Saudi Arabia provides different kinds of support to many countries, including some neighbors, to ensure that it would face no troubles or criticism from those states, British lawmaker says.

“Saudi Arabia, which has massive oil reserves, (and) huge cash reserves… is very keen to make sure that every one of its neighbors is not going to give it any criticism or any trouble or problems whatsoever, hence the intervention in Yemen, hence the sort of support for the president in Yemen, hence the very rapid intervention in Bahrain to support the king there, and suppress any of those uprisings,” MP Jeremy Corbyn stated during an interview with Press TV.
His remarks have come at a time when the flowers of Arab Spring are blooming across the Arab world.
In Bahrain, anti-government protests against the rule of Al Khalifa dynasty began in mid-February.
In March, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait deployed their troops in Bahrain to help the Al Khalifa regime to curb the dissent.
Scores of Bahraini protesters have been killed and many others have gone missing during the harsh crackdowns.
The British Labor MP pointed out that Saudi Arabia “has tried to provide a large amount of cash aid to the military council in Egypt, presumably to try to ensure that Egypt doesn't head off in a completely radical direction that Saudi Arabia doesn't want.”
Change is coming to Arabia
“But one also has to look at the degree of internal opposition in Saudi Arabia which we hear very little about,” Corbyn opined.
“Because there is very limited access to websites in Saudi Arabia, the media are all controlled by the royal families, so the chances of anything getting out are quite minimum,” he said, adding, “But clearly, there is opposition, there have been interventions by the forces on behalf of the Saudi King to put down any kind of demonstrations or demonstration of popular opinion there.”
“If the Western governments think that everything is going to continue as normal in Saudi Arabia, I think they are very wrong, because young people there, as indeed all over the region, are beginning to see the chances of a different lifestyle, of less unemployment, of better chances of education and free expression,” Corbyn stated.
Double standards
British lawmaker went on to say that there are lots of double standards being practiced by both the United States and Britain across the Middle East region.
“Our Prime Minister David Cameron is fond of saying he supports democracy, human rights and freedom of the press all across the region. But if he does, I agree with him and I support that, but the reality is that Britain is deeply involved in Libya, is very close to the Bahraini regime, and is equally close to the Saudi regime. Only last year, Britain sold over a hundred million pounds worth of military equipment to Saudi Arabia, and a story has emerged from parliamentary questions, and today in the London Observer that Britain is indeed training Saudi forces that are now being used in Bahrain to put down the democratic rights uprisings there,” Corbyn pointed out.
Photo: British MP Jeremy Corbyn