(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - “Bahrain has become a complete pariah state with no honor or respect anywhere, except of course with the other pariah states,” Professor Rodney Shakespeare said on Wednesday.
“If anybody actually does trade with Bahrain or is known to be trading with Bahrain, others will in fact reject them, and will reject them with contempt,” Shakespeare added.
Shakespeare noted that the US and its allies think it is in their long-term economic interest to support the regime in Manama but they are wrong as they are “clinging on to an old way of thinking and...an old way if viewing their self- interests.”
“They (Western powers) do not actually understand one of the great tides of the history [that is taking place in the Arab world], [one] which is certainly democratic, ...Islamic and ...demographic,” he said.
The chairman of the Committee against Torture in Bahrain attributed the US and the UK's tradition of supporting dictatorial regimes to the fact that they are “fundamentally anti-democratic themselves” and “like the great extremes of the rich and the poor.”
Since mid-February, thousands of anti-government protesters in Bahrain have poured into the streets, calling for an end to the ruling of al-Khalifa dynasty, which has ruled the country for almost forty years.
Last March, Saudi-led forces were dispatched to the Persian Gulf island at Manama's request to quell the countrywide protests.
Since the deployment of Saudi troops in Bahrain, Manama has shown itself capable of great brutality in suppressing the anti-regime protesters.
Scores of protesters have been killed and many others arrested and sent to unknown locations during Manama's violent crackdowns on anti-government protesters. A number of the killings took place under torture.
Regime forces have also raided dozens of mosques, schools, sacred sites and even graves in persisting efforts to suppress all opposition.
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