Despite Bahrain’s authoritarian rule, Washington still sells it military equipment.
Lip Service Is All the Bahraini Opposition Will Ever Get From Washington*
read more
Bahrain
Bahrain : United States :: Syria : Russia
A world power equips a dictatorship that kills, tortures, and imprisons unarmed protesters. No, it’s not only Russia’s relationship to Syria. It’s also the United States when it comes to Bahrain. Two days after a U.S. coalition of national groups asked the Obama administration to publicly call for Bahrain to release a human rights defender on hunger strike, the White House issued a press statement expressing “concern for the well-being of jailed activist Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja.”
Swift Boat to Bahrain
The real story out of Bahrain these days, though, is not the gift of some old PT boats, the vagaries of the dialogue between the pro-government camp and the predominantly Shia opposition groups.
Timoney Time in Bahrain
Bahrain’s Interior Ministry has hired John Timoney, the former police chief of Philadelphia and Miami, noted for his heavy-handed policing of demonstrations.
Does U.S. Believe Arms Deal With Bahrain Will Encourage Human Rights?
A $53 million U.S. arms sale, put on hold in November pending an investigation into Bahraini security forces human rights violations, is being pushed forward by the Obama Administration despite opposition by Congress and human rights observers.
Bahrain’s Courageous Doctors
The United States continues to ignore the thwarted Arab Spring in Bahrain. Recently, a quasi-military court in the small Gulf state sentenced 20 doctors and nurses to up to 15 years in jail. The charge against them? Treating injured demonstrators opposing the regime.
Bahrain and Human Rights
It is becoming painfully obvious that the United States is hostile to the “Arab Spring.” In Egypt, U.S. military aid programs remain in force, and in Yemen a “secret” U.S. war may be in the offing. In the United Arab Emirates plans may be afoot to develop a for-profit rapid reaction force (to crackdown, surely, on UAE citizens for “publicly insulting” their leader). The U.S. government continues to support the Israeli blockade of Gaza. But perhaps the quintessential example of U.S. reactionary policy is in the tiny Kingdom of Bahrain.
Saudi Arabia: Rolling Back the Arab Spring
The Saudi and Bahraini monarchies recently announced the engagement of a Saudi princess to a Bahraini prince. A substantial bridal party has preceded her, though. Starting March 14th, 4,000 Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) troops, mostly from Saudi Arabia, have entered Bahrain to suppress its protest movement. Some 1,600 Saudi soldiers will remain in the country indefinitely to safeguard the regime there from further “disturbances,” i.e., pro-democracy protests.
Bahrain: Beyond the U.S.-Iran Rivalry
The popular uprising in Bahrain has put U.S. foreign policymakers in an awkward position. The U.S. government has largely lent its diplomatic weight to the Saudi regime in stifling popular uprising in Bahrain for fear that any democratic transformation in that country would work to Iran’s advantage, thus undermining U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf region.
How the Tiny Kingdom of Bahrain Strong-Armed the President of the United States
Just how American bullets make their way into Bahraini guns, into weapons used by troops suppressing pro-democracy protesters, opens a wider window into the shadowy relationships between the Pentagon and a number of autocratic states in the Arab world.