N�rnberg, Mittelfranken, 2006-09-24 - 11:49 p.m.

Yes I vaguely knew about the existence of Bahrain, but I couldn't quite situate it - Somewere in or at the Arabian peninsula where Saudi-Arabia, Jemen, Oman etc. are - but I had no idea where in that region Bahrain is situated - Now I google-earthed it - it' a teeny tiny little isle group (an archipelago of 40 islands) north of that Arabian peninsula in the Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf)-

& here in detail:

I just searched the website of Bahrain & found some facts about it - it's a kingdom - but there are 5 government regions (how could such a small country with about 698.000 inhabitants have 5 government districts? - by the way the town Nuremberg where I live has about 500.000 inhabitants (we could be a state)) - well it has a long bridge of about 30 or 40 km to Saudi-Arabia across the sea.

I looked in the CIA worlds fact book & found this:

Bahrain's small size and central location among Persian Gulf countries require it to play a delicate balancing act in foreign affairs among its larger neighbors. Facing declining oil reserves, Bahrain has turned to petroleum processing and refining and has transformed itself into an international banking center. Sheikh HAMAD bin Isa Al Khalifa, who came to power in 1999, has pushed economic and political reforms and has worked to improve relations with the Shi'a community. In February 2001, Bahraini voters approved a referendum on the National Action Charter - the centerpiece of Sheikh HAMAD's political liberalization program. In February 2002, Sheikh HAMAD pronounced Bahrain a constitutional monarchy and changed his status from amir to king. In October 2002, Bahrainis elected members of the lower house of Bahrain's reconstituted bicameral legislature, the National Assembly.

Ethnic groups:
Bahraini 62.4%, non-Bahraini 37.6% (2001 census)
Religions:
Muslim (Shi'a and Sunni) 81.2%, Christian 9%, other 9.8% (2001 census)
Languages:
Arabic, English, Farsi, Urdu

There live about 30 Jews (4 families) in Bahrain - as much as I see in peaceful connection to the neighbourhood - just to mention.

You may ask why do I write about Bahrain?

Well because since some weeks I read this mideastyouth-blog (you should read that blog too, because you get a lot of information there what young intellectuals & opinioned people in the mideast are thinking & believing - you'll don't get that in the news!) -

Hmm - & I found out that it's done by a young woman called Esra coming from Bahrain & I thought where the h*ll is Bahrain? - (I really thought in the beginning that Esra was male, because I knew the name Esra only from the Old Testamant (Thora) of the Bible - & this Esra (one of the former prophets from old Israel wrote in the time of deportation to Babylon (or Persia?)) a book about the new temple etc.) - but well he was male & so I thought Esra must be male too..

well from the very beginning of reading that blog I found it interesting enough & I really don't care wether the host is female or male or maybe alien or coming from Atlantis.

this is only part of what I wanted to write today, but I feel that it's getting too long for one entry - so just to be continued in my next entry..

PS: Well Bahrain lies close to Katar - Did anyone in this world already heard about the existence of Katar? - It's a country, but apparently didn't had started something like trying to conquering the world, comitting a genocide, starting wars, spreading bad doctrines to the world or even have important resources the world is greedy for or writing an important book or winning a nobel price & all that stuff that makes countries remarkable, remembered, famous or known to the whole wide world - maybe a very peacefull place - a paradize to live in? - well but only maybe..