Future of Gulf Security Becomes Questionable (Security‪)‬

The current wave of popular protests the Arab world demanding a regime change or political reforms has reached the Gulf states, raising questions about the security and stability in a strategic region whose oil supplies are vital for the West's economies. When Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz flew back home on Feb. 23 after a three-month absence in the United States for back surgery and later in Morocco for a period of recuperation, he returned to a Middle East that was radically different from the one that he left last November. The overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on February 11, Saudi Arabia's close ally whom Abdullah backed in a phone call from Morocco, and Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine ben Ali on January 14, and the popular protests that have engulfed some of the Kingdom's neighbors, like Bahrain and Yemen, must be deeply unnerving for the Saudi leadership. Analysts say the Saudi government is anxious that unrest may spread from Bahrain, where the majority Shiites have been protesting against the ruling Sunni dynasty. The top oil exporter and U.S. ally is an absolute monarchy that applies an austere version of Sunni Islam and does not tolerate public dissent. Although protests by Shiites in the Kingdom's Eastern Province have not been on the scale seen in other countries, Saudi authorities are understandably nervous.