Analyst: US exhausting Bahrain wealth by selling it armaments

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - An analyst says the United States is benefiting from the undemocratic regimes of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia by draining away their wealth through the sale of military equipment.The comment comes as Bahraini regime forces continue their violent crackdown on peaceful protests in the country.Bahrainis hold King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa responsible for the death of protesters during the popular uprising that began in the country in February 2011.There is an interview with former assistant professor of the University of Bahrain, Collin Cavell, to further shed light on the issue.The video also offers the opinions of two other guests: political analyst and filmmaker, Sukant Chandan and author and Middle East affairs expert, Saeb Shaath.What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.Q: Professor Cavell, the Formula One president, in one report I was reading said quite brazenly “there is nothing happening in Bahrain, it’s all very quiet and peaceful” and this has all been said by the al-Khalifa regime. Why are we hearing this?Cavell: Well, when you’re paid off with millions of dollars, you would say whatever the regime wants you to say [English business magnate, Bernard Charles] Bernie Ecclestone is merely a mouthpiece that has been bought and paid for by the Khalifas.Q: Collin Cavell, if I could put this question to you, how important do you think these interests specially concerning the US fifth fleet are for the United States and how is that going to affect the US policies.Our guest there in Beirut saying how long can the US continue with its current policy towards the Bahrainis? Is it going to ask the Bahraini rulers to hand over the power?Cavell: Bahrain is very important as former CIA director [James] Woolsey said Bahrain is the strategic Linchpin of the entire Middle East. That is why the United States utilizes as the previous doctor said as a platform to wage the war in Iraq, to supply equipment to Afghanistan and to wage war in Yemen etcetera.This is a very strategic area and the United States wants to hold on to it. The question they are asking themselves right now is there needs to be some reform in Bahrain otherwise you got three quarters of the population who want some democratic reform and the monarchy is not allowing any type of reform.So the United States is asking itself do we stay with the Khalifas or do we put some pressure on them?And they cannot go on indefinitely, they know that the situation is deteriorating and there has to be some reform and yet you have a recalcitrant monarchy, an undemocratic, tyrannical monarchy that does not want to give one inch and that is why the people are fighting and they will continue to fight and they will succeed.Q: Mr. Cavell, the wife of Abdul Hadi al-Khawaja, a prominent human rights activist who was on hunger strike, she was saying that the regime is working against itself, that these kinds of crackdowns and oppressions means that this regime is going to sooner or later fall so why is do you think that this regime is not going towards a political solution and dialogue?Cavell: The primary reason is arrogance, arrogance and privilege. The Khalifas have been running the country for 229 years. They believe they’re above the rest of the population. They believe the other population, the whole bulk of the population is there to serve them.On this anniversary of Labor Day, international Labor Day, May Day, the world is telling them, no, we are not here to serve you; in fact monarchy as a form of government is outdated; it is thrown to the dustbin of history, so be prepared to leave and abdicate because you are no longer wanted here in Bahrain.Q: Mr. Cavell, I’d like to have your view on what was said there by our guest in London about the US policy and position. Do you agree with that and again do you think that the United States is going to be forced to accept to hand over power in the case of Bahrain?Cavell: Bahrain geopolitically is very different from Iraq, very different from Afghanistan, it’s an Island nation and with an Island nation you have security for your base and that is why the fifth fleet is located in Bahrain.It gives them access to the entire region as the Sheikh Isa airbase in Bahrain utilized by the American military jets and planes allows them to bomb everywhere from Iraq to Yemen to Afghanistan.So geopolitically, Bahrain is central to US interest in the area. Secondly US is- they know that the situation has to change in Bahrain. Right now, what some experts are suggesting is that they’re putting Bahrain on a slow burn, trying to drain them and Saudi Arabia with as much military purchases, armaments as possible because a democratic regime would never need to purchase so much military hardware from anybody.So they’re trying to drain them for as much money as possible, before they make substantive, fundamental change in the regimes. /129