Democracy for Dollars
04/01/2011 – By Benjamin Bidder and Clemens Höges – Spiegel International
[excerpt]

Yesterday’s Friends

Indeed, Europeans have been fostering such business ties in a number of the Arab countries whose governments are now faltering. Great Britain’s Prince Andrew, for example, visited Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in San’a in late 2009. Over lunch at the royal palace, the prince-turned-government-trade-rep praised Yemen’s “unity, stability and development.”

Prince Andrew arrived in the country with investment money — and then suggested that Saleh could take care of his weapons needs in the British isles. Which the Yemeni president then did. Shortly after the prince’s trip, the British government authorized the sale of ammunition and bulletproof vests worth €183,000 to Yemen. These days, of course, Saleh’s security forces are busy firing at demonstrators. Two weeks ago, 52 protesters were killed in a single day.

Germany, for its part, has had well-established ties to Egypt for several years. In 2009, Germany provided equipment worth nearly €80 million; most of it was tank components and military electronics, but it also includes submachine guns. It’s unclear whether these ended up in the hands of the army, which sided with the people, or whether they became the property of the detested police. When unrest broke out there, Germany temporarily revoked arms export licenses to Egypt.

Fear, Jobs and Profits

Meanwhile, the United States thinks on a very different scale, especially when it comes to Saudi Arabia. The House of Saud has money to spend, and Washington wants to arm Saudi Arabia against Iran. But on Monday, March 14, Saudi troops marched into Bahrain to help put down the rebels there.

Last year, Washington announced the largest arms export deal in history: Saudi Arabia plans to buy aircraft worth $60 billion over the course of the next five to 10 years. Money is no object, and the Saudi air force is to receive F-15 fighter-bombers, Apache attack helicopters, missiles, radar equipment and bombs. All together, according to the Wall Street Journal, the order is large enough to guarantee 77,000 jobs at Boeing.

For an additional $30 billion, the Saudi royal family also plans to modernize its navy. To calm Israeli fears, the country will receive cutting-edge F-35 jets (also known as “Joint Strike Fighters”) that, if necessary, will be able to shoot the older Saudi F-15s out of the sky.

Eager Customers, Happy Investors

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) are similarly lavish in their spending — and equally afraid of their overly powerful neighbor Iran. According to a confidential diplomatic cable from the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi released by Wikileaks, the UAE’s sheiks have spent billion — but without clear planning or an “obvious master plan for an integrated defense network.” The emirates want to buy only the best, the cable continued, and “the shinier the better.”

The UAE’s militaries reportedly even ask — impatiently and often — for weapons that are still in the development phase, the cable added, only to discover that the weapons system they’re looking for “had not yet been invented.” The downside, the dispatch continues, is that the sheiks prefer not to put “all eggs in one basket,” so they also buy from France, Britain and even China.

Even so, in 2010, the UAE ordered $40 billion worth of weapons from the United States. To be able to shoot down Iranian missiles, they also want to buy America’s most modern air defense system. The Americans would be happy to set up similar systems in the entire region.

Give the situation, one can’t really blame investors for viewing the conflicts and revolutions in the Middle East primarily as a signal to buy. When the United Nations declared a no-fly zone over Libya, the armaments index on the New York Stock Exchange shot up by 5 percent.

Translated from the German by Ella Ornstein …Article

Three important dates to watch: 23rd of September: parliament bi-elections (two people have already secured seats due to not having opponents, or opponents withdrawing) and it is also the date being discussed on social networks as the date of “going back to the pearl square”. 28th of September: verdict in the appeal of the 21 political and human rights leaders. 29th of September: verdict in the case of the doctors and medics.

Bahrain: Update on arrests, trials, hunger strikes
13-09-2011 – Muslim News UK

Mahdi AbuDeeb, Head of the Bahrain Teacher’s Society, announced Sunday his hunger strike demanding charges against him be dropped and that he be released. He was arrested on April 6 and is now undergoing a military trial. Two sixteen-year-old boys were arrested 5 days ago, Kumail Mohammed AlGhadhban and Mohamed Ali Abbas AlAbbas. Both boys were allegedly subjected to torture and are currently in the prison hospital.

Ali AlMajed, 32 years old and a US citizen was arrested in Aali 5 days ago and is now in the hospital; we are concerned that he may have been beaten/tortured. Ali has been on hunger strike since his arrest demanding to meet with representatives of the US embassy. Fatima AlBaloushi announced that those hired temporarily to replace employees who had been sacked or arrested during the past few months, will be given permanent jobs. 37 of those hired have a degree no higher than intermediate (9th grade) or high school diplomas.

Mahdi Sahwan was re arrested Sunday after being released a month ago. In a protest today demanding the release of Mahdi Sahwan, 16 year old Ali Ebrahim AlHaiki was arrested. Mahdi Sahwan’s arrest comes amongst several other arrests which are starting to take place in a similar fashion of what we saw in mid-March until June; raids on homes at night. We estimate the current number of detainees to be around 400, with nightly arrests and releases.

Jaffar Abbas fell in court today during his hearing due to hunger strike. There are approximately 100 detainees still on hunger strike.

Five students who were expelled from the Bahrain Polytechnic have been summoned to go to the police station Monday morning.

Dr. Jahromi along with a few other professors and Drs, including Maitham AlSalman went on trial Monday. ….source

Bahrain despots top arms fair’s roll call of shame
Tuesday 13 September 2011 – by Paddy McGuffin

Repressive regimes including Bahrain were welcomed with open arms today at the massive Defence Security and Equipment International (DSEi) weapons fair in London’s Docklands.

