Posted on 08/16/2002 5:16:55 PM PDT by iav2
Sunday, 11 August, 2002, 20:19 GMT 21:19 UK
Difficult times for Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's oil revenues are shrinking
By Frank Gardner
For Saudi Arabia, these are testing times.
King Fahd's health is failing, the economy faces massive problems, al-Qaeda is stirring inside the country, the Americans want a war with Iraq next door.
And now, Saudi Arabia has been described by a respected US think thank as "a sponsor of terror at all levels" - could things get any worse?
There are no plans to overthrow Saudi Arabia's many princes
Unfortunately for the Saudis, they probably will.
The country's biggest problem is the economy - there simply are not enough jobs to go around.
A huge portion of the national budget is swallowed up by civil service salaries, often for people who put in two hours work a day in token jobs that contribute little to the economy.
Meanwhile, oil revenues are shrinking in real terms, while the population is growing at nearly 4% a year.
Power struggle
Against this backdrop, there is a hidden power struggle going on between the senior ruling princes.
And the country as a whole is being pulled in opposite directions.
Liberal-minded professionals want to see it open up more to the rest of the world, but many religious conservatives would like it to shut its door to the West.
In recent weeks, the Islamists have grown bolder, openly voicing their hatred of America and its policies.
For the ruling al-Saud dynasty that must contend with all these problems, there is one consolation: they have no obvious rivals for power.
As much as people grumble about the extravagance and corruption of some of the thousands of princes, there does not appear to be any coherent plan to overthrow them.
But in the absence of any serious reform, that could change in the future.
Hmmm....OK...is there a hidden meaning here?
They just sit on their asses all day, and collect the oil revenue. But without foreigners, they couldn't even get it out of the ground.
And the F15's that they buy? They are like sport cars for their princes... Something to impress their girlfriends. I think they flew them to the discos during Gulf War I.
When they wern't flying them on the deck and ploughing into shifting sand dunes. Been doing it since the 60s when we gave them old F5s to play with.
I mean, I'm deeply saddened.
What, only in recent weeks?
The house of Suad is falling apart. Internal termoil. Radical muslims ready to take over.
Sounds like a perfect time to take over. Erase Mecca off the face of the earth (NUKE)and let the radical Muslims bow to America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Until now all the Saudis had to fear was our A-bombs and Sarin. Today they found out that America is planning to send in trial lawyers.
Even {expletives deleted} Terry Lenzer is a major part of the action.
One big DC law partner is leaving his firm 9/1 to start his own firm because the old firm doesn't want to take the Saudi case on contingency.
I sometimes feel the same way. We are so absurdly and routinely accused of trying to do it, why not do it? They killed more Americans than Japan did. Never has a nation had such power at its disposal and the whole world at its feet and not taken advantage of it as the U.S. from 1945 til now. If we slip from that position, and someone else rises to the top, the world will not be so lucky again.
Huh? Do you mean American civilians?
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.