Bahrain outsourced its repression to foreign Sunni mercenaries

Evidence

The Shia majority is denied positions with strategic value. Rather than allow them to serve in the security services, the ruling family invites people from Sunni countries like Pakistan, Yemen, and Syria to staff the repressive apparatus. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 250

Categorization

• XREF: Compare to how French colonial authorities recruited Algerian harkis and how Gulf monarchies staff armies with foreign labor — a pattern of rulers arming out-group soldiers to avoid arming the majority. — connects to: Rulers used foreign mercenaries to suppress rebellious subjects; Neighboring Sunni Gulf states invaded Bahrain to crush its cross-sectarian uprising — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 255
• CANDY: A crisp and counterintuitive fact: an oil-rich state so distrustful of its own Shia majority that it staffs its police with Pakistanis and Yemenis. Conversation-starter.

Broader Connections

• Rulers used foreign mercenaries to suppress rebellious subjects #exemplifies (0.90)