The shiite community as a discriminated minority in the middle east
The article analyzes the current state of Shiite communities in the Middle East in the context of their discrimination by the authorities. Most countries in the region have Shia communities. Shia citizens are often subjected to repression by the authorities and are regarded as the "fifth column" of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The first part of the article is devoted to the review of the relations between the Shiite community and the authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Arab Republic of Egypt, where the most severe manifes-tations of repressive measures by the state against its citizens are recorded. The second part describes the state of the Shiite community in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, where repressive measures by the authorities against Shiite citizens are expressed in a milder form. In the final part of the article the author's interpretation of the impact of discrimination against Shiites in the Middle East on the situation in the region as a whole is presented.