Victoria Jones PA Wire\/PA Images. All rights reserved.America\u2019s new president,
\nDonald J. Trump, has yet to fully articulate his foreign policy strategy – or
\nto at least unify
\nthe divergent views of his cabinet – but one thing is abundantly clear: the
\nnext four years are going to be a far cry from the Obama Doctrine. <\/i><\/p>\n
For the people
\nof Bahrain, a key US ally in the Arab Gulf, this is cause for both apprehension
\nand optimism. <\/p>\n
From his
\ncampaign to his first week in office, Trump has shown little interest in
\npromoting human rights at home or abroad, instead often specifically advocating
\nfor violations of international law. It is profoundly disconcerting for
\npro-democracy activists and human rights defenders in the Middle East and North
\nAfrica to hear Trump praise
\nthe likes of Saddam Hussein, Bashar al-Assad, and Muammar Gaddafi – the same
\nautocrats they\u2019ve risked their lives to resist. <\/p>\n
Still, many of
\nPresident Obama\u2019s lofty promises for the region fell far short of expectations.
\nIn May 2011, just after Bahrain\u2019s Al Khalifa monarchy violently suppressed the
\ncountry\u2019s pro-democracy uprising, for example, Obama emphasized
\nAmerica\u2019s commitment to human rights reform and peaceful reconciliation. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe
\nonly way forward is for the government and the opposition to engage in a
\ndialogue, and you can\u2019t have a real dialogue when parts of the peaceful
\nopposition are in jail,\u201d Obama said, instructing his State Department to
\nprohibit arms sales to Bahrain until it had demonstrated significant progress
\ntoward rectifying the political crisis. <\/p>\n
More than five In some cases, During Obama\u2019s The US promptly took But, in a America\u2019s return As the campaign Among other abuses, since May 2016 Bahraini authorities have exiled Most disturbingly, Like hundreds of other cases of torture in Bahrain, the government Bahrain and the It is clear what President Trump, If this is the Congress has If Obama\u2019s lip Moreover, with From that position Victoria Jones PA Wire\/PA Images. All rights reserved.America\u2019s new president, Donald J. Trump, has yet to fully articulate his foreign policy strategy – or to at least unify the divergent views of his cabinet – but one thing is abundantly clear: the next four years are going to be a far cry from the Obama…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nyears and a whole presidential term later, however, the Obama administration
\nfailed to make good on this initial stand. Rather, since 2011, it largely just stood by<\/em>. <\/p>\n
\nthe administration even allowed itself to be outmaneuvered by a Bahraini
\ngovernment eager to restore its international image in the absence of real
\nreform. <\/p>\n
\npenultimate year in office, Bahraini officials managed to reverse America\u2019s
\nstrongest bargaining position \u2013 and eliminate much of its leverage \u2013 with
\nlittle more than slight of hand. Playing to American calls to implement the
\nrecommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), a
\ncommittee of international jurists tasked with investigating abuses perpetrated
\nin 2011, the Bahraini government made several reform-minded overtures,
\nincluding the release of prominent political leader Ebrahim Sharif. <\/p>\n
\nthe bait and lifted
\na punitive arms ban it had imposed in the aftermath of the 2011 crackdown,
\nrestoring weapons sales to the Bahraini army and national guard. State
\nDepartment officials cited
\n\u201cmeaningful progress on human rights and reconciliation,\u201d such as Sharif\u2019s
\nrelease.<\/p>\n
\nshamelessly lazy bait and switch, Bahraini authorities rearrested Sharif just
\nweeks later, almost instantly reneging on whatever deal had been struck. As
\nwould become characteristic of the Obama administration\u2019s last two years of
\nengagement with Bahrain, it criticized
\nthe decision but did nothing \u2013 content for Bahrain to have its weapons and its political
\nprisoners too.<\/p>\n
\non this failed deal has only gotten worse in the months leading up to the Trump
\npresidency. <\/p>\n
\nkicked into high gear over the summer, so too did the Bahraini government\u2019s
\nrenewed assault on dissent, religious freedom, and independent civil society.\n<\/p>\n
\nprominent rights activist Zeinab al-Khawaja, denaturalized
\nand prosecuted the country\u2019s Shia religious leader Sheikh Isa Qassim, judicially harassed more than 75
\nShia clerics for offenses related to free expression and assembly, rearrested leading human rights
\ndefender Nabeel Rajab on charges stemming from his activism, and dissolved
\nthe largest political opposition group in Bahrain, Al-Wefaq National Islamic
\nSociety.<\/p>\n
\non 15 January 2017 – days before Trump assumed office – Bahrain inaugurated a
\nnew era of its own: for the first time in two decades, the government executed
\nthree of its own citizens on politically-motivated charges. Sami Mushaima, Ali
\nAl-Singace, and Abbas Al-Samea were shot to death by firing squad after being
\ntortured into providing false confessions related to a 2014 bombing attack on
\nthe police. <\/p>\n
\ndid not investigate these abuses; rather, it stripped
\nthe men of their citizenship in trials rife with due process violations and
\nexpedited their case through the appeals track, holding the executions just one
\nweek after Bahrain\u2019s highest court confirmed the sentence and only a month
\nafter a lower court had done the same. <\/p>\n
\nUS are allies and partners in the fight against terrorism, a mission that will
\nsurely center on President Trump\u2019s international agenda. But the Bahraini
\ngovernment has repeatedly and increasingly demonstrated its willingness to
\neschew domestic reconciliation for violence and instability, even using its
\nbroken counterterror legislation as a weapon against internal dissent.<\/p>\n
\nBahrain gets out of this partnership \u2013 but is the US truly benefiting?<\/p>\n
\na businessman devoted to the \u201cart of the deal,\u201d has declared
\nhe will \u201cpursue a new foreign policy that finally learns from the mistakes of
\nthe past,\u201d even if that means retooling alliances as longstanding and fundamental
\nas NATO. \u201cOur goal is stability,\u201d he says, not \u201ctoppl[ing] regimes and
\noverthrow[ing] governments.\u201d<\/p>\n
\ncase, then there is no better time for the president to renegotiate terms with
\nBahrain than now. Before unchecked oppression turns stability to a pipe dream, the
\nTrump administration must indeed learn from the mistakes of its predecessors
\nand finally play that last and most powerful bargaining chip: the US Navy\u2019s
\nFifth Fleet base in Manama. <\/p>\n
\npreviously requested
\ncontingency planning to relocate the base should Bahrain\u2019s political situation
\ncontinue to deteriorate, but we\u2019re now reaching a fever pitch of repression.
\nPresident Trump must show allies that even Obama referred
\nto as \u201cfree riders\u201d \u2013 like Bahrain and its domineering neighbor, Saudi
\nArabia \u2013 that the US is willing to seriously reconsider the necessity of the
\nfacility and, by extension, the deeper conditions of the partnership.<\/p>\n
\nservice to human rights masked the true transactional nature of the
\nrelationships between America and its autocratic allies in the Gulf, perhaps Trump\u2019s
\nprofessed penchant for hard-nosed bargaining could at least put the US back in
\nthe driver\u2019s seat. <\/p>\n
\nTrump\u2019s supposed dedication to an isolationist, \u201cAmerica 1st\u201d foreign policy,
\nfar-flung security arrangements \u2013 epitomized by a facility like Manama\u2019s Fifth
\nFleet base \u2013 may no longer be vital to America\u2019s interests. <\/p>\n
\nof strength, the president would be wise to ensure that any continuing
\npartnership with Bahrain does <\/em>serve
\nAmerica\u2019s ultimate interests in the region, which remain stability-cum<\/em>-democracy and human rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"