'Saudi Arabia 51st US state in ME'Interview with Syed Ali Wasif of Society for International Reforms & Research http://www.islamtimes.org/vdcjitev8uqeyhz.92fu.html

Despite promises of reforms by the Al Saud regime, anti-government protesters in Saudi Arabia took to the streets in the Eastern Province of the oil-rich country. Saudi protesters criticized the crackdown carried out by security forces in the town of Awamiyah in Qatif region.Press TV has Interviewed Syed Ali Wasif, with the Society for International Reforms and Research in Washington, to shed more light on the recent events unfolding in Saudi Arabia.Below is the rush transcription of the interview:

Press TV: Is the use of the supposed 'foreign power interfering in Saudi affairs' a convenient opt-out for the Saudis to not take responsibility for the reasons of this unrest in Qatif?Wasif: Of course, as you see Saudi Arabia is a unique example on this planet being an absolute monarchy. This is the only absolute monarchy left on this planet and the concept of absolute monarchy or for that matter for any kind of monarchy is in contradiction with the Islamic doctrines.So if you want to check the legitimacy of the Saudi government, it is totally in contradiction with international political norms of the West in terms of John Locke's ideology; it is in contradiction with the Islamic doctrines; with the teachings of the prophet Mohammed and the Quranic injunctions where there is no place of any kind of monarchy in Islam. It is in contradiction with international legal norms and human rights norms and civil rights and civil liberties.

So this government is basically pursuing a policy today of the former Russian communist government which they had in terms of gulags, the concentration camps. They treated their own people in concentration camps and those people were meted out with ruthless policies and ruthless actions.Today we see the same kind of gulags in terms of Saudi Arabia's policy vis-a-vis its eastern province where the entire eastern Qatif province is being treated as one concentration camp just like the Soviet practice of gulag. So they have no rights, no civil rights, civil liberties, no human rights, no political rights, no religious rights whatsoever. So this is basically a denial of the fundamental human rights and this is in contradiction with the universal declaration of human rights 1948 initiated by the First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt. The second thing is its denial of all kinds of rights.

So this is a continuation of the Soviet communist policies in Saudi Arabia, though Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy which as I said is totally against the Islamic doctrines. So Saudi Arabia is now in a fixed paranoid position and in a paranoid situation where it is surrounded by the unrest in its backyard in Yemen, the unrest in its backyard in Bahrain and of course within its territories in Qatif and even in Jeddah and other places.So Saudi authorities are totally today perplexed with the situation where there is growing resentment against its authoritarian, totalitarian and anti-Islamic Wahhabi rule and against its one family dictatorship. That is why we see that the Saudi regime on and off tries to label its foreign connection whenever there is a kind of uprising not just in Qatif but also in others parts of Saudi Arabia. They almost always try to blame other foreign parts.

What kind of foreign occupation or foreign parts do we see in Saudi Arabia? None whatsoever. In fact, on the contrary, the Saudi forces are present in Yemen; they are present in Bahrain and the Saudi intelligence is doing its work in Iraq as well. So what else do you need as a kind of evidence that it is Saudi Arabi and not others?Press TV: I would like to ask as well about the US role and others and of course we cannot speak about the Saudis without speaking about the Americans. So then, is the expectation that America as the "human rights defender of the world" an unreasonable one that it will actually stand up and speak about these Saudi atrocities?Wasif: Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia has exhibited itself as the 51st state of the United States. This is very unfortunate. So that is why the United States really treats it as its 51st state, as an integrate part of the United States. This is the matter and this is the fact and this is the situation on the ground.

So you have to take care of this status of Saudi Arabia being the 51st state of the United States in the Middle East. The United States also holds territories in Guam and in other places but this is the first case where you will see Saudi Arabia as the 51st state in the Middle East.So how could you expect from the United States to treat it with policies that are not consistent with the current or with the previous United States' regimes? The United States is not a signatory to any international legal instrument in terms of human rights, in terms of ecology, in terms of environment and in terms of International Criminal Court or other international legal instruments.

So how could you expect anything better from the current US government which goes against the Saudi regime? So I do not think the United States will ever ask the Saudi government to follow international legal norms because the United States government itself does not follow any kind of legal norm for that matter when it comes to international law, international criminal law, international human rights.So this is why we are not seeing any kind of resentment on behalf of the US government, on behalf of the US opposition forces, on behalf of the US media, not even on behalf of the European Union. This is a dichotomy which is being practiced and which is being seen through the last two years or so.