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IMNVHO, one cannot say "bankrolled by Saudi Arabia." The Kingdom is a very delicate balancing act run by a far from unified House of Saud. You have about 5,000 Princes of the Blood and their entourages, wives, children, concubines, children, business managers, hanger-on imams, tribal chieftains etc. Then you have another 15,000 or so "princes" who are not "of the blood" but offspring of royal and royal family concubines who are not 100% recognized and their entourages.

The country is run the way Tony Soprano runs Newark. One Prince has KFC, another MacDonalds, another Mercedes, another Ford, another Motorola, Coca-Cola, Sprite, Bosch, Firestone, etc etc etc.

One Prince Runs the Royal Army. Another the National Guard. Another The Air Force, another the Navy, another Military intelligence, another civil intelligence, a third the Religious Police, one guy has the phones, another cable TV. Each of these guys is wealthy beyond belief.

So one Prince may bankroll al qaeda, another will back the taliban, another will buy weapons for Assad, while his cousin bankrolls the rebels. Yes, there is a government ... and it knows all, but as to who exactly is bankrolling what ... fuggedaboutit. You can ask, of course.

The Saudis play chess on 20 different boards at once. There is only one thing worse than the Saudi government: that is what ever comes next.