(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - We have conducted an interview with Sara Marusek, political analyst, to share her opinion on this issue. The video also offers the opinions of two other guests, Jihad Mouracadeh and Dominic Kavakeb. What follows is a transcript of the interview: Q: What do you think about this issue? Of course your response to what Mr. Mouracadeh [the other guest of the program] has said. Do you think the fact that Saudi Arabia and Qatar, they are most prominent in the Arab League that that shows there would be eventually a different take on matters that are related to either Bahrain or Syria? Marusek: Well absolutely it is very evident that Qatar and Saudi Arabia are taking an American stance on Bahrain and Syria and I would actually argue that the situations are quite different. The situation for Bahrainis, they are living under incredible oppression, they are not represented at all by their government and I think that there are much more effective democratic processes, free press is going on in Syria and the people generally are very supportive of their government in Syria. There was a recent poll that said 55 percent of Syrians even now still prefer President Assad to be the leader because they fear anything else. If you polled Bahrainis which nobody would never be able to do, you would see the vast majority of Bahrainis will not support the Khalifa government and the regime. And so it is really evident that the situations are different and it is really tragic to see how the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council for example dealt with the situation in Bahrain with incredible violence. I mean it was supported by the West and even today they are using Western weapons. There was actually yesterday an attack by Anonymous which is the group of hackers that have been basically highlighting a lot of injustices in the contemporary world. And yesterday they actually attacked Pennsylvania Company that provides tear gas to the Bahraini government because you know this has to end. Our government will not do anything and America prevents these atrocities and they will certainly not say anything in a political level, at the United Nations or put pressure on any of their “friends” in the region. Q: Yes do you think the fact that they have sent in a lot of political experts and the US and Britain both have sent people into Bahrain, what do you think the reason for that is? And do you think the fact that there is a US naval fleet that would of course keep the US at the side of the kingdom? Marusek: Of course, with the naval fleet the Americans just want an iron fist. They want some sort of law in order no matter how many human rights violations there are, no matter how many political prisoners, no matter how many cases of torture. Yes like as you said for example John Timoney who was a police chief in America, who is known as a very harsh cop as well as there is a cop there from the UK and these are police officers, there are police approaches, it is very effective but it is insidious because they use very violent methods in a very underground way so that it actually becomes almost acceptable. In a hearing John Timoney for example talked about what is happening in Bahrain now. He completely depoliticized the situation and said oh no, now there are angry youths who are just waging against the system but they are waging against the system because they have been oppressed, because they do not have any job prospects, because their family members have been tortured, because the doctors that they have in hospitals are in jail right now. Q: Of course I want to hear what you have, your comments on Mr. Mouracadeh’s stances and the fact that of course there are elections like he pointed out, why not for the opposition movement ? Why not they go into the elections, go into the parliament and make changes inside the parliament? Marusek: Well of course they have gone into elections increasingly over the last ten years and they secured a vast majority of the votes. However that still only secures the minority of the seats in the actual parliament. And the parliament does not have power to do very much at all. According to many parliamentarians they cannot even monitor the powers and the ministers and the Prime Minister. They cannot even confront or question anything that happens in the government. Therefore, why should they bother participating in a system that treats them as if they have no voice, as if they have no representation when they secured such a vast majority of the votes? And I also think it is really interesting to talk about how Saudi Arabia did not want foreign intervention in Bahrain. Therefore Saudi Arabia sent in their tanks. That is absolutely ridiculous. Saudi Arabia does not own Bahrain. Mouracadeh: They have a defense pact with Bahrain. Marusek: They have a defense pact with Bahrain rulers not with Bahrain’s people and the Bahraini people... Mouracadeh: Absolutely. I am sorry, the ruler is the government. Marusek: They are not Iranian. They are their own people, they are their own agents. They have no desire to become part of the Islamic Republic of Iran. They want to become a democratic Bahrain which will obviously have better ties with Iran. That is unquestionable because there are cultural connections and there are political connections. But they are their own people. They are Arabs. They are not going to be in anyway anything but doing things for themselves and representing themselves. So this whole discussion of this is an Iranian plot, Iran is helping this revolution it is just really pathetic and it does not reflect the realities on the grounds. Mouracadeh: I am sorry but the Iranian government made statements for this fact. They said they want to intervene on behalf of the Shia population. Marusek: American government makes statements on behalf of the protesters in Cairo that does not mean that... Mouracadeh: Exactly so when they said they want to intervene the other side said no, you cannot not intervene. This is the government of Bahrain and we have a defense pact with Bahrain. Marusek: So you want to censor the Iranian government... Mouracadeh: There was a falling threat that triggered the defense pact. Q: There seems to always be an Arab League plan whether it is for Syria or Bahrain or other countries. Now do you think what is the plan exactly for Bahrain and the fact that you have countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia mainly dominant in the Arab League that they would have a certain bias stance towards Bahrain perhaps? Marusek: Of course they have a completely bias stance and their policies are totally hypocritical. You know, even between Syria and Yemen for example the policies are incredibly hypocritical because all the attentions have been faced on Syria while people are still being killed in Yemen. The former president really as it should be is about to come back to the country and will likely claim some sort of position in the new government and also his vice president is running as the sole candidate of the next election which is anything but a reform or a change in Yemen and nobody is talking about Yemen, no one is paying attention to it. All the attentions have been placed on Syria of course. Q: What is the plan for Bahrain, do you think? Marusek: The plan for Bahrain, it is really difficult to say because unfortunately as an American I see the United States presence here overwhelmingly. If America has intentions to have a confrontation with Iran which is becoming increasingly likely whether it is Mr. Obama who is currently the president or God forbid Republican candidate succeeds, it is pretty obvious that the Americans and the Israelis are preparing for a campaign against Iran. And so they are going to do everything in their power to ensure that they have a safe place in Bahrain and so they will not in any way pressure the Bahraini government to reform because as your other guest said things are becoming more difficult now, the demands are becoming much more radical and as they should be in many ways because of the oppression. And so it is going to be a lot more difficult for any real reform to happen. You saw some sort of effort with this commission but very little of the commission’s suggestions have been taken up and really it is going to become more and more difficult for any outside, external pressure or any internal pressure to create change in Bahrain as your other guest said dialogues must start immediately and I just do not see international pressure. Q: Do you think that the Saudi Arabia fears that some of these protests could extend into its home, into its domestic also protest? Marusek: There have been protests in Saudi Arabia over the last year in many of the Shia provinces and of course as we all know this is such a threat for Saudi Arabia because this is where many of the oil fields are located. And if Saudi Arabia loses control over these oil fields then they will lose control not only over their own government but the entire Persian Gulf region as well as their international relationship. God forbid they do not have their oil any more, do they really think they are going to have friends in Washington who still want to talk to them? Of course not. I mean they are not naïve. They know that the international community uses them and so they use the international community as well and their neighbors for their own purposes.
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