The Bahrain protests, like those of Egypt, Libya, Syria, Myanmar, North Korea, Thailand, and beyond, were trained, equipped, and supported by the US State Department. Leading opposition organizations, such as the US-based "Witness Bahrain" and Bahrain Center for Human Rights, are partnered directly with US State Department-funded fronts like the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) while a high-profile self-proclaimed leader of the protests, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, was regional coordinator of "Frontline Defenders," a Ford Foundation, Freedom House, American Jewish World Service, Soros Open Society Institute-funded "human rights" advocacy group. Al-Khawaja is now carrying out a "hunger strike" while in prison.
