Sunday 22 December 2013

Bahrain – “though small in size, great with the ladies” A reply to another vacuous article on Khalifa Bin Salman (see the rubbish here http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1069864)

Every December since 1971, the PM has felt as if the entire country celebrates his greatness, and in December 2014, he will celebrate his thousands year as PM of Bahrain, give or take a few years. He’s had his fair share of ups and downs, but his experiences have left him fiercely loyal to himself. His feeling for Bahrain is summed up in a few eloquent words said by himself, Prime Minister, HRH Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa "though small in size, we are entirely above the law". 


Bahrain may not be the biggest, the most honest or the least criminal country in the world – but most of you who live here are routinely robbed by him, and he doesn't care what your religion is; Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddism, Sikh, Bahai, Judaism or other. Money is money. To go with all this tolerance and warmth which he lacks, over the last three years, international media has systematically exposed his family as the corrupt little demigods they are. Happily, well-known media houses around the globe have taken it upon themselves to air all his dirty laundry, and in all respects show the Al-Khalifa family to be ruthless criminals. To add credibility to their reports, they write the truth in plain words which lacks the obfuscation these ruthless tyrants so adore.


A minuscule part of this society called for the continuation of  Al-Khalifa tribal rule, the oppression of an entire sect  while mouthing baseless allegations of terrorism. What the west is slow in exposing are these terrorists who idolize Saudi radicals, because they are blinded by the thirst for oil. Some claim NGOs such as Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYCHR) and Bahrain Watch to name a few survive on undeclared funding, even if this were so, it would be dwarfed by what the Al-Khalifa thievery has yielded that tribe over its long and inglorious history in Bahrain. Add to that the brutal force used by its police on residents to force them into submission.


Meanwhile, western governments sympathize with criminal Al-Khalifa and encourage business whilst paying lip-service to Human Rights issues, thus alienating all right-minded people. Self exiled activists such Saeed Alshehabi, Said Yousif, Ali Abdulemam and Abdul Raouf Alsheyab are just four people the government would love to jail. Supporters of the regime claim that they are “some of who have been convicted of terrorism” but only a fool would give any credence to a judicial system installed by the ruling family for no other purpose other than to serve and protect its own interests.  


The government of Bahrain provides free housing, health and education for each citizen – this is only right and fair given the natural recourse underpinning the economy belong to the whole of the nation, not just the one family. BUT open your mouth to complain about or expose the hypocrisy and unjust practices of the government, and the only house you’ll get for free is a jail cell in Dry Dock, with a serve of regular beatings thrown in. 


The PM has been in power for over 40 years, yet his main legacy is a lot of empty words and a treasure chest full of broken promises, self-congratulatory awards and the people’s rightful wealth.


Take as an example these words of his, on making the security pact with Saudi Arabia in 1981 “I see the security pact as a frame on a nice picture. We must protect this nice picture and put security around it to protect our development. Before, as we developed ourselves from nothing, security was in the hearts of the people. Now we feel that we must protect ourselves from the outside, so we must put a frame around – a strong frame – to allow us to continue what we have been working on for many years”. 


The nice picture alluded to is the opulence of and privileged life he and the rest of the Al-Khalifa clan live in. The frame is clearly the brutal, sometimes lethal, force used to quell any resistance to the status of the mighty Al-Khalifas. The peace and stability is the peace and stability needed to continue their criminal ways in sucking the wealth out of the country and its people without remorse or interruption.


As we approach the third year of ongoing disruption perhaps it is time to take on the Prime Minister’s role in the mess that Bahrain finds itself now. Is giving up the power he’s held onto for such an astonishingly long time worth the lives that have been ruined, on both sides of this toxic divide? Knowing what I know of him, I have little doubt that any price, no matter how high, but paid by others, is worth it to him.


The contempt he feels for the people exposing his “wise rule” as nothing more than glorified highway robbery is palpable in the many statements he makes about “security”, “legitimate leadership” and of course all his beacons of human rights he seemingly maintains out of the goodness of his heart.


Recently, Obama signed a deal with Iran, Cameron visited China and Biden went to Japan – it’s time for those blinded by loyalty in Bahrain to see that the world is moving on, they can either come along for the ride or stay stagnant and wallow in their wild claims that Bahrain’s misery is a result of some agenda of the world’s super powers, and not the natural side-effect of power concentrated in the hand of a few, to the detriment of the many.


Lets' not forget that Shaikh Khalifa in 1981 said, “American foreign policy is not new to us. We have good relations with the US, and so we know US foreign policy. We cannot be the one, out of so many countries, to say the US is the reason for this or that. But I must say that the US is a country that could participate in bringing peace in the region. I am sure the US has a role to play to maintain peace in the region”... I say to old man Khalifa: You have the biggest role in bringing peace; in so much as you have been the biggest obstacle to it in Bahrain. Move on Khalfo.


In December 2013 after being congratulated for being presented with the Statesman Award in the Asian Leadership Forum (one of tens of meaningless international accolades), the Prime Minister of Bahrain continued to indulge in self-congratulatory behaviour, which, to add salt to the wound, is entirely without merit, just like all his appointments and promotions.


As we enter a new era, I hope the people of Bahrain will get a better deal than the one given to them by these rotten pirates of the seas. God knows they've earned it.



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