In Saudi Shadow, One Troubled Gulf State Seeks an Investor Reset - Bloomberg

In Saudi Shadow, One Troubled Gulf State Seeks an Investor Reset - Bloomberg:

"Gleaming skyscrapers rise from reclaimed land in one corner of Bahrain’s capital, a new development that’s a showcase for the government’s effort to lure hi-tech business and move the economy beyond energy dependence. That’s a widespread aspiration in the Persian Gulf -- and the Manama skyline wouldn’t be out of place among peer cities. But it’s a sharp remove from the rest of Bahrain, a country that faces a challenge unique in the neighborhood. At the same time as pursuing a more diverse economy, it’s battling to contain political unrest. There’s another Bahrain in which security forces conduct night-time raids into villages where the Shiite Muslim majority live, while leaders of opposition groups remain jailed. The small island nation was the only one of the Gulf’s Sunni Muslim monarchies that teetered during the Arab Spring in 2011. Shiite youths inspired by their peers elsewhere in the region poured into the streets of the capital Manama to demand change. It took a military intervention led by Saudi Arabia to shore up the ruling Al Khalifa family."



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