Frogmen arm insurgents. Frogmen prepare beachheads. Forget boots on the ground. Think flippers on the sand;

William Walter Kay BA JD ——Bio and Archives--April 8, 2026

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Born beneath a Blood Moon, the Iran War celebrated its first full moon, aptly, on April Fool’s. The one after next is Blue. Who shall bask beneath that Blue Moon from Bahrain’s palace balconies – Al-Khalifas or Persian frogmen?

Speak of Bahrain in past tense. Top four industries – kaput. Hundreds of thousands fled; first among them, professionals and tradespeople. Several thousand US personnel hole-up in Manama hotels, having abandoned their bases under fire. From their penthouses US officers survey a disintegrating society comprised of a few hundred thousand lower-caste Sunni Arab left-behinds, a few hundred thousand stranded foreign temps, and 500,000 pro-Iran Shiites; amidst all, 250,000 innately hostile unemployed men of military age.

Khalifas are Sunni. Two thirds of Bahraini nationals were Shiite

The Bahrainian Archipelago’s population of water spring dependent agriculturalists and fisherfolk stabilized at 40,000 for millennia. Chevron struck oil in 1931. Bahrain’s 1941 census counted 89,970. By 2025 Bahrain’s 1.6 million inhabitants squeezed onto 30 natural, and 50 artificial, islands spanning 770 square kilometers. Driving the King Fahd Causeway from Manama (pop: 700,000) to Saudi Arabia’s Damman (2.7 million) took one hour.

Bahrain was 3% farmland, 1% forest. Scorching summers sowed sandstorms. 90% of potable water sprang from gas-fueled desalination. 90% of food came through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iterations of “Iranians” ruled the area from 539 to 330 BC, then from 240 to 628 AD. In 1602 they overran the Portuguese fort, holding the archipelago until 1783 when Ahmed ‘the Conqueror’ Al-Khalifa made the fort his home. Brits introduced themselves in 1816. Treaties inked later that century turned Bahrain into a British protectorate. The Shah insisted Bahrain was his until Bahraini independence, 1971.

In 2025 citizens (“nationals”) numbered 750,000. Foreigners (“expatriates”) numbered 850,000. Expats filled 95% of private sector jobs. Expats got arrested for quitting their jobs. Expats needed employer-signed certificates........

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