US Wanting To Change Persian Gulf Into American Gulf: German Daily

Berlin, June 27, IRNA -- The Berlin-based daily junge welt on Tuesday lambasted the US for wanting to change the Persian Gulf into the 'American Gulf' aimed at safeguarding its military dominance in the region. Only a few months after the completed US pullout from Iraq, Washington is 'desperately trying to maintain its hegemony in the region by turning the oil-rich Persian Gulf into an American Gulf,' the paper said, referring to a recent study published by the US Senate which assessed also the current state of US relations with Arab Persian Gulf countries. Junge welt pointed to US plans to station up to 40,000 troops in the Persian Gulf region, including in countries which have recently faced political turmoil. The newspaper highlighted also US double standard on human rights in the region as it supports despotic regimes in the region, notably Bahrain. It pointed to the US Senate report which urged the Obama administration not cut military aid to its strategic ally - the al-Khalifa regime- despite its ongoing massive human rights violations in that country. The US Senate had labeled the popular uprising in Bahrain as being merely a 'political crisis' as the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom has been the scene of violent pro-democracy protests. Dozens of people have been killed by Bahraini security forces since the outbreak of mass protests in the Arab country in early 2011. International human right organizations have time and again complained that the West has kept mum amid reports that Bahrain's Sunni-led government is waging a violent and bloody crackdown — destroying Shiite mosques, illegally detaining and torturing dissidents, attacking medical personnel to prevent them from treating wounded protesters and, abusing women and girls./end