Bahrain Updates

[the_future_modernes]

ETA: Saudi Arabia's response below: So. A couple of days ago the Crown prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa called off the security forces and told them to stop shooting the protesters.Some of whom promptly retook Pearl Square and settled in for a nice long seige.


The Al Jazeera Live Blog goes up to Feb 21 which is when shit got seriously real in Libya and everyone got distracted.

While the Crown Prince calls for dialogue between the protesters and the gov't

THE multi-party national dialogue will involve all sections of the Bahraini society, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown and Deputy Supreme Commander said yesterday.

"We are all Bahrainis. No Sunnis. No Shi'ites," HRH the Crown Prince said as he received at Riffa Palace a delegation from Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He stressed that the national dialogue ordered by His Majesty King Hamad would engage all parties.

"Our duty now is to introduce viable reforms promoting equality."

He also called on Bahrainis to assume their historical responsibilities, urging calm, self-restraint and constructive national dialogue. MORE

and in response to demand for concessions, Bahrain's king promised to release political prisoners Bahrain King Orders Release of Political Prisoners

Manama, Bahrain (AP) - Bahrain's king ordered the release of some political prisoners Tuesday, conceding to another opposition demand as the embattled monarchy tries to engage protesters in talks aimed at ending an uprising that has entered its second week.

The king's decree -- which covers several Shiite activists accused of plotting against the state -- adds to the brinksmanship on both sides that has included a massive pro-government rally Monday and the planned returned of a prominent opposition figure from exile.

It's unclear how many prisoners will be freed, said government spokeswoman Maysoon Sabkar.

But they include some of the 25 Shiite activists on trial for allegedly plotting against the Sunni rulers of the strategic island kingdom, a leading member of Bahrain's Shiite opposition, Abdul Jalili Khalil, told The Associated Press.MORE

...The Bahraini oppposition is not stopping there. Today, 100,000 people (of a population of 800,000) are marching in the capital: Bahrain protesters back in action: Tens of thousands march in the first organised demonstration since unrest broke out in the Gulf Arab nation.

Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Bahrain in the possibly biggest demonstration since unrest began last week.

Demonstrators circled the Bahrain Mall and the financial district of Manama, the capital, in a march to the heart of the protest at Pearl Square.

"We want the fall of the government" was the most common chant among the mainly Shia Muslim protesters who accuse the Sunni rulers of discriminating against the island's Shia majority.

Led by opposition groups such as Wefaq and Waad, it was the first organised demonstration and followed spontaneous protests by a rising youth movement relying on social media.

Helicopters hovered overhead but security forces offered no resistance after opening fire on protesters last week.MORE

see also: Bahrain: Loyalty to the Martyrs

And now we do a bit of a segue to some really interesting articles on the Western role in events in Bahrain. It is being postulated that American pressure may have contributed to the Bahraini royal family calling off the security forces, but I can't find that article right now.

Anyway, the LA Times talks about why the USA has ties to Bahrain: U.S. walks tightrope in policy toward Bahrain violence I'm sure you'll be surprised to learn its all about the oil.

A tiny monarchy in the Persian Gulf, Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, and the fall of its government could scramble the strategic order in the Middle East, potentially weakening U.S. leverage and leaving Iran in a stronger position.

....

Fifth Fleet headquarters commanded by a Vice Admiral Mark I. Fox controls U.S. naval ships and aircraft operating in the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. Most months of the year, there are dozens of the U.S. naval vessels in the region.

The Fifth Fleet's broad mission is to protect the flow of oil and, in case of a military crisis with Iran, to keep open the strait of Hormuz, the 29-mile choke point near the entrance to the Persian Gulf. More than 20% of the world's petroleum shipments travel through the strait.

"The importance of the Fifth Fleet's mission cannot be overstated," said Mark Kimmitt, former deputy director for strategy for U.S. Central Command and a former senior State Department and Pentagon official. "They have the mission to keep the Persian Gulf open, defeat terrorism, prevent piracy and respond to crises, whether environmental, security or humanitarian.MORE

Now Britain however, has a WHOLE lot of shenanigans to answer for. Lets start with a 2000 article on the Butcher of Bahrain and the UK's weapons sales to the country. BAHRAIN BUTCHER can't hide any more Oh he could, and he did. With the help of the British government.

For decades, Henderson - the head of the Bahraini special branch - has been accused of overseeing the widespread and state-controlled repression, torture and murder of pro-democracy activists in the sheikdom. His agents have carried out a range of abuses against dissidents, including the murder of detainees, the rape of captives and the use of electric shocks to extract confessions. Henderson has been known to beat prisoners himself.

...


It was the British government that installed Henderson as head of Bahrain's security service. Last year the Sunday Herald uncovered secret documents that showed that, in 1966, after his deportation from Kenya - where he had coordinated brutal reprisals against Mau Mau rebels - Henderson was approached by senior diplomats, who smoothed the way for his entry into Bahrain as its secret police chief.

