BFF
“The United States should delay a proposed arms sale to Bahrain until it ends abuses against peaceful critics of the ruling family and takes meaningful steps toward accountability for serious human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said today. The US Defense Department notified Congress on September 14, 2011, of a proposed sale of armored Humvees and missiles to Bahrain worth US$53 million. The sale would appear to be the first since the start of Bahrain’s crackdown on protests earlier this year. “This is exactly the wrong move after Bahrain brutally suppressed protests and is carrying out a relentless campaign of retribution against its critics,” said Maria McFarland, deputy Washington director at Human Rights Watch………….”
The rulers of Bahrain, the al-Khalifa clan, have perfected their game in their Apartheid country. They get Saudi money and troops to keep their throne in the face of a popular uprising, they get all the Pakistani and Jordanian mercenaries they need to subdue their people (paid for by Saudi money and money from other Persian-American Gulf states), and they can get all the weapons they need from America to help subdue their angry and disenfranchised people (also paid for by Saudi and other Gulf money). It is a nice racket, if they can keep it going. Except that they can’t keep it going for long, not with a mini-war warming up between the rulers and most of their people.
Cheers
mhg
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