Saudi troops head into Bahrain, March 2011. The US government wants change in Bahrain.
According to Elliot Abrams, of the Council on Foreign Relations:
"There will be no justice and no democracy until the royal family is gone."
(Elliott Abrams: Bahrain.)
The ruling family in Bahrain may not survive.
The mainly Shia protestors may yet topple the Sunni al-Khalifa monarchy.
This is important to both Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have helped the Bahrain monarchy to crush dissent.
The Sunnis make up about 40% of the population of Bharain.
On 2 June 2011, The Economist reports ("The loathing persists") on the possibility that Bahrain will become like Iraq.
"The spectre of sectarian bloodletting in the manner of Lebanon and Iraq still frightens many people...
"Some Westerners are packing their bags...
"Banking, which once accounted for over a quarter of Bahrain’s wealth, is searching for safer climes."
The Economist reports (The loathing persists) on the Sunni-Shia divide.
"Teachers arrange 'thank you, Saudi' days in schools.
"The Bahraini king's men have razed dozens of Shia shrines and put up billboards on main roads near Sunni-populated suburbs, depicting nooses dangled over the heads of Shia leaders.
"Hundreds of public-sector Shias have been suspended, to the delight of Sunni immigrants from such places as Pakistan and Bangladesh seeking promotion.
"The Labour Market Regulatory Authority has purged the private sector of Shias suspected of sympathy with the protesters...
"Parliament has been stripped of many of its Shia representatives...
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