Bahrain’s rulers now flout the U.S. openly

[IceWizard]

Http://washingtonpost.com/opinions/bahra...story.html

GOVERNMENTS ACROSS the Middle East
perceive that President Obama has
subordinated much of U.S. policy in the region
to the goal of completing a nuclear bargain with Iran.
Policies that might disturb Tehran, such as
acting against the Syrian regime of Bashar al- Assad, have been put on hold; meanwhile,
traditional U.S. allies that are skeptical of the
deal, such as Saudi Arabia, have been promised stepped-up U.S. military assistance.
One U.S. client that has sized up the situation
with particular cynicism is Bahrain, a Sunni
monarchy in the Persian Gulf that hosts the
U.S. Fifth Fleet. Since 2011, the regime has been harshly repressing opponents calling for
greater political representation for the country’s Shiite minority.
Regular demonstrations in Shiite
areas are put down by force; activists are
arrested and often tortured; and opposition
politicians and human rights monitors are
prosecuted on trumped-up charges. In
response to sporadic criticism and pressure from the Obama administration, the regime has occasionally promised reforms or dialogue with the opposition but invariably has failed to follow through.

More recently, the ruling al-Khalifa family
appears to have concluded that it can afford to
flout the Obama administration openly. Last year it expelled the visiting State Department assistant secretary for human rights after he
met with opposition members, including from the al-Wefaq party.

In December, it arrested the
head of the party, Sheikh Ali Salman. On
Tuesday, a court sentenced Mr. Salman to four years in prison on flimsy charges of “inciting
hatred” and “insulting public institutions.”

King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa attended a horse
show in England rather than the summit Mr. 
Obama held to sell the Iran deal to Persian Gulf
leaders. But he’s still counting on a handsome
payoff: U.S. tolerance for the imprisonment of
the country’s foremost opposition leader, and more military aid to boot. If that sounds like
chutzpah, the king has been encouraged:
According to the Daily Beast, Secretary of State

John F. Kerry promised Bahrain’s foreign
minister last month that the administration
would work to lift a partial ban on arms sales to the island state, imposed four years ago in
reaction to the repression.