The British government has been training the troops used to suppress some of the pro-democracy protesters in the Arab world includingthe Saudi Arabian National Guard sent into Bahrain. This seems to contradict expressions by the British government of “deep concern” after Bahrain’s ruling royal family used Saudi troops to put down Shi’ite demonstrators. However, the bigger picture is much more complex, explains Robert Lacey, author of “Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia.”
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