Bahrain is the smallest kingdom in the Middle East and unusually is an island just off the north Saudi coast in the Gulf with a population of about 1.2 million. Of these, depending on who you last talked to, about 300,000 are citizens with the remainder being immigrants without too many rights. The difference here when compared to other Gulf states is that the ruling family of Al Khalifa is Sunni whereas the majority of the population is Shia. Rumours suggest that there is a fast-track for Pakistani Sunnis wanting to come and live permanently here to even up the score.
Like Qatar and the Emirates, there is much reclamation activity and a large number of new skyscrapers going up though I’m never sure who occupies them as the rents are so high.
Bahrain has no water resources, no farming, little or no manufacturing but it does have oil though not much, estimates are of 35,000 barrels a day. It should have a mature solar and wind turbine plants but this has been slow. Despite the sun beaming down 12 hours a day for 10 months of the year there is little or no evidence of green technology or green politics.