
Mr Carney gaed on tae say: “We urge restraint, we urge non-violence in response to non-violent protesters, the respect for the universal rights of people in the region to gather peacefully, to voice their opinions, to have their grievances heard by their governments, and to have greater participation in the political process.”
Houeer Mr Carney na-sayed at the income o the Saudis wis an invasion an refuised tae caa on thaim tae pou back frae the strategically important kintra, whaur ther ane important American naval base.
On Monday nicht, US offeicials frae the office o Hillary Clinton, the US Secretarie o Stait, issued a staitment sayin at the kintra haed made hit clair at hit trews at the cuir fur Bahrains problems is in peicefou poleitical chynge, an no militarie accioun.
Wurds ye mibbie no ken
herried – harried, beleaguered
inbring – introduce, bring in
skelp – slap, spank
pouk – pluck; pouk at something – to criticise
redd up – clear up, solve
miscomfit – displeasure, unease
speir – ask, request, past tense speirt
pynt o vizzie – point of view
hank – loop, coil; influence, hold, control
is rowed inti – is involved with
fremmit – foreign
belyve – quickly, at once
trew – believe
Gin ye want mair help, yuise the Dictionar o the Scots Leid
A note on spelling: These articles use the ‘monomorphemic principle’. In Scots (as in English and many other languages), some words can have variant pronunciations depending upon whether they are fully stressed or unstressed, or they can change pronunciation when a word-ending is added, such as a grammatical ending or adjectival suffix. The change in pronunciation is not reflected in the spelling.
So for example in English we say nation where the first vowel is pronounced like ai in raid, but national where the first vowel is pronounced like a in man. The ‘nation’ part of these words carries a single meaning, but is pronounced differently when different endings are added . This occurs in Scots spelling too eg. nacioun, naciounal. The h in the pronouns ‘he’ ‘hit’ is only pronounced when we stress or emphasise the word. Otherwise they’re pronounced ‘e, it.
In Scots this principle also allows us to use a single spelling for some words which have a wide range of dialectal pronunciations, eg. hae ‘have’, past tense haed, pronounced had, hud, hid, haid, etc according to dialect. With the present tense -s ending we get haes, pronounced hiz, huz, haiz etc, according to dialect. Pronounce these words according to your own local accent.