Doran blog

Longtime U.S. allyhas a unique demographic challenge that makes these protests different than the others in the Arab world.

The majority of the residents of Bahrain are foreign citizens. Few nations face such a challenge to governance.are foreign citizens.

Like many Gulf states, Bahrain used guest workers over the last few decades to fill jobs that locals would often refuse. The CIA reports that 's population is 20 percent foreign. 's population is 46 percent foreign.

Bahrain is a constitutional monarchy, with a two house legislature. The upper house is appointed by the King of Bahrain and the lower house is elected. Bahrain allows women to vote. Aboutlives in urban areas.

Thefollows the Shia form of Islam while the ruling family and many city dwellers are Sunni. Discord between the two branches of Islam dates back over a thousand years while the discord between the rural poor and the urban rich is more recent. About 56 percent of the nation's residents are Shia and 24 percent are Sunni. Some 9 percent are Christian and the remainder practice other faiths.

Bahraini Air Force jets flew combat missions with the Coalition in the first Gulf War. Police and military units have served alongside Coalition and NATO troops in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years. The United States Navy has headquartered its .

Iran has stated territorial claims over Bahrain, since the royal family captured the islands from the Persians in the early 1800s. About 8 percent of the nation's residents are believed to be Iranian.

News reports appear to assume that the protesters are Bahraini citizens. With over half the residents holding foreign citizenship, that assumption may be open to challenge. The , is claimed to have left the legislature over the crackdown on protests by security forces.

The Sunni / Shia ideological and economic split is clearly one of the roots of the protest but observers should not discount foreign influences. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran have security interests in this tiny nation. The protests are far more compex in cause than the media are showing.