Saudis intervene in Bahrain
Saudi Arabia led 2,000 troops into the tiny island kingdom of Bahrain to end the clash between Bahrain’s Sunni rulers and its majority-Shiite population.
Saudi Arabia led 2,000 Arab troops across a causeway into the tiny island kingdom of Bahrain this week, potentially turning the clash between Bahrain’s Sunni rulers and its majority-Shiite population into a regional conflict with Iran. A day later, the Bahraini government declared martial law and sent its own troops to quell the monthlong protest in the capital’s Pearl Square with tear gas, armored cars, and shotguns. As sectarian clashes broke out elsewhere in the country, at least five protesters, two police, and one Saudi soldier were killed.
The Saudis were “not in a mode for listening” to Washington’s calls for restraint, an administration official told The New York Times. The regime was so concerned about the recent protests among its own restive Shiite majority that it tried to buy some goodwill with $37 billion in new social programs. A successful Shiite uprising against the Sunni autocrats next door, the Saudis fear, could spark a renewed rebellion within their own country. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, where hard-liners consider Bahrain an occupied province, condemned the Saudi military intervention as “very foul and doomed.”
“No one is going to take any lessons” from Ahmadinejad on dealing with protesters, said ArabNews.com in an editorial. After all, Iran simply “hangs them.” Saudi Arabia sent troops only after Bahrain’s reform movement had mutated “into a brooding brutal religious divide.” Better we Arabs intervene for our brethren than allow Iran to undertake “an indisputable invasion of Arab lands” that would trigger war.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Saudis are “overreacting, even panicking,’’ said the Financial Times. The ruling family was clearly rattled by the fall of close ally Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, and the spread of Shiite uprisings throughout the region. But cracking down too hard on Saudis clamoring for more jobs and some social and political freedom will only serve to push “a mass reform movement into the arms of revolutionaries.” Instead of diminishing the influence of Iran and its proxies, “which barely have a toehold on the Arabian Peninsula,” the Saudis are practically inviting them “to come charging in.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'Solitude has become a notable, and worrisome, trend of our times'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
Blake Lively accuses rom-com costar of smear job
Speed Read The actor accused Justin Baldoni, her director and costar on "It Ends With Us," of sexual harassment and a revenge campaign
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Germany arrests anti-Islam Saudi in SUV attack
Speed Read The attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg left five people dead and more than 200 wounded
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Putin’s threat to fracture Ukraine
feature Fears that Russia was building a pretext for an invasion of eastern Ukraine grew, as pro-Kremlin protesters occupied government buildings in three cities.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Curbing NSA surveillance
feature The White House said it will propose a broad overhaul of the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Downsizing the military
feature A new budget plan for the Pentagon would save hundreds of billions of dollars by taking the military off its post-9/11 war footing.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Putin ratchets up pressure on Ukraine
feature Russian President Vladimir Putin put 150,000 troops at the Ukraine border on high alert and cut off $15 billion in financial aid.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Ukraine on the brink of civil war
feature Ukraine’s capital was engulfed in flames and violence when hundreds of riot police launched an assault on an anti-government protest camp.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Ukraine at the breaking point
feature An alliance of opposition groups vowed protests would continue until President Viktor Yanukovych is removed from power.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Dim prospects for Syrian talks
feature A long-awaited Syrian peace conference in Montreux, Switzerland, quickly degenerated into a cross fire of bitter accusations.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
The fight over jobless benefits
feature A bill to restore federal benefits for the long-term unemployed advanced when six Republican senators voted with Democrats.
By The Week Staff Last updated