# Demonstrators killed in Bahrain **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 15, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498 "2011-02-15T21:11:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/1 "2011-02-15T21:11:41Z")
Funnier still, [one was killed a funeral service for a dude killed in the protests **yesterday!**](http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/2011215194859291708.html)🙂 The king went on TV and apologized. In [Bahrain’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahrain) case, the [protests](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Bahraini_protests) apparently are about a [controversial election](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahraini_parliamentary_election,_2010) last year – what else, I’m not sure. My guess is that this one goes nowhere, but these situations are ever-surprising this month. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/2 "2011-02-16T16:10:34Z")
And yet [protests continue for the third day.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/16/AR2011021602567.html) > [@](#): > > Only 31/2 times the size of Washington, Bahrain is located at a crucial geographic crossroads between two regional heavyweights: Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Shiite-led Iran. Each has jockeyed over the years to keep the tiny kingdom rooted in its orbit, making Bahrain a staging ground for broader, regional sectarian tensions. > > Although Iran has historic connections to Bahrain and wields influence with Bahrain’s Shiite masses, Saudi Arabia props up the ruling Sunni al-Khalifa royal family with cash. With dwindling oil resources, Bahrain relies on Saudi Arabia - which is connected to Bahrain by a lengthy causeway - for money and a security blanket. > > Regional experts predicted that if demonstrations spin out of control, Saudi Arabia could intervene to ensure the al-Khalifa family remains in power. Already on Wednesday there were unconfirmed reports that Saudi police had come across the causeway to combat protests. It’s no fun being two big powers’ bone of contention. Just ask the Alsatians. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/3 "2011-02-16T16:21:01Z")
Someone ought to tell the WaPo that being an island kind of disqualifies you from being at a georgraphic crossroads. The weird thing is that the protestors are bitching about the results of a largely symbolic election anyway; all power in Bahrain devolves from the monarch, just as in the other theoretical Arab constitutional monarchies. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/4 "2011-02-16T16:25:22Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Funnier still, [one was killed a funeral service for a dude killed in the protests **yesterday!**](http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/2011215194859291708.html)🙂 > > The king went on TV and apologized. > > In [Bahrain’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahrain) case, the [protests](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Bahraini_protests) apparently are about a [controversial election](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahraini_parliamentary_election,_2010) last year – what else, I’m not sure. My guess is that this one goes nowhere, but these situations are ever-surprising this month. It’s also about the usual stuff. Kleptocratic Royal Family from one Islamic wing and a disproportionate bunch of poor people from the other. Probably going nowhere as the US has a major base there. Home of the 5th Fleet among other things so expect a conspicuous silence from Obama. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/5 "2011-02-16T16:34:46Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The weird thing is that the protestors are bitching about the results of a largely symbolic election anyway; all power in Bahrain devolves from the monarch, just as in the other theoretical Arab constitutional monarchies. **That’s** what they’re bitching about, really. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/6 "2011-02-16T16:45:12Z")
> [@tagos](#): > > It’s also about the usual stuff. Kleptocratic Royal Family from one Islamic wing and a disproportionate bunch of poor people from the other. > > Probably going nowhere as the US has a major base there. Home of the 5th Fleet among other things so expect a conspicuous silence from Obama. We are propping up yet another kleptomaniac dictator-equivalent in the Middle East, I see. Probably against a mob that would start stoning women and so forth if they had power. Lovely. The Middle East is such a fountain of suck. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/7 "2011-02-16T17:00:28Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > We are propping up yet another kleptomaniac dictator-equivalent in the Middle East, I see. Probably against a mob that would start stoning women and so forth if they had power. Lovely. The Middle East is such a fountain of suck. Sadly, it is. And we keep on meddling for ‘strategic’ reasons, sowing dragon’s teeth and generally storing up trouble. The best we can hope for out of all of this is that the end results look more like Turkey than Iran, Iraq, The Mayor of Kabul’s vile little satrap or Saudi. ---
**Author:** ![wmfellows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@wmfellows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wmfellows)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/8 "2011-02-16T17:21:11Z")
[quote=“BrainGlutton, post:1, topic:571498”] Funnier still, [one was killed a funeral service for a dude killed in the protests **yesterday!**](http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/2011215194859291708.html) :)[/qyuote] No offence mate, but your multi messages in this area give me the impression this is like some huge videogame for political junkies like yourself. I know you mean well, but the above strikes me as needless. The king went on TV and apologized. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Someone ought to tell the WaPo that being an island kind of disqualifies you from being at a georgraphic crossroads. Why? Perfectly possible. Obviously not literal road-cross roads, but perfectly possible for a sea-faring extension of the metaphor. > [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > We are propping up yet another kleptomaniac dictator-equivalent in the Middle East, I see. Probably against a mob that would start stoning women and so forth if they had power. Lovely. The Middle East is such a fountain of suck. Perhaps you might try not pre-emptively judging them as your moral and cultural inferiors. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/9 "2011-02-16T17:27:31Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > The Middle East is such a fountain of suck. And yet there was a time when it was **the** center of all high civilization west of China. _Sic transit . . ._ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/10 "2011-02-16T17:29:09Z")
> [@wmfellows](#): > > No offence mate, but your multi messages in this area give me the impression this is like some huge videogame for political junkies like yourself. I know you mean well, but the above strikes me as needless. 1. **Of course** it is that, among other things. Which is no skin off any Middle Easterner’s nose. 2. I would have thought this crowd would appreciate the black-comic irony. No disrespect meant to the families of the deceased. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/11 "2011-02-16T17:39:30Z")
> [@wmfellows](#): > > Perhaps you might try not pre-emptively judging them as your moral and cultural inferiors. When I want words put in my mouth, I’ll put them there myself, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/12 "2011-02-16T17:47:24Z")
Fun fact: I used to live in Bahrain, and had a pet goat. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/13 "2011-02-16T17:48:25Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Fun fact: I used to live in Bahrain, and had a pet goat. Did you stare at it? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/14 "2011-02-16T17:51:03Z")
Yes, but I wasn’t trying to kill it. I was trying to make it stop giving milk so that I could go back on dairy. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/15 "2011-02-17T02:47:29Z")
[Riot police just drove protesters out of the main square of the capital.](http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Riot-Police-Attack-Bahrain-Protesters-116368869.html) ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/16 "2011-02-17T11:44:15Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Riot police just drove protesters out of the main square of the capital.](http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Riot-Police-Attack-Bahrain-Protesters-116368869.html) Note also that the notoriously brutal security forces are all foreign nationals from Pakistan and the like given preferential treatment and fast-tracked citizenship as a reward. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/17 "2011-02-17T12:16:13Z")
You mean, likes some two-bit Varangian Guard? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/18 "2011-02-17T12:17:01Z")
Speaking for all Saudi expats, we all look at this situation and wonder, “Will we get danger money?” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/19 "2011-02-17T12:32:12Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Speaking for all Saudi expats, we all look at this situation and wonder, “Will we get danger money?” Tell me when you start thinking “Does our embassy roof have a helicopter pad?” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498/20 "2011-02-17T15:23:24Z")
The strain of the reign is painful for Bahrain! I am **so** going to Hell . . . [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demonstrators-killed-in-bahrain/571498.md?page=2)