Saudis Whistling Past a Graveyard?
Michael Scheuer takes The Diplomat just outside its regular beat for a closer look at Saudi Arabia. Still the biggest oil supplier to Asia’s largest economies, is the kingdom really as stable as its leaders like to make out? Churchill’s description of the Soviet Union as a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma also applies to Saudi Arabia—an authoritarian regime that makes every effort to prevent the world seeing too much of its internal affairs. Saudi Arabia has long been the home and educator of many who today inspire and lead worldwide Islamist militancy (not least, Osama bin Laden). The country’s leaders nevertheless strive to show the world they are ‘modernizing’ and subduing domestic militancy—anything required to keep the country stable and oil production dependable. Indeed, in 2008, King Abdullah launched the highly publicized campaign for ‘Inter-faith Dialogue’ and called for the mixing of men and women in Saudi universities—moves meant to blur the country’s tou...