Victoria Jones PA Wire/PA Images. All rights reserved.America’s new president, Donald J. Trump, has yet to fully articulate his foreign policy strategy - or to at least unify the divergent views of his cabinet - but one thing is abundantly clear: the next four years are going to be a far cry from the Obama Doctrine.
For the people of Bahrain, a key US ally in the Arab Gulf, this is cause for both apprehension and optimism.
From his campaign to his first week in office, Trump has shown little interest in promoting human rights at home or abroad, instead often specifically advocating for violations of international law. It is profoundly disconcerting for pro-democracy activists and human rights defenders in the Middle East and North Africa to hear Trump praise the likes of Saddam Hussein, Bashar al-Assad, and Muammar Gaddafi - the same autocrats they’ve risked their lives to resist.
