‘Bahrain regime has zero legitimacy’

‘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