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Algeria were all invited to the event.

All have faced condemnation for their human rights records yet remain major clients for the British weapons industry.

There are strong suspicions that British-sold arms including firearms, “riot-control equipment” and tear gas were used by the Bahraini regime in the bloody crackdown on demonstrators earlier this year.

British-made armoured vehicles are also thought to have been used by the Saudi army to help crush protests in its neighbour.

Campaign Against Arms Trade spokeswoman Kaye Stearman told the Morning Star: “All the usual suspects are at DSEi, minus Libya which is in the doghouse at the moment – but who knows for how long?

“It is of serious concern that the government is continuing to sell arms to repressive regimes in the Middle East who may have used them to suppress recent protests.”

Amnesty International accused the government of a “serious error in judgement” in inviting the Bahraini regime.

The charity’s arms programme director Oliver Sprague said: “No government which is known to maim, kill and torture its own people should ever be allowed to attend a fair to shop for weapons.

“This decision also appears to be at odds with Britain’s previous censure of the violence carried out by Bahrain’s state security forces, which left scores of the country’s people dead or injured.”

Britain revoked numerous arms export licences to Bahrain in the wake of the brutal suppression of pro-democracy protesters in March.

Mr Sprague said it was “ludicrous that they would enable the same government to window shop for weapons on British soil.

“They will be here perusing the wares on offer and will undoubtedly arrange future arms sales when far out of the reach of the British arms licensing regime. The invitation makes a mockery of any claim that Bahrain’s access to arms is being moderated.” …more

‘Bahrain regime has zero legitimacy’
Tue Sep 13, 2011 6:13PM GMT – PressTV

A prominent political analyst says the ruling Al Khalifa regime has lost any type of legitimacy within the public in the Persian Gulf sheikhdom of Bahrain, Press TV reports.

“Their legitimacy within the population has basically been zero. The people have cleared their mind and realized that the only way to progress in Bahrain is to remove the Al Khalifa,” said Ali al-Ahmed, the director of the Institute for (Persian) Gulf Affairs (IGA), in an interview with Press TV on Monday.

“Of course, they have support within segments of the population but that support is dwindling itself,” Ahmed added.

The political observer went on to say that the Al Khalifa “right now are using much of their power and influence because Bahrain is becoming like a Saudi territory.”

“The power is not anymore in the hand of Al Khalifa. They have very little power,” he further explained.

Ahmed pointed out that the only support the ruling Bahraini dynasty has now “is from countries like Saudi Arabia and the United States and of course the UK and other Western countries and that is going to change in the next few months, because when the West realizes that the Al Khalifa is sinking, they will push them away and I anticipate that will happen this year or early next year.”

“The US and Western countries do not support the people of Bahrain and their revolution. It is very simple that they are not in favor of this revolution,” Ahmed concluded.

Demonstrations broke out in Bahrain in February, with people taking to the streets and calling for a constitutional monarchy — a demand that later turned into calls for the ouster of the monarchy.

In mid-March, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deployed military forces to Bahrain to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on the popular protests.

Saudi-backed Bahraini regime forces once again attacked peaceful anti-government protesters in the cities of Sitra and Diraz and the village of Musalla on Sunday.

Scores of protesters have been killed — many under torture — and numerous others have been detained and transferred to unknown locations during the regime’s crackdown. …more See Video Report HERE

Bahrain regime continues targeting students and teachers
13 Sep 2011 – BCHR

Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses its deepest concern over the deterioration of the educational system in Bahrain caused by unwarranted decisions taken by the government of Bahrain targeting teachers and university students. Recently: expelled university students have been summoned for investigation, students are on hunger strike in solidarity with their detained friends, and teachers are being transferred to schools in different areas also being dismissed and replaced by unqualified teachers.http://www.crookedbough.com/wp-admin/post-new.php

Dozens of students on hunger strike in solidarity with their detained friends from University of Bahrain

Last June BCHR has reported the arrest of 78 students, most of them were students of University of Bahrain. They were either arrested by having their homes raided and vandalized, and their families terrorized, some got arrested from their universities while other from their villages or at checkpoints. Being involved in politics is not the reason for being arrested as many students who had no involvement in any political activities were arrested for the mere reason of being from a certain sect which indicated for authorities that they are from opposition. Today 6 of University of Bahrain students remain in detention after 5 months from their arrest.

More than 30 students have started a hunger strike in solidarity with their 6 detained friends:

1. Jawad Al Mahary – arrested 29 March
2. Shawqi Radhi – arrested 26 April, House raid
3. Jassim Al Hulaini – arrested 27 March, House raid
4. Jassim AlMukhodher – arrested 26 April, House raid
5. Ali AlMoolani – arrested 16 March, at check point
6. Yousif Ahmed – arrested 26 April, House raid

Click to view the information of the detained students

Ali AlMowlani, one of the detained students, 21 years, electrical engineering student at UOB and a player at the Bahrain Hand Ball National Team and AlAhli Club. He was arrested at a checkpoint on 16 March and sentenced to 3 years imprisonment in a military court on 12 May for participating in “illegal assembly”.

The other students have been falsely accused of being involved in the March 13 incident where government-sponsored thugs supported by security forces attacked university students[1] in the UOB campus. The attack resulted in four serious cases of injury and about 80-100 students were transferred to the hospital due to suffocation caused by tear gas[2].

The detained students have been through severe torture in their early days of detention and were denied access to their families and lawyers for at least a month as reported by families of the majority of detained students. On 21 June, they were presented to the military court, Shawqi Radhi, was unable to stand because of torture. …more