Doing my best to shift my mind away from the horrific murder at Zanzibar, I tuned into the Saudi Arabia execution of some Sunnis and the reaction from Iran and Iraq. Not sure of the outcome if they went to war against each other but better them than western armed forces. So where are sunnis and where are shiites and what is the population split? I found the attached website interesting. Mapping the Global Muslim Population | Pew Research Center
PatO I spent a bit of time living in Bahrain/KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and the situation there is probably going to get very interesting and possibly very bad as a result of that execution. As for "who is who": KSA is a Sunni ruled and Sunni Majority country. There is some disharmony from the minority. The Shia minority has been kept quiet (happy) by the Royal Family providing a lot of social welfare/development programs to everyone. Bahrain is a Sunni ruled and Shia Majority country. There are a lot of problems with the Shia majority. Bahrain is more or less controlled by KSA by KSA providing a lot of oil to Bahrain everyday because their oil wells are dry. Iran is a Shia majority country ruled by Shia's. Sunni's are not having a good time there right now. KSA has financial problem due to low oil prices. Recently they issued $5 billion in bonds to balance their budget. I am GUESSING that they need some instability in the Middle East to force oil prices up. Here is a story about the backlash from todays newspaper; Bahrain cuts ties with Tehran as Saudi-Iran crisis widens | Toronto Star
Saudi salafist-sect of sunni is the major producer of terrorists. ISIS is using Saudi books at their schools 'cause their fanaticism is of same brand than Saudi. Saudi money is still today supporting most of the terrorists in Syria/Iraq including ISIS. Saudi is not willing to fight any terrorist group in Syria/Iraq, not even ISIS. Osama bin Laden was saudi like most of 7/11 bombers. Better USA bomb Saudi, then ISIS be gone soon
Don't they make up 90% of the Muslim population? It seems logical that 90% of Muslim terrorist attacks would come from that sect. Agree. The US should really focus on putting more pressure on Saudi to clean up their act and stop giving them so much support. I believe they get a pass simply because of the amount of oil they have.
I agree they get a pass largely because of oil, but also because they are willing to be "friendly" to US interests. If the US started applying pressure, at what point does Saudi just say OK, up yours? Then they double down on terrorism support and the problem is worse. Politics, yuk.
Don't they make up 90% of the Muslim population? It seems logical that 90% of Muslim terrorist attacks would come from that sect. I think the Salafist-sect (also called Wahhabii) is one of the smaller groups. The are the ultra Conservative group and the Sunni's are moderate (relatively speaking) part that form the majority in KSA. Here is a somewhat confusing link explaining their relation to terrorism. You Can't Understand ISIS If You Don't Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia | Alastair Crooke I think KSA knew exactly what would happen when they executed that Shia Cleric. Next in the news will be Bahrain as they are Sunni controlled with a majority Shia and Iran seems to think Bahrain should belong to them. The US Navy 5th fleet is in Bahrain. No more shore leave for those folk I'd guess. As a side note, neither the Sunni's or Shia in KSA like the royal family so the ME is going to be very interesting in the near future. The press in KSA is tightly controlled so there may not be a lot of news from there.
It's not already a circus? I really don't think there will ever be peace in the ME, even if the West discovered a renewable fuel that could make oil completely obsolete and left them completely to themselves. Islam requires that it be part of the government/judicial system no matter how you translate/interpret the Koran or what additional reading your sect of the cult....err I mean "religion"....requires. Religion and politics just don't mix. If Allah were actively showing himself and giving guidance on what he said 1600 years ago to one pedophile warlord (you would think that an omniscient and omnipotent being would have had a little foresight and worded it in a way that everyone could understand in the first place....or at the very least just wrote it in a language that everyone could understand with no possible way to misinterpret it, which shouldn't be too hard for someone with limitless power and knowledge) then a theocracy might be able to exist peacefully.
This past year the Saudi king died and they now have a new guy. The new guy is much more militant than the guy that died, (what i've read), and he has also appointed more militant family members into positions of authority, some of whom are trying to be more harsh than the other guys. Kind of like a competition for winning the tallest midget contest.
Sunni and Shia? Ain't they Murricans that had that hit with "I Got You Babe" in the 1960's? Yesh, another SM Pilsen barkeep...