Until this discovery it was thought that Henderson was just another mercenary.He was born in Aberdeen but lived most of his life as a colonial gent overseas. By the mid-1960s he had a ferocious reputation as an expert in covert counter-terrorism.

The documents uncovered by the Sunday Herald proved that Britain colluded in the repression of Bahraini dissidents. Antony Parsons - the senior British diplomat in Bahrain at the time - and Michael Weir, of the Foreign Office's Arabian Department, worked to persuade the then Emir to hire Henderson. Correspondence, marked top secret, between Weir and Parson reveals that the pair asked the Emir if he "wanted us to try and recruit specialist staff for the special branch".

Another coded telegram stresses Henderson's suitability for the job, adding that the Bahrainis should be urged to give him "a free hand to concentrate on rebuilding the special branch". Within weeks of Henderson taking up the post, Parsons was reporting how covert operations were under way, targeting possible "terrorists". For "terrorists", read pro-democracy campaigners. Parsons is now dead, but Weir - who eventually became ambassador to Cairo - has admitted Britain's role in recruiting Henderson. Today, he somewhat reservedly refers to the appointment as "controversial".

...

Britain annually supplies Bahrain with large consignments of arms that can be used in counter-insurgency operations. Department of Trade regulations state that no arms shipments can be used for "internal repression", but the rules are ambiguous enough to let Britain claim that it is not breaching any rules.

The UK has exported flame-throwers, machine-guns, grenades, smoke- bombs and mortars to the Gulf state. It also trains members of the Bahraini security forces, including the Defence Force and the National Guard - units accused of shooting pro-democracy demonstrators. Lord Avebury, vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee, said: "Britain has systematically colluded in imposing a regime of terror on innocent Bahrainis. I am ashamed to be British.MORE

I don't know if the investigation continues, but I do know that Henderson is still living peacefully with his wife, probably in Bahrain. Meantime the Guardian published several articles about the British weapon trade with Bahrain Feb 17 Bahrain uses UK-supplied weapons in protest crackdown, Britain cancels Bahrain and Libya arms export licences: Troops from the Gulf state also took training courses at Sandhurst and other military colleges and Britain can push democracy or weapons – but not both

• Comment is free

<

David Cameron's arms-sale tour has mired him in typical liberal interventionist hypocrisy. Better let the Arab world sort itself

I must be missing something. The present British government, like its predecessor, claims to pursue a policy of "liberal interventionism", seeking the downfall of undemocratic regimes round the globe, notably in the Muslim world. The same British government, again like its predecessor, sends these undemocratic regimes copious weapons to suppress the only plausible means of the said downfall, popular insurrection. The contradiction is glaring.
Downing Street is clearly embarrassed by Egypt, Bahrain and Libya having had the impertinence to rebel just as David Cameron was embarking on an important arms-sales trip to the Gulf, not an area much addicted to democracy. Fifty British arms makers were present at last year's sickening Libyan arms fair, while the resulting weapons are reportedly prominent in gunning down this week's rioters. Cameron reads from the Foreign Office script, claiming that all guns, tanks, armoured vehicles, stun grenades, tear gas and riot-control equipment are "covered by assurances that they would not be used in human rights repression". He must know this is absurd.

David Cameron hits out at critics of Britain's arms trade: Prime minister says expecting small countries such as Kuwait to manufacture all their defence weapons is at odds with reality [The reality being that you are a heartless greedy immoral asshole?] The most HILARIOUS part of his defense to me is this:

• Britain has tough export licences governing its arms sales. "When Britain does take part in the defence trade we do so with probably the tightest set of export licences and rules almost anywhere in the world. It is obviously a difficult process to get right on every occasion. But we do have very, very tough controls, and very clear controls.MORE

Oh yeah? If selling weapons to Libya and Bahrain is the result of the toughest arms control policies in the world then I DO NOT want to see the worst.


Saudi Arabia says it's ready to help Bahrain's rulers

MANAMA, BAHRAIN - Saudi Arabia said Sunday that it stands ready "with all its capabilities" to shore up Bahrain's ruling royal family if a standoff with the Shiite-led opposition is not resolved soon, underscoring the kingdom's deep concern about its neighbor's ongoing political crisis.

Sunni-led Saudi Arabia props up Bahrain's al-Khalifa family with cash and has long sought to prevent the tiny Persian Gulf state - with its majority Shiite population - from falling into Iran's orbit. With dwindling oil resources, Bahrain relies heavily on Saudi Arabia for money and security.

It was unclear whether the Saudi comments indicated that the country was contemplating possible action in Bahrain or were merely meant to express growing anxiety among Saudi leaders. But some regional experts have long warned that a concerted Shiite challenge to the monarchy in Bahrain might prompt intervention from Saudi Arabia, which has its own restive Shiite minority population. The two countries are connected by a causeway. MORE