BAHRAIN PUTS THE UNITED STATES IN AN AWKWARD POSITION:

Sarah,

Sometimes the United States has to choose between promoting human rights and promoting its geopolitical interests.  Their relationship with Bahrain provides an excellent example of this quandary.

Geopolitical Interests:

Bahrain is a small country in the Persian Gulf.  It has a ton of oil and it allows the United States to base an entire naval fleet in its territory.  This fleet (the 5^th fleet) is essential to United States’ interests because it is our main fleet in the Middle East.  If we fought a war with Iran, Bahrain’s support would be absolutely critical.

Human Rights Interests:

One of the reasons the Bahrain supports us against Iran is that Bahrain is ruled by a Sunni Islam Monarchy.  The monarchy does not trust the Shia Islam government of Iran.

Unfortunately, they also distrust their own Shia Islam minority.

When the Arab spring started (remember the rebellions Egypt, Libya, Tunisia) the Shia minority agitated for more political rights.  Protests were crushed and activists were jailed.  Currently, international observers report that Bahrain uses its court system to prosecute political enemies and that Bahrain’s police use unacceptable amounts of force.  Being that the country is officially a monarchy (ruled by a king), democratic institutions are lacking.  The United States lightly condemned the action but hasn’t really done anything about it.  Bahrain promised reforms but hasn’t made any.

The situation is best summed up by Michael Posner, our Assistant Secretary of State.  The LA Times quoted him as saying:

“I think our best role is to be a quiet supportive voice on the outside.”

In other words- please be better, but if you don’t get better, no worries.