Posted on 09/18/2003 7:08:52 AM PDT by SJackson
Saudi Arabia's royal family has habitually confounded pessimists and optimists alike. For those who predict sudden collapse and revolution, or breakthroughs in reform and enlightenment, the kingdom is a serial disappointer.
Not even 9/11, which was inspired and largely carried out by Saudi nationals, or the furious U.S. reaction to that day of horror seems to have changed the Saudi syndrome.
After a period of tension and uncertainty, the family of more than 5,000 "princes" who form the governing political and commercial elite of a country that bears their name has once again regrouped and stabilized around its desire to hang on to power. The family will carefully adjust the limits of change, inch by inch.
That is particularly true in religion. The rulers see an urgent need to reform the perception of Islam in the United States and the West, but none to reform the Saudi-based religious practices and propagation that influenced Osama bin Laden and the other zealots of al Qaeda. The Saudis treat bin Laden's band as criminal deviants -- not the products of religious, social or other root causes.
Those at least are the impressions left by some prominent Saudis and foreign experts on the kingdom who gathered at Ditchley Park near Oxford last weekend for spirited but informal discussions about a country that is the world's leading oil exporter, the site of Islam's holiest shrines and a vital but extremely difficult U.S. partner in the war on terrorism.
There are few major global questions in the post-Cold War world that do not directly influence Saudi Arabia -- or that are not directly influenced by it. It is easy to overlook the centrality of a land that has been isolated and closed to Westerners for so much of its 80-year history.
A BOGSAT (a conference that amounts to a Bunch of Guys Sitting Around a Table) does not necessarily reveal a lot about the chosen subject. But it should provide a glimpse of conventional wisdom forming in a given expert community, with its intellectual, diplomatic, commercial or other interests. That in itself is useful to those of us who remain agnostic on Saudi Arabia's fate.
The royal family emerges in the majority expert view as far more resilient and tenacious than is the popular Western perception, shaped by highly visible cases of fecklessness and corruption among prominent princes. In moments of crisis, "worker princes" have moved with surprising determination to enforce family unity as the paramount value and tool of survival for the nation.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
Yes. Forced entry and a smoking hole.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.