Some Western leaders “wake-up” to understand al Khalifa regime has become political liability – King Hamad strings his own noose

Bahrain in danger of being ‘Berlin of the Middle East’ – Liam Fox
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 4 October 2011 13.42 EDT – by Paul Owen

Tory defence secretary warns that Shia protests and Sunni government crackdown will turn nation into dangerous flashpoint

Defence secretary Liam Fox warned at the Conservative party’s conference that Bahrain is in danger of becoming a dangerous flashpoint, a ‘Berlin of the Middle East’. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Bahrain’s religious divide means it is in danger of becoming “the Berlin of the Middle East”, Liam Fox said on Tuesday.

The defence secretary told a fringe meeting at the Tory conference in Manchester that the Shia protests and Sunni government crackdown in the Gulf nation meant it was becoming a potential flashpoint in the ongoing Arab spring.

“My worry is that if we don’t get a resolution in Bahrain you can see, on a Sunni-Shia front, that it almost becomes the Berlin of the Middle East,” Fox said.

Noting that “we have a lot of our naval assets there”, the defence secretary went on: “We have tried to impress upon the king and the crown prince to embrace reform. If you break, it’s because you won’t bend. There has to be a recognition of respect for human rights, there needs to be economic reform,” and the rights of the Shia majority must be respected by the minority Sunni ruling class.

Fox said he had spent a lot of time trying to get “others in the region” to help encourage the country to reform. “If we can do that it’s a way to unlock some of the other tension in the region.”

Bahraini security forces have made hundreds of arrests recently as part of a crackdown on mostly Shia protesters seeking greater human rights. A court in the small Gulf nation on Tuesday sentenced 26 activists to prison for their part in anti-government protests, bringing to 60 the total number convicted over the past two days.

Fox also emphasised that “the military conflict is not over in Libya”. The National Transitional Council says the war will be won when Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte is conquered. Fighting continues there.

“People talk as if it is all over,” the defence secretary said. “We’ve got some way to go to ensure the population are not threatened by the remnants of the Gaddafi regime. There is a lot of work ongoing … Nato will continue the mission as long as necessary.”

The new government may want security assistance and advice on governing during the months to come, “but they may not,” Fox said. “It’s up to the government of Libya to decide how much advice they want … We have been there protecting the population from the Gaddafi regime and its violence so they could determine their own future, not so we can determine it for them.”

Fox was notably hawkish about the threat posed from Iran, which he said was developing a nuclear weapons programme: “We know that.”

He said Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government was “a particularly nasty, brutal regime. It has an appalling human rights record that is getting worse … It is willing to export terror … It is developing a nuclear programme no reasonable person can believe is purely for civil use.

“If it was only the first two you could say: ‘Let’s try and manage and adapt.’ This programme will lead us into a very different world. If Iran becomes a nuclear weapons state it would not be very long before Saudi Arabia, Turkey, probably Egypt, would become nuclear weapons states. As I used to say to my patients: you can’t be a bit pregnant. It either is or it isn’t.”

Asked what actions Britain was prepared to stop this, Fox said: “We don’t want to rule anything out.

“We have said all along we do want to get a diplomatic solution … We continue with the process of diplomacy and sanctions, but … our negotiating position has to be that we do not rule anything out, because as soon as we started to do so it would strengthen the hand of the Iranian regime and weaken the chances of any settlement that would stop Iran becoming a nuclear weapons state.”

He called Iran “a major problem for the international community”.

But he was much less bullish about Saudi Arabia. “We have been long-time partners with Saudi Arabia. We have been encouraging them towards reform,” Fox said. “The steps towards reform have been small but welcome … The best way to proceed is not megaphone diplomacy, it’s to talk to our friends … rather than lecturing them from the pulpit, which unfortunately is all too common.”

Without Britain’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, on counter-terrorism especially, “our citizens would be a lot less safe”.

Fox stopped interviewer Peter Oborne when it was suggested the Saudis had “invaded Bahrain” earlier this year. “They didn’t invade Bahrain,” the defence secretary said. “There was a joint GCC [Gulf Co-operation Council] mission that went in at the invitation of the government of Bahrain.”

Fox was also asked whether Tony Blair was “fit for purpose” as the quartet’s Palestinian peace envoy. As many in the audience cried “No!” the defence secretary said: “I’m sure he means well, and I wouldn’t wish that anyone who might assist the process won’t succeed, but given his record as prime minister of the United Kingdom I’m not exactly sure what were the great qualities of Tony Blair that make him an exceptional international statesman.” …source