US STRENGTHENING BAHRAINS REPRESSION AND DICTATORSHIP....
 http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/bahrain/us-navy-to-reinforce-footprint-in-the-region-1.1261824
“Bahrain is going to suddenly emerge” in the eyes of the public and the Defence Department, he said.The US Navy is confirming its footprint in the Arabian Gulf by reinforcing its presence through short- and long-term plans. Telling Navy sailors at the US Naval Facility in Manama that Bahrain remained the best option for operating out of the region, Adm Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, described a plan to bring two more coastal patrol ships to the kingdom in the spring. The first littoral combat ships are expected to arrive in Bahrain in 2018 with rotational crews, Greenert told the US newspaper ...Greenert stressed Bahrain’s key role in the service’s Middle East presence, telling sailors that the base here would continue to be its “centrepiece” and denying there was a plan B.“We don’t have that kind of deep relationship with any other country that we have with Bahrain,” Greenert told Stripes.Bahrain has had a long, close cooperation with the US and was designated a Major Non-Nato Ally in 2002.
[ed notes:Meanwhile....However, various rights groups continue expressing abuses by the Bahraini government including “the growing threats against human rights defenders and the continued exploitation of the judicial system.” Bahrain Center for Human Rights continues to call for medical treatment for incarcerated political leader Abdulwahab Hussain....concern over the arrest of human rights activist Hussain Jawad who is accused of “inciting hatred against the regime,” and calls for the immediate release of Nabeel Rajab, a prominent human rights activist “jailed for taking part in an anti-government protest last year.” The Associated Press reports that a court denied Rajab’s request for an early release from his charge of “encouraging illegal gatherings,” which he was eligible for.