"..Never forget the main strategic purpose of the causeway to Saudi Arabia is to allow Saudi forces to rush over to quell Shia riots .."

"...There was little visible security presence, suggesting that Bahraini authorities were recalibrating their response after a police crackdown earlier this week left two demonstrators dead.

"I think now we are waiting for a real initiative from the top leadership in Bahrain to contain the situation," Mansoor Al-Jamri, a Shiite opposition leader who returned to Bahrain in 2001 after years of exile, said in an interview with CNN. "Unless there is an initiative, I don't think it will be possible to contain the youth.''...

The U.S. stance has been muddied by the strong praise for Bahrain's leaders that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton voiced during a visit to that country in December, commending their commitment .... Speaking in Washington on Wednesday, Clinton sought to clarify the administration's stance toward protest movements, insisting that the United States doesn't take sides in disputes between demonstrators and their governments....

Only 31/2 times the size of Washington, Bahrain has become a setting for broader regional tensions in part because of its location. While Shiite-led Iran has historic connections to Bahrain and wields influence with the country's Shiite masses, Sunni-led Saudi Arabia props up the ruling al-Khalifa family with cash. With dwindling oil resources, Bahrain relies on Saudi Arabia - the two nations are connected by a lengthy causeway - for money and a security blanket."Never forget the main strategic purpose of the causeway to Saudi Arabia is to allow Saudi forces to rush over to quell Shia riots," said Simon Henderson, a Persian Gulf analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy..."