A political analyst says the Bahraini government is teetering on the brink of collapse, calling the Al Khalifa regime a source of embarrassment for the United States.
“I do believe that the days of the Al Khalifa dynasty are short and they are tied in explicitly with Saudi Arabia. When King Abdullah [Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud] dies I think there is going to be a political earthquake,” Colin Cavell, author and lecturer, told Press TV in a Wednesday interview.
He further lashed out at the Al Khalifa regime for violating human rights and suppressing calls for democracy.
“The monarchy, the Al Khalifa family has absolutely no legitimacy at all and their court support from a section of the population is dwindling further and further and most of the people are on the streets on a daily basis. Over three quarter of the population is demanding democracy,” he added.
He also held the United States responsible for the violations committed in the Persian Gulf kingdom and for covering up the crimes perpetrated by the Bahraini government.
“I think the world outside of the United Sates knows more about the oppression in Bahrain than people in the United States, and the United States government is trying to keep it quiet because every crime that is going on in Bahrain… contradicts everything the United States supposedly stands for,” he said.
“It contradicts democracy, it contradicts human rights, it contradicts women’s rights, it contradicts the rights of free conscience and that is why the United States does not want to air its dirty linen because Bahrain is the United States’ dirty linen,” he added.
Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have staged numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.
On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.
According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested.
What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.
Q: Professor, first of all you saw Nabeel Rajab, human rights activist who has just been released slamming the way mainstream media has been covering the crisis in Bahrain.
Just how much does the world know about the situation, the real situation going on in Bahrain?
Cavell: I think the world outside of the United Sates knows more about the oppression in Bahrain than people in the United States and the United States government is trying to keep it quiet because every crime that is going on in Bahrain, the suppression of freedom of speech, the denial of human rights, the torture that is going on in the jails and the indiscriminate jailing of anybody who voices their opinion against the autocratic monarchy they get jailed and tortured and killed and that contradicts everything the United States supposedly stands for.
It contradicts democracy, it contradicts human rights, it contradicts women’s rights, it contradicts the rights of free conscience and that is why the United States does not want to air its dirty linen because Bahrain is the United States’ dirty linen.
We are responsible for the murder that is going on there and the United States government knows it and that is why most of the people in the State Department are appalled about what we are doing in Bahrain and they do not like it.
In Israel, we have Netanyahu telling Barack Obama not to second-guess him, we have Saudi Arabia telling Barack Obama that they are going to do whatever they want to do and fund Takfiri fighters in Syria, in Iraq and Barack Obama, he goes along with them at this point but I think there is some strains in the making.
Q: So what does the future hold for Bahrain? Will the monarchy be toppled?
Cavell: Well I believe the people are resolute, I have said that over the last three years and there have been uprisings before in Bahrain in the 60s and the 80s but I think the people are more resolute now.
The monarchy, the Al Khalifa family has absolutely no legitimacy at all and their court support from a section of the population is dwindling further and further and most of the people are on the streets on a daily basis. Over three quarter of the population is demanding democracy.
This is the cry of the modern world and Iran stands as the symbol of democratic vote which all the countries are going to gravitate towards because they do not like monarchy, they do not like not having a say in running their own government.
So yes, I do believe that the days of the Al Khalifa dynasty are short and they are tied in explicitly with Saudi Arabia. When King Abdullah dies I think there is going to be a political earthquake.
/129