Thread: Royal Wedding : Outrage at royal invite for Bahrain king

Outrage at royal wedding invite for Bahrain king
Tim Edwards
MARCH 17, 2011


‘Tyrant with fresh blood on his hands’ threatens to overshadow William and Kate's big day

Prince William and Kate Middleton's royal wedding next month is threatening to descend into a nasty diplomatic incident after one of the supposed guests, King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain, responded to calls for greater democracy in the Gulf island-state with a vicious crackdown on protesters.

The detention of at least six opposition politicians, and reports of three civilians dying as a result of heavy-handed police raids, have brought condemnation of Bahrain's Sunni rulers today from the UN's human rights commissioner, Navi Pillay. "This is "shocking and illegal conduct," she said.
As the New Statesman puts it, "How does the Queen justify her invitation to an unelected tyrant with fresh blood on his hands?"

Buckingham Palace refused to confirm to The First Post on whether the King of Bahrain would be attending the royal wedding. However, the London media have been reporting since last month that he is among 40 or so "crowned heads" who have been invited.

Before today's UN statement, the pressure group Republic had already sent a letter to William and Kate requesting that the invitation to the King of Bahrain and to "any other Middle Eastern despot" be withdrawn immediately.

"I am sure you were as appalled and disgusted as I was at the news that the King of Bahrain has crushed a peaceful pro-democracy rally with tanks and live ammunition, killing a number of protesters," the letter reads.

"Clearly then it would send an appalling message to the world were any dictators of the Middle East - royal or otherwise - seen enjoying the hospitality of your family and rubbing shoulders with Hollywood stars and politicians at your wedding."

Mehdi Hasan writes in the New Statesman that the royal couple "risk having their much-awaited, much-discussed wedding being overshadowed by the (inevitable) protests against their VIP guests from the Middle East - the kings of Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabi and the rest. What is Wills and Kate's defence? How does the Queen justify her invitation to an unelected tyrant with fresh blood on his hands?"

Catherine Mayer writes in Time magazine: "[The King] may feel tempted by the idea of enjoying respite in a country where republican protests remain polite... But Al Khalifa's presence would be as uncomfortable at the wedding as the Ancient Mariner's and leaving his kingdom might prove as foolhardy as shooting an albatross."

If Twitter is anything to go by, the strength of feeling could lead to massive protests on the day of the wedding.

One user has posted: "Hey, what's a massacre of a few subjects between friends?" Another writes: "To invite murderers and despots must be a FIRST for a Royal wedding. Hope you get a nice present!" And another: "How many Shia carcasses wound round the axles of BAe armoured cars before King of Bahrain's Royal Wedding invite is withdrawn? Lots, I bet."

If Al Khalifa does go to the wedding, he will at least have the support of the Saudi king, Abdullah, who is propping up his regime in Bahrain by providing Saudi troops.

However, in the opaque tradition of monarchies the world over, this controversy could be sorted out behind the scenes long before April 29. Buckingham Palace's policy of refusing to release an official guest list beforehand may offer a face-saving way out for all concerned.

In the meantime, the Foreign Office told The First Post that the event was a "not a state occasion" and therefore couldn¹t comment on the suitability of guests. It is "a private wedding so invitations are down to Clarence House".

thefirstpost.co.uk

Given the willi's history when it comes to diplomacy, why would anyone be surprised at this?

Originally Posted by hazz

The detention of at least six opposition politicians, and reports of three civilians dying as a result of heavy-handed police raids, have brought condemnation of Bahrain's Sunni rulers today from the UN's human rights commissioner, Navi Pillay. "This is "shocking and illegal conduct," she said.

About 90 murdered in Thailand where was the wests shock and indignation when the protesters in Bangkok were executed by the Thai government.

Reckon the King's gonna be a bit busy in any case.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

Reckon the King's gonna be a bit busy in any case.

Exactly, he's hardly likely to attend. He'll probably do what his dad did for Charles' Wedding and buy Wills a top of the range Aston Martin.

Gossip really, but I'm sure there's enough truth in it.

While Michelle Obama’s desire for an invitation to Prince William’s wedding fell on deaf ears, the future king has received his first rejection.

Mandrake can disclose that the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Issa al–Khalifa, has informed the Prince and his fiancée, Kate Middleton, that he will not attend the ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

“He has declined his invitation,” confirms my man at St James’s Palace.

The courtier insists that “it was his decision”, but the king’s invitation to the wedding has provoked much negative comment.

I believe the invitations went out before the unrest in Bahrain started. Invite a good idea at the time. Guess someone on the Royal couple's staff needs to pen a very merry uninvitation now the good Bahrain king has shown his true colors.

I doubt he'l attend, but just as a bit of background, the Sunni have been putting down a Shi'a rebellion since the 50s, and Charles and Di didn't mind inviting his dad to their wedding.

Originally Posted by thehighlander959

This is a bigger problem than most realize. I work here in Qatar and there is a lot of talk in the offices here concerning the problems and issues in Bahrein

The King and his family are sunni muslims and yes there are a lot of suuni,s that work for the government of Bahrein. The big issue I think as far as people in the Middle East are concerned is that because of the Shia muslim majority they now believe it is their right to govern or takeover the reigns of power in Bahrein. This could happen with the backing of the biggest Shia group in the Middle East which is Iran I can see the Republican guards in Iran getting their shipments of weapons ready right now to smuggle into Bahrein for the Shia communities.

That seems to be the major fear over here. And how does Bahrein, UAE, Oman and countries like Qatar stop the spread.

Actually for Bahrain it's pretty easy. It's a small island, so it's extremely difficult to smuggle in anything more than a few small arms without them being detected. And if they did find a decent cache, then it would only help Bahrain's cause.

Do you really think Iran would try attacking Saudi Arabia and the US fleet?

I think not.

Not to mention the 400 CNN reporters.

Originally Posted by ItsRobsLife

There's going to be 50 members of the British royal family and 40 other royals from around the world. Get them all in the Abbey, lock the doors and blow the fucking lot of them up. Rid ourselves of some of the planets worst bloodsucking scum in one hit.

Just dreaming about it is a lot of fun.

In fact there is now a marine curfew in northern areas from 5pm-6am. Whether this is to stop people going out or coming in is another story.

The Saudi,s hate the Iranians and with so many Shia living in Bahrein its a bit to close to their own borders for comfort. One the reasons the Saudi military and the UAE Police are their now. They may try to stabilize the situation,however these operations have been known to get out of hand in the past, and instead of stabilization you end up with seroius escalation.

By the way the Iranians dont give a toss how many of the US Fleet are in Bahrein their speed boats have been giving NATO vessels the runaround between the Iraq/Iran border for years.

The simple fact is that no-one in any western democracy wants Iranian missiles parked in Bahrain pointed at the Eastern province.

You can consider the West's muted response to this revolt as them "protecting their own national interests". Whereas Gaddafi's really an annoyance even the Arabs want rid of now.

^
Not just the western democracies Harry, this could be a nightmare for the western world. The last thing you need is a guerilla war on the border of the worlds biggest oil producer.Things could get difficult moving oil through the Gulf.
This could push things to the brink if someone could prove the Iranians were involved.

Originally Posted by thehighlander959

^
Not just the western democracies Harry, this could be a nightmare for the western world. The last thing you need is a guerilla war on the border of the worlds biggest oil producer.Things could get difficult moving oil through the Gulf.
This could push things to the brink if someone could prove the Iranians were involved.

A "guerilla" war? It would be the shortest in history. As of now, the security forces are only involved in "restoring and maintaining stability". If the Shi'as got armed and decided to start shooting, it would all be over very quickly, I can assure you.