Bahrain: “The Puzzling Silence of Humanitarianism”

On 23 March, four days after Operation Unified Protector started in Libya the EU foreign policy adviser and Catherine Ashton's right-hand man Robert Cooper commenting on the Bahrain protests' brutal crackdown said: “I'm not sure if the police have had to deal with these public order questions before. It's not easy dealing with large demonstrations in which there may be violence. It's a difficult task for policemen. It's not something that we always get right in the best western countries and accidents happen”. This claim was similar to what Gaddafi had to say excusing his own crackdown on the Benghazi’s protesters.

Catherine Ashton in an official statement earlier on 17 March had called the Government “to initiate a political process with concrete steps that answers the legitimate demands and aspirations of the Bahrainis”. But then she was convinced by the regime's offer of talks: “"The crown prince of Bahrain has appeared to put forward an interesting proposal for a dialogue to start without preconditions, that would bring in the spectrum of opinion in Bahrain and begin discussions that over time would move forward to some sort of, I don't know, possibly constitutional monarchy. But certainly he has a plan".

In the case of Bahraini uprising the government didn’t use mercenaries as it was unfoundedly ascribed to Libya’s regime but imported Army from the neighbor Saudi Arabia. Robert Cooper in his obvious attempt to downplay the incident and maybe to evade the logical questioning “why intervening in Libya and not Bahrain the home to the US fifth fleet?” stated that it is "a rather pleasant, peaceful place” while “"one should understand the authorities were right to restore calm and order and that's what they've done".

Bahrain where some 40 per cent of the world’s oil passes through, is divided between a Shia majority (61,3%) receiving poor treatment in employment, housing, and infrastructure in favor of the Sunnis minority often imported from Pakistan and Syria. The protests started on 14 February when thousands gathered at the Pearl Square resulting to an open shooting by the police forces which left behind two dead and 55 wounded. In the ongoing every oppressing mean was used by the regime like tear gas, torture, tracing activists through social media and subsequent detentions, while around 600 people, including human rights defenders, political leaders, trade unionists, doctors, paramedics and clerics have been arrested since February 2011. On 14 March about 1,200 Saudi and other Gulf countries soldiers have reportedly entered Bahrain at the invitation of the Bahraini royal authorities in order to quell protests that have been raging there for a month. Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, Bahrain’s crown prince, formally requested the Saudi intervention. It is worth noting that this Saudi Arabia's national guard deployed in public order enforcement measures and the use of sniper rifles is trained by Britain’s "humanitarian" government.

Last year, Britain approved 163 export licences for military equipment to Saudi Arabia, worth £110m. Exports included armoured personnel carriers, sniper rifles, small arms ammunition and weapon sights. In 2009, the UK supplied Saudi Arabia with CS hand grenades, teargas and riot control agents. On 8 July a video released showing one of the formidable armored vehicles (62-ton Leopard tank) being used to suppress rioting civilians in Bahrain, fuelled criticism of Berlin’s decision to sell 200 Leopards to Saudi.

President Barack Obama called King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain to express his deep concern over the violence in Bahrain. Saudi Arabia, a large supplier of U.S. oil, which is Sunni, has made it clear it will not accept a Shiite government next door in Bahrain. Iran, with which Obama administration is already battling over its nuclear program, having a Shiite government that backs the Shiite majority in Bahrain, called the Saudi move "unacceptable, threatening to escalate a local political conflict into a regional showdown with Iran." According to Adrian Blomfield of the London Telegraph: “Saudi officials say they gave their backing to Western air strikes on Libya in exchange for the United States muting its criticism of the authorities in Bahrain, a close ally of the desert kingdom”.