It was necessary to actually watch columns of Saudi military vehicles roll by, with soldiers flashing victory signs from the gun turrets – in order to believe that in our time a king could actually call in foreign troops to oppress his own people. We know, that, should the Saudi people be allowed by their senile rulers, to make it to the streets, other foreign interventions might try to stop them, too. And we know, that no member of the Saudi royal family can even so much as cough in his private rooms without Washington getting the information. What some may not be aware of is, that the U.S. enjoys watching, how Muslims are killing Muslims, how the Saudi rulers are drawn into a confrontation with a Shia population majority, which will further destabilize shaky Saudi Arabia as much as it pushes Bahrain to the brink of civil war. And this all is punctual for Nowruz, when peaceful people in the region have other plans and projects, much like in the case of US-British invasion in Iraq, eight years ago.

All over the modern world, stable monarchies rule by widespread consent of their people. If they do not enjoy this consent and oppression comes in – the legitimacy of the rule is in doubt immediately. But when foreign troops are used to make up for the weakness of a ruler to subdue his own people – that ruler is lost one way or another, sooner or later. There is no recovery from this utter helplessness – as there is no excuse for this blatant case of high treason in Bahrain.
If there was any doubt left that the U.S. is doing its utmost to interfere in the Arab world’s public unrest and misdirect its thrust – now it is clear as water. US defense minister Gates had said, that Bahrain’s rulers were “serious about serious reforms”. What he meant was a double standard: In order to protect US naval bases of the 5th Fleet, to keep a mainly Shia population under oppression and a devote ruler in place, the Saudi royal troops are doing the dirty work for their American masters. In the last days, peaceful demonstrators were shot in the head, trampled upon and beaten, now the hour of the killers has come. The foreign mercenaries will take lessons from this ugly job, which will not please their Saudi rulers: That their honor and their conscience are violated with the order to invade Bahrain against the will of the Bahraini people, upon suggestion from the U.S. and invitation by Bahrain’s corrupt king.
Meanwhile another consideration may settle in: The people of Bahrain deserve all possible support in their just plight for freedom in peace. Political demonstrations should continue peacefully at any cost, as is the successful example from the Iranian revolution. But should the government decide to attack in other places: Bahrain’s king has opened the Pandora’s Box – he should be allowed a good look now to the dire consequences.
*The author is a government and business consultant in Germany, multiple book author and expert since 25 years on issues of Central Asia, the Middle East and security-related questions