David Cameron’s silence on human rights violations is rewarded with a shiny new military base in Bahrain

How much does it take to buy off David Cameron’s silence? Bahrain seems to have answered that very question, by agreeing to “host” a permanent British military base…a reward for Cameron’s media blackout on human rights violations in Bahrain.

Human Rights activists are none to happy and are protesting in Bahrain.

The base costs will cost more than 23 million dollars and will be used to fight ISIS (for now, who knows who will be next?) and as a training ground for Syrian rebels (question above answered. These guys will be next after ISIS).

“In the Now” spoke with Dominic Kavakeb from Bahrain’s Justice and Development Movement, who had this to say about Britain’s military expansion.

The Royal Navy will return to the former British protectorate after a 40-year absence, UK Foreign Minister Philip Hammond announced in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, on Saturday.

The naval base will be the navy’s largest center of operations outside Britain. The announcement did not go over to smoothly with local residents.

#Bahrain protests erupt over new UK naval base–reward for UK silence before its repression. http://t.co/kgmm4Ketfc pic.twitter.com/LyIeA6FuIW

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) December 8, 2014

Via RT:

Police used tear gas after hundreds of people took to streets in Sitra, a town near the base, to protest in the wake on the announcement. Protesters said the move was a form of payback for support of the repressive regime, which crushed the pro-democracy uprising in 2011, arresting and allegedly torturing scores of activists.

“Maybe Britain was the only country that openly supported the dictatorship in Bahrain and clearly opposing our struggle for democracy and human rights,” Rajab told RT.

“Taking into consideration that the silence of the UK, Bahrain paying that [as] an award to them and for that reason Bahraini people are upset as the information [is] coming out.” The British authorities say they plan to use the base facility in operations against the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), which occupies large territories of Iraq and Syria. However, local activists do not want to see the British Navy in Bahrain.

“We don’t think that it will help very much the security because they could deal with ISIS from wherever they are,” Rajab said. “We’re a small nation, we’re a peaceful nation. We would like to maintain our peaceful relations with all our neighbors everywhere.”

“And finally we will have to pay the price of their presence here. And unfortunately I would say this comes in the blood of our children. We don’t welcome this base.”

“Bahrain pursues a brutal crackdown, what better time for UK to build a military base there?” http://t.co/MQb86CAzGn pic.twitter.com/MvyYG6JFuS

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) December 8, 2014

Bahrain has been criticized by international organizations for human rights abuses, however, as the home of the US Fifth Fleet, it has faced little criticism from Western governments. That is no coincidence.

“Bahrain’s human rights record regressed further in key areas in 2013 and the government made little real progress regarding reforms it claimed to pursue. Security forces continued to arrest scores of individuals arbitrarily in towns where anti-government protests regularly take place,” the Human Rights Watch website says.

References:

http://rt.com/news/212559-bahrain-british-base-protest/