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UK reviving imperial system with Bahrain base: Author

Friday, 11 November 2016 10:49 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 11 November 2016 10:51 AM ]

Britain’s Royal Navy will operate out of a base in the Bahraini port of Mina Salman. (Photo by Getty Images)

Prince Charles on Thursday opened a sprawling British military base in Bahrain. The base is the first such facility being opened by Britain in 40 years. The UK is about to deploy warships and around 600 troops to the base in the port of Mina Salman. A lecturer has told Press TV that the base is in line with Britain's plans to revitalize its "imperial" interests in the region.

“This is an attempt by Britain to reestablish its imperial footprint in the Persian Gulf area,” Colin Cavell, an author and lecturer, said on Thursday night.

Cavell touched on the UK’s other military installations in the region, including its establishment of a weapons facility in Oman and its inauguration of HMS Juffair base in Bahrain in 2015,

“This naval base will allow the UK to park some of its naval ships in Mina Salman Port which is right next to the US naval base in Bahrain," he said.

"And together the two imperial powers will be able to control and police the Middle East area to maintain their hegemonic status,” he added.

Cavell further denounced the Bahraini regime’s motives behind allowing the UK to establish a military base in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom.

“It is an effort by the Al-Khalifa dynasty in Bahrain to make sure that it has an imperial hegemon to protect it just in case the United States’ support lags or is not exactly in favor of a regime that continues to jail, torture and kill many of its citizens," he said.

The author went on to say that the Al Khalifa regime is attempting to “shut down all opposition and anybody who criticizes the iron fist of the monarchy.”

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others injured or arrested in the Bahraini crackdown on protests which have continued almost on a daily basis since February 14, 2011.

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