US, UK, Bahrain Regime more isolated amid failed misinformation and propoganda War against Oppostion

U.K. Joins U.S. Info-Assault On Bahraini Opposition
4 July, 2012 – The Trench

The psychology of a state often mirrors the thought process of an individual, generating similar problems as a result of their connectivity. When confining a belligerent friend, “key strategic partner” or “long-standing ally,” an individual must choose between ignoring, enabling and reforming their behavior. Washington, London and Manama find themselves trapped in this dilemma, publicly inclined to “helping each other” while their policies implode under their suppressive weight. Using the visit of Lt. General Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa, Bahrain’s Interior Minister, as a formal loophole to support the island regime, London brushed aside external criticism of its receptive welcome and disseminated new propaganda through the British media.

“[Her Majesty’s Government’s] policy is that Bahrain is a long-standing ally who has embarked on a process of reform. We want to help them along this path for the long-term stability of the kingdom and wider region.”

According to records of Al-Khalifa’s meetings, the British government is “keen to share lessons learnt from our experience in Northern Ireland.” Unfortunately this comparison is both flawed and ignored by London. First, organized conflict in Ireland burnt out over decades of military and political developments; Bahrain’s current unrest is relatively young, contains numerous geostrategic narratives and is far from a permanent resolution. Beyond inherent dissimilarities, London is also ignoring basic lessons of fourth-generation warfare (4GW) found within Ireland’s conflict. Unwilling to support the opposition’s fundamental grievance of under-representation, Washington and London are both guilty of attempting to prematurely end the uprising through a series of limited reforms and commissions.

This one-sided policy lacks any semblance of true COIN and has contributed to the growing divide between the monarchy and opposition, fueling anti-Western sentiment in the process. John Yates, the former Met assistant commissioner acting as a security adviser to King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, would join Bahraini Ambassador Alice Samaan for meetings with four senior Bahraini officials. Following April Formula-1 race outside Manama, Yates published a Telegraph “op-ed” that began by repeating the kingdom’s obligation to improve its governance. Yet the duplicitous tone of his scathing counterattack on the international media is readily apparent. Yates claims that Bahrainis are, “Bewildered at the level of ignorance about what is really happening here, at the level of animosity and bile, at the media bias.”

“And bewildered that so many in the UK, a long-standing friend and ally for two centuries, could so readily swallow everything opposition groups and activists were saying.”

As if Western governments aren’t lapping up the monarchy’s biased version of Bahrain’s uprising – Al-Khalifa claims that his security units “never” use excessive force. On the same day that Yates and other British officials met with the Interior Minister, who denies ordering his security forces to shoot Al-Wefaq’s leadership, 28 countries gathered at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to “express concern” over the situation. Washington and London couldn’t bring themselves to join the group despite the fact that the UNHRC’s joint statement regurgitated their own political lines. Western media and lobbyist groups have also been contracted to slander the opposition, a tactic that the street movement cannot utilize.
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