“I don’t think there is a good chance of a MAD stalemate between Iran and Saudi Arabia. “
Ahmadinejad started and ended every speech with a prayer to God to bring the Mahdi. That’s their Armageddon. Iran will use the bomb at the first opportunity and it will most likely be used against Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are nowhere near as crazy as the Iranians. They have a life of luxury to live for. If they feel threatened and they think they must fire first to continue living, they will.
The problem with Saudi Arabia is, I suspect, their government is fragile and their military is decorative.
Actually, per my specops friends, the Sadui military is pretty good. Ranking: (1) Israel (duh), (2) Egypt, (3) Saudi Arabia. They don’t suck.
/ref ME only. Worldwide, Israela and US (despite 0’s efforts) are WAY ahead of everyone else.
“The Saudis are nowhere near as crazy as the Iranians. They have a life of luxury to live for. If they feel threatened and they think they must fire first to continue living, they will.”
The Saudi Royal Family owns enough global real estate and foreign currency/precious metals to be quite comfortable living the life as a diaspora should their empire of sand become uninhabitable.