What people cheering on this anarchy don't understand is that the demographics are very different in the Persian Gulf. Much of the UAE and Qatar is only 15-20% Arabic. Bahrain is only 35-40% Arabic. None of the MAJORITY which is made up of ex-pats and illegal workers have "voting rights" or any formal political power, so we have only the Western educated Kings looking out for us - and they do: shooting down attempts to ban alcohol, foreigners workers, and generally make life intolerable. There are some fucking awesome Kings here. The crazy shit built in Dubai wouldn't have come about in a democratic, laissez-faire environment. The world needs shit like that. Life's too short. Qatar sure as shit wouldn't have won the 2022 World Cup bid, either, and Bahrain wouldn't be opening the 2011 F1 season in less than a month, inshallah.

I have a lot of friends who work in Bahrain illegally. The protests are in a place that has cut the central city off from the rest of the country. Anyone working illegally at the central bars that night hasn't been able to get home because they can't cross police lines without gettting ID'ed. If they have to stay at the hotels without money, people do terrible things to them in 'compensation'. They've restricted access to that central bar area, but NO ONE can sneak people in and out of those bars like me!!! It's like I've spent the last 2 fucking years in training for this moment, AND I'M STUCK IN THE USA TAKING PICTURES OF GODDAMNED STATUES AND GOING TO DEERHOOF CONCERTS WITH PUSSY-ASSED HIPSTERS!!!!!!

The King's army is made up of Pakistani mercenaries promised citizenship after 30 years of service. The Bahrainis loathe them. The mercenaries will lose everything with a change of regime, so they won't back down. If things get out of hand, the Saudis will come and our world will turn to shit for a few years.