Very interesting indeed, but when you talk of the Saudi 'people' resenting the mullahs and desiring a bit of the western 'good life' and basic liberties, in reality I beilieve it is only the wealthy elites, who are as you say largely educated abroad. The demographics of Saudi Arabia paint a frightening picture, however, of who actually comprises the 'people'. The under-30 population is soaring. The have-not's are soaring. The Islamist fundamentalists are capitalizing on the changing face of Saudi society. If you'll excuse the cliche, the teeming masses of the desert kingdom support the mullahs more than the royalists. In the end, I believe both parties will lose out and Saudi Arabia will experience many years of geopolitical 'churn', where relatively weak competing forces will share what dwindling power is left in the Saudis' rapidly-depleting tanks (pun fully intended). Would that this model applies to our other Arab 'friends'.
One thing I'm quite certain of, no Arab country will adopt secular democracy. It's simply unIslamic. Which bodes ill for the long run...
One thing I'm quite certain of, no Arab country will adopt secular democracy I have been told more than once that ordinary people are freer, in Muslim countries, under dictators than they are under "democratic" rule.
This was a specific reference to Saddam, in one case, and Egyptian dictators, in the other case. The explanation was that the dictators tended not to be beholden to the mullahs, whereas anyone seeking popular support had to knuckle under to them.