BAHRAIN - The Rich/Poor & Sunni/Shiite Rift.(Brief Article)
The gap between rich and poor and the rift between Sunnis and Shiites in the emirate tend to overlap somewhat. Those who are poor tend to be Shiites, while those who are rich tend to be Sunnis, though there are poor Sunnis and rich Shiites. This rift has been exacerbated by traditional sectarian differences, which have been quietly nurtured by theologians who follow the Jaafari Shiite doctrine of Iran and the Wahhabi Sunni doctrine of Saudi Arabia. The result was an explosive mix kept under a lid of tight internal security, with the weight of grievances heavier on the Shiite side.
This lid came off in December 1994, just ahead of a GCC summit in Manama. Ironically, …
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