The House of Saud will not come to it senses as long as Abdullah( and the rest of his fanatical clique which now has the upper hand in the Saud family intrigue) is alive. Prince Sultan has to launch a coup( preferably proceeded by the nearly vegetable king Fahd firing Abdullah) which will kill Abdullah and all his political allies including most of the religious police and clerical establishment. Other than that I see no chance for the House of Saud to reform.
The House of Saud will not come to it senses as long as Abdullah( and the rest of his fanatical clique which now has the upper hand in the Saud family intrigue) is alive. Sadly, I think you are right (but I still have hope...).
The fact is that the entire House of Saud could be overthrown, including Abdullah and the princelings siding with him. If that happens, he is just as dead as the rest of the sorry lot.
Likewise, I doubt that Sadman Insane would leave Abdullah in power if he took over when we left.
Siding with us is the House of Saud's best (only?) hope. If Abdullah has at least a room temperature IQ, he may figure this out.