German Expert Rips Western 'Taboo' On Criticizing Bahrain Repression

Berlin, April 29, IRNA -- Germany's most prominent Middle East expert Peter Scholl-Latour here Saturday blasted the West for its 'taboo' on criticizing the ongoing security crackdown in Bahrain. Addressing an international conference in Berlin on the Arab uprisings, Scholl-Latour said 'the brutal repression by the al-Khalifa regime' has been met with silence by western states since the deadly suppression of the Bahraini protest movement was actively supported by two key western allies, namely Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He slammed the German decision to sell up to 270 Leopard 2 tanks to Saudi Arabia which could be used to clampdown on pro-freedom protests in Bahrain. Scholl-Latour said although the West proclaims to support the Arab revolutions, it is in fact relying on 'reactionary and repressive' Arab regimes. He lashed out at western states for aligning themselves with the despotic Saudi regime to promote ideals like democracy and freedom in the Arab world, branding it 'utmost hypocrisy.' Scholl-Latour openly accused the Saudi regime of using the al-Qaeda terror network as an 'instrument' to press ahead with its political objectives in the Arab states. His comments were echoed by the former head of the Hamburg-based German Orient Institute, Udo Steinbach who lambasted the West for its long-time support of dictatorial Arab regimes. The Middle East scholar stressed that western countries had actually tried 'to prevent revolutions' in the Arab countries./